Geography in its long evolution has gone from a reference and a descriptive discipline concerning the places and distances to the complex science about spatial regularities in the system of nature and society. In this evolution there are objective laws, but it heavily depends on social conditions and the nature of power: hence the uneven alternating periods of ups and downs. In Russian history there were several periods when the government understood and appreciated the importance of geography, which could not be unproductive for the science. The conditions in the Soviet era were contradictory: on the one hand, the strong recovery of the productive forces of the economy, which was accompanied by establishing the system of state scientific centres of geographical research and training of geographers, on the other hand - ideologization of science, restricting the freedom of scientific views, down to the repression of Stalin's dictatorship. The post-Soviet era for last 25 years has led to great difficulties and unpredictability of further development of science in the country. The primary goal now is the promotion of geography and propaganda of the comprehensive geographical method of scientific research.

The article regards main features of geographical zonality of Eurasian plains during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) from 23 till 19 thousand years ago. It is shown that structure of geographical zonality was completely different from its current state. During LGM geographical zonality was developing under not only the influence of global cooling but also under the influence of atmospheric precipitation reduction. There was a dramatic decrease of area which was occupied by humid zones (first of all by forest zones); tundra was retreated to the North except the Pacific Ocean coasts. Several geographical zones (deciduous broadleaf forests, sclerophyllous forest) have almost disappeared. At the same time the territories which were occupied by zones with different levels of aridity were expanded, for example deserts. In the Northern part of Asia and Europe large territories were covered by mosaic of steppe and tundra. The map of geographical zones of Eurasia is created for the time of 21 thousand years ago (or 18 thousand years ago according to uncalibrated scale).

The planned glaciers' position in the River Pyzha valley for the last glaciation maximum (18 000-20 000 yr BP) and the Akkem cooling (4500-5000 yr BP) was simulated based on the firn line depression. The fieldworks of 2014 year do not provide unambiguous support for the simulation results, although some indirect evidence in their favor do exist. In particular, these are morphometric characteristics of the ancient moraine-dammed lake situated in the lower reaches of the River Pyzha valley. According to the radiocarbon data, the lake's age is at least 13 000 years. Its draining began about 3000 years ago as evidenced by dating from the lake sediments roof (i. e. 3045 ± 115 yr BP (SOAN-9353)) that resulted in the appearance of some isolated ponds in the valley bays existed afterwards for more than 500 years (2475 ± 90 yr BP - SOAN-9351). In the drained lakes' place, sphagnum bogs with peat deposits thick up to 2 m and more were formed.

The article provides data on the study of bottom sediments in the lake basins of the Babinskaya Imandra western coast (Kola region). The research has resulted in faulted horizons having been discovered in sections of bottom sediments, which evidence of to catastrophic (palaeoseismic) events in the Holocene. Lithologic and micropalaeonthologic characteristics, as well as radiocardon dating of lake bottom sediments, allowed reconstructing natural climatic settings in the Post-glacial period and define reasons, mechanisms and time of catastrophic processes on the territory.

The main indicators that reflect economic and geographic features of agricultural land use of the Selenga River basin are analyzed. They are: the structure of agricultural lands, the level of agricultural development, the dynamics of the area and the efficiency of arable land use, the structure of droppings, the natural forage lands reserves. The relationship between the distance from the capital of the Republic of Buryatia and the intensity of arable land use are revealed. The values of cropland rentals are calculated. When calculating the land rentals the income approach was used, which involves the calculation of the average value of the net operating income generated during the agricultural industry management. Net operating income is calculated on the basis of the difference between the gross output and the production costs. The principal directions of the transformation of the system of agricultural land use in Mongolian and Russian parts of the basin are revealed.

The Ukok plateau is located in the southern part of the Altai Mountains on the altitude of 2200-2500 meters above sea level, at the junction of state borders of Mongolia, China, Kazakhstan and Russia. Despite the severe climatic conditions, the territory was populated and developed by representatives of numerous cultures, who had left their traces up to the present day in the form of numerous archaeological sites. The archaeologists investigated the location of the majority of archaeological sites. However, with high probability we can say that there are archaeological sites of Ukok plateau, the location of which is not known to the moment. Using GIS analysis (on the base of ArcGIS 10.1) of archaeological data and a digital elevation model the areas of possible location of archaeological sites were identified.

Development of traditional economy of North indigenous minorities is the key basis of preservation of their most important ethnic features. Currently their main traditional economic activity is reindeer herding, which is unlike any of the other activities generally based on production technology and organization that appeared many centuries ago. Such organizational system of economic activity preserving unique culture, language and traditions determines nomadic lifestyle of reindeer herders, low production efficiency and income level of people. Although nowadays there is virtually no alternative. In this situation state financial support of the field is the key element of economic and ethnic policy. In order to prove the need of such policy and its directions this article analyses natural and economic conditions of development of this field and makes relevant conclusions and recommendations.

Unique cartographic collection of the Russian geographical society contains a variety of documents of different epochs and types. However, since the 1970s, cartographic documents at RGS have not been studied from a scientific point of view, neither systematized. Therefore, the map collection was not operational and many interesting documents have been forgotten. In the process of funds placement a previously not attributed series of wall maps of Dutch cartographer Peter Schenk (1660-1718/9), little known in the Russian history of cartography, was revealed. The study examined the documents relating to the activities of P. Schenk from the collections of St. Petersburg, Germany and the Netherlands; a comparison of some maps with the exemplar of the RGS was made. Detailed descriptions of the entire series were composed. According to the results of the study, it is most likely that the map series identified at the RGS exists in a single exemplar, and the presence of all of the sheets makes it truly unique.