"Geology is a way of life," a geologist will most likely say, answering a question about his profession, before moving on to dry and boring formulations, explaining that geology is about the structure and composition of the earth, about the history of its birth, formation and patterns. development, about the once incalculable, and today, alas, "estimated" wealth of its bowels. Other planets of the solar system are also objects of geological research.
The description of a particular science often begins with the history of its origin and formation, forgetting that the narrative is full of incomprehensible terms and definitions, so it’s better to get to the point first.
Stages of geological research
The most general scheme of the sequence of studies into which all geological work aimed at identifying mineral deposits (hereinafter referred to as MPO) can be "squeezed" essentially looks like this: geological survey (mapping of outcrops of rocks and geological formations), prospecting , exploration, reserves calculation, geological report. Surveying, searching and reconnaissance, in turn, are naturally divided into stages depending on the scale of work and taking into account their expediency.
To perform such a complex of works, a whole army of specialists of the widest range of geological specialties is involved, which a real geologist must master much more than at the level of "a little bit of everything", because he is faced with the task of summarizing all this versatile information and, ultimately, come to the discovery of a deposit ( or make it), since geology is a science that studies the bowels of the earth primarily for the development of mineral resources.
Family of geological sciences
Like other natural sciences (physics, biology, chemistry, geography, etc.), geology is a whole complex of interrelated and intertwined scientific disciplines.
Directly geological subjects include general and regional geology, mineralogy, tectonics, geomorphology, geochemistry, lithology, paleontology, petrology, petrography, gemology, stratigraphy, historical geology, crystallography, hydrogeology, marine geology, volcanology and sedimentology.
Applied, methodological, technical, economic and other sciences related to geology include engineering geology, seismology, petrophysics, glaciology, geography, mineral geology, geophysics, soil science, geodesy, oceanography, oceanology, geostatistics, geotechnology, geoinformatics, geotechnology, cadastre and monitoring lands, land management, climatology, cartography, meteorology and a number of atmospheric sciences.
"Pure", field geology still remains largely descriptive, which imposes a certain moral and ethical responsibility on the performer, so geology, having developed its own language, like other sciences, cannot do without philology, logic and ethics.
Since prospecting and exploration routes, especially in hard-to-reach areas, are practically uncontrollable work, the geologist is always tempted by subjective, but competently and beautifully presented judgments or conclusions, and this, unfortunately, happens. Harmless "inaccuracies" can lead to very serious consequences both in scientific and production and material and economic terms, so a geologist simply does not have the right to deception, distortion and error, like a sapper or surgeon.
The backbone of geosciences is arranged in a hierarchical series (geochemistry, mineralogy, crystallography, petrology, lithology, paleontology and geology proper, including tectonics, stratigraphy and historical geology), reflecting the subordination of successively more complex objects of study from atoms and molecules to the Earth as a whole.
Each of these sciences branches widely in various directions, just as geology proper includes tectonics, stratigraphy, and historical geology.
Geochemistry
In the field of view of this science are the problems of the distribution of elements in the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere.
Modern geochemistry is a complex of scientific disciplines, including regional geochemistry, biogeochemistry and geochemical methods of prospecting for mineral deposits. The subject of study for all these disciplines are the laws of migration of elements, the conditions for their concentration, separation and redeposition, as well as the processes of evolution of the forms of finding each element or associations from several, especially similar in properties.
Geochemistry relies on the properties and structure of the atom and crystalline matter, on data on thermodynamic parameters that characterize part of the earth's crust or individual shells, as well as on general patterns formed by thermodynamic processes.
The direct task of geochemical research in geology is the detection of MPO, therefore, ore minerals are necessarily preceded and accompanied by geochemical surveys, the results of which are used to identify areas of dispersion of the useful component.
Mineralogy
One of the main and oldest sections of geological science, studying the vast, beautiful, unusually interesting and mysterious world of minerals. Mineralogical studies, the goals, objectives and methods of which depend on specific tasks, are carried out at all stages of prospecting and geological exploration and include a wide range of methods from visual assessment of the mineral composition to electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction diagnostics.
At the stages of survey, prospecting and exploration of MPO, studies are carried out in order to clarify the mineralogical search criteria and a preliminary assessment of the practical significance of potential deposits.
During the exploration stage of geological work and when assessing the reserves of ore or non-metallic raw materials, its full quantitative and qualitative mineral composition is established with the identification of useful and harmful impurities, the data on which are taken into account when choosing a processing technology or making a conclusion about the quality of raw materials.
In addition to a comprehensive study of the composition of rocks, the main tasks of mineralogy are the study of the regularities in the combination of minerals in natural associations and the improvement of the principles of the systematics of mineral species.
Crystallography
Once crystallography was considered a part of mineralogy, and the close relationship between them is natural and obvious, but today it is an independent science with its own subject and its own research methods. The tasks of crystallography consist in a comprehensive study of the structure, physical and optical properties of crystals, the processes of their formation and the features of interaction with the medium, as well as changes occurring under the influence of influences of various nature.
