In recent decades, the intensive development of mountain areas is taking place, which has a high potential of such hazardous exodynamic modern processes such as landslides, mudflows, landslides, avalanches, subsidence, etc. Trend amplification processes landslides within the Azerbaijan part of the Greater Caucasus are analyzed. Greater Caucasus is a classic region of landslides. In recent years there has been not only an increase in the intensity of sliding materials in pre-existing landslide outbreaks, but new areas of their development are appearing, which bring enormous material damage to economy and infrastructure. Within the studied region on the morphology and coverage of the territory the three types of landslides identified: landslides streams (ishgyny), areal landslides and landfalls. Landslides streams (ishgyny) are common for the northeastern slope of the Greater Caucasus and morphologically divided into three parts: an amphitheater, a hop and debris cone (Atuchsky, Erfinsky, Khalage et.). It was found that the areal landslides on landscape-features are very different, and they are characterized by the step-wavy relief (Tirdzhansky, Dzhiminsky, Himransky et.). Landfalls are most widely developed in the tight-Shahdagh Gyzylgainskogo array, as well as on clay rocks district. Girdimanchay, Shabranchay, Gilgilchay and others. As a result of a detailed spatio-temporal analysis of landslides areas the trend of their development identified, as well as an assessment of landslide-prone region is carried out on concrete examples researched in order to develop comprehensive engineering and geomorphological measures to reduce landslide risk.

Natural and recreational potential of the Ukrainian Carpathians is combination of climate, water, land, forestry, biological, landscape, and other resources that can be used for recreational and tourist activities. At the same time the determining factors of recreation development and tourism activities are: favorable geographical position; unique geological and geomorphological conditions; developed hydrographic network; presence of various mineral waters, curative mud and mineral wax; landscape and biological diversity and attractiveness of landscapes. The article analyzes the specific properties of the mineral waters on the territory of the four National Karpat parks. Ukrainian national territory “Synevir” Park revealed mineral waters with different mineralization and chemical composition: brackish without specific components and properties; carbonated water; carbonated water with high iron content; carbonic, boric, ferruginous water. On the territory of the national “Vizhnitsky” mineral waters of the park revealed that their chemical composition can be divided into: brackish with a high content of organic substances; water of low mineralization of different chemical composition; water of medium mineralization; water of high salinity; pickles; water with high content of specific components and biologically active compounds. National Park “SkolevskieBeskidy” waters characterized as brackish without specific components and properties (mineral table water), iodine-bromine, hydrogen sulfide, with a high content of organic substances (medicinal water). Water in the Yavoriv National Park territory belong to the category of weakly mineralized waters without specific properties and characteristics; cold water, slightly alkaline. The chemical composition of these waters are bicarbonate calcium and calcium-sodium bicarbonate. Hydro resources with other natural resources and conditions of the studied areas of national parks of the Ukrainian Carpathians can be the basis for the establishment of spa treatment centers, medical and socio-psychological rehabilitation.

The mountain lakes of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic represent the unique recreational resource in intensively developing tourist cluster. Technological operation of the most attractive landscape of the Small Salty lake in a resort foreshortening in Karachay-Cherkessia is focused as on the unpromising, waste territory. After studying the history of the once popular and demanded the Small Salt Lake as a natural health facility, the authors came to the conclusion about the need to conduct a comprehensive geo-environmental monitoring in order to restore the popularity of the recreational lake landscape and recreational functions. As a result of inspection of the lake and the hydrochemical water analysis, very considerable ecological violations are confirmed by excess of separate ingredients of the maximum permissible concentration (MPC) are established. In particular, excess of maximum concentration limit on organoleptic indicators, to phenols, ammoniyny connections convincingly testifies to pollution of lake water with technological dumpings of anthropogenous character. Work is presented in one foreshortening of research of a compromise between the recreational capacity of the Small Salty lake and the taking place, not admissible, negative technological impact on its water area. With a deep belief of authors the compromise is possible and expedient with the organization of a sports complex on the basis of the studied landscape.

