Reassessing the role of the Urals in Palaeolithic Cave‐Art Research—Comments on ‘Cave Palaeolithic of the Ural Mountains—a review’

The reindeer populations of the Middle and North-ern Urals have been declining since the second half ofthe 19th century (Kirikov, 1966); in northern areas, thisprocess began even earlier, approximately in the 1830sor 1840s. This is attributed to the intensive develop-ment of domesticated reindeer breeding. In the late1930s, the southern boundary of the reindeer rangepassed along the Pechora–Kolva watershed (Kuklin,1938), crossed the Loz’va River near its source, andthen extended to the southwest along the Loz’va,Tavda, Tobol, and Irtysh rivers (figure). However, iso-lated reindeer populations also occurred farther to thesouth: on the western macroslope of the Veslyana Riverbasin (no less than 1000 animals; Kuklin, 1938), on theTura–Tavda watershed and in the adjacent areas ofKrasnoufimskii and Manchazhskii raions, and in theSouthern Urals (Sabaneev, 1988; Kuklin, 1938).According to Kurazhkovskii (1949; cited from Per-ovskii, 1975), the northern boundary of the main rein-deer range in this region was at the latitude of the Cher-dynskii Kamen’ and Konzhakovskii Kamen’ moun-tains, i.e., south of that indicated by Kuklin (1938).To date, both the range and population size of rein-deer in the Middle Urals have decreased significantly.This is apparently explained by large-scale tree cuttingin lichen pine forests (wintering stations for reindeer),hunting, and generally increasing anthropogenic pres-sure. For a long time, reindeer have not been found intheir former insular areas south of the main range, atleast in Sverdlovsk oblast. In the northern part of Sver-dlovsk oblast, the presence of reindeer is periodicallyrecorded during winter route censuses in Garinskiiraion. A small herd of about 100 animals inhabits thearea between Pelymskii Tuman and Vagil’skii Tuman.In Taborinskii raion, reindeer lived on both banks ofthe Tavda River (on the right bank, in the TaborinkaRiver basin and near lakes Bol’shoe Krivoe and MaloeKrivoe) in the 1960s and 1970s. As reported byV.L. Shishkin, a local hunting expert, the southernboundary of the range subsequently shifted to thenortheast, and reindeer disappeared from the right bankbut still occurred on the left bank near the lakesBol’shoi Akh and Malyi Akh, in the Chernaya Riverbasin. In the early 1980s, A.A. Kiselev observed agroup of 20 reindeer in the basin of this river during theaerial census of ungulates. Later, reindeer and evidencefor their presence were found in near the KuminskoeSwamp in the upper reaches of the Volchim’ya andBol’shaya Iksa rivers. According to Shishkin, a smallgroup of no more than 20–30 reindeer may live in nearthe Chernoe Swamp.Another isolated population lives in Ivdel’skii raionof Sverdlovsk oblast and the adjacent area of Permoblast. In the spring of 1985, I found footprints andfeces of seven or eight wild reindeer on the westernslope of Mount Molebnyi Kamen’ and observed a rein-deer swimming across the Moiva River in its upperreaches. Footprints left by a group of six reindeer werefound in the area of the confluence of the Moiva andVishera rivers. V.Yu. Kuprin reported the presence ofreindeer in the subgoltsy zone and open Siberian stonepine forests on Mount Tulymskii Kamen’, at least in theearly and mid-1980s. According to V.S. Obyval’tsev,head of the local meteorological station, reindeer in thisperiod permanently inhabited the Niols River basin andthe Niols–Moiva watershed, where they occurred ingroups of 5–15 animals. Herdsman P. Bakhtiyarov andN. Akhmedeev, game warden of the Ivdel’ State ForestEnterprise, reported that they also have encounteredsmall groups of wild reindeer in the same region.Akhmedeev once observed a herd of 150–200 reindeerin the autumn in the upper reaches of the Takhta River.It should be noted that Mansi people do not use thisarea for pasturing domesticated reindeer, as lichens ongrazing grounds in the mountain tundra are generally inshort supply due to the presence of steep and rockyslopes. However, some gently sloping areas are rela-tively rich in lichens, including those of the genera Cladina and Cetraria. The signs of damage by grazingreindeer in the lichen cover of these areas are mani-fested very weakly, in contrast to those in the morenorthern tundras used as summer grazing grounds fordomesticated reindeer.In recent years, the anthropogenic impact on thenorthern Sverdlovsk oblast has decreased: as manyprison camps were closed and villages for people sen-