The science of crystals is divided into physical and chemical crystallography, which studies the patterns of formation and growth of crystals, their behavior under various conditions, depending on the shape and structure, and geometric crystallography, the subject of which is the geometric laws governing the shape and symmetry of crystals.
Tectonics
Tectonics is one of the core branches of geology, which studies in structural terms, the features of its formation and development against the background of different-scale movements, deformations, faults and dislocations caused by deep processes.
Tectonics is divided into regional, structural (morphological), historical and applied branches.
The regional direction operates with such structures as platforms, plates, shields, folded areas, depressions of the seas and oceans, transform faults, rift zones, etc.
An example is the regional structural-tectonic plan that characterizes the geology of Russia. The European part of the country is located on the East European platform, composed of Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks. The territory between the Urals and the Yenisei is located on the West Siberian platform. The Siberian Platform (Middle Siberian Plateau) extends from the Yenisei to the Lena. Folded areas are represented by the Ural-Mongolian, Pacific and partially Mediterranean folded belts.
Morphological tectonics, in comparison with regional tectonics, studies structures of a lower order.
The history of the origin and formation of the main types of structural forms of the oceans and continents is dealt with by historical geotectonics.
The applied direction of tectonics is associated with the identification of regularities in the distribution of various types of MPOs in connection with certain types of morphostructures and features of their development.
In the "mercantile" geological sense, faults in the earth's crust are considered as ore-supplying channels and ore-controlling factors.
Paleontology
Literally meaning "the science of ancient beings", paleontology studies fossil organisms, their remains and traces of life, mainly for the stratigraphic dissection of the rocks of the earth's crust. The competence of paleontology includes the task of restoring a picture that reflects the process of biological evolution on the basis of data obtained as a result of the reconstruction of the appearance, biological characteristics, methods of reproduction and nutrition of ancient organisms.
According to quite obvious signs, paleontology is divided into paleozoology and paleobotany.
Organisms are sensitive to changes in the physicochemical parameters of the environment, so they are reliable indicators of the conditions in which rocks were formed. Hence the close connection between geology and paleontology follows.
On the basis of paleontological research, together with the results of determining the absolute age of geological formations, a geochronological scale has been compiled in which the history of the Earth is divided into geological eras (Archaean, Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic). Eras are divided into periods, and those, in turn, are divided into epochs.
We live in the Pleistocene epoch (20 thousand years ago to the present) of the Quaternary period, which began about 1 million years ago.
Petrography
Petrography (petrology) deals with the study of the mineral composition of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks, their textural and structural characteristics and genesis. Research is carried out using a polarizing microscope in the beams of transmitted polarized light. To do this, thin (0.03-0.02 mm) plates (sections) are cut out of rock samples, then glued to a glass plate with Canadian balsam (the optical characteristics of this resin are close to those of glass).
Minerals become transparent (most), and their optical properties are used to identify minerals and their constituent rocks. The interference patterns in thin section resemble patterns in a kaleidoscope.
A special place in the cycle of geological sciences is occupied by the petrography of sedimentary rocks. Its great theoretical and practical significance is due to the fact that the subject of research is modern and ancient (fossil) sediments, which occupy about 70% of the Earth's surface.
Engineering geology
Engineering geology is the science of those features of the composition, physical and chemical properties, formation, occurrence and dynamics of the upper horizons of the earth's crust, which are associated with economic, mainly engineering and construction, human activity.
Engineering and geological surveys are aimed at performing a comprehensive and comprehensive assessment of geological factors caused by human economic activity in conjunction with natural geological processes.
If we recall that, depending on the guiding method, the natural sciences are divided into descriptive and exact, then engineering geology, of course, belongs to the latter, unlike many of its "comrades in the shop."
marine geology
It would be unfair to ignore the vast branch of geology that studies the geological structure and features of the development of the bottom of the oceans and seas. If you follow the shortest and most capacious definition that characterizes geology (the study of the Earth), then marine geology is the science of the sea (ocean) bottom, covering all branches of the "geological tree" (tectonics, petrography, lithology, historical and Quaternary geology, paleogeography , stratigraphy, geomorphology, geochemistry, geophysics, the doctrine of minerals, etc.).
Research in the seas and oceans is carried out from specially equipped ships, floating drilling rigs and pontoons (on the shelf). For sampling, in addition to drilling, dredges, clamshell-type grabs and straight-through tubes are used. With the help of autonomous and towed vehicles, discrete and continuous photographic, television, seismic, magnetometric and geolocation surveys are carried out.
In our time, many problems of modern science have not yet been resolved, and these include the unsolved mysteries of the ocean and its depths. Marine geology is honored not only for the sake of the science of "making the secret clear", but also to master the colossal mineral
The main theoretical task of the modern marine branch of geology remains the study of the history of the development of the oceanic crust and the identification of the main regularities of its geological structure.
