INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGY OF THE KARELIAN RESEARCH CENTRE RAS – HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH (ON 55th ANNIVERSARY SINCE FOUNDATION)

• Published in: Proceedings of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences
• Main Authors: Владимир Владимирович Щипцов, Сергей Анатольевич Светов, Аэлита Валериевна Первунина, Vladimir Shchiptsov, Sergey Svetov, Aelita Pervunina
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Russian
• Published: Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences 2016
• Subjects: научные исследования; геология; геофизика; минеральные ресурсы; республика карелия; Science; Q; Fennoscandian; karelian
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.17076/geo479; https://doaj.org/article/56bd2725b8a242b5ac2c143a5fed676c

In 2016, the Institute of Geology at the Karelian Research Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences celebrated the 55th anniversary since its founding. The history and mainstream of the scientific research conducted by the institute are briefly described in this paper. The key results of geological, petrological and geophysical, geoecological, nanotechnological and other studies carried out in the past three years are reported. The decree on founding the Institute of Geology as part of the Karelian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences was issued on May 18, 1961. It was stated in the Decree that the Presidium of the USSR Academy decided to establish the Institute of Geology on the basis of the Department of Petrography and Mineralogy and the Department of Regional Geology with their units, which were already part of the Karelian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, to invigorate the geological study and technological application of Karelia’s mineral resources. The main fields of the research conducted by the institute in the 1960s were as follows: The fundamentals of the Precambrian geology of the Fennoscandian (Baltic) Shield; Magmatism, mineralogy, geochemistry and metallogeny; Tectonics and structure of metalliferous commercial minerals; Quaternary geology and geomorphology of Karelia and adjacent areas; Applied geology, including metalliferous and non-metalliferous mineral prospecting criteria; Feasibility study of the mining and industrial application of Karelia’s mineral resources; Engineering geology and hydrogeology of Karelia. In the last 55 years the institute’s staff has conducted extensive research and made many scientific discoveries. The basic modern concepts of Karelia’s geology were developed in Soviet time, when the Karelian Finnish Scientific Research Facility, transformed later into the Karelian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, was founded in 1946. It consisted of the Geology Sector (later ‘Unit’) with a chemical laboratory and a polishing workshop. Two more sections were established ...