Vol 44 Iss. 2

In December 1960, the Leningrad scientific community celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nikolai F. Pogrebov. At the solemn meeting at the All-Russian Geological Institute, where numerous students, representatives of institutions, friends and relatives of Nikolai F. Pogrebov were present, reports on the life and activities of N. F. Pogrebov were read.

Artesian basins occupy vast areas in the Far East. The largest of them are the Nizhne-Zeysky, Bureinsky, Verkhne-Zeysky, Sredne-Amursky and Khankai-Ussuriysky with an area from 10,000 to 100,000 km2.

The All-Union Scientific and Technical Conference (Leningrad, 1957) on the design of dewatering measures on water-bearing coal deposits noted significant successes in the design of dewatering measures associated with the relevant mining works. At the same time, the attention of the scientific and technical community was drawn to a number of significant shortcomings related to the design of drainage works. For example, it was noted that the design of mining works is often conducted without taking into account the hydrogeological features of the field and the possibility of their drainage, so the design solutions for drainage are often complex. The methodology of hydrogeological calculations and obtaining initial design parameters for dewatering are still not sufficiently developed for complex hydrogeological conditions.

In 1840 the Kerch Museum received a white marble slab with an inscription in Greek. The slab was extracted from a depth of 9 -meters depth north of the village Adzhi-Mushkay (now the village Partizany), located 5 km northeast of Kerch. Its height is 33.3 cm, width 60 cm, thickness 17 cm. Judging by its shape, it is believed that the slab was once removed from its original place and used for some time as a cornice of some building. Archaeologists often have to establish that various monuments and slabs with inscriptions, which once served as decoration of squares and temples, as well as gravestones with images, were taken from their original places and used as construction material in the construction of various buildings, fortress walls and so on.

During open-pit mining of bauxite deposits at a number of mines in the Tikhvin bauxite-bearing region, deformations of pit sides and overburden dumps are observed. Deformations manifest themselves mainly in the form of landslides and slumps. The extent and dynamics of landslide phenomena at different mines vary. In some cases, landslides significantly complicate mining operations and increase the cost of minerals.

The Yakutian artesian basin is one of the largest basins of the USSR. Its area is more than one million square kilometers. The basin occupies a central position among other hydrogeological areas of the north-east of the USSR - the Khatanga basin (in the north), Olenek and Tungus basins (in the north-west and west), the Verkhnelensky basin, the Aldan hydrogeological massif (in the south), the East-Verkhoyansk and West-Verkhoyansk folded hydrogeological areas (in the east and north-east).

Under the influence of weathering agents, the state, composition and properties of clayey rocks can change significantly. Naturally, in different types of clayey rocks these changes are manifested differently, depending on the composition, degree of lithification, conditions of occurrence, different geochemical conditions of existence of rocks in the bowels of the earth and prevailing in its near-surface horizons. When solving construction problems, any changes in the strength and stability of clayey rocks during weathering are of great importance and should be taken into account.

Among the widespread Devonian sediments on the Russian platform, predominantly clayey rocks are found only in its north-western part - within the Leningrad, Novgorod, Pskov, Velikoluki regions, Estonian and Latvian SSR. This area of Devonian sediments distribution is known as the Main Devonian Field, which stretches a wide strip from the shores of Lake Onega and Lake Ladoga southwestward to the Western Dvina. Studies have established that the Devonian rocks of this territory are mainly covered by glacial, late- and post-glacial sediments and crop out on the surface only along the river valleys, but in many places they are exposed by exploration workings. To the east and southeast they are submerged under Carboniferous deposits.

The southeastern Karakums occupy a vast area in the south-east of the Turkmen SSR. It is crossed from south to north by the Murghab River, whose water is fully utilized by the population in the valley and in the delta part, mainly for irrigation of cotton fields, orchards and vineyards. Yet thousands of hectares of the most fertile land in the Mary oasis lay empty due to water shortage until the Karakum canal was built.

In 1952-1955, the Institute of Oil of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR studied in detail the petrography of rocks of the Rhaetian-Liassic sequence of the Chelyabinsk basin. Reservoirs of possible commercial oil accumulation were identified and regularities of their distribution in the section and across the area were established.

In case of pumping from a confined aquifer at a dynamic water level located above its roof, during the period of unsteady water inflow to the borehole, the pumped water is obtained at the expense of “elastic storage” (an aquifer not communicating with other aquifers or surface water bodies within the area of the cone of depression). “Elastic storage”, according to V.N. Shchelkachev, is the volume of water displaced into the well during elastic expansion of water and water-bearing rocks due to pressure drop in the area of the cone of depression.

Loess rocks of the North-Eastern Azov region (Taganrog-Azov area), as well as any loess rocks in general, are characterized by the presence of various kinds of structural bonds. In addition to the bonds formed by clay matter (about 30% of the rock weight), consisting mainly of hydrous mica and admixtures of other clay minerals, some of the bonds are formed by water-soluble salts. The stability of bonds depends both on the type of salts and their solubility, and on the moisture content of rocks.

The Matsesta area is confined to the Sochi artesian basin with the main aquifers belonging to the Cretaceous and Upper Jurassic limestones. The feeding areas of the artesian basin belong to the open anticlinal structures and the northern sides of the basin, which are composed of limestones. The inner feeding areas are located much lower than the marginal ones and are at the same time places of discharge of deep waters of the basin. The thermal springs of Matsesta and Agura are confined to such areas. The thermal regime of the basin depends on cold waters flowing from the feeding areas and thermal waters entering the discharge areas. The therapeutic waters of Stara Matsesta come to the springs through the Cretaceous rocks from different depths and, consequently, have different temperatures.

When designing and implementing the dewatering of mineral deposits it is necessary to take into account and use the experience of already conducted dewatering on deposits similar or close to them. One such object, interesting in hydrogeological respect, for which considerable experience of dewatering has already been accumulated, is the Safonovskoye deposit of brown coal and refractory clays in the Smolensk region. Exploration and study of its hydrogeological conditions began in the post-war years and continued until 1950. Some additional work was carried out later - up to 1962. On the basis of exploration work more than 8 mines were designed. The construction of the first mines started in 1949. The mines were successively put into operation: 1 - in 1953, 2 - in 1954, 3 and 4 - in 1956, 8 - in 1957, 6 - in 1958, 7 - in 1959. At the end of 1959 the construction of mine 5 was completed, which is currently intended only for the extraction of refractory clay.

Mining operations at many bauxite deposits of the Tikhvin district are complicated by unfavorable hydrogeological conditions. In such conditions it is advisable to dewater overburden, which considerably increases the stability of the sides of open pits composed of sandy clay rocks and creates normal conditions for the operation of machinery and transport.

One of the greatest scientists in the field of hydrogeology and engineering geology, Honored Scientist of the RSFSR, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences Nikolai F. Pogrebov was the organizer of special hydrogeological surveys in the country. On the basis of studying the sources of recharge of the main rivers of European Russia and solving the problems of water supply to many cities, he outlined the main ways of development of regional hydrogeology. His role in the study of landslide phenomena and the development of methods for their control was especially great.