Paleoreconstruction of natural conditions as the basis for the rational use of natural resource management on the territory of the Neva Lowland

Abstract

Modeling the evolution and dynamics of hydrological conditions of the Neva Lowland is of great theoretical and practical importance. The lowland is located in the Neva River basin, through which water from Europe’s largest Lake Ladoga flows. From the Mesolithic to the present day, the river has been a source of drinking water and biological resources and an important transportation route. The location of the river at a major crossroads of transcontinental routes connecting West and East, North and South Eurasia, determined the metropolitan functions of the territory and the development of the multi-million city of St. Petersburg. The city’s location on the Neva Lowland caused floods and gave rise to a number of environmental and geo-environmental problems. To optimize the use of natural resources, the cartographic models of the terrain are in great demand, on their basis it is possible to improve quantitative assessment and trends of waterlogging processes, submergence, risks of floods and disturbances in the water balance, exceeding the concentration of pollutants in water and bottom sediments. Reconstructions of hydrological conditions of the Neva Lowland in the Holocene are of interest for clarifying the evolution of natural and climatic conditions of the North-West Russian Plain. The aim of the article is to discuss the possibility of using GIS methods to study changes in hydrological conditions on the basis of actual data obtained so far in geography and archeology (geo-position and dating of objects of nature and material culture). The result of the work are maps that allow solving the problems of rational zoning of the territory, taking into account geological and environmental risks.