An outstanding achievement in the study of Petrology of the Fossil Organic Matter in Russia

Abstract

Publication of the Petrological Atlas of Fossil Organic Matter in Russia in St. Petersburg was one of the remarkable events in the history of studying the organic matter. The authors of the atlas (V.I. Vyalov, I.B. Volkova, G.A. Belenitskaya, O.V. Petrov, V.N. Volkov, G.M. Volkova, M.V. Golitsyn, A.B. Gurevich, V.M. Bogomazov, A.I. Ginsburg, L.Ya. Kizil’shtein, V.V. Gal’chikov, A.P. Zolotov, G.A. Ignat’ev, V.A. Kosinskii, V.G. Kolomenskaya, T.N. Molozina, G.M. Parparova, N.V. Pronina, G.V. Sokolova, and S.V. Shcherbakova) are workers from the All-Russia Research Institute of Geology (VSEGEI) and several other institutions. It is known that atlases of coals in different regions (Donets, Dnieper, Moscow district, Lvov-Volynsk, Kuznetsk, Karaganda, Chelyabinsk, Pechora, and Kama basins; Caucasus region), as well as the Atlas of Mesozoic Coals of the USSR, were published during a long period of coal-petrographic studies (1955–2001). However, as the authors of the monograph under review rightly point out, diverse coal-petrographic classifications and nomenclatures were used in different regions, the analysis of coal metamorphism was not sufficiently scrutinized, and so on. This circumstance, as well as regional approach to the compilation of previously issued atlases, publication of a great body of factual material in recent years, and results of the study of organic matter (OM) obtained using advanced investigation methods, necessitated the compilation of the Petrological Atlas of Fossil Organic Matter of a new formation. When assessing the atlas content, we should note a wide range of problems discussed therein. The first part of the monograph is devoted to the characteristics of coal/combustible shale basins and deposits, petroliferous basins, and interrelation of hydrocarbons and solid combustible minerals.