Kazan Golovkinsky Stratigraphic Meeting held at Institute

The conference was opened by Vice-Rector for Earth Sciences Danis Nurgaliev. He emphasized that this year’s conference is marked by an important date: November 17 is the 190th anniversary of the birth of Nikolay Golovkinsky. The meeting took up 28 to 30 October.

“Golovkinsky is the Einstein of geology, and these are not just fancy words,” noted Nurgaliev. “He for the first time presented an understanding of the structure of geologic space and time, establishing that they are related to each other, and not always the time axis is orthogonal to space. Thus, the scientist showed on real examples: the sliding of facies in time and space leads to the fact that the same geological body, for example, a sandstone bed, in its different parts will have a different age. It took geologists dozens of years to understand and confirm his discovery, and 100 years later scientists created sequence stratigraphy, a technology based on Golovkinsky’s law. He is one of the founders of the Kazan geological school, an outstanding scientist, the discoverer of the fundamental law of geology. This is exactly the case when it is impossible to allow the name of our compatriot who made an outstanding discovery to be forgotten.”

The Institute staff made a movie about the life and discoveries of Golovkinsky, which was shown to the participants of the conference. After that, the speakers continued to deliver their papers.

“Every year the conference attracts the attention of both Russian and foreign scientists, as it is a convenient platform for the exchange of experience, research and new materials on a wide range of issues: geology, geochronology, ancient climate, oil production,” said Vladimir Silantyev, Acting Director of the Institute. “For many people, participation in the conference is a great opportunity to find new partners and customers. This year the conference is combined with the All-Russian Conference on the Upper Paleozoic of Russia, traditionally organized by the Commissions on Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian of the Interdepartmental Stratigraphic Committee of Russia.”

“At the opening of the courses at the Center for Advanced Training, we always tell the trainees about the outstanding scientists of Kazan University, in particular the Kazan School of Geology. It is important to emphasize that the students who study on the programs Seismofacial Analysis, Sequence Stratigraphy of Carbonate Complexes, Sequence Stratigraphy of Terrigenous Complexes, study seismofacial analysis in the walls of IGPT, where Golovkinsky, who discovered the law of facies correlation, worked. Continuing the glorious traditions of Kazan University, today KFU scientists remain the forefront in geology,” said Ildus Chukmarov, Director of CdoGEO.