Laboratory for Geochronology and Geodynamics

Scientific results:

1. We have determined the time boundaries of the establishment and formation of large igneous provinces of the Precambrian on the territory of ancient cratons and the folded framing of the Siberian platform.
2. Our researchers have substantiated the relation between the global environmental disasters that caused mass extinctions of organisms and the activity of large igneous provinces on the limits of the early Cambrian, the Ordovician, the Devonian and the Cretaceous. It has been determined that the geochemical indicators of the abnormal state of the atmosphere and the hydrosphere and the peculiarities of their variations over time.
3. We have justified a new element of the structure of large igneous provinces – radial dike swarms. We determined a connection between the diameters of the rings and the volume of deformation of the lithosphere by the thermal impact of the plumes. Our researchers have reconstructed data of the structures within the Irkutsk and Norilsk large igneous provinces.
4. On the basis of an analysis of the structure of large igneous provinces, reconstruction of lava flows and covers of shield volcanoes and magmatic centers we have reconstructed the structure of the surface of Venus in the V-29 square with the creation of a geological map with a scale of 1 cm representing  5 km.
5. On the basis of the features of the composition and the structural position of orogenic magmatic objects within the limits of large igneous provinces we have proposed a model of the mineragenic typing of large igneous provinces and a system for forecasting of various types of mineral deposits.
6. We have created a GIS-Atlas of large igneous provinces of Russia that was generated on the basis of an original database. It allows to accumulate and visualize spatial data on large igneous provinces and related mineral deposits. 

• A complex of analytical methodologies for detecting micro-impurities in oxides and   aluminosilicates and the isotopic ratios of uranium and lead in zircon and calcite with the use of laser ablation and mass spectrometry. The complex has been implemented by fulfilling orders in the interest of the A. P. Karpinsky Russian Geological Research Institute, «Tyumen Oil Research Center» LLC, «TomskNIINeft VNK» JSC, «Irkutsk Oil Company» JSC, «Nornickel Technological Services» LLC and others.

• The diagnostics of regional climatic variations and the assessment of the oil generation potential of sedimentary columns on the basis of the spatio-temporal analysis of the distribution of the mineralogical and geochemical inhomogeneity. Contracts have been signed with  «Tymen Oil Research Center» LLC, «Irkutsk Oil Company» JSC, «GezpromVNIIGAZ» LLC and others.

• An analysis of the fertility of geological objects (magmatic rocks) on the basis of the distribution of micro-impurities in accessory and rock-forming minerals. Commercial projects have been competed in the interest of «Nornikel Technological Services», «Omolon Gold Mining Company» LLC, «Taborny Mine» LLC and others. 

• In 2020 employees of the Laboratory initiated the creation of the master of research degree program «Evolution of the Earth: heroic processes and minerals» at the Tonsk State University (launched in 2021).
• As part of the implementation of the current bachelor’s and master’s degree programs  we have developed and introduced 3 new teaching disciplines and modified 8 previously existing ones.
• Employees of the Laboratory have published three study guides.
• Within the research domains developed at the Laboratory, we have implemented 8 additional training programs within which 150 employees of universities, institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and industrial organizations  have completed training. 12 school-seminars and master-classes have been conducted with the participation of employees of the Laboratory and the leading scientist. 250 undergraduate and postgraduate students and young researchers took part in the event.
• 64 bachelor’s degree theses and 32 master’s degree theses in the domain of the Laboratory’s research have been prepared with the participation of the employees of the Laboratory. Employees of the Laboratory have defended 6 Candidate of Sciences dissertations. 

Organizational and structural changes:

• V. S. Sobolev  Institute of Geology and Mineralogy  of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia): joint research, publications, grants, education programs, internships of students and young researchers, staging of scientific seminars.
• A.P. Vinogradov Institute of Geochemistry of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia), University of California, Santa Barbara (USA): joint research and publications, internships of students and young researchers.
• Institute of the Earth’s Crust of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia), University of Wyoming (USA), University of Salamanca (Spain), Cadi Ayyad University (Morocco), Carleton University (Canada): joint research and publications.