40th anniversary of Polar Marine Geological Prospecting Expedition

On Friday, the federal state unitary research-and-production enterprise "Polar Marine Geological Prospecting Expedition" in St. Petersburg celebrates its 40th anniversary.

Chief of the marine works' department of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources Rinat Murzin and representatives of the Russian leading geological organisations are expected to participate in the celebrations, said Director of the Polar Marine Geological Prospecting Expedition (PMGRE) Vladimir Kryukov.

The Polar Marine Geological Prospecting Expedition was founded in 1962 as a department of the Scientific Research Institute of the Arctic geology to conduct gravitational exploration of the Soviet Arctic seas. By 1970 the expedition had accomplished the survey of the Pechora, Kara, East Siberian, Chukchi and Laptev Seas. After that the experts of the polar expedition were involved in regional geophysical research in Antarctica as part of the Soviet Antarctic expeditions.

In 1978, the Polar Marine Geological Prospecting Expedition launched the World Gravitational Survey programme, which covered vast regions in the Pacific and Antarctic Oceans, the Bering Sea, the Ladoga and Onega Lakes and the Arctic shelf. The results of this survey helped to specify the data on the geological structure of several sectors of the World Ocean.

In 1987, the Polar Marine Geological Prospecting Expedition started exploring and prospecting works in the archipelagos of Novaya Zemlya (New Land), Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land. Since 1995, the Polar Marine Geological Prospecting Expedition has been conducting seismic and radio-locating investigations of the unique under-ice lake Vostok in accordance with the agreement with the Russian Antarctic Expedition.

Nowadays, the expedition is involved in geophysical research of Antarctica and the adjacent shelf, geological and geophysical investigations of the World Ocean's bottom and the estimation of natural resources in Franz Josef Land.

Subscribe to Pravda.Ru Telegram channel, Facebook, RSS!

Author`s name Editorial Team
X