THE KOLYMA RIVER BASIN: LANDSCAPE-ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

The part of the Kolyma River basin located in the territory of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is characterized by extremely harsh natural and climatic factors and difficult economic conditions. The abundance of naturalresources there has led to the development of mining and energy industries, whose impact on fragile northern landscapescauses environmental problems, which makes a study into these landscapes a relevant research topic. The paper aims toexplore the landscape-ecological aspects of the Kolyma River basin in the Zyryansky coal mining area and to assess thestability of the landscapes under mechanical impact. We used geoecological and landscape research approaches, includingboth traditional methods and modern geoinformation methods. The landscapes’ stability degree was estimated by rankingpermafrost and bioclimatic characteristics of the landscapes through assigning points to them. Then four groups of landscapes with varying degrees of stability, from relatively stable to highly unstable, were identified. A stability degree mapfor the studied area of the Kolyma River basin has been developed. Ecological state of the natural environment in theupper reaches of the Kolyma River was studied by means of a comparative analysis of statistical materials on atmosphericair and surface waters pollution. As a result, there has been noted a decrease in the amount of captured and neutralizedpollutants entering the atmosphere, which is due to the ineffectiveness of ash traps. In addition, insufficiently treatedwastewater is discharged into the river network due to the lack of an adequate number of treatment facilities. In order toprevent adverse effects of industrial pressure on the natural environment, it is necessary to ensure the implementation ofand control over a system of environment protection measures, including these ensuring the efficiency of treatment facilities for air and water protection.