At the time of publishing this was the largest and most comprehensive "physical" atlas ever created. This atlas was the last link in the series of superb Soviet atlases, which begun with Great Soviet World Atlas from 1937 and continued with The Atlas of RKKA Commander from 1938, The Marine Atlas from 1950 - 1958 and the Atlas of the World (Atlas Mira) from 1954. The maps from the Physical atlas were almost entirely an original work with only handful of them taken from the World Atlas and some of them based on the maps from the Marine Atlas.
The atlas contains 248 pages of maps and diagrams which are divided into 3 sections:
- General physical maps of the World and the polar regions
- Physical maps of the continents
- Physical maps of the Soviet Union
The first section begins with relief map and is followed by geology and geomorphology maps (tectonic maps, earthquake maps etc.), maps of minerals, climatic maps (climatic regions maps, temperature maps, winds, atmosphere, pressure and precipitation maps), oceanological and hydrological maps (types of water, ocean depths, lakes, maps of river systems), soil and agriculture maps and botanical and zoogeographical maps.
The second section describes continents in a more or less unified way with around 16 maps per each continent. Each section begins with a terrain map, followed by geological and geomorphological maps, climatic maps, soil and agriculture maps and botanical and zoogeographical maps.
The third section about Soviet Union spans over 58 pages and describes physical characteristics of the country in greater detail (f.e. temperature and precipitation maps are shown per each month), or covers more specific topics like the average height of snow cover, durations of freezing of rivers, hydrochemistry of rivers etc.
The maps are followed by 45 pages of explanatory text elaborating on the maps and the methodology they were made.
This atlas is undoubtedly a great achievement of the Soviet scientific society and can serve as a valuable reference of the historical scientifical knowledge of the nature.
