Candidate of Geographical Sciences, Associate Professor, Head of

Department of Geography and Cartography, Volgograd State University

Prosp. Universitetsky, 100, 400062 Volgograd, Russian Federation

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Abstract. The necessity for an integrated geographical approach to the study and modeling of ground-water dynamics in river floodplains is substantiated in the article. A preliminary and simplified classification of the types of annual ground and surface water level dynamics is proposed, which can serve as a basis for the differentiation of intrazonal floodplain landscapes. Thus differentiation is a scientific problem. In landscapes characterizing of the floodplains a descriptive approach prevails, and there are no quantitative criteria for differentiating such natural complexes. The research aims to study the interaction of the most important components of the landscape of a river floodplain – surface and groundwater, soil and vegetation. The research methodical feature is to obtain the accurate quantitative characteristics that can be formalized, processed by modern computers and comparable with data from other regions. This will be achieved by modern electronic equipment usage (georadar, spectroradiometer) and the development of digital models of the landscape components dynamics. As a result of the research, objective, compara ble with each other and in long-term dynamics, characteristics of floodplain landscapes will be obtained. The scientific significance of the work is to identify the links of surface and groundwater, soil and vegetation in the rivers floodplains of the arid zone, to obtain an objective quantitative basis for assessing changes in floodplain landscapes. Using the results of the research will allow us to subsequently evaluate the long-term changes in the components of the floodplain landscapes. The applied significance of the research is the ability to use the obtained model to predict the groundwater dynamics, and, accordingly, the forestgrowing conditions of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain, the state of surface watercourse and underground water sources in rural areas.

Key words: floodplain, arid zone, Volga river, Volga-Akhtuba floodplain, groundwater, landscape, vegetation, soils.