%0 Dataset
%T Small basin landscape in mountainous coniferous forest area
%J Arid Land Ecology and Resources Science Data Center
%I Arid Land Ecology and Resources Science Data Center(data.dcxjegi.cn)
%U https://data.dcxjegi.cn/portal/metadata/9c1ef836-0ac6-4950-b4a3-7097af9e94f4
%W NCDC
%R 10.12389/ariddc.02305
%A Documentation Information Center
%K Comparative geography;Natural complex
%X Mountain regions occupy vast areas in many parts of the world and contain enormous wealth in the form of mineral resources, hydropower potential, and forests. However, despite the high level of modern technology, the development of mountainous areas continues to encounter considerable difficulties.Historical experience has shown that intermontane basins are the most favorable locations for development within mountain regions. They possess relatively extensive flat terrain and generally enjoy a drier and warmer climate than the surrounding mountain slopes. Flat relief facilitates construction, road building, and agricultural development; greater heat resources make it possible to obtain high yields of thermophilic crops; and the concentration of runoff simplifies the organization of water-supply systems. For these reasons, intermontane basins, especially those located in warm natural zones, have long been inhabited and utilized by humans. In desert and semi-desert regions, many basins have become major agricultural centers because rivers descending from surrounding slopes make water supply relatively easy to organize, as exemplified by the Fergana Basin. In mountainous steppe and forest-steppe regions, the land resources of intermontane basins and mineral deposits associated with tectonic depressions and long-term sedimentary processes, such as the hard coal and lignite deposits of the Kansk and Kuznetsk basins, have often been developed almost simultaneously.In the mountain taiga regions, interest in intermontane basins initially arose for similar reasons, namely their broader agricultural potential, as seen in the Upper Angara Basin, the Muya Basin, and the Amaringa intermontane depression. However, large-scale development became possible only in those basins where not only natural conditions but also the economic-geographical environment, such as proximity to mining enterprises, favored concentrated settlement and exploitation.At present, the development of most m