Multi-purpose utilization of the water resources of the Volga-Caspian basin is affecting not only the economy of this huge region. Of special significance is the creation of a large power supply base that insures the development of several important branches of industry, which in turn is leading to major changes in the economic geography of the country as a whole.It is now the turn of broad utilization of water resources for the development of agricultural production, especially irrigated agriculture in the fertile but arid regions of the southwest.It is from that point of view that one should consider the great diversion project from regions with surplus moisture to regions with an inadequate water supply. At stake is the diversion of a volume of water equivalent to one and a half times the annual discharge of the Don River or to almost half the discharge of the Nile.At the same time the search should be pursued for economical ways of obtaining additional water resources in the lower reaches of the Volga and in the Caspian area. According to preliminary findings, a source of additional water could be the desalting of mineralized groundwater by natural freezing and the utilization of this water for agricultural purposes, specifically livestock ranges, and in some areas for saturation of the soil in spring and soil-salinization control.(Abstract: The authors urge further research to Insure more effective use of water resources for irrigation in the arid zone, but they see a limit to the amount of land that can ultimately be irrigated. A specific problem is that of devising economical methods for desalting the highly mineralized groundwater supplies as an additional source of water for arid-zone pastures. More effective utilization of desert pastures is also said to depend on the provision of emergency feed supplies and more scientific grazing practices. Previous articles on desert development problems appeared in Soviet Geography, February 1963.)The present paper considers the problem of transformation of nature and development of the natural resources of arid areas in its zonal aspect, which is basically dependent on heat-moisture relationships. We will not deal with mineral resources, most of which are not related to the present-day situation of the natural environment. The focus is instead on water and plant resources, -34-
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