This study focuses on the Kuibyshev reservoir (Volga River basin, Russia)—the largest in Eurasia and the third in the world by area (6150 km²). The objective of this paper is to quantitatively assess the dynamics of reservoir bank landslides and shoreline abrasion at active zones based on the integrated use of modern instrumental methods (i.e., terrestrial laser scanning—TLS, unmanned aerial vehicle—UAV, and a global navigation satellite system—GNSS) and GIS analysis of historical imagery. A methodology for the application of different methods of instrumental assessment of abrasion and landslide processes is developed. Different approaches are used to assess the intensity of landslide and abrasion processes: the specific volume and material loss index, the planar displacement of the bank scarp, and the planar-altitude analysis of displaced soil material based on the analysis of slope profiles. Historical shoreline position (1958, 1985, and 1987) was obtained from archival aerial photo data, whereas data for 1975, 1993, 2010, 2011, and 2012 were obtained from high-resolution satellite image interpretation. Field surveys of the geomorphic processes from 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2014 were carried out using Trimble M3 and Trimble VX total stations; in 2012–2014 and 2019 TLS and UAV surveys were made, respectively. The monitoring of landslide processes showed that the rate of volumetric changes at Site 1 remained rather stable during the measurement period with net material losses of 0.03–0.04 m⁻³ m⁻² yr⁻¹. The most significant contribution to the average annual value of the material loss was snowmelt runoff. The landslide scarp retreat rate at Site 2 showed a steady decreasing trend, due to partial overgrowth of the landslide accumulation zone resulting in its relative stabilization. The average long-term landslide scarp retreat rate is—2.3 m yr⁻¹. In 2019 earthworks for landscaping at this site have reduced the landslide intensity by more than 2.5 times to—0.84 m yr⁻¹.

The basin of the small river studied here (the Vezelka River, Belgorod Oblast of European Russia) is located within an urban area (22% of the basin). This circumstance determines its specificity as an object of synergetic anthropogenic impact. The purpose of the work was to develop and test approaches to the integral assessment of the hydroecological situation both in the watershed and riparian zones based on hydrological, hydrochemical, and hydrobiological data and estimates of soil erosion, river water quality, and the pollution of river bottom sediments. The selection of the Vezelka River and its watershed for the study was due to the presence there of two water intakes for a town with a population of 2439 people per sq. km, repeated bottom deepening in the riverbed, and the fact that there is a single regional small-river hydrological station (although there are 567 rivers < 25 km long in Belgorod Oblast). Analysis for 1951–2021 showed a steady decline in water discharge since 1991; thus, over the past three decades, the discharge has decreased by 2.4 times. The reduction in the length of the river network of the study region by 38% over the past 250 years and the assignment of water (at 10 gauging stations) to 3–4 quality classes (extremely and heavily polluted) indicated the exhaustion of the possibilities for the self-purification of the river water. These estimates for large and medium rivers were clearly confirmed by the investigation of the water in the small river studied. In the summer low-water periods, the maximum allowable concentrations in fishery water bodies were exceeded by 2–10 times in terms of Cu, Fe, ammonium, oil, and biochemical oxygen demand. The reconstruction of the floodplain–channel subsystem of river–valley landscapes was substantiated as the final stage of the concept of basin nature management, replacing the continuous deepening of the channel without proper erosion control measures in the watershed area and the organization of buffer zones along the river banks.

Geoarchaeological methods were used to study chronosequences of surface soils in the steppe zone and to trace soil evolution during the Late Holocene in northwestern Crime

The results obtained during a complex study of soils and plants on mounds located in four subzones of forest steppe and steppe are presented. Having studied the vertical microzoning of the mounds, general and specific features of the distribution of soil properties (based on 40 indicators) have been shown in their geographical, catenary, and expository aspects. Functional changes have been found in the interdependence between soil and plant, which developed as a result of the thousands years of evolution of the ecosystems.