A blocking high in the Ural Mountains, which is recognized as the third major blocking high area in the northern hemisphere, describes a deep warm high-pressure system superimposed on the westerly belt. Based on the ERA-5 daily reanalysis data (the fifth-generation European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts atmospheric reanalysis global climate dataset) and using the Tibaldi and Molteni (TM) method, we selected 43 blocking high events in the Ural Mountains during the extended winters of 1979–2020 and analyzed their atmospheric circulation characteristics and influencing factors. Our findings revealed a downward trend in the frequency of occurrence of blocking highs in the Ural Mountains in winter, most of them were short-lived; furthermore, the frequency and duration of these occurrences generally followed a 3–4 years oscillating cycle. The synthetic results of the geopotential height (HGT) anomaly field and the surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly field of these 43 extended wintertime blocking high events in the Ural Mountains region showed that during the development of a blocking high, the central intensity of the positive anomalies in the Ural Mountains region first increased and then weakened, while the central intensity and meridional span of the negative anomalies in the Eurasian mid-latitudes of the SAT anomaly field increased continuously. In addition, abnormally high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic sea area and abnormal reduction of sea ice (SI) in the Barents-Kara Sea and the Chukchi Sea in autumn had a significant impact on the wintertime formation of Ural Mountains blocking highs. In contrast, in autumn, the abnormal reduction of SI in the Barents-Kara and Chukchi Seas might also have led to the westward positioning of Ural Mountains blocking highs.

We describe the morphological features and the phylogenetic relationships of five morphologically similar strains belonging to the genus Coelastrella, which live in different ecological and geographical conditions of terrestrial ecosystems: in the Ural Mountains (Polar, Subpolar, and Northern Urals of Russia) and the Khentii Mountains (Russia and Mongolia). We analysed algal strains stored in the Culture Collection of Algae of the Institute of Biology, Syktyvkar, Russia (SYKOA Ch-045-09, SYKOA Ch-047-11, SYKOA Ch-072-17) and the Culture Collection of Algae at Herbarium of the Siberian Institute of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Irkutsk, Russia (IRK-A 2, IRK-A 173). By light microscopy, all samples were assigned to Coelastrella terrestris. However, the phylogenetic analyses based on the nucleotide sequences of 18S rDNA and ITS1-ITS2 showed that only one strain belongs to C. terrestris (IRK-A 173). Other samples were closer to C. oocystiformis (SYKOA Ch-045-09; IRK-A 2) and C. aeroterrestrica (SYKOA Ch-047-11). The strain SYKOA Ch-072-17 is probably a new species for the genus. These results confirmed the high phenotypic variability and the hidden diversity among the members of this green algal group.

The article describes the geological structure of the Sarsanginsky gabbro-diorite-plagiogranite complex located in the border zone of the Middle and South Urals. The formation of its massifs took place in the late Silurian time in the abyssal zone at depths of about 6,5–7,0 km. The temperature range of crystallization of granodiorites was 900–990 С, and for gabbro 1180–1280 С. The system pressure at this moment corresponded to 190–200 MPa. The gabbro that make up the massifs under consideration were formed under stretching conditions on the oceanic crust. In terms of petrogeochemical features, they correspond to rocks at the base of island arcs and belong to the ophiolite formation.

