The Munku-Sardyk mountain range (3,491 m) represents the territory of the modern glaciation of The East Sayan. Different forms of transformation of nival-glacial geosystems have been preserved in this range. The processes of transformation and self-organization of geosystems are considered on the example of the Radde glacier and the unique stone glacier. Due to climate change, the glacier has shrunk considerably. Its area has decreased over 100 years from 0.3 to 0.19 km2, and over the last 20 years from 0.19 to 0.09 km2. However, the glacier has processes of self-preservation, slowing down the process of melting the glacier. This transformation of the glacier is manifested as the reservation of surface moraines. The peculiarities of the formation of surface moraines are considered. In the past century, the formation rate of moraines was 0.001 km²/year. Recently, the rate of formation of moraines has increased to 0.02 km²/year. In the second case, the unique stone stream (stone glacier) is an example of the transformation of the classical glacier into a new structure, which at this stage does not depend significantly on the observed warming, and can exist as an independent object for quite some time. The material is supplied by the rock of mountain range, and the transport by the ice bed is formed in winter from groundwater at the level of indigenous rocks, like subsurface ice. The structure of this stone stream is presented as an independent geosystem. It is assumed that the nival-glacial geosystems behave like lag systems. From the analysis of freezing and thawing of soils it follows that the increase and degradation of glaciers should be subject to the law of hystiresis.

Kitov Aleksandr Danilovich Candidate of Science (Technical), Senior Research, V. B. Sochava Institute of Geography SB RAS, 1, Ulan-Batorskaya st., Irkutsk, 664033, Russian Federation, e-mail: kitov@irigs.irk.ru

Kitov A.D. Features of Transformation and Self-Organization of Mountain Nival-Glacial Geosystems. The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series Earth Sciences, 2021, vol. 35, pp. 33-43. https://doi.org/10.26516/2073-3402.2021.35.33 (in Russian)

1. Volkova E.S., Melnik M.A., Borodavko P.S. Klimatogennaja transformacija nivalnogljacialnyh landshaftov Zapadnoj Mongolii i ih posledstvija [Climate-related transformation of the nival-glacial landscapes of Western Mongolia and their consequences]. Uspehi sovremennogo estestvoznanija [Advances in current natural sciences], 2018, vol. 11, pp. 311-316. (in Russian)
2. Dyukarev E.A. Amplituda sutochnogo khoda temperatury torfynoi pochvy [Amplitude daily course of peat soil temperature]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Ser. Biologia [The Bulletin of Tomsk State University. Biology series], 2012, vol. 365, pp. 201- 205. (in Russian)
3. Karpov A.G. Teoriya avtomaticheskogo upravleniya [Automatic Control Theory]. Part 2. Tomsk, TML-Press Publ., 2012, 264 p. (in Russian)
4. Kitov A.D., Pluysnin V.M. Sravnenie dinamiki lednikov v Gimalayh i gorah yuga Vostochnoy Sibiri [Comparison of Glacier Dynamics in the Himalayas and Mountains of the Southern Eastern Siberia]. Izvestiya Irkutskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Ser. Nauki o Zemle [The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series Earth Sciences], 2019, vol. 29, pp. 68- 84. https://doi.org/10.26516/2073-3402.2019.29.68 (in Russian)
5. Konovalova T.I., Nagovizina E.I. Transformatsiya geosistem vostochnoi chasti Predsayanskogo progiba [The Transformation of Geosystems of the Eastern Sayan Deflection]. Izvestiya Irkutskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Ser. Nauki o Zemle [The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series Earth Sciences], 2018, vol. 24, pp. 34-52. https://doi.org/10.26516/2073-3402.2018.24.34 (in Russian)
6. Konovalova T.I. Transformatsiya geosystem Predbaikalia [Transformation of Pre-Baikal Geosystems]. Izvestiya Irkutskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Ser. Nauki o Zemle [The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series Earth Sciences], 2020, vol. 31, pp. 26-47. https://doi.org/10.26516/2073-3402.2020.31.26 (in Russian)
7. Peretolchin S.P. Ledniki hrebta Munku-Sardyk [Glaciers of the Munku-Sardyk Range]. Series Isvestiya Tomsk Tehn.Univ. Vol. 9. Tomsk, Tipolitografiya Sib. tov-va pechatnogo dela Publ., 1908, 60 p. (in Russian)
8. Rukovodstvo po gidrologicheskim prognozam. Vypusk 2. Kratkii prognoz raskhoda i urovnya vody na rekakh. [The guide to hydrological forecasts. Issue 2. The brief forecast of flow and water level on rivers]. Leningrad, Gidrometizdat Publ., 1989, 248 p. (in Russian)
9. Kotlyakov V.M., Chernova L.P., Muraviev A.Y., Khromova T.Y. Dynamics of surging glaciers in the sugran river basin (Pamirs). Doklady Earth Sciences, 2019, vol. 489, no. 1, pp. 1376-1382. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X19110230
10. IPCC. Climate Change 2013. The Physical Science Basis. Stocker T.F., Qin D., Plattner G-K., Tignor M., Allen S.K., Boschung J., Nauels A., Xia Y., Bex V., Midgley P.M., eds. Contribution of Working Group 1 to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, Cambridge University Press, 2013, 1535 p.
11. Kitov A.D., Kovalenko S.N., Plyusnin V.M., Suvorov E.G. Modern Changes of the High-Mountain Landscapes and Glaciation in Southern Siberia (Russia) by the Example of the Eastern Sayan Mountains. Environ. Earth Sciences, 2015, vol. 74, iss. 3, pp. 1931-1946. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4455-y
12. Messerli B., Ives J.D. (eds.). Mountains of the World: а Global Priority. New York and Carnforth, Parthenon Pub. Group, 1997. 450 p.
13. Pozdnyakov A.V. Glacial geosystems: Principles of Self-Organization. Geography and Natural Resources, 2013, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 118-123. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1875372813020029
14. Troll C. High mountain belts between the polar caps and the equator: their definition and lower limit. Arctic and Alpine Research, 1973, vol. 5, pp. 12-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/00040851.1973.12003713