Central Ciscaucasia Research Articles

GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF FOREST FLORA OF THE CENTRAL CISCAUCASIA

В статье приводятся сведения о характере ареалов лесной флоры Центрального Предкавказья, анализируется географический спектр, представленный 16 географическими элементами, в котором преобладают бореальные геоэлементы, проводится сопоставление с эколого-ценотическим и систематическим спектрами. Констатируется низкая экологическая пластичность большинства геоэлементов лесной флоры и корреляция головных частей географического и систематического спектров.

Neogene-Eopleistocene shelly limestones in the North Caucasus and Ciscaucasia regions

In the North Caucasus and Ciscaucasia, seven distribution zones of Middle-Upper Miocene, Pliocene, and Eopleistocene shell-detrital limestones are defined: Lower Don, Tsimlyansk-Manych, Western Ciscaucasia, Western Caucasus, Central Ciscaucasia, Kabarda-Chechen, and Eastern Dagestan. The shell-detrital limestones are present among sandy-clayey sediments in the form of intercalations of variable thickness traceable over different distances (up to a few kilometers). The maximum thicknesses of such limestones are characteristic of the Neogene sections in the northwestern pericline of the Greater Caucasus: Taman-Adagum area, where their distribution comprises the stratigraphic interval from the Chokrakian to early Cimmerian regional stages (approximately 10 m.y. long). Their most spacious distribution area is confined to the Central Ciscaucasia zone. The shell-detrital limestones in the Neogene sections mark shallowwater shelf areas (ancient coastal bars, banks, and shoals) with intermittently forming environments favorable for accumulation of significant volumes of shelly detritus. In such paleogeographic settings, the sediments were subjected to repeated erosion with subsequent formation of limestones. Now, they represent building material widely used in the region for different purposes.

Phenology of ixodid ticks of the genus Dermacentor in the Central Ciscaucasia

In Stavropol Territory, ixodid ticks of the genus Dermacentor are represented by three species: D. marginatus, D. reticulatus, and D. niveus. D. marginatus is the most widespread species, constituting 14.8% of all the ticks in the region; D. reticulatus and D. niveus are found less frequently, constituting 2.8% and 0.01%, respectively. D. marginatus and D. reticulatus are spread mostly in the forest-steppe and steppe zones of Stavropol Territory. D. niveus is represented by solitary specimens in arid and semidesert zones. The main hosts of adult D. marginatus in Stavropol Territory are cattle (88.4%) and sheep and goats (5.3%). The hosts of D. reticulatus are also cattle (72.3%) and sheep and goats (4%). D. marginatus activates at an average monthly temperature of +2.07°C and average monthly rainfall of 47.2 mm. The peak of parasitizing on hosts was observed at an average monthly temperature of +7.8°C and average monthly rainfall of 56.2 mm. The autumnal activation was recorded at an average monthly temperature of +15.3°C and average monthly rainfall of 58.2 mm.

Chewing lice (Mallophaga: Insecta) of birds in the Central Ciscaucasia

Collections of 8805 individuals of chewing lice from wild and domestic fowl in the Central Ciscaucasia were processed. According to original and literary data, 102 species of Mallophaga are known from this territory; 15 of them were recorded for the first time. Most of all the chewing lice species known in the territory are parasites of passerine birds; the number of species associated with each of the 12 remaining bird orders of birds is several times smaller. An exchange of chewing lice between some species of hosts, including domestic and wild fowl, is possible.

Lower miocene sediments of the Maikop group in the Central Eastern Paratethys

The composite section of upper Maikop sediments compiled for the central part of the Eastern Paratethys is presented. The section (more than 1000 m) comprises the Karadzhalgan, Sakaraulian, and Kotsakhurian regional stages. The lower boundary of the Miocene drawn at the base of the Karadzhalgan regional stage is unambiguous only in the southern part of the central Ciscaucasia. In most areas of the Ciscaucasia, this boundary is drawn arbitrarily because of uniform lithology in the Oligocene-Miocene boundary interval and poor paleontological substantiation. Generally, the Maikop sequence is insufficiently studied and incomplete in many areas because of a discordant upper boundary of the Maikop Group. Nevertheless, materials presented in the paper characterize for the first time the composition and structure of the Lower Miocene sequence over a vast area of the Eastern Paratethys. The horizonwise reconstruction of Early Miocene basins has made it possible to reveal the major features of final stages in the formation of the Maikop clayey sequence.

Bo Stig Hansen, Michael Reichardt Hansen, Udo Pletat and Rudi Studer: An abstract model of a distributed office system, Institute fuer Informatik, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, 1985

The article is devoted to the Chinese mirrors found in the burials of the nomads of Asian Sarmatia. The typology and chronology of mirrors is presented, the earliest of which dates back to the period of the Warring States, but most of them, dating back to the 1st century BC – 2nd century AD. In the complexes of the second half of the 1st century BC – the first half of the 1st century AD the number of Chinese items in Asiatic Sarmatia is increasing. They are represented, among others, by two mirrors of the Western Han type, which come from the Lower Volga and Don regions; they are not known in the South Urals. In the complexes of the second half of the 1st– the first half of the 2nd century AD the Chinese mirrors are much more common. As before, they are not known in the Urals, but they are also represented in the Kuban and Lower Volga, and especially in the Lower Don region. In the burials of the late Sarmatian period of the late 2nd – middle / second half of the 3rd century AD Chinese mirrors are relatively abundant in the Urals, where the mapping of finds allows us to distinguish two local groups (1 – South Urals: Lebedevka and burial grounds in the Ilek river basin; 2 - South Bashkiria, interfluve of the Sakmara and the Urals rivers, and the Trans-Urals), while further to the west – in the Lower Volga and Don regions, they generally ceased to fall, only two mirrors are known outside the South Urals – in Trans-Kuban and Central Ciscaucasia. The issue of deliberate damage to mirrors is specially considered.Is it possible to consider the Chinese bronze mirrors as trade items? If we assume that they belonged to the items of trade along the Silk Road, then two conclusions following from the dating of the finds should be taken into consideration. Firstly, these mirrors were not distributed to the ancient centers of the North Pontic area and further to the territory of the Roman provinces. Thus, the way of the mirrors ended in the steppe. Moreover, starting from the second half of the 2nd century AD (late Sarmatian culture) Chinese mirrors cease to fall to the west of the Urals – their finds are unknown neither in the Lower Volga region, nor on the Don. This means that the connection between the distribution of the Chinese mirrors and the functioning of the northern branch of the Silk Road is unlikely.

Features of geologic structure and formation of Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic deposits of Central and Eastern Ciscaucasia with respect to oil and gas

Features of geologic structure and formation of Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic deposits of Central and Eastern Ciscaucasia with respect to oil and gas

Prognosis of slumping deformations of loess soils

Investigat{ons into the said problem were carried out on experimental flooding plots in various regions of Central and Eastern Ciscaucasia. Plot No. I was situated in the Primanychskie steppes in the region of Divnoe Village, plot No. 2 in the Ter'ek-Kum interfluve near Steppnoe village, and plot No. 3 on the third terrace of the Terek River (Nadterechnaya Fiat), southeast of h[ozdok. Those soils of different regions of Ciscaucasis substantially differ from each other. The soils of the Primanychskie steppes are represented by foams }m~ing an aggTegate granular te:~ure, the clay minerals of which mainly consist of hydromica with an admixture of montmoril]onite. These soils are characterized by a high content of gypsum in the composition of the water-soluble salts and a relatively high value of absorption capacity {I0-15 mg• equiv), and approxin~.ately an equal content of Ca and Na in the eomposihon of adsorbed cations.