Problems of orohydrography, stratigraphy, stratigraphy, tectonics, geology, hydrogeology, hazardous exogenous processes occurrence, seismicity etc. are considered in the article in the southern resort part of the administrative district of Vladikavkaz with the purpose of suitable and safe site selection for health resort complex construction which is developing in the division. As a result of the analysis and realized investigations compilation three types of engineering geological areas were singled out in the resort part of Vladikavkaz on the basis of site feasibility degree with type and intensity of modern exogenous processes occurrence taking into account. The first type includes areas that do not require special engineering training and are stable, safe in respect of mudflow. They are the most stable and suitable for the erection of all kind of permanent structures. The second type – areas exposed to exogenous geological processes, thereby they require preliminary engineering training during construction. The third type includes areas with difficult terrain, with very steep slopes covered with forests, with intense manifestations of different exogenous geological processes. Sites of this type make up the rest of the resort district of Vladikavkaz and the use of these sites for construction is not recommended. Assessment of the condition of water supply source of Ordzhonikidze fresh groundwater deposits in Vladikavkaz is given.

Depletion of lead and zinc ores of polymetallic deposits of North Ossetia-Alania urges the use of new technologies that allow for profitable extraction of metals left in poor ores or tailings contained in the concentrators of Sadonskiy leadzink plant. One of such technologies is underground and heap leaching. In the present work the assessment of original and technogenic deposits of North Ossetia-Alania is given as possible objects of application of underground and heap leaching technology: reserves, geological and mineralogical and mining characteristics of the mines (original deposits), the processes of natural leaching in them; reserves, granulometric and chemical compositions of the tailings of tailings dams (technogenic deposits). Preferability is shown to use membrane-droplet movement of solutions in underground leaching of metals from poor and lost ores of the original deposits and the leaching of tailings of concentrating plants in the mixing apparatus. Rational parameters of the processes of leaching ores are given. An additional quantity of metals could be obtained due to the associated mine waters purification, which will also reduce environmental damage from both operating and suspended mines of the Sadonskiy lead-zinc plant.

Southern Baikal region is one of the areas in Russia prone to mudflow hazard. High natural potential for mudflow formation in the southern Baikal region is determined by a combination of the following factors: relatively high disintegration of bedrock and their physico-mechanical and physico-chemical properties in relation to the weathering agents, sufficient volume of friable fragmental material, considerably steep thalwegs, heat and moisture conditions, as well as high seismotectonic activity of the area. Geologically the area is marked by the igneous and metamorphic rocks including granitoids, gneisses, schists, marbles, basalts, sandstones, clays, which have various resistance to weathering agents and particle size distribution of the weathering products. Alluvial-proluvial sediments are one of the main sources of the solid mudflow phase formation, accounting for up to 50–80% of their total volume. Geomorphological conditions of the southern shore of Lake Baikal contribute to landslide development due to intensive erosional dissection of the northern slope of the Khamar-Daban ridge, with in average one river and two mudflow hazardous blind creeks per every 3 km of the shore. Large thalweg angles are conditioned by relative elevation of the estuaries over the river sources. Among climatic factors determining mudflow formation, precipitation is a predominant one. Regional proportion of rainfall per year is 70% and more. For instance, in 1934 and 1971 their total exceeded the mean yearly rate by almost 20%. The high seismotectonic activity of modern geodynamics of the Baikal Rift Zone, including the south of the Baikal region, stimulates development of mudflow processes. Among the measures aimed at reducing the mudflow hazard marked technical, ameliorative, organizational and economic. The best results are obtained with a combination of protective measures, in particular technical and ameliorative. Their implementation will minimize the economic and social damage, and the elimination of debris flow and flood risk in the developed areas of the south of the Baikal region.

The main objective of a solution of the problem of food security of any country is steady growth of production efficiency at the enterprises of agro-industrial complex. It is well known, that agricultural production functioning is impossible without land use. In the Republic of North Ossetia – Alania large territories are located on the hills and on the slopes (70%), of which more than 40% (about 100 thousand ha.) are mountain hayfields and pastures, which is only 17% of the total amount of fodder produced in the republic. Mountainous and slope lands of the republic has favorable conditions for the development of meat and dairy cattle, sheep breeding, potato growing and other agricultural sectors However, the reserves and the opportunities available in the mountainous territories are used inefficiently, and the existing studies do not differ in complexity and do not take into account the contemporary agricultural production trends. Steady falling of production potential of agricultural producers of the republic, characteristic of recent years, led to considerable decrease in the payoff of the main resource – land. For this reason the improvement of land resources control system in conditions of mountain territories is a current problem demanding the solution on the basis of use of new information technologies. In the article the economic-mathematical model of land management in conditions of mountain territories is offered, which gives the opportunity to optimize the structure of cultivated areas of particular regions and the republic in general, to implement research-based crop rotations with a given productivity preserving soil fertility, thus meeting the needs of the population of the republic in the main agricultural products.