Historical geology is the science of the patterns of development of the earth's crust and the planet as a whole in the historically observable past from the moment of its formation to the present day. The study of the history of the formation of the structure of the lithosphere is important because the tectonic shifts and deformations occurring in it appear to be the most important factors that determine most of the changes that took place on the Earth in past geological eras.
Now, having received a general idea of geology, we can turn to its origins.
An Excursion into the History of Earth Science
It is difficult to say how far back the history of geology goes back thousands of years, but the Neanderthal already knew what to make a knife or ax from, using flint or obsidian (volcanic glass).
From the time of primitive man until the middle of the 18th century, the pre-scientific stage of accumulation and formation of geological knowledge lasted, mainly about metal ores, building stones, salts and underground waters. In the interpretation of that time, people started talking about rocks, minerals and geological processes already in ancient times.
By the 13th century, mining was developing in the countries of Asia and the foundations of mining and ore knowledge were emerging.
In the Renaissance (XV-XVI centuries), the heliocentric idea of the world was established (J. Bruno, G. Galileo, N. Copernicus), the geological ideas of N. Stenon, Leonardo da Vinci and G. Bauer were born, and the cosmogonic concepts of P Descartes and G. Leibniz.
During the formation of geology as a science (18th-19th centuries), the cosmogonic hypotheses of P. Laplace and I. Kant and the geological ideas of M. V. Lomonosov and J. Buffon appeared. Stratigraphy (I. Lehmann, G. Fuchsel) and paleontology (J.B. Lamarck, W. Smith) were born, crystallography (R.J. Gayuy, M.V. Lomonosov), mineralogy (I. Ya. Berzelius, A. Kronstedt, V. M. Severgin, K. F. Moos, etc.), geological mapping begins.
During this period, the first geological societies and national geological surveys were created.
From the second half of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century, the most significant events were the geological observations of Charles Darwin, the creation of the doctrine of platforms and geosynclines, the emergence of paleogeography, the development of instrumental petrography, genetic and theoretical mineralogy, the emergence of the concepts of magma and the doctrine of ore deposits. Petroleum geology began to emerge and geophysics (magnetometry, gravimetry, seismometry, and seismology) began to gain momentum. In 1882 the Geological Committee of Russia was founded.
The modern period of development of geology began in the middle of the 20th century, when the science of the Earth adopted computer technologies and acquired new laboratory instruments, tools and technical means, which made it possible to begin the geological and geophysical study of the oceans and nearby planets.
The most outstanding scientific achievements were the theory of metasomatic zoning by D.S. Korzhinsky, the theory of metamorphism facies, the theory of M. Strakhov about the types of lithogenesis, the introduction of geochemical methods for prospecting for ore deposits, etc.
Under the leadership of A. L. Yanshin, N. S. Shatsky and A. A. Bogdanov, survey tectonic maps of the countries of Europe and Asia were created, and paleogeographic atlases were compiled.
The concept of a new global tectonics was developed (J. T. Wilson, G. Hess, V. E. Khain, etc.), geodynamics, engineering geology and hydrogeology stepped forward, a new direction in geology was outlined - ecological, which today has become a priority.
Problems of modern geology
Today, on many fundamental issues, the problems of modern science still remain unresolved, and there are at least one and a half hundred such issues. We are talking about the biological foundations of consciousness, the mysteries of memory, the nature of time and gravity, the origin of stars, black holes and the nature of other space objects. Geology also has many problems that have yet to be dealt with. This concerns mainly the structure and composition of the Universe, as well as the processes occurring inside the Earth.
Today, the importance of geology is growing due to the need to control and take into account the growing threat of catastrophic geological consequences associated with irrational economic activities that exacerbate environmental problems.
Geological education in Russia
The formation of modern geological education in Russia is associated with the opening in St. Petersburg of a corps of mining engineers (the future Mining Institute) and the creation of Moscow University, and the heyday began when in 1930 in Leningrad it was created, and then transferred to geology (now GIN AH CCCP ).
Today, the Geological Institute occupies a leading position among research institutions in the field of stratigraphy, lithology, tectonics and the history of the sciences of the geological cycle. The main areas of activity are related to the development of complex fundamental problems of the structure and formation of the oceanic and continental crust, the study of the evolution of rock formation of continents and sedimentation in the oceans, geochronology, global correlation of geological processes and phenomena, etc.
By the way, the predecessor of the GIN was the Mineralogical Museum, renamed in 1898 into the Museum of Geology, and then in 1912 into the Geological and Mineralogical Museum. Peter the Great.
Since its inception, the basis of geological education in Russia has been based on the principle of trinity: science - training - practice. This principle, despite perestroika upheavals, is followed by educational geology today.
In 1999, by decision of the boards of the Ministries of Education and Natural Resources of Russia, the concept of geological education was adopted, which was tested in educational institutions and production teams that "cultivate" geological personnel.
Today, higher geological education can be obtained in more than 30 universities in Russia.
And let go "for exploration in the taiga" or go "to the sultry steppes" in our time is no longer as prestigious as it used to be, the geologist chooses it, because "he is happy who knows the aching feeling of the road" ...