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) plays an important role in infectious human morbidity, particularly in Russia and the Middle Urals. The Siberian subtype of TBEV (S-TBEV) is dominant in the Middle Urals. Determining the origin of S-TBEV strains in this territory and also in the European part of Russia and the Baltic countries is very important for understanding the cause of its distribution. The surface glycoprotein E gene was partially sequenced in 165 S-TBEV isolates collected in the Middle Urals between 1966 and 2008. Nucleotide and amino acid sequence identity of the studied isolates is 94 and 97.4 %, respectively. Eighty per cent of them are represented by six clusters with identical amino acid sequences in the glycoprotein E fragment analysed. We have determined four types of isolate distribution in the explored territory: local, split, corridor and diffuse. The average rate of nucleotide substitutions per site year(-1) is estimated to be 1.56 x 10(-4). The age of the S-TBEV population was evaluated to be slightly less than 400 years. Phylogenetic analysis of the data and comparison with historical events indicate that the distribution of S-TBEV strains in the Middle Urals and the European part of Russia originated twice from different foci in western Siberia. This is related to the first land road into Siberia and the Trans-Siberian Way, which functioned at different times. The main reason for such rapid distribution of S-TBEV strains is the anthropogenic factor, i.e. human economic activity during the colonization of new territories in Siberia in the recent past.

The relevance of the work is due to the need to study ore copper-sulphide deposits in the Urals. Purpose of the work: description of accessory brockite in metasomatites of the Safyanovskoe copper-sulphide deposit. Research methodology: the chemical composition of minerals was determined using the Jeol JSM-6390LV scanning electron microscope with an INCA Energy 450 X-Max 80 energy dispersive attachment from Oxford Instruments (Institute of Geology and Geochemistry of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg). Results and conclusions. For the first time for the Safyanovskoe copper-sulphide deposit (Middle Urals), an aqueous rare earth phosphate of calcium and thorium, brockite, has been determined; it belongs to the group of rhabdophane (Ca,Th,REE)[PO]4 ∙ _H2 O. The mineral is rare for the Urals and was described earlier in granite pegmatites of the Middle and South Urals, as well as in dikes of metaplagiogranites of the Bazhenov ophiolite complex. Brockite was found in the rocky metasomatites of the Safyanovskoe copper-sulphide deposit after crystalline lithoclastic tuff (tuffaceous sandstone) of acid composition. The main mass of the rock consists of quartz, kaolinite (sericite), carbonates (dolomite, Fe-magnesite) with rare inclusions of pyrite. Brockite is found in the dolomite-quartz matrix of the sample in intergrowths with REE-goyazite – strontium aluminophosphate. It is assumed for the Safyanovskoe copper-sulphide deposit that an alumina association with an ore mineral association and rare earth minerals, in particular, REE-alumophosphates and phosphates, will form closely at the same time as the temperature drops and the redox conditions of the mineral formation environment change.

Abstract. Purpose. The research is aimed at studying the influence of weather conditions on the timing of the phenological phases of black currant in the Middle Urals. Methods. The study is based on methods of phenological observations in accordance with generally accepted methods. Results and practical significance. It was found that black currant adapts well to unstable weather conditions in recent years in the Middle Urals, during the research period, budding was observed in the period from April 12 to May 4; the dates of the beginning of flowering were marked from May 10 to May 28; maturation dates are marked from July 16 to August 10. The shift in the dates of onset of the main phases of vegetation from the average long-term can reach 14 days. Industrial plantings should consist of varieties of different flowering and maturation periods, to avoid the spring frosts of the main part of the plantation, as well as to form a conveyor for the arrival of fresh berries. The experiment identified five early-flowering cultivars in the Middle Urals: Zabava, Fortuna, 1-3-010-13, 3-2-010-13, 6-44-00-03; four late-flowering: Gerkules, Slavyanka, 5-1-010-13, 8-2-010-13; the remaining 28 cultivars are of the average flowering period. Five varieties of early maturation are identified: Zabava, 2-1-010-13, 2-4-010-13, 3-1-010-13, 5-1-010-15; four late maturation: Zaglyaden’e, Kipiana, Chudnoe mgnovenie, Slavyanka; the remaining 28 varieties are of average maturation. Not all early-flowering cultivars are early-maturing, and not all late-flowering cultivars are late-maturing. The scientific novelty consists in the study of phenological rhythms of black currant varieties of various genetic origin in unstable weather conditions of recent years in the Middle Urals.

