ИСТИНА

The analysis of spatial and temporal dynamics of the land use structure in the Meschera Lowland since the late XVIII century has been realized considering the contribution of natural and positional factors. The "natural" factors refer to the land agricultural suitability characterized by drainage, soil fertility, erosion, etc. The "positional" ones mean distance to rivers, villages, roads. Two key plots, located in the Ryazan region in differing natural conditions were selected for study. The first is located at the junction of two landscapes: a low, largely swamped, with poor sandy substrate and high, better drained, with loamy soils. The second includes elevated eroded karst plateau with loess fertile soils and the valley of the Oka River with sandy terraces and meadows on floodplains. The land use structure was analyzed using the maps created from General Land Survey maps (XVIII), Atlas Mende maps (XIX), satellite imagery Corona (XX) and modern satellite images (XXI). These were matched up in GIS with landscape maps bound to georeferenced topographic maps considering features of the landscape. The impact of natural and positional factors upon the land use structure was estimated using the General Discriminate Analysis. The results obtained suggest that in the regions where economic activity is strongly limited by natural conditions the structure of land use remains practically unchanged for a long time while in the absence of constraints the socio-economic and positional factors play a leading role in the diversification of the land use by creating new activities and leaving only the best land for plowing.