In the present conditions of urbanization of the world, fresh water becomes a scarce natural resource. It is known that the vast reserves of fresh water are concentrated in glaciers. In Russia, the majority of glaciers are concentrated in the Arctic, as well as in high-altitude areas of Kamchatka, Altai and the Caucasus. Trace elements are global priority pollutants, monitoring which is an actual problem. Particularly acute problem of water quality, in terms of trace elements, gains in mining and glacial highlands of the Caucasus, where rivers feeding the flat part of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic originate. Formation of trace-element composition of mountainous glacial river waters occur naturally, by their transferring with the precipitation, from the soil, by wind transfer, but mainly due to the metallogenic features of water-bearing rocks and their ore specialization, and as studies have shown different in various altitudinal zones. It is known that the trace element composition of mountainous catchments of the Caucasus differs by a high concentration of many trace elements, which is caused by the spread of ore-bearing rocks in their basins. The results of the study of trace elements Mn, Mo, Ni, Cr, Pb, Cd in the waters of the glacial river Cherek-Balkarsky are given in the article. It is established that the pollution of river waters by trace elements in the upper reaches is natural geochemical and geomorphological background, due to leaching from rocks. It is noted that at the exit of the river to the plain the concentration of trace elements (except lead) decreases significantly and their number is much lower than in the upper reaches. The article also presents the minimum, maximum, and average concentrations of major ions and nitrogen-containing substances in the waters of the river Cherek-Balkarsky in the period of winter low water. According to that exceedance of the MAC was twice observed (p. 6.- R. Cherek, 110 km), namely nitrite and ammonium ions in 1,87 times and 6.4 times respectively, due to the pollution of the lower reaches of the river Cherek by the waste from the populated areas – runoff from residential complexes and farms.

The object of this study is the risk of manifestation of natural processes (landslides, mudflows, etc.) on the territory of Greater Sochi in compliance with modern climate change, assessment of activity of these processes, which depends on both climate-change and anthropogenic impacts on the territory. It is noted that the study area according to the intensity of development and activity of the manifestation of exogenic geological processes is unique for Russia. In the process of work were held: 1) collection, analysis and generalization of the data on the manifestation of dangerous exogenous geological processes in coastal and mountain cluster prior to the Olympic construction, Olympic construction period and after the Olympics, 2) analysis of activity of rapidly-changing factors (temperature, precipitation), causing the activity of landslides and mudflows for these periods. To assess hazardous weather a calendar is used of a sequential change of elementary circulation mechanisms (ECM) by typification of B. L. Dzerdzeevskii from 1899 to 2014. This allowed to make sufficiently long and representative time series and to set the ECM, in which weather, i.e. temperature and moisture regime of the territory, affects the activity of the EGP the most. In winter the most dangerous are ECM 13z, 12a, in spring – 12a, in summer 13l, having a greater length at the present time. It is noted that the main feature of anthropogenic impacts on the study area is their trigger role in the formation of parageneses of man-made and mixed with them natural manifestations of EGP. The authors propose a specific type of anthropogenically induced manifestations. It is noted that in accordance with the tendency of the circulation conditions and weather change in the coming years high probability of climatic extremes and, consequently, the increased activity of the EGP will remain.

One of the main technological processes of extraction of solid minerals is breaking and crushing of rock group blasting dispersed charges of industrial explosives. Quality crushing of rocks by explosion ensures the effective implementation of all subsequent technological operations of mining. Transmission energy of the explosion in the mountain massif and the distribution of energy in the massif is a multi-zone and multi-phase physical process. The crushing zone forming zone as part of the crushing zone with different symmetry with different boundary conditions and with a different position in relation to the charges. Each zone and for each phase in the zone requires an individual theoretical approach and individual mathematical apparatus describing the development phase and determines the final results rock crushing the action of this phase of the process. The most commonly used construction blasthole charges of industrial explosives do not provide uniform crushing of rocks throughout the surrounding volume. Explosion blasthole charge have no significant impact on the zone of the rock mass adjacent to empty part of hole of the charge, and the destruction of the array in most cases is due to the splitting of rocks by natural separateness. Determination of granulometric composition of blasted rock mass formed in the volume adjacent to empty parts at the design stage of an industrial explosion is a separate task. The article describes the first proposed factor of factionalism rocks for different categories of fracture, which developed the index table of factionalism. Developed based and computer program for determination of granulometric composition and output of gauge during the breakdown of rocks by explosion of natural separateness in the upper layer of the career of the ledge. Calculating results of rock crushing and oversize output in the upper layer of quarry ledge are demonstrated and analyzed in this article in five categories of fracturing of the rock massif.