О некоторых сообществах петрофитных степей Среднего Урала

Based on the material of the authors’ collections from the South Ural Reserve (Republic of Bashkortostan), Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk provinces, the collections of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Ilmen State Reserve (Chelyabinsk Province), and the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Yekaterinburg), and also the reliable literature data, an annotated list of the true bug fauna of the Middle and South Urals is compiled for the first time. The list includes representatives of the families Ceratocombidae (1 species), Tingidae (45 species of 14 genera), Microphysidae (1 species), and Reduviidae (2 species of 1 genus). The known fauna of the Middle Urals (Perm Territory and Sverdlovsk Province) includes 24 species of Tingidae and 1 species of Microphysidae; that of the South Urals includes 1 species of Ceratocombidae, 41 species of Tingidae, 1 species of Microphysidae, and 2 species of Reduviidae. Six species are recorded from the Urals for the first time: Ceratocombus (Xylonannus) brevipennis Poppius, 1910 (Ceratocombidae), Acalypta gracilis gracilis (Fieber, 1844), Agramma tropidopterum Flor, I860 (Tingidae), Loricula (Myrmedobia) exilis (Fallen, 1807) (Microphysidae), Empicoris culiciformis (De Geer, 1773), and E. vagabundus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Reduviidae). The families Ceratocombidae and Microphysidae were not previously known from this region. The following numbers of species are recorded for the first time for different regions of the Middle and South Urals: for Perm Territory, 2 species of Tingidae; for Sverdlovsk Province, 11 species of Tingidae and 1 of Microphysidae; for Bashkortostan, 1 species of Ceratocombidae, 13 of Tingidae, 1 ofMicrophysidae, and 2 species of Reduviidae; for Chelyabinsk Province, 3 species of Tingidae. The Tingidae fauna of the Middle and South Urals mostly includes species widespread in the latitudinal and longitudinal directions, including 4 Holarctic (8.9%) and 12 Trans-Palaearctic species (26.7%). Ranges of 24 species (53.3%) mainly lie in the “humid” northern part of the Palaearctic (the humid complex of species). Ranges of 21 species (46.7%) mainly lie in the southern part of the Palaearctic, i.e., the Tethyan Region (the arid complex), the Tingidae fauna of the Middle Urals including only 2 species (8.3%) of that complex. Seven species (17.1%) of Tingidae form the arid element in the fauna of Orenburg Province: Kalama henschi (Puton, 1892), Galeatus vitreus Golub, 1974, G. scrophicus Saunders, 1876, Tingis (Tingis) pusilla (Jakovlev, 1873), T. (Tropidocheila) renovata Golub, 1977, T. (Tr.) maculata (Herrich-Schaeffer, 1838), Dictyla subdola (Horvath, 1905). Ranges of 7 species (15.5% of the whole studied fauna of Tingidae) are limited to the Middle and South Urals in the east and northeast. Ranges of 8 other species (17.8%) extend eastwards, beyond the Urals no farther than the south of Western Siberia and Western Kazakhstan. The mountain territory of the Middle and the South Urals obviously serves as a significant orographic and climatic barrier on the way of eastward expansion of some Western- and Central-Palaearctic species of Tingidae.

