For the first time, a GIS project for radiation and environmental monitoring of terrestrial ecosystems was developed for the territory of the 30-km observation zone of the Rostov NPP. It was based on the information on the composition and concentrations of radionuclides and heavy metals in soil, vegetation and agricultural products of the studied region compiled over 18 years. Electronic maps have been developed to create a GIS project. They included the location of control sites and control points of the radiation-ecological monitoring network; location of control points for the survey of agricultural and natural terrestrial ecosystems; distribution of specific activity values for artificial (90Sr, 137Cs) and natural (40K, 226Ra, 232Th) radionuclides in environmental objects; distribution of ambient dose equivalent rate values; content of heavy metals with hazard classes 1-3 (Cd, Zn, Pb, Co, Cu, Ni, Mo, Cr, Mn, Fe) in the soils of the Rostov NPP region. The created GIS project of radioecological monitoring and the corresponding data banks will be used to collect, store and analyse the results of the survey in order to assess the potential impact of the Rostov NPP on the members of the public and the environment.

In this article we discuss software choosing methodology for GIS project implementation in the field of environmental management with the help of comparative system analysis of the capabilities of three popular GIS packages (GIS INTEGRO, QGIS and ArcGIS). The developed system of formalized criteria for analysis describes the technological capabilities of each package for the implementation of the main stages of building a GIS project, technical requirements for equipment, financial policies of developers, the quality of software maintenance and administrative restrictions on its use. Based on the system, using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), a managerial decision-making model is implemented to select the best GIS package for various categories of organizations related to nature management – namely, state budgetary institutions, commercial organizations and universities.

In recent years, in the field of tectonic, seismological and seismotectonic investigations, increasing attention is paid to the use of modern GIS technologies. This applies both to the compilation of various tectonic schemes and to the spatial analysis of geodynamic processes. In this regard, for the territory of Armenia, which has a complicated geological and tectonic structure and active geodynamics, the use of modern methods and data is of great scientific and practical importance.
In the article by morphological analysis of modern digital elevation models, using modern GIS technologies, a morphostructural scheme is made that reflects the lineament-block units of the territory of Armenia. Obtained results are confirmed by the comparison with other geological and geophysical data. The Neotectonic (Neogene-Quaternary) activity of the selected blocks was assessed using a number of tectonic-geomorphological indices. Based on the obtained data, the classification of blocks by the level of their tectonic activity is carried out.
Composed map of lineament-block elements and their tectonic activity can be used in various types of tectonic, seismological and seismotectonic studies, as a tectonic basis.

Airborne laser scanning is one of the modern methods of remote sensing, which is gaining wider application in geographical research. This is facilitated by the high accuracy of the data, making it suitable for large-scale mapping purposes (1:10 000 and larger). However, there are a number of factors that can affect the resulting detail of the data, expressed in the density of the points of the laser scanning. Huge impact from this point of view has forest vegetation. Its presence significantly reduces display detail, especially elevation.
In this paper we consider a similar effect on the example of a mountainous area, and also provide a numerical estimate of the magnitude of detail loss of the airborne laser scanning data under forest vegetation. The methodology of this work allows you to determine the geographical resolution of the digital elevation model by estimating the detail of the raw data and based on this to identify a possible range of mapping scales. The results show that even in the presence of wood vegetation, airborne laser scanning data are capable of displaying various relief microforms.

An experiment performed in the city of Yakutsk using vertical electrical sounding (VES) and ground penetrating radar (GPR) methods has provided more insight into the petrophysics of frozen rocks in the zone of interaction with engineering structures down to the bedrock of the Lena River valley. The variation coefficients indicate that the basic electrophysical property (electrical resistivity) and the resulting radiophysical property (attenuation of electromagnetic waves) are sensitive to lateral and vertical variations in texture, condition and properties of the permafrost material, while propagation velocity exhibits no significant response. The cluster and correlation analyses have shown a statistical relationship between the group average values of resistivity and attenuation which are theoretically related in cause and effect. This relationship is adequately described by the power function equation with a high level of determination. The same equation describes the equally strong correlation between attenuation and velocity. Therefore, the inverse regression equations can be used to obtain additional information on the radiophysical properties of frozen rocks and vice versa from VES and ERT data. In other words, permafrost resistivities can be derived with the GPR method. The maximum error of such transformations is low even without grouping the initial data, being 8,7% for attenuation, 13,7% for velocity, and 17,5% for resistivity. This level of accuracy is sufficient for approximate solution of geotechnical tasks at the initial stages of engineering site investigations in Yakutsk and its vicinity.

The sourcewise approximation method is based on approximation of natural electromagnetic field by correspondent forward magntotelluric problem solution defined for model of conductive half-space with the elementary excess conductivity volume included in it. Approximation coefficient evaluated for each locations of elementary volume may be considered as function with respect to elementary volume location and allows to make decisions about non-homogeneous insertions of geological medium. In this paper, the possibility of sourcewise approximation method applying for interpretation of magnetotelluric sounding data is considered. It is shown that results of the sourcewise approximation of magnetotelluric data have a geometric sense and allow to determine the initial approximations for inverse problems solving, and, thus, help to reduce dimension of their solutions. MTSourceApprox software developed at the Research Station of RAS in Bishkek city is also briefly described in the paper. The aim of this software is sourcewise approximation of profile magnetotelluric data.

In 2020, the whole world celebrates the greatest event – the 75th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and coalition countries in the Great Patriotic War – a war in which millions of soldiers and innocent victims of a fascist adventure were killed. Historians (once again!) will chronologically state the facts, explain the essence and meaning of this gigantic event. After all, World War II was not only a battle between the fighting armies, but also a fierce struggle between the economies of the warring parties. Unfortunately, not only positive emotions accompany memories. There is a visible process of rewriting the history of the Great War. One gets the impression that a united front is being created to denigrate and falsify the heroic past of our country, to review the results of the Great Patriotic War. Celebrating the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, we must remember that geologists – prospectors of the subsoil did everything possible to ensure the development of the economy along the entire path of development of the State. It is necessary to know and use it at a new stage in the development of the country!