Academician Vladimir Laskarev (1868-1954) and Paratethys

Abstract

Vladimir Laskarev (1868-1954) Russian and Serbian geologist strongly influenced geological literature by introducing a scientific term Paratethys for the series of intercontinental water basins separated from the Mediterranean Sea and the World Ocean by the Alpine orogeny. Laskarev?s scientific activity in the Russian Empire (1890-s - 1919) was based in the University of Odessa. As an active university professor Vladimir Laskarev contributed to the geological mapping of the western provinces of Imperial Russia and to regional Neogene geology and paleontology of the Odessa and Bessarabian regions. Several of Laskarev?s students became well-known geologists and paleontologists during the Soviet era. Vladimir Laskarev?s contribution to geological studies in Serbia between 1920-1953 is extremely important. During his life in Belgrade, he published twice as many papers on various aspects of Neogene and Quaternary geology and paleontology. His most important contribution is certainly the official introduction of the term Paratethys into geological science. The steady spread of this term in scientific literature began in the early 1940-s and reached its peak in 1970-1980-s during international Neogene correlation and mapping projects.