Atmospheric circulation anomalies over the Ural Mountains are crucial indicators of the anomalous downstream weather and climate over East Asia. Here, we provide a new perspective on the mechanism of Ural circulation anomalies. We use a simple theoretical model to determine that the relationship between the solar forcing and three Ural circulation patterns, namely, neutral type, trough anomaly and ridge anomaly, is a nonlinear relationship following the supercritical pitchfork bifurcation theory. The theory predicts that when the total solar irradiance (TSI) is below a critical value, trough and ridge anomalies represent duplex equilibria and are equally likely to occur at the same TSI. Based on 180 winter months record, we have estimated the bidimensional probability density of TSI and the monthly mean geopotential height at 500 hPa or zonal wind at 850 hPa over the Ural Mountains. Results show that Sc = 1360.9 W m−2 is a critical value of TSI, the neutral type pattern is the single circulation regime when TSI > Sc, whereas trough and ridge anomaly patterns are duplex circulation regimes when TSI < Sc. Besides, when TSI < Sc, during the same TSI range, trough and ridge anomaly events occur at nearly the same frequencies. These results generally agree with the theoretical model. We demonstrate that trough and ridge anomalies, as duplex equilibria, result from the large-scale zonal flow interacting with the Ural Mountains. Low TSI tends to strengthen the large-scale zonal flow over the Ural Mountains, hence inducing either a trough anomaly or ridge anomaly.

New insights into the paleogeography of the Alexander terrane (Alaska) have been obtained from a comparative study of limestones in southeastern Alaska and the Ural Mountains. Upper Silurian stromatolites preserved in the Heceta Formation of Alaska are remarkably similar in composition, biofabric, and environmental setting to Upper Silurian (Ludlovian) subtidal stromatolites in the Ural Mountains, particularly those discovered near the Ilych River, Northern Urals. The stromatolites were built by an unusual consortium of microbial taxa in association with distinctive sphinctozoan sponges (aphrosalpingids) and share a high degree of similarity with Upper Silurian subtidal stromatolites in the Nixon Fork terrane (southwestern Alaska). That the stromatolites in these three regions are not identical in taxonomic composition but share in common conspecific, reef-dwelling aphrosalpingids and congeneric microbiotas indicates that they evolved separately but in a geographically contiguous area. These fossils establish that the Alexander terrane as an island arc resided at a site that enabled migratory exchange of biotas with northwestern North America or Siberia (Nixon Fork terrane) and northern Baltica (Ural Mountains) in the Late Silurian, a paleogeographic setting that is compatible with Northern Hemisphere options derived from paleomagnetic, isotopic, detrital zircon, and other paleontologic evidence in southeastern Alaska.

The formation and maintenance of the persistent anomalies (PA hereafter) of summertime circulation over the Ural Mountains are studied, and a two-way interaction of transient eddies and time-mean flow that may be involved in the evolution of the positive anomaly is demonstrated. Firstly the feature of synoptic-scale transient activity during the PA period is investigated based on composite, and the results suggest a significant enhancement of transient activity over the sector from the central North Atlantic to the coastal western Europe for the positive cases whereas a weakening is for the negative. Numerical simulations are conducted using a barotropic primitive equation model linearized about two time-mean flows, the com posite of positive cases and the climatological July mean respectively. The results show that the enhanced transient activity upstream will favor positive height anomalies over the Ural Mountains. A barotropic stormtrack model is developed, by which the role of time-mean flow in organization and modulation of transient eddies is studied. It is shown that the growth of ridge over the Ural Mountains tends to organize transient eddies into the region upstream from the central North Atlantic to the coastal western Europe. Combining the two aspects, a positive feedback mechanism through two-direction interaction of transient eddies and basic flow is proposed, which can be responsible for the formation and maintenance of the per sistent positive anomalies over the Ural Mountains.

