The article reveals the features of the economic development of the steppe regions of European Russia. The steppe zone of Russia is viewed not only as a natural geographic formation, but also as a socio-economic space with specific problems. Cluster classification of Russian Federation's subjects forming the steppe space made it possible to reveal the general asymmetry of the economic potential of the steppe regions of European Russia, which consists in reducing the level of economic development in the direction from west to east. Depressed regions were identified: the Republic of Kalmykia, Orenburg, Saratov and Volgograd regions. The location of depressed regions reduces the opportunities for integration with the Republic of Kazakhstan and the development of cross-border cooperation by the type of «Euroregions». The uneven economic development of the steppe regions of the Russian Federation is manifested in the polarization of the economic indicators of the leading municipalities, in the development of which the leading role is played by natural-resource factors.

The work concerns questions of time-spatial changes of contents and emission of methane from a surface of polytypic reservoirs. On the basis of comparison of the field observations on the Mozhaisk and Gorky reservoirs the distinctions of contents and specific fluxes of methane for reservoirs with various water residence time and hydrological regime are shown. The Gorky reservoir is characterized by a much smaller spatial variability in the methane content than in the weakly flowing Mozhaisk reservoir and its relatively small concentrations due to the shorter time of water exchange that affects the hydrological regime. The methane content in the lake part of the Gorky reservoir in August 2017 in the surface layer was 3.5-7 μΜ, in the bottom layer - 3.6-12.6 μΜ, while in Mozhaisk reservoir - 12-24 and more than 1500 μΜ, respectively. According to the results of the installation of floating chambers in mid-August 2017, the methane flux in the lake part of the Gorky reservoir did not exceed 1.6 mg C-CH4/(m²hour), while at the Mozhaisk reservoir it was more than 10 mg C-CH4/(m²hour). Comparison with literary data has shown that emission rate from reservoirs of a boreal zone with slow water exchange can be underestimated.

The article is devoted to creation of underground excursion routes on the example of Ruskeala Mountain Park (Republic of Karelia). In 2010 Karelian geologist and local historian I.V Borisov showed the «Ruskeala Pit» to the author, which was impressed greatly and had got an impetus to its investigation. In 2011 the comprehensive survey of the Ruskeala Mountain Park was conducted. A large group of speleologists from the Russian Geographic Society took part in the studies. The received data were presented to the project owner, «Kolmas Karelia» company, in the form of a detailed report. In 2012, under the agreement with «Kolmas Karelia», a project of developing the infrastructure for excursions in the underground space was designed by Yu. S. Lyakhnitskyi and Yu.P. Korennoy. The project was based on results of the survey and involved equipment of two galleries and a large half-flooded hall mined out during the extraction of marble, for educational excursions. Later several important amendments to the project were made, because new features were revealed in the course of clearing the debris. In addition, the control of work progress and methodological support in its realization were provided. In late 2016, the arrangement of the route was completed and in 2017 it began to operate. Now, the underground route of Ruskeala Mountain Park is one of the best in Europe due to its aesthetic, educational, historic-cultural features.

To preserve Lake Baikal ecosystem, the federal law «On the Protection of Lake Baikal» and numerous state directives on the restriction of economic activities in the Baikal natural territory were adopted. However, the environmental situation in the region continues to deteriorate. From the author’s point of view, the policy of prohibiting and alienating the local population from the rights to nature use cannot be effective. For example, the government decree banning fishing of Baikal omul (Coregonus migratorius), adopted without the necessary scientific justification for all factors affecting the ecosystem of the lake and assessing the socio-economic consequences for the local population, is analyzed. It is noted that the reduction of the spawning herd of omul is most closely connected with the general aridization of the climate in Inner Asia and the decrease in the water content of the main tributaries of the Lake Baikal. It is proposed to change the method of accounting of omul and the places of industrial fishing. Particular attention should be paid to the employment of the local population, which should be interested in the rational use of the natural resources of the native land.

For the better use of the competitive advantages of the northern regions the article offers a methodology of assessment and analysis of the regions’ competitive attractiveness in terms of economic factors, quality of life, innovation and human potential. To assess the competitive attractiveness of the regions’ development, it is proposed to use 40 statistic indicators transformed into a dimensionless scoring form. To analyze the balance’s level of socio-economic development, a typological method is used in three two-dimensional spaces: «economy-innovation», «economy-quality of life» and «human potential- innovation». Calculations are based on statistical data of 2015.

The landscape concept is one of the most attractive forms for representation of spatially distributed information. For a long time, Soviet/Russian science associated the term «landscape» with the landscape geography, which was considered as a branch of physical geography. Currently, it becomes evident that the concept of landscape refers to the concept of general culture, and the scientific understanding is only a part of general culture. An attempt to place the existing author’s modalities within the framework of landscape concepts in the D. Harvey’s matrix is made. He positions the threefold division of absolute, relative and relational space-time up against the tripartite division of experienced, conceptualized and lived space. Consideration of combinations that occur in different points of intersection in the matrix is useful for the understanding of articulation and development of the landscape concept.