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complex, densely populated agricultural region. Hence the replanning of land use could only be accomplished through interdisciplinary investigations to provide multiple land-use planning programmes. M. SHARIF’S summary of range resource problems in West Pakistan had a distinct though related theme. Existing ecological information based on disparate researches was inadequate for planning optimum production. Hence integrated examination of environmental interactions, with particular reference to soil and vegetation “complexes,” was advocated to provide a more reliable base for such planning. SOERIANEGARA and SHARIF referred to questions of strategical importance in organising land research in developing countries. The co-ordinated research and development programmes that were visualised, however, involved numerous detailed investigations into specific land-use practices. Indian examples were provided by two experimental studies in which K. A. SHANKARNARAYAN examined grassland improvement by closure, bush control, reseeding and fertilising, and P. S. TOMER and S. S. NARWAL discussed the relationships between nitrogen and phosphorus applications, seedrates and forage yield. A number of points received particular emphasis in the concluding discussion. The desirability of integrated studies was generally agreed. However, limitations in work carried out thus far were recognised and it was urged that a “systems” approach to environmental analysis could provide a more effective framework. Secondly, more intensive integrated studies than those practised hitherto were needed if the results of reconnaissance surveys were to be effectively related to the detailed investigations that land assessment involved. Thirdly, it was stressed that land research in developing countries was conditioned by extremely limited technical resources. Therefore a major objective was to establish research priorities. This necessitated a rational progression of reconnaissance and semi-detailed integrated surveys, detailed land-use researches and pilot projects, in all phases of which the work should be planned in relation to the needs of people on the land. Hence it was imperative to have close coordination between the various parties involved in preliminary surveys, agricultural research, land use and regional administration. Beyond such considerations, fii and consistent government policies towards land research and development planning were necessary.
The Symposium of the IGU Commission on Coastal Geomorphology in the Soviet Union, October 1970 Hanmut VALENTIN,
Berlin”)
Among the various commissions of the International Geographical Union (IGU), the Commission on Coastal Geomorphology is certainly one of the most active. It was established in 1952 at the 17th International Geographical Congress in Washington, D. C., under the name cf “Commission on Coastal Sedimentation”. This name was changed to the present designation at the 19th International Geographical Congress in Stockholm in 1960. Apart from *) Prof. Dr. Hartmut VALENTIN, Institut fur Geographie, Technische Universitiit Berlin, StraDe des 17. Juni 135, D-l Berlin 12, Berlin (W), Germany.
publishing reports and valuable coastal bibliographies covering the periods 1952-54, 1955-58, 1959-63, and 1963-66, respectively, the Commission has held numerous meetings including field excursions during the International Geographical Congresses as well as during the inter-congress periods. The last meeting was a symposium in the Soviet Union from October 5-12, 1970. It was arranged by an organizing committee of both the Institute of Oceanology and the Oceanographical Committee of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, headed by V. P. ZENKOVICH. Besides ZENKOVICH the following members of the Commission participated: A. SCHOU (Denmark, chairman), C. KIDSON (Great Britain, secretary), A. GUILCHER (France), W. G. McINTIRE (USA), N. PANIN (Rumania), and the present writer. The first two days were devoted to paper sessions and to visits to scientific institutions in Moscow. The session on October 5th took place in the main building of the well-known Lomonosov University situated on the Lenin Heights in the southwestern part of the city. Here A. SCHOU delivered a lecture on the coasts of Denmark while A. GUILCHER read a paper on the interesting problem of double and multiple barrier reefs. H. VALENTIN reported on principles and problems of the handbook on regional coastal geomorphology of the world which is in preparation in his department. Following a reception by the Dean of the Geography Faculty of Lomonosov University, the Commission members had an opportunity to visit the very impressive Earth Sciences Museum housed in the 24th to 31st floors of the central tower of the university. It was a good idea to arrange the session on October 6th in the Institute of Oceanology of the Academy of Sciences situated in a park on the southeastern outskirts of Moscow. Thus the group had a chance of seeing the offices and laboratories of the most prominent coastal research team of the USSR, under leadership of V. P. ZENKOVICH. Here W. G. McINTIRE gave an account of the activities of the Coastal Studies Institute at Louisiana State University; C. KIDSON read a paper on coastline development in South-west England during the Quaternary, and N. PANIN summarized recent Rumanian investigations on the Danube delta. These lectures as well as the three held the day before were delivered, and translated into Russian, to a large audience of coastal research