Тема 5. А.М. Terpigorev (1873-1959)
Academician A.M. Terpigorev is a well-known mining engineer who successfully combined his practical experience with scientific research.
He was bom in 1873 in Tambov.
In 1892 he finished school with honours1 and decided to get a higher education. He chose the Mining Institute in St. Petersburg, passed all the entrance examinations successfully and became a student of the Mining Institute.
At the Institute he studied the full range of subjects2 relating to metallurgy, mining and mining mechanics.
At that time students' specialization was based on3 descriptive courses and elementary practical training.
In 1897 Terpigorev graduated from the Institute with a first-class diploma of a mining engineer.
His first job as a mining engineer was at the Sulin mines where he worked for more than three years first as Assistant Manager and later as Manager.
From 1900 till 1922 Terpigorev worked at the Yekaterinoslav Mining Institute (now the Mining Institute in Dnepropetrovsk).
In 1922 he accepted an offer to take charge of the mining chair at the Moscow Mining Academy and moved to Moscow.
From 1930 he headed the chairs5 of Mining Transport and Mining of Bedded Deposits at the Moscow Mining Institute.
He is one of the pioneers in scientific methods of coal gasification.
Текст 6. А.Р. Karpinsky (1847-1936)
An entire epoch in the history of Russian geology is connected with Karpinsky's name.
One of the greatest Russian geologists, he was a member and for some time President of the Academy of Sciences of the former USSR and a member of several Academies abroad.
The Geological Society of London elected him a foreign member in 1901.
His greatest contribution to geology was a new detailed geological map of the European part of Russia and the Urals.
He was one of those geologists who embraced the whole of geological science.
He created the new stratigraphy of Russia.
He was the first Russian scientist who introduced microscope in the study of petrographic slides.
Karpinsky was a prominent scientist, an excellent man and citizen.
He was one of the best lecturers at the Mining Institute in his time.
He was also one of the greatest Russian scientists who later became the first elected President of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
Students were attracted to him not only because he was a great scientist but also because of his charming personality and gentle manner.
Every geologist and every geology student knows very well Karpinsky's most significant work An Outline of the Physical and Geographical Conditions in European Russia in Past Geological Periods.
Тема 7. Sedimentary Rocks
The rocks of the Earth's crust are divided into three main groups: sedimentary rocks, which consist of fragments or particles of pre-existing rocks; igneous rocks which have solidified from magma and metamorphic rocks.
Metamorphic rocks have been derived from either igneous or sedimentary rocks.
Sedimentary rocks represent one of the three major groups of rocks that make up the crust of the Earth. Most sedimentary rods have originated by sedimentation.
They are layered or stratified.
Thus, stratification is the most important characteristic of sediments and sedimentary rocks j It is necessary to note that the processes which lead to the formation of sedimentary rocks are going on around us.
Sediments are formed at or very near the surface of the Earth by the action of heat, water (rivers, glaciers, seas and lakes) and organisms.
It should be noted that 95 per cent of the Earth's crust is made up of igneous rocksand that only 5 per cent is sedimentary.
In contrast, the amount of sedimentary rocks on the Earth's surface is three times that of igneous rocks.
Strictly speaking, sedimentary rocks form a very small proportion by volume of the rocks of the Earth's crust.
It means that most of sedimentary rocks are formed by sediments, accumulations of solid material on the Earth's surface.