Geosystem transformations forecast of the Northern Priolkhonye Region

Abstract

The current trend of climatic changes in the northern hemisphere is accompanied by an increase in the number of cases of extreme weather events; droughts have become typical for the Baikal region. In the changing conditions of the regional geosystems background impact, the pyrogenic factor acts as a catalyst for the transformation of geosystems. The research is aimed at identifying and mapping the dynamic and structural transformations of the geosystems in the northern Priolkhonie region (the western coast of Lake Baikal), influenced by pyrogenic factor. Spatial analysis of the location of the burnt territories was carried out on the basis of Landsat 8 (OLI) remote sensing in the GIS. Groups of facies in the territory of the northern Priolkhonye region influenced by destructive pyrogenic factor in the period of 2014 – 2015 were designated. Long-term degradation of forest-growing conditions with a long renewal stage, replacement of dark-coniferous forests by light-coniferous forests in a certain part of their range, replacement of larch-pine steppe forests, mainly in the southern slopes, by steppe communities are therefore forecast. In the highland part of the Primorsky Range, the dwarf siberian pine Pinus pumila communities destructed by fire contributes to a wide expansion of stone placers (kurums).