Transbaikal Area Research Articles

Distribution of Najadaceae Species in Trans-Baikal Area Due to Climatic Factors

According to data of the late 20th century in the Trans-Baikal and Baikal areas, the family Najadaceae is represented by four species known in few localities: Caulinia flexilis (4 localities), C. minor (3), and Najas major (3), N. marina (4). All of them are annuals, r-strategists, which are characterized by fluctuations in abundance. Since the 21st century, these species have been found in 20 more localities, mainly situated within the Baikal Depression. In 2015, when performing monitoring studies of aquatic flora, three more new localities of Caulinia flexilis, C. minor, and Najas major were found in the basin of the Amur River. Distribution maps of the Najadaceae species in the region were compiled, and the ecological characteristics of their habitats were given. In Trans-Baikal area, since the middle of the 20th century, warming has occurred due to an increase in the average annual temperature. For the last 70 years, aridization has increased in southern regions, which changes the habitat conditions in waterbodies. Findings of these Najadaceae species in Trans-Baikal area coincided with the periods of increase in mean annual air temperatures and with local minimums of precipitation. An increase in the number of findings of the Najadaceae species since the beginning of the 21st century, both in Trans-Baikal area and in other regions of Russia, has been occurring against the background of an increase in the average annual air temperature. In Trans-Baikal area, the trend of increasing of temperatures in the warm season since the beginning of the 21st century is favorable for these species and may contribute to their further distribution.

The Genus Pinnularia Ehrenberg (Bacillariophyta) from the Transbaikal Area (Russia, Siberia): Description of Seven New Species on the Basis of Morphology and Molecular Data with Discussion of the Phylogenetic Position of Caloneis.

Seven Pinnularia species from the Transbaikal area, Russia, are described as new for science. These are P. baicalgenkalii, P. baicalflexuosa, P. microfrauenbergiana, P. pergrunowii, P. siberiosinistra, P. baicalodivergens, and P. baicalislandica. All species are described by original LM and SEM microphotographs and molecular phylogeny. We provide comparisons between the taxa and document variability in the features found in the species. The number of Pinnularia species in the Transbaikal area is the largest number of species of the genus anywhere in the world.

Changes in Molecular Structure of Humic Substances in Cambisols under Agricultural Use

Soil organic matter stability and transformation affected by agriculture is a global problem of great concern. This study aimed to reveal structural changes in humic molecules under conventional soil tillage in Cambisols of the Transbaikal area. Humic acids were isolated from the humus horizons of native and arable variants of Eutric Cambisol Cryic (gleyic, humic, loamic) from the forest steppe, and Haplic Cambisol (arenic, humic, protocalcic) from the steppe zone. The changes in the humic substances’ quality were evaluated by means of an elemental analysis and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The results indicate that different agronomic management affected the changes in the composition and molecular structure of humic acids. Soil tillage induced an increase in the carbon content, the proportion of aromatic compounds and carboxyl groups and the depletion in nitrogen. As measured by 13C NMR spectroscopy, the intensity of these changes was determined by soil properties and the hydrothermal regime. Organic matter from Eutric Cambisol Cryic was suggested as providing significant environmental resistance to the agricultural impact due to the optimization of the water regime and a loamy texture. Prolonged ploughing of sandy Haplic Cambisol under the arid conditions promoted deep changes in the humic substances’ composition and chemical structure.

U–Pb ID-TIMS Age of Rutile from the North Muya Block Eclogites (Northeastern Transbaikal Area) as a Tracer of the Duration for Exhumation of the Continental Lithosphere

Rutile, an abundant mineral phase of high-grade rocks, is used as a tracer of lithospheric evolution for deep zones of orogenic belts. This study presents new ID-TIMS U–Pb geochronological, mineralogical, and geochemical data for rutile from eclogites of the North Muya block (Baikal–Muya fold belt) in order to examine the applicability of its age estimates relative to the exhumation process of high-grade rocks. The assemblage of mineral inclusions in rutile (mainly titanite, epidote, and amphibole) indicate rutile growth through titanite breakdown reactions during prograde metamorphism epidote–amphibolite or amphibolite–facies rocks. The range of Zr contents and estimated Zr-in-rutile crystallization temperatures correspond to conditions from prograde (619–638°С at 1.5 GPa) up to peak ones (659–684°С for 2.5 GPa). The U–Pb age estimate (605 Ma) is notably younger than that of peak eclogitic metamorphism (630 Ma) and highlight the protracted cooling history of the eclogite-bearing complex during its evolution below the closure temperature of the U–Pb isotope system in rutile (~500–525°С) during tectonic denudation or erosion of continental complexes.

