Approaches to the plane landscapes altitudinal organization study

Terrain elevation variations (absolute and relative) play a special role in the organization of plain landscapes. They are most clearly observed in the form of zonal landscape vertical differentiation. Vertical relief transformation leads to formation of altitudinal landscape systems, which are dynamically and morphologically united groups of landscapes. They have a common altitudinal position and genesis under the influence of horizontal and vertical physiographic process. We have analyzed the influence of relative and absolute altitudes on morphometric parameters of the land surface as well as indicators of landscape-forming processes and textural terrain indicators, and so identified altitudinal landscape systems of different dimensions. A well-studied region in terms of landscape science, the Central Black Earth region, was the case study area. As a result of the study, we revealed spatial patterns in (i) the indicators of horizontal and vertical terrain ruggedness in relation to the absolute terrain altitudes at the level of landscape, and (ii) the morphometric indicators of terrain, landscape-forming processes and landscape shapes at the local level.