The case study of United States shows that global economic processes signifi cantly infl uence location of manufacturing. Analysis of multidimensional data covering 1860–2010 shows several stylized facts. Increasing intensity of U.S. involvement in global economy leads with a certain time lag to the growth of spatial polarization of U.S. manufacturing. Calculations show that the less is interregional inequality in U.S. and the more integrated are national markets for goods and factors of production, the smaller are interregional shifts of manufacturing under changing global economic conditions. The second group of stylized facts is the shift of U.S. manufacturing from cores of largest agglomeration and growth of agglomeration level. Rising international competition enhances selection of enterprises and, because of strong link between productivity of an individual fi rm and concentration around its location, promotes agglomeration. High concentration of innovations leads to the increasing level of agglomeration of U.S. manufacturing, reinforcing importance of local clusters and MSAs in comparison with industrial regions. Finally, highly localized agglomeration effect in fast-growing sector of business services leads to displacement of manufacturing from cores of large MSAs.

The article provides an overview of the dynamics and contemporary socio-economic status of small towns in central part of European Russia in 1998–2010. The well-being of towns with population less than 50 000 people depends on their population size, specialization and geographical location, and such patterns agree with the whole-Russian tendencies. In the conditions of sparse network of large and medium-sized cities, small towns become centers providing goods and services – commercial and social, and not only for the people of their own district but sometimes of neighboring ones. The towns with population of 20 to 50 thousand people play the main role. The more is distance of small towns from cities, the less is alternative for population in choice of services.

The article provides an overview of current research on climate and landscape paleoecological reconstructions of key stages of the Holocene. Their synchronicity and asynchronicity in Southern and Northern hemispheres and on different continents is discussed. It is shown that some of the climatic events of holocene can not be explained only by external infl uences on the planet (insolation changes, etc.). These events were effected by internal mechanisms of the Earth’s climate system such as the North Atlantic Oscillation, El Niño – Southern Oscillation, as well as periodic large volcanic eruptions, dumping of cold glacial meltwater reservoirs in North America into the ocean etc. Described patterns of past climate change are relevant to identifying factors infl uencing the current climate change and climate forecast.

The article is devoted to defi ning confessional geospace as the object of study of geography of religions. The structure of religious sphere in the context of the category “space” is analyzed in detail. Particular attention is paid to the exposure of the confessional and geographical spaces’ common elements.

Processes of formation of the North Atlantic Oscillation index (NAO) during different phases of the current (1868–2010) quasi-centurial variability of solar activity (the Wolf number) are considered. It is found that during the lowest solar activity of a quasi-centurial cycle, the NAO index tends to the value higher than those observed during maximum of solar activity. During the even cycles the NAO index tends to be a few times higher than those during the odd ones. The conceptual scheme is proposed assuming that at anomalously high NAO taking place mainly during even cycles, the western disturbance in the troposphere over the North Atlantic groves that intensifi es circulation in the upper layer of the subtropical gyre, leading to decrease of the amount of the Atlantic water mass infl owing to high latitudes. At anomalously low NAO observed mainly during the odd cycles, circulation in the subtropical gyre weakens that results in increase of the amount of the Atlantic water mass infl owing to high latitudes through the Faeroe–Shetland channel to the Norwegian and Barents seas. The range of the NAO variability is found (±0.5), at which average multi-year (climatic) regime of hydrometeorological characteristics is realized in the North Atlantic. Validity of the proposed conceptual scheme is confi rmed by the materials on water mass transport through the Faeroe–Shetland channel, formation of temperature anomalies in the North Atlantic upper layer and the Barents sea ice cover at NAO = ±0.5; NAO ≥ 1 and NAO ≤ –1.

The area is an important factor of formation of a landscape diversity on Islands. On the basis of the quantitative analysis of landscape structure of the Kurile and Hawaiian Islands, the steady interrelation between values of Margalef index refl ecting a landscape diversity and the island area is shown. It is also shown that coeffi cients of complexity and landscape dissociation have direct correlation with the island area. Ambiguous data are obtained during calculation of an entropy measure of landscape complexity.

