The Bashilsky swell: an Upper Pleistocene extrusion in the Verkhnechegemskaya caldera (Northern Caucasus)

This work describes a young extrusive massif in the uppermost reaches of the Chegem River (Bashilauzu-su River), which had been considered as a feeder of the great sequence of Upper Pliocene rhyolite ignimbrites of the Verkhnechegemskaya caldera. The Upper Pleistocene age of the stratum, extrusive origin of automagmatic breccias and fluidolites, as well as its difference from rhyolites of the caldera are proven. The Bashilsky swell, located in the Late Pleistocene glacial trough, is evidence of young volcanism in this area, which has not been previously proposed.     

Modeling meso- and sub-mesoscale circulation along the eastern Crimean coast using numerical calculations

A numerical experiment has been carried out using a hydrodynamical model with nonlinear equations of motion and heat and salt advection to reconstruct the fields of hydrophysical parameters taking into account the real atmospheric forcing for the autumn season along the southern coast of the Crimean Peninsula. The studied part of the coast is situated at 44.25°N 33.95°E/44.72°N 34.55°E. High spatial resolution is used for modeling: 350 m in the horizontal plane with 38 layers in the vertical; the bottom topography is described in detail with ~500 m resolution. Detected and studied meso- and sub-mesoscale structures in the current field agree well with the observational data, which is impossible or hard to identify in numerical experiments with coarser resolution. Their kinematic characteristics and the lifetime are defined and some mechanisms of their origin are suggested.     

Dynamics of land use (2007–2014) and future prospects for development of Russkii Island (Gulf of Peter the Great)

The dynamics of land use in Russkii Island is considered for the period from 2007 to 2014, and some issues of its future development are analyzed. The areas of lands of different categories and the maps of land use on the Sapernyi Peninsula are provided for different time spans. It is established that the implementation of the program of the preparation of Vladivostok for APEC Summit 2012 led to a substantial change in the land use pattern in Russkii Island: the area not involved in the economic turnover decreased by 5.09%, the zone of production, engineering and transport infrastructure increased by a factor of 21.5, and the share of lands for recreational purposes increased more than twice. It is shown that recreational activities implying a decrease in the share of lands not drawn into the economic turnover by more than a factor of 5 must become the dominant kind of land use (according to the program of development of Vladivostok). Attention is focused on the issue related to the creation of the territory of priority socioeconomic development in Russkii Island through the use of private-state partnership mechanisms. It is pointed out that the implementation of the development plans for the island is delayed, in spite of the legislative and financial support from federal and regional authorities. Emphasis is placed on the need to develop the program of comprehensive substantiation, modeling and forecasting of the development of Russkii Island in the interests of the sustainable functioning of the natural-economic system.     

Meeting the Challenge of Systemic Change in Geography Education: Lucy Sprague Mitchell’s Young Geographers

The history of K–12 geography education has been characterized by recurrent high hopes and dashed expectations. There have, however, been moments when the trajectory of geography education might have changed to offer students the opportunity to develop a thorough working knowledge of geography. Lucy Sprague Mitchell’s geography program developed in the 1920s and 1930s was brilliant in its conception and execution but it did not lead to large-scale systemic change. Analyzing the origins, development, and outcome of her program suggests the conditions that facilitate and inhibit systemic change, and therefore perhaps we can learn to capitalize on comparable moments in the future.