The Chinese Population of Transbaikalia under the Conditions of the Stalinist System in the 1930s

The article is devoted to the history of the Chinese population in the East Siberian border region with China, Transbaikal, in the 1930s. The particular position of this border region determined the specific formation of this Chinese population. The transfer of the Transbaikal region from the Far Eastern region back to the administrative unit of Siberia in the 1930s strengthened the Siberian regional features of the development of the Chinese community, and meant that the Far Eastern nationality policy was not applied to this community. The development of this community was influenced by the fact that in the 1930s, the state border with Manchuria was completely closed. The Manchukuo state, along with the Republic of China, had its official representatives in Chita. In the early 1930s the size of the Chinese population in Transbaikal reached a maximum, and in the Chita region its share in relation to the total population was equal to that in the Far Eastern regions. In the 1930s the working and living conditions of the majority of Chinese workers were difficult: they faced discrimination and were poorly adapted to the socio-political realities of Stalin's system. Initially the Bolsheviks carried out an active policy towards the Chinese that was aimed at their ideological and political re-education and the improving of their living and working conditions. In the second half of the 1930s, however, this policy changed, and political education and the development of a Soviet Chinese culture were no longer prominent. The Chinese began to be perceived as a national community disloyal to the Soviet regime, as real or potential agents of Japan and Kuomintang China. In 1936 began the exposure of Chinese spies, and in 1937-1939 the Soviet Chinese were fully subjected to the tyranny of the Soviet secret services and punitive agencies, and suffered greatly from political repression. By the late 1930s the number of Chinese in Transbaikal had decreased by almost a third; however, the situation was different from that in the border regions of the Far East in so far as there was no mass eviction of Chinese from the Transbaikal area.

Bronze seal from the Duryony settlement and the elite Xiongnu complex of the Tsaram burial ground

The changes triggered by the emergence of the Xiongnu state, which occupied a dominant position in Central Asia at the end of the 1st millennium BC, radically influenced the fate of the nomadic and settled agricultural world. By this time, the process of transformation of traditional institutions of Xiongnu society had been basically completed and a rather complex management system with an extensive hierarchical structure had been formed. The seals were one of the symbols of the new system. Being a confirmation of social status seals were in circulation by the Xiongnu society up to its complete degradation. More than forty years ago, a bronze seal of the Xiongnu was found during the archaeological excavations of the Duryony settlement in Trans-Baikal region. This find still remains unique. In the publications focused on it, the main attention was paid to the style and composition of the carved image, as well as issues related to the appearance of seals among the Xiongnu and the role assigned to them in public life. In this study, the seal from the Duryony settlement is considered in the context of the results of large-scale archaeological studies of the complexes of the Xiongnu elite, carried out in Mongolia and Trans-Baikal area in the early 2000s. The observations made allow us to argue that the seal could belong to one of the representatives of the clan nobility buried in the Tsaramskaya valley, who ruled remote territories on the northern borders of the Xiongnu state, or someone from their entourage.

Molecular and Morphological Investigations of Two Giant Diatom Cymbella Species from the Transbaikal Area (Russia, Siberia) with Comments on Their Distributions.

For the first time, a giant diatom species of the genus Cymbella from Lake Baikal was studied using molecular methods. Molecular and morphological investigations allowed to us to described one new species, Cymbella baicalaspera Glushchenko, Kulikovskiy and Kociolek sp. nov. This species is both morphologically similar and phylogenetically close to a second giant Cymbella species that we investigated here, identified by us as Cymbella himalaspera Jüttner and Van de Vijver in Jüttner et al. 2010. This species was first described from Nepal on the basis of a morphological investigation. Small morphological differences exist between the type population and specimens from Lake Baikal, but otherwise the two are identical. These very interesting results show that some Baikalian diatoms can be distributed more widely and are not only endemic to this ancient lake. Similarity between Cymbella baicalaspera sp. nov. and Cymbella himalaspera on the basis of both morphological features and their close phylogenetic relationships suggested by molecular data indicate they are sister species and an example of sympatric speciation. These results also suggest an early development of a species flock. This species group warrants additional research in terms of. their diversification and biogeography.

