Belongs to the

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF BELARUS (official site)

Abbreviation: NAS of Belarus (alternative site)

Supervised by the (Department of Chemical and Earth Sciences)

GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE INSTITUTE

The Institute has available the necessary laboratory and observatory instruments and equipment that allow a wide range of investigations to be performed involving the study of the material composition of rocks, minerals, water, soil, vegetation fossil remains, various geophysical information to be obtained by regime seismic, gravimetric and electromagnetic observations. Investigations are carried out by spectral, atomic absorbtion, isotopic, mass-spectrographic, X-ray crystal, radiometric, thermal, gas chromatographic analyses and carbon dating. Lithological, petrographic, mineralogical and paleontological studies are made using optical, electron and scanning microscopy.

International scientific contacts of the Institute are very active and diverse and have been even more extended in the recent years. The Institute cooperates with foreign colleagues in research for the UNESCO projects related to the International Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP) and "Man and the Biosphere" (MAB), "Europrobe", "NARSDEEP" and many other programmes.

Research for the following IGCP projects has been carried out: "Deep geology of the Baltic Shield", "Termination of the Pleistocene", "Phanerozoic oolitic ironstones", "Rapakivi granites and related rocks", "Palaeoweathering records and palaeosurfaces", "Global palaeoenvironmental archives in lacustrine systems", "Palaeogeography and authigenic minerals", "Oligocene-Miocene transition in the Northern Hemisphere", "Neodynamics of the Baltic Sea depression and adjacent areas". Research fulfilled for these projects has been coordinated by the Belarussian National Committee for the IGCP (Chairman - academician R.G.Garetsky, Scientific Secretary - V.I.Zui, Mr. Sc., tech.). The Institute's staff members participate in landscape-geochemical investigations carried out for the international programme "Man and the Biosphere" in the Berezinian Biosphere, Pripyat Hydrological and Polessie Radiological and Ecological Reserves.

Scientists of the Institute cooperate with geologists of Poland. The work is carried out within the framework of the Agreement of Cooperation between the Academies of Sciences of Belarus and Poland. Scientists participated in the development of 5 scientific topics: "Geodynamics of the East European Platform Lithosphere", "Investigation into the structure, genesis and recent transformation of marginal glacial formations", "Study of the anthropogenic impact upon the slopes and river valleys formation in Poland and Belarus", "Neogene and Pleistocene flora of Belarus and Poland", "Neogeodynamic map of the Scandinavian glaciation area" and others.

The Institute Cooperates with the Federal Geological Service of Germany, State Institute of Geology and Geological Service of Lithuania, Geological Institute of the Ministry for Mineral Resources and Natural Protection, Institute of Geophysics and Institute of Geography and Rational Siting of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The Institute was a coordinator of works carried out for the UNESCO project "Neogeodinamica Baltica", in which scientists of Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Germany and Denmark were engaged.

Scientists of the Institute took part in several international symposia, meetings and conferences that were held in various countries of the world. Within the last few years our geologists visited Poland, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Lithuania, the Netherlands, the USA, China, Vietnam, Brazil, Romania, Portugal, Canada and other countries. Colleagues from Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Egypt, England, Sweden, Denmark, the USA, the Netherlands, Norway, Ireland, Algeria and Finland visited the Institute in the recent few years. Geologists from Great Britain, Poland, Germany, Netherlands participated in joint fieldworks in the territory of Belarus, and the Institute's scientists carried out analytical studies in Poland, Vietnam, England, Sweden and other countries.

The Institute's staff members exchange scientific publications with colleagues from Great Britain, Canada, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Russia, Lithuania, the USA, France and many other countries.

The main leads of scientific research carried out at the Institute are as follows:

• structure of the lithosphere, geodynamic processes and their impact on the mineral formation and ecological environment;
• lithology, petrology and geochemistry of the platform cover and basement;
• mineral and ore formation in the Earth's crust and human-impacted area, forecast estimation of non-traditional mineral occurrences in the region;
• geochemistry of landscapes, hypergenesis and human-impacted zones (geochemistry of radioactive isotopes included);
• formation of freshwater, mineral water and brines, litho- and hydrogeochemical processes and ecology of the subsurface hydrosphere;
• dynamics of geophysical fields, its nature and influence upon ecological conditions;
• geology of the Anthropogene, glacial litho- and morphogenesis, natural evolution in the Late Cenozoic, and environmental protection;
• geothermal investigations within the Western part of the East European Platform.

• geotectonics (academician R.G.Garetsky);
• geology and geodynamics of Cenozoic (A.K.Karabanov, corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus);
• lithology and geochemistry (S.A.Kruchek, PhD., geol. and miner.);
• geology of the Early Precambrian (I.V.Naidenkov, PhD., geol. and miner.);
• hydrogeology (Prof. A.V.Kudelsky, corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus);
• lithohydrogeochemistry (academician A.A.Makhnach);
• recent geological processes (academician A.V.Matveyev);
• physics of the Earth (V.N.Astapenko, PhD., geol. and miner.);
• geothermy (V.I.Zui, PhD., tech.);
• physical and chemical analyses (V.P.Samodurov, PhD., geol. and miner.)

• The Editorial Board (headed by V.F.Vinokurov)
• and the Geological Museum (headed by V.F.Vinokurov) work at the Institute.

In the last 30 years the staff members of the Institute have published over 250 monographs, several collections of scientific papers, many map sets. The first geological journal "Lithosphere" is issued in Belarus since 1994.

Scientific conferences and symposia on geology of the Anthropogene, geotectonics, geochemistry, geophysics and other geological sciences are annually held at the Institute. Among them scientific readings in commemoration of academicians G.I.Goretsky and K.I.Lukashev should be mentioned.

Scientific studies carried out at the Institute are closely related to solving the main problems of the Earth's sciences and practical problems of development of mineral reserves, geoecology and environmental protection. These investigations are carried out in close cooperation with geologists from the Republican Unitary Enterprise "Belarusgeologia" and "Belarusneft", with scientists from several institutes of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus, scientific institutions of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus, Belarus and Gomel State Universities and other institutions both in Belarus and abroad. Scientific inquiry of the Institute is associated in several avenues with international programmes.

Results of research carried out by geologists of the Institute are recognized both in our country and abroad. Original scientific schools and leads on geochemistry of hypergenesis and geochemistry of landscapes (headed by academician K.I.Lukashev), lithology (academician A.S.Makhnach), geology of the Anthropogene (academicians G.I.Goretsky and A.V.Matveyev), tectonics of old platforms (academician R.G.Garetsky), geothermics (headed by academicians G.V. Bogomolov) were created at the Institute.

The investigations are coordinated by the IGCP, National Gelogical Committee, Belarus National Committee, Belarus Anthropogene Committee, Belarus Geomorphological Committee, Scientific Board of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus for the problem "Coprehensive study of the Earth's crust and upper mantle of the territory of Belarus and adjacent regions" that work at the Institute.

Post-graduate courses specialized in general and regional geology; palaeontology and stratigraphy; geotectonics; petrography and volcanology; lithology; hydrogeology; geochemistry, geoshemical methods of mineral resources prospecting; geophysics, geophysical methods of mineral resources prospecting and others are available at the Institute. Scientists from Belarus, as well as from the Baltic States, Ukraine, etc. maintain their dissertation theses at the sessions of these Specialized Boards. Some 100 theses were successfully maintained.

webmaster@igig.org.by