Vol 151, No 5 (2019)

The localization of organizations providing services in the development of socio-economic strategies of federal and municipal entities of Russia is analyzed and reflected in the schematic maps. The 2016—2018 period is studied based on data from the official public procurement website, and the 1997—2018 period based on data from the register of companies involved in strategic research (StratPlan.ru portal).

Three groups of organizations — all-Russian («omnivores»), zonal, and local are identified in terms of their territorial and market behavior mechanisms. Taking into account past experience, including that not reflected on the public procurement website, all-Russian companies are set apart from those active on the territorial and strategic consulting services market in 2016—2018. The latter include NRU HSE, RANEPA, CJSC ICSER «Leontief Centre», LLC Scientific developments, LLC Development and Prudence, ENKO, State Institution Center of Advanced Economic Researches at the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan», LLC «AV», LLC «Financial and organizational consulting», Fund CSR «North-West». Most of Russian suppliers, i.e., those ready to work and already working in many regions and cities have head offices in Moscow, but there are also organizations based in St. Petersburg, Kazan, and Tyumen.

Zonal suppliers, i.e., working on the territory of one or two adjacent federal districts, and local suppliers, whose activities are limited to one federal entity, primarily work in the region of their location. Localization is determined by long-term cooperation with the authorities and well-grounded local knowledge.

The transformation of the vegetation cover in the impact zone of the 1956 eruption, in territories covered by various deposits, is considered. As a result of a gigantic eruption (VEI 5), vegetation was exposed to a series of different volcanic impacts. Five main categories of events are distinguished: the movement of material of a huge volume of volcano edifice over a large distance as a result of a giant clastic avalanch, the pyroclastic surge of a direct blast, the pyroclastic flows, the formation of a giant eruptive cloud and ashfalls, as well as the lahars. The volume of erupted (initially high-temperature) deposits was, according to various estimates, in the amount of 1.35-1.5 km³, the volume of cold deposits of a clastic avalanche was 0.5-0.8 km³. The volume of lahar was 0.5 km³. The area covered by the pyroclastic wave of the directed explosion was about 500 km². Within this lesion zone, deposits of pyroclastic flows have occupied 30-40 km², and clastic avalanche deposits from 35 to 60 km². Below 900 m above sea level (a.s.l.) these deposits buried cover of subalpine dwarf alder (dominant species is Alnus fruticosa) and mountain meadow vegetation, as well as forest vegetation (dominant species is Betula ermanii) at its upper limit. Forest and partially dwarf alder vegetation was destroyed on a vast territory mainly under the influence of a pyroclastic wave (in the altitude range from 700-800 to 200 m a.s.l.), as well as lahars (in the range of 250-50 m a.s.l.). Primary successions occur in the alpine and partially subalpine zone on avalanche deposits and pyroclastic flows deposits, as well as in the upper part of the zone impacted by pyroclastic surge of the direct blast (40-45 km²). In part of the territories where thick deposits of the lahars were formed, primary successions also probably occurred. In the zone of primary successions, deposits of a clastic avalanche are settled by plants most slowly due to not-favourable edaphic factors. The process is somewhat more efficient on the deposits of pyroclastic flows (the same ratio was noted on the Shiveluch Volcano). The surface overlapped by deposits of the pyroclastic surge is populated relatively quickly. Secondary succession occurs in the zone of damage to the forest and dwarf trees by the influence of a pyroclastic wave, as well as in the zone of passage of the lahars. Restoring of vegetation to its previous state will take from 50 to ~500 years on different deposits and in different parts of an impact zone.

To characterize the shifts in the spatial organization of a country’s economy, it is helpful to use observation of changes in the geographic center of the economy. In the article, using the centrographic method, the coordinates of the economic center of Russia were calculated. The assessment of its dynamic over the period from 2005 to 2015 has been carried out. The gradient of movement of the economic center of Russia has been defined. The connection of the economic center and other centers of the country has been studied. The quantification of shifts has been examined and their interpretation has been proposed. Assumptions about the influence of the shift (the northeast and southwest) of the economic center of Russia on the dynamics of GDP have been made.

The founding congress of the Russian Association of the Himalayas and Tibet Research was held in the historical hall of the Russian Geographical Society (RGS) on March 5, 2019.

The 80th birthday of Vladimir Mikhaylovich Razumovsky was celebrated on August 19, 2019. Prof. V.M. Razumovksy, PhD in Geography is a vice-president of the Russian Geographical Society and editor-in-chief of the “Izvestiya Russkogo Geograficheskogo Obshestva” journal.