Subject of study in complex physical geography (Landscape geography)

Complex physical geography (landscape geography) is a science of the structure of the natural environment treated as a whole composed of interconnected and interacting components. The research object of complex physical geography is the Earth's surface understood as a three-dimensional layer including lithosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere as well as the biosphere which develops within the former three. Among different terms employed to define the external cover of the earth the best one seems to be epigeosphere (A.G. Isachenko 1965). Landscape as a scientific term is ambiguous and can be well replaced with the term geocomplex. Geocomplex is a relatively closed sector of nature which constitutes a whole due to the processes occuring within it and interdependences of geocomponents of which it is composed (H. Barsch 1968). There are homogeneous (topological) and heterogeneous (chorological) geocomplexes. Every geocomplex is characterized by its structure and manner of functioning. The objective existence of geocomplexes cannot be doubted.