Физико-географический атлас мира

Published in Russian in 1964, the Physical-Geographic Atlas of the World (Физико-географический атлас мира) assembled maps and explanatory text on global natural conditions. I. P. Gerasimov directed its scientific design and organization. Participating institutions included the USSR Academy of Sciences, the State Geological Committee, the Hydrometeorological Service, and Moscow State University’s Geography Department; a 2005 account records approximately 200 scientific and 120 technical contributors. Its three sections—World, Continents, and USSR—covered relief, geology, geomorphology, climate, hydrology, soils, agricultural distribution, vegetation, fauna, and physical-geographical regionalization. I. V. Filipov’s 1964 account describes 243 pages of maps in a 50 × 33 cm format, accompanied by explanatory text. Later accounts identify zonality as an organizing concept linking its natural themes. In 1966, I. P. Gerasimov and N. F. Leontyev explained how a unified hypsometric colour scale supported geomorphological mapping, while noting that the geomorphological colour scheme remained experimental.