Genetic diversity is important for the long-term survival of species and plays a critical role in their conservation. To manifest the adaptive potential, it is necessary to preserve the allelic diversity of populations, including both typical and region-specific alleles. Molecular genetic analysis of 22 populations of Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris L.; Pinaceae) in 10 subjects of the Russian Federation in the East European Plain and the Middle Urals was carried out. Molecular genetic analysis of 22 populations of P. sylvestris revealed 182 polymorphic PCR fragments. The studied populations are characterized by a medium level of genetic diversity. A high subdivision coefficient (GST) of the studied populations was established; the intensity was 0.559. At the same time, the level of subdivision differed for different regions; for the populations from the Middle Urals, it was 15.5% (GST = 0.155), and for the populations from the East European Plain, it was 55.8% (GST = 0.558). The dendrogram of genetic similarity shows five clusters of the studied populations of P. sylvestris according to their geographical location. The populations from the East European Plain are mostly characterized by typicality, while the populations from the Middle Urals, on the contrary, are more specific in gene pools. The use of the coefficient of genetic originality to identify populations with typical and specific alleles allows for solving the problem of selecting populations for the conservation of forest genetic resources. The data obtained on genetic diversity, and the structure of populations growing in areas of active logging, are important for determining the geographical origin of plant samples, which is an integral part of the control of illegal logging.

Topicality. Severe asthma is a heterogeneous and cost-effective disease that requires a personalized treatment approach with inclusion of targeted therapy involving the phenotyping of asthma. Objective. Determine the dynamics of asthma prevalence in the Middle Ural, including severe asthma, and phenotype patients with severe asthma for the selection of targeted therapy. Materials and methods. Population studies of bronchial asthma prevalence were conducted in the Middle Ural from 2000 to 2012 using the standard ECRHS questionnaire. Also registers of patients with asthma were created. An analysis of outpatient records of patients with asthma was conducted in Ekaterinburg in 2018. The phenotyping of bronchial asthma was carried out by an allergist-immunologist. Results. The number of patients with bronchial asthma increased by 2.7 times over 17 years in the Middle Ural. Patients with mild asthma prevail in the population. The atopic asthma phenotype predominates in 70.8-81% of cases regardless of the population category. Severe uncontrolled bronchial asthma occurs in 10.2% of cases among all patients seeking medical care. Every second patient with severe uncontrolled asthma has an atopic phenotype, which is 5% of the total number of analyzed patients with bronchial asthma. Every fourth patient with severe uncontrolled bronchial asthma has an eosinophilic phenotype, which is 2.3% of all analyzed patients with bronchial asthma (n=216). Conclusion. Phenotyping of asthma has important practical significance for planning effective targeted therapy in a population of patients with severe uncontrolled asthma.

Detrital zircons of Ordovician terrigenous sequences are studied in various Southern Uralian tectonic units.The age of detrital zircons of the West Uralian and Transuralian megazones, Taganai–Beloretsk Zone, and Kraka allochthons spans from the Late Archean to the end of the Vendian– beginning of the Cambrian; Early Precambrian and Early–Middle Riphean zircons are the most abundant. Vendian–Cambrian detrital zircons are strongly dominant in the Uraltau Zone, Sakmara allochthons, and East Uralian Megazone; the zircons of other ages are absent or extremely rare. The Vendian–Cambrian detrital zircons of all Southern Urals zones probably derive from volcanic and granitic rocks of the marginal continental belt, which are part of the Uraltau Zone, Sakmara allochthons, and East Uralian Megazone. The Lu–Hf isotopic characteristics of Vendian–Cambrian detrital zircons indicate that their parental rocks formed on a heterogeneous basement that includes blocks of juvenile and ancient continental crust. According to a model of the pre-Ordovician tectonic evolution of the Southern Urals, at the end of the Late Riphean, the passive margin of the East European Platform collided with a block on a heterogeneous basement. The formation of the block terminated with the Grenville Orogeny. After collision, a volcano-plutonic belt originated in the Vendian–Cambrian at the actively evolved margin of the East European Platform.