Land use changes in the environs of Moscow

This paper focuses on several aspects of land use change in Russia during the 1990s with a particular focus on the environs of Moscow. These aspects include modes of farming, recreation, ownership of land, and concentric zones of outwardly declining land use intensity that resemble Von Thunen's economic landscape. These zones are given special attention. In contrast to other land use aspects, the analysis of which indeed reveals a fair amount of change bringing the environs of Russian cities one step closer to their Western counterparts, concentric agricultural land use patterns with outwardly declining productivity suggest continuity rather than change.     

Obituaries

Helge Marcus Ingstad 1899–2001 By Kirsten A. Seaver
Francis William Carter 1938–2001 By David Turnock     

The impacts of urbanization on soil erosion in the Loess Plateau region

The accelerated urbanization has resulted in new soil erosion in the Loess Plateau region since the 1980s. A concept of urban erosion and its impacts on environment are discussed. The experimental studies and field investigations show that those loose silt and earth piles formed by urban construction can be eroded seriously: Under stormy rain, the amount of sediment from steep man-dumped slope is 10.8-12.2 times that of from uncovered slope land; the result of experiments with the wind tunnel also shows that the damage to the surface structure of dry loess can cause serious soil erosion by wind in some cities of the region. Even if in the urban built-up area, there are many loose sandy soil, mud and silt, which are washed into rivers by city’s ground flow in the rainy season. So, anthropogenically induced soil erosion has made soil erosion more serious around the urban areas. And the urban eroded environment has several characteristics such as fragility, complexity, seasonality and quick variability. Urban areas witness a quick economic growth and have more construction projects than rural areas, which brings more intensive changes of environments during a short period of time or adds some new elements to the erosion system. Therefore erosion has experienced more intensive impact by human activities. So, the possible impact of urbanization on erosion environment must be taken into consideration when designing or planning to exploit natural resources or to develop urban areas in the Loess Plateau.     

环洞庭湖区城镇体系发展研究

通过对环洞庭湖区城镇体系发展的历史背景以及现状特征分析，指出其发展过程存在着城市空间格局发展不平衡，产业结构重复严重等问题，在此基础上，提出了相应的对策与发展措施，确保环湖区内城镇体系的持续，快速发展，并最终实现带动区域经济发展的目的。     

郑州市城市环境建设可持续发展初探

文章通过对郑州市城市环境问题及城市建设发展概况的分析，认为城市发展与环境建设是相辅相成的，并探讨了保证城市环境建设可持续发展的对策，切实做好总体规划，加强水资源管理，注重绿化效果，提高清洁能源的使用率等。     

东北农牧交错区水分条件的空间分异及其对土地利用的影响

大气降水、土壤水分和干燥度指数是在经度方向上控制区域景观格局的主要因素。本文运用最新的调查统计资料，对东北农牧交错区降水、土壤潜在蒸散量、干燥度指数及农作物生长期间土壤水分盈亏量的时间分布进行了分析；提出了研究区内作物生长季期间土壤潜在蒸散量的空间分布规律和干燥度指数的时空变化情形。结合水分条件的空间分布，提出了5种土地利用区域组合类型。     

开发区土地可持续利用系统的结构研究

在提出开发区土地可持续利用概念的基础上，分析了开发区土地可持续利用系统的结构，指出我国现有开发区土地利用系统的结构不合理是引发开发区土地利用问题的根源。实现开发区土地可持续利用，有赖于优化目前的结构，即对开发区土地利用系统的各要素进行优化重组，从而改革其功能，以解决开发区土地利用中出现的各类问题。最后对如何优化开发区土地利用系统的结构进行了初步探讨。     

卫星遥感影像中耕地信息的自动提取方法研究

以县（市区）为基本单位，采用遥感图像处理ENVI3.2软件和TM资料，进行了7个县（市区）10个时相的耕地信息自动提取技术研究，结果证明，选择春季时相，TM432波段合成，经几何校正和增强处理，通过交互的非监督分类提取耕地信息，可以获得满意的结果，平均分类精度达到98.22%。     

西南地区山地不同土地退化类型特征及调控途径

土地退化不仅是目前全还需性的重大环境问题之一，而且也是重大的社会和经济问题之一，西南地区的土地退化是以水力侵蚀为主要动力形成的，文中简述了西南地区的土地退化状况，选择了4个（楚雄市、遂宁市，毕节地区及元谋县）山地不同土地退化类型进行分析，讨论了土 退化过程，提出了土地退化调控途径。