On the basis of the analysis of islands-volcanoes the landscape structure of the Kuril Arc and the role of volcanic activity in formation of a landscape diversity of the territory are shown. Eruptions of volcanoes lead to increase in landscape diversity on the island. Landscape diversity grows after eruption until forming the balanced landscape structure. During the subsequent period of volcanic tranquility a phase of a landscapes relaxation comes with reduction of a landscape diversity

Long-term phases of changes of annual and seasonal runoff are analyzed for Lena river basin during period of observation. Main objective of this paper is to analyze the current long-term phase of runoff increase, including an estimation of the contribution of major tributaries of Lena to runoff change at Lena river outlet as well as research of degree of synchronism of observed changes and estimation of possible time of turn to the long-term phase of runoff decrease. Infl uence of the Viljujsky water reservoir on character of long-term changes of annual and seasonal Lena river runoff is estimated too.

The paper deals with results of fossil pollen spectra analysis for bottom sediments in the lake Karakel in Central Caucasus in the Teberda State Reservation. Main feathers of the vegetation dynamics during last 2300 years, i.e., Subatlantic period of Holocene, are shown. Analysis of the sediments of lake Karakel leads to a conclusion that vegetation of this region had a few transformation stages from the prevailing meadow to the mixed coniferous-broad-leaved formations which were then partly substituted by smallleaved forests about 200 years ago under human impact.

The link between dynamics of productivity of forests and global climate change is investigated. A forecast of wood growth in specifi c scenarios of climate indicators for the middle of the 21 century is made on the basis of statistical data on the wood growth for the forest area of the European part of Russia. The relationship between the sum of active temperatures and wood growth is revealed. The resulting regression equation is the basis for the forecast of wood growth, as well as for cartographic analysis of spatial differentiation of this phenomenon.

Interaction of the environment and the fi rst agricultural and cattle-breeding cultures in Azerbaijan in 6000–2000 BC is considered on a basis of paleogeographical (mainly palynological) and archaeological data. The data of 10 palynological records are generalized. An environment in Azerbaijan before formation of agricultural and cattle-breeding cultures is characterized. Three stages of interaction of these cultures with environment are distinguished. The end of all three stages coincides with the termination of these cultures, because of climate change, i.e. aridization or humidity increase, and because of an exhaustion of fertility of the soils due to overexploitation.

С 5 по 9 сентября 2013 г. в г. Дурдан (Dourdan) близ Парижа проходил 18-й Европейский коллоквиум по теоретической и количественной географии, организованный при поддержке Национального центра научных исследований Франции (CNRS), Европейской группы исследователей S4, Университетов Париж 1 и Париж 7, Европейского совета по научным исследованиям (GeoDiverCity) и ряда других организаций. Координировали данное научное мероприятие профессора Дениз Пумэн (Denise Pumain) и Арно Бано (Arnaud Banos). Научный комитет возглавляла широко известная не только в Европе профессор Лозанского университета Селин Розенблат (Celine Rozenblat).

24–26 сентября 2013 г. в Казанском (Приволжском) федеральном университете (КФУ) на базе Института экологии и географии проведена Вторая всероссийская научная конференция “Окружающая среда и устойчивое развитие регионов”, посвященная Году охраны окружающей среды в России и 150-летию со дня рождения основателя учения о биосфере великого русского ученого В.И. Вернадского. В ней приняли участие более 300 человек из России, а также из Германии, Израиля, Ирана, Таджикистана, Узбекистана, Украины. Наиболее многочисленными были делегации Казанского, Пермского, Томского, Удмуртского университетов, Института физики атмосферы РАН, Института проблем экологии и природопользования Академии наук Татарстана, учреждений Росгидромета и др.