Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2014 number

At the present time the Russian Federation carries out the state complex program of studying and development of the Arctic’s resource base for the purpose of meeting Russia’s demand for hydrocarbon resources. The study of Arctic is becoming a topical issue in the light of many objectives. One of them is preparation of the National Atlas of the Arctic, which is to embrace all scientific knowledge about the region, including geological substantiation of the resource potential of its subsoil. Many academic organizations participated in the geological study of the Arctic zone. The article considers results of activities of the Siberian scientists working at the West Siberian branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Institute of geology and geophysics (Novosibirsk) and the Institute of geology (Yakutia) of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. These researchers provided prognosis and rationale for exploration of the largest mineral deposits in the Arctic zone of Siberia, realization of projects on development of hydrocarbons in the Arctic. After establishment of academic institutes in Siberia the coordination of research activities related to hydrocarbons in the Arctic reached a new level. This large-scale research was conducted in the framework of the program «Siberia». Many leading scientists-geologists including Academicians A.A. Trofimuk, N.V. Cherskiy, V.S. Surkov, A.Е. Kontorovich and Corresponding Members V.N. Saks, I.I. Nesterov were among the program’s coordinators. Investigations carried out within the framework of «Siberia» increased the level of fundamental and applied research. The conclusions drawn by the Siberian scientists served as the basis for planning the oil and gas fields exploration in the region. For the first time the perspectives of the Siberian Arctic zone’s development were comprehensively studied and exploration of the nature resources was regarded in close connection with solving socio-economic and environmental problems. The overall contribution of the SB RAS institutes to organization of fundamental research in the Arctic zone of Russia, solving the problems of socio-economic development of the Polar regions and studying the Arctic geology, biology and ecology has been tremendous and still awaits comprehensive study.