Mallomonas voloshkoae sp. nov. (Synurales, Chrysophyceae) and distribution of M. pechlaneri in mountain lakes of Siberia

Mallomonas voloshkoae sp. nov. was described from Russia based on silica-scale morphology studied by means of transmission and scanning electron microscopy. This species belongs to the section Striatae and is characterised by scales with wide anterior flanges, forming wing-like extensions. This species is most similar in scale ultrastructure to M. pechlaneri. Mallomonas voloshkoae was reported in four mountain lakes of the Transbaikal area and was found in acidic to slightly acidic conditions with very low values of specific conductance. Mallomonas pechlaneri was reported in Russia for the first time. This is the first record of this species after the description of this taxon in Europe. Mallomonas pechlaneri was found in three oligotrophic habitats in the Altay and Sayan Mountain areas.

352 years long fire history of a Siberian boreal forest and its primary driving factor

Fire is a major disturbance agent in the boreal forest, affecting the structure, dynamics and biogeochemical cycles in this biome. In the Asian section of boreal forest, the records of long-term fire history are few that limits our understanding of factors forcing regional fire dynamics. We presented an annually-resolved 352-year (1666–2017) fire chronology based on fire scars of Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) and Siberian larch ( Larix sibirica Ledeb) from the Transbaikal area in the southeastern Siberia. Fire activity showed an increasing trend from 1720 to 1929 (R 2 = 0.80, P < 0.0001), and a significant decreasing trend from 1920 to 2010 (R 2 = 0.62, P < 0.001). We assessed the potential relationships between drought (as represented by the Palmer Drought Severity Index, PDSI, and the Monthly Drought Code, MDC), ocean-atmosphere circulation and forest fire by Superposed epoch analyses, cross-wavelet analysis and Granger causality analysis. Increased fire activity was associated with stronger drought from previous winter to current summer of fire event years and positive Arctic Oscillation (AO) before and during major fire season (February and April to May), as revealed by superposed epoch analysis. Granger causality pointed to the significant role of drought in driving forest fires. Our findings provide insights into the climate drivers of forest fire activity and its prediction in the Transbaikal region. • Fire history was reconstructed by fire scars in tree rings from 1666 to 2017 in southeastern Siberia. • Fire activity showed a significant increasing trend from 1720 to 1929 and a significant decreasing trend from 1920 to 2009. • Drought was the major climate driver of the fire. • Increased fire activity was associated with the positive Arctic Oscillation (AO) before and during the major fire season (February, April and May).

Cymbopleuranatellia - a new species from Transbaikal area (Russia, Siberia) described on the basis of molecular and morphological investigation.

A new cymbelloid diatom species from the genus Cymbopleura (Krammer) Krammer is described on the basis of molecular and morphological investigations. Cymbopleuranatellia Glushchenko, Kulikovskiy & Kociolek, sp. nov. is, on the basis of results with molecular data, close to C.naviculiformis (Auerswald ex Heiberg) Krammer. The two species differ both by molecular distance and morphological features. Morphologically, C.natelliasp. nov. is compared with several other species in the genus. This work is a pioneer investigation of cymbelloid taxa using molecular tool from Transbaikal area.

Nitrogen compounds in water in technogenesis zones of ore deposits in the Eastern Transbaikal area

Nitrogen compounds in water in technogenesis zones of ore deposits in the Eastern Transbaikal area

The human environment of the Xiongnu Ivolga Fortress (West Trans-Baikal area, Russia): Initial data

This article deals with the initial data coming from the Ivolga Fortress archaeological site located in the Trans-Baikal area. Multidisciplinary investigations were performed, including palynological and archaeozoological studies. Palynological data reflects the palaeovegetation of the region and shows the abundance of forested landscapes in the past. The fauna was made of molluscs (7 taxa), fishes (14 taxa), amphibians (3 taxa), reptiles (1 taxon), and wild mammals (18 taxa). The species composition and environmental data show the mosaic character of landscapes surrounding the ancient settlement: taiga and forest, steppe and forest-steppe biotopes, as well as meadows in the Selenga valley with the prevalence of open steppe spaces. In the era of the Xiongnu Empire 209 BC – 48 AD (Kradin, 2001) the climate was less arid than it is now.