workers from different parts of the Soviet Union. It is intended to publish the six papers in Russian language. The day ended most harmoniously in an unforgettable performance of the ballet “Don Quixote” by L. MINKUS in the famous Bolshoi Theatre. On October 7th the Commission members, accompanied by a few Soviet colleagues, started on a six-day excursion along the Black Seu ccmst (Fig. 1). Heavy thunderstorms at that coast forced the plane to a long intermediate stop at Mineral’nyye Vody, one of the spas to the north of the Caucasus, surrounded by isolated laccolithic domes. But eventually the group could proceed to Adier, and from there to the central district of Greater Sochi. The following two days were spent studying the Grucasian Black Seu coasr from Sochi harbour to Cape Pitsunda (80 km) and visiting some of its research institutions. This coast demonstrates the need of distinguishing clearly between the coastal contilation and the present coastal dynamics, as proposed in the writer’s classification. Its configuration is characterized by an alternation of retrograded sectors (with cliffs mainly in flysch rocks) and sectors prograded by fluvial deposition, particularly around the mouths of the rivers Mzymta and Psou near Adler and the river Bzyb’ near Pitsunda. As to the present coastal dynamics, however, the coast is largely retrograding by marine erosion. The erosion is partly due to the construction of the jetties of Sochi harbour in
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Fig. 1 The route of the excursion to the Black Sea coast
1937-8 and, to a lesser extent, to an unfinished jetty at Gagra dating from 1914. These jetties cut across the movement of shingle which is generally directed to the south-east. While they cause some accumulation on their northwestern sides, there is a lack of sediment and thus a serious erosion for many kilometers on their lee-sides, threatening, for instance, the coastal railway at Adler. The erosion at Pitsunda is due to another cause. The shingle coming from the north-west and the gravels brought down by the Bzyb’ are here swallowed by a submarine canyon approaching the shore so that scarcely any sediment is reaching Cape Pitsunda at present. As a consequence, the high buildings erected there recently are now endangered by the sea. The problems of the Pitsunda area were further discussed by L. GALANOV in the Black Sea Laboratory of the All-Union Research Institute for Transport Engineering at Sochi. This important research station for coast protection with its wave tanks was visited under guidance of its director, Ja. S. SHUL’GIN. The Commission members also had the opportunity of visiting the research vessel Akademik Obrucheu and the wave recording station installed in the western jetty of Sochi harbour. The shore to the south-east of the harbour which had suffered badly from lee erosion was found to be much improved by a promenade, a sea wall, groynes, and shingle beaches replenished artificially at regular intervals. Such a modification of the shore is going on at a still larger scale along the coast of the southern Crimea. .4fter a fascinating flight from Adler to Simferopol’, the group spent about two days at this interesting and beautiful coast. The sector studied extended from Alushta in the north-east to Alupka in the south.west of Yalta (40 km). Apart from two laccolithic domes forming promontories, especially the Aju Dag near Gunuf (5 72 m), the confguration of this sector is caused by numerous landslides of Mesozoic clay
shales and limestones, and their subsequent selective erosion by the sea, giving rise to rugged cliffs. The present coastal dynamics is still widely dominated by marine erosion, but to the east of Yalta and particularly for some kilometers to the south-west of the town this process has been halted by man. The crumbling cliff face has often been stabilized by a lining of concrete; promenades, sea walls, and groynes have been constructed; and huge amounts of broken stones from the mountains have been tipped among the groynes. Angular stones dumped in autumn are rounded by the winter surf sufficiently to yield shingle beaches for the next summer season. It was most impressive to see these long stretches of artificial shingle beaches which have been created, and are regularly replenished, for the benefit of those seeking recovery at the ‘Russian Riviera’. A last high-light of the excursion was the return journey from Yalta to Simferopol’ on October 12th. In contrast to the main road from Simferopol’ to Alushta which passes through a gap in the Yayla Mountains (752 m), the by-road used was winding up the steep south-eastern slope of the mountains on to the treeless karst plateau near Ay Petri (1233 m), and then down through the cuesta landscape on its northwestern side. From Shnferopol’, a jet plane brought the group back to Moscow. Lack of space does not permit an account of the four business sessions of the Commission held during the excursion. This will be done by the chairman in his report to the 22nd International Geographical Congress in Canada, 1972. The present report cannot be concluded, however, without expressing the most cordial thanks to all those that made the symposium such an outstanding success: to the International Geographical Union for financial support; to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR for providing transport; to the mayors and scientists of Sochi, Pitsunda and Yalta for their kind help and hospitality; but in particular to V. P. ZENKOVICH and his friendly collaborators of the organizing committee.