Начало институционализации здравоохранения Забайкалья в дореволюционный период

Начало институционализации здравоохранения Забайкалья в дореволюционный период

Role of Crust Contamination in the Early Cretaceous Magmatism of the Western Trans-Baikal Rifting Area

Role of Crust Contamination in the Early Cretaceous Magmatism of the Western Trans-Baikal Rifting Area

Isolation, Characterization, and Metal Response of Novel, Acid-Tolerant Penicillium spp. from Extremely Metal-Rich Waters at a Mining Site in Transbaikal (Siberia, Russia).

The role of fungi in metal cycling in acidic environments has been little explored to date. In this study, two acid-tolerant and metal-resistant Penicillium isolates, strains ShG4B and ShG4C, were isolated from a mine site in the Transbaikal area of Siberia (Russia). Waters at the mine site were characterized by extremely high metal concentrations: up to 18gl-1 Fe and > 2gl-1 each of Cu, Zn, Al, and As. Both isolates were identified as Penicillium spp. by phylogenetic analyses and they grew well in Czapek medium acidified to pH 2.5. Resistance to Cu, Cd, Ni, Co, and arsenate was in the range of 1-10gl-1. Further experiments with Penicillium strain ShG4C demonstrated that growth in Cu-containing media was accompanied by the precipitation of Cu-oxalate (moolooite) and the formation of extracellular vesicles enriched in Cu on the mycelia. Vesicles were greatly reduced in size in Cd-containing media and were not formed in the presence of Ni or Co. Cd-oxalate was detected as a crystalline solid phase in Cd-exposed mycelia. Hydrated Ni-sulfate (retgersite) and Co-sulfate (bieberite) were detected in mycelia grown in the presence of Ni and Co, respectively. The results demonstrated that acid-tolerant and metal-resistant Penicillium constitute a component in extremophilic microbiomes, contributing to organic matter breakdown and formation of secondary solid phases at pH ranges found in acid rock drainage.

Контрабанда и борьба с ней на российском Дальнем Востоке в конце XIX-го - первой четверти ХХ в.: перспективы формирования источниковой базы

The article is devoted to the problems of forming a sources base for studying the history of fighting smuggling in the Russian Far East, a subject which is becoming a line of historical research. In many respects, this is due to activation of scientific activity in the Far Eastern departmental universities. Transfer of the Russian State Historical Archive of the Far East from Tomsk to Vladivostok has played its role in studying smuggling as a historical phenomenon in the Far East. Although they appreciate the work done for introducing into scientific use Soviet period documents from state and departmental archives, the authors can’t help noting fragmentary use of documents of the RGIA DV. This is what prevents reconstruction of a complete and objective picture of fighting smuggling in the periphery. The authors study new possibilities of forming a source base for studying the history of combating smuggling in the first decades of the 20th century. They note that opening all fonds the RGIA DV for researchers in 2013 created favorable conditions for comprehensive study of customs records, this peculiar source on the history of smuggling. A complex of these documents is preserved in the fonds of the customs agencies that operated in the Amur and Trans-Baikal area in the pre-revolutionary period: regional offices of customs administration, custom offices, custom posts. They had to shoulder the bulk of counter-smuggling work in the absence of border guard. Study of some archival cases demonstrates information potential of customs record keeping. The authors contend the need to improve the methods of identification and introduction into scientific use of sources on the history of fighting smuggling. Further prospects for development of this line of historical research are associated with use of the entire complex of customs agencies documents which is supposed to expand the subject-matter and to force researchers to address it not just as a crime, but also as a social and cultural phenomenon.

Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous paleoenvironmental evolution of the Transbaikal basins (SE Siberia): implications for the Mongol-Okhotsk orogeny

The Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous tectonic evolution of SE Siberia was marked by the closure of the Mongol-Okhotsk ocean. While this geodynamic event led to compressive deformation and denudation in a wide area encompassing the North-Altay, Sayan and Baikal Patom ranges, it was contemporaneous to widespread extension from the Transbaikal region situated immediately north of the suture zone to the Pacific plate, affecting eastern Mongolia and northeastern China. In this study we review the paleontological and sedimentological data available in the Russian literature and provide new macro-floral and palynological data from the Mesozoic sediments of three Transbaikal basins. These data are used to describe the paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic evolution of the Transbaikal area in order to assess the topographic evolution of the region in relation with the closure of the Mongol-Okhotsk ocean. We establish that the Transbaikal basins evolved in a continuously extensional tectonic setting from at least the Early-Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. The associated sedimentary environments are characterized by retrogradation from alluvial fan–braided river dominated systems prevailing during the Early to Middle Jurassic initial opening of the basins to meandering river– lacustrine systems that developed during the Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous interval. No evidence of high relief topography was found and we conclude that, while compression and denudation occurred in the North Altai, Sayan and Patom ranges, in the Transbaikal region, the docking of the Mongolia-North China continent to Siberia was a “soft collision” event, possibly involving a major strike-slip displacement that did not lead to an orogenic event implying strong compressive deformation, crustal thickening and topography building.

Impact of Social Myths on the Construction of German Identity in Russian Polyethnic Region

Background/Objectives: The objective of this paper is to identify the specifics of the transformation of the Germans’ ethnic identity in the Transbaikal territory. Methods/Statistical Analysis: The research methodology is based on a comparative analysis, which is supplemented by historical and evolutionary approach, serving as a philosophical development of the idea of constructivism. When analyzing the effects of social influence, the authors applied techniques of hermeneutics and social phenomenology, based on the reflection of phenomena of the social environment as the texts, whereby the modeling function of sign systems that regulate social behavior, continuity of culture and self-perception is justified. Findings: The research has shown that the problem of history and culture of Germans in the Transbaikal region exists only within the nationwide problematics of studying the Russian Germans’ culture. At the same time, there are specific features of Germans’ staying beyond in the Transbaikal area, in terms of the process of building a German identity, the leading role is played by the regional social mythopoeia that influenced the ups and downs of the ethnic self-comprehension of Germans. As a result of the study, the authors have proven that Germans living in the Transbaikal territory refer to their ethnicity as a form of organization of a successful life. The result of the study is the proof of the intersubjective nature of the diffuse identity of modern Transbaikal Germans, which appears to them as an immanent dialectic process of struggle, interaction and synthesis of an external social influence and internal group influence on the views of Germans on themselves and their ethnicity. Application /Improvements: Practical application of these results is the intercultural and interethnic interaction in the Transbaikal territory, where they can be used to develop preventive measures in social policy and to institute control over the processes of development of ethnic groups and organizations.

The most ancient Ornithomimosaur (Theropoda, Dinosauria), with cover imprints from the Upper Jurassic of Russia

A new theropod dinosaur, Lepidocheirosaurus natatilis gen. et sp. nov., from the Upper Jurassic (?Tithonian) deposits of the Kulinda locality (Transbaikal Area, Russia) is described based manus fragments, caudal vertebrae, and imprints of horn scales. The new form is similar in morphology to Nqwebasaurus thwazi de Klerk et al., 2000 from the Lower Cretaceous of South Africa and assigned to the family Nqwebasauridae fam. nov. (Ornithomimosauria, Theropoda). It is proposed that nqwebasaurids searched for relatively small prey in the water column.

An acidophilic Desulfosporosinus isolated from the oxidized mining wastes in the Transbaikal area

Dissimilatory sulfate reduction plays an important role in removal of dissolved metals from acidic mine waters. Although this process was convincingly shown to occur in acidic waste of metal recovery, few isolates of acid-tolerant sulfate rducers are known. We isolated a new acidophilic sulfidogen, strain BG, from the oxidized acidic waste of the Bom-Gorkhon tungsten deposit, Transbaikalia, Russia. Phylogenetic analysis of its 16S rRNA gene sequence made it possible to identify it as a member of the genus Desulfosporosinus. Unlike other known acidophilic sulfate reducers of this genus, strain BG was tolerant to high copper concentrations (up to 5 g/L), could grow on organic acids at low ambient pH, and formed crystalline copper sulfides (covellite and chalcopyrite). Molecular analysis of the phenotypes predominating in oxidized waste and in enrichment cultures confirmed the presence of various Desulfosporosinus strains.