Of GEOLOGICAL SCIENCE

Of PRIMORSKI KRAI

by Valentina SOLYANIK, senior researcher and head of the exhibition sector of the Geological and Mineralogical Museum of the Far-Eastern Geological Institute, RAS Far-Eastern Branch (Vladivostok)

Founded in 1978 the Geological and Mineralogical Museum of the Far-Eastern Geological Institute, RAS Far-Eastern Branch, is unrivaled in wealth and imposingness of collections in the region. It keeps in store almost 12,000 specimens reflecting a variety of rocks, minerals and ores of the continental part of the Far East and the Pacific Ocean floor. Most of them are materials from archives used by paleontologists, mineralogists and petrographers in their scientific work. The permanent exposition displays about 1,500 rare and unique historical monuments of stone, which make it possible to disclose deeply and thoroughly its geology and evolution of its organic world, to see an integrity, harmony and diversity of natural processes and get an objective idea of the ever-changing planet. For 35 years of its existence the museum became a well-known cultural and educational institution of Vladivostok, and it is visited annually at least by a thousand people from such countries as Japan, China, Korea, USA, Sweden, Ireland, Germany and other countries.

A GLIMPSE AT THE HISTORY

The development of the first in the region museum of a mineralogical profile is intimately connected with the history of the RAS Far-Eastern Geological Institute founded in 1959. Its stocks represent a methodical, educational and historico-aesthetic interest and are based on collections of a stone material sampled by the institute specialists during long-term field expeditions and research of the Pacific folded belt, the biggest marginal land part of the earth's crust with an increased concentration of mineral deposits. Originally it was just a sample storehouse. Later the institute workers alongside with scientific research set about a publicity activity and demonstrated their exhibits to numerous visitors. But the museum formation as an enlightenment and training center started at the end of the 1970s-early 1980s with

the exhibitions Fantasy in Stone and Open Slightly a Malachite Box and was associated with the name of MiroslavaYefimova, Cand. Sc. (Geol. & Mineral.), the museum first head. Completion of each field season was marked at the institute with an exhibition of new interesting findings of geologists who surveyed the Far-Eastern regions and outside. In 1985-1991 the museum hosted a "Small Academy" for schoolchildren interested in geology and mineralogy who became later college students including the Moscow Lomonosov State University.

But in the 1990s the museum could not work at full capacity as a crisis situation in the country led to reduction of personnel and financing for independent field surveying, but a strategic basis for the museum's development had already been created. Strange as it may seem, the existing difficulties became an incentive for displaying initiative and cognitive activity. It was just in 1992-1999 that with the support of the institute's authorities there was formed a new approach to replenishing, storing and using of the stock collections and to advance work on creation of thematic scientific and monographic collections.

In 2006-2007 in the halls with a total area of 100 m² a new exposition was opened with 32 stands displaying unique specimens of magmatic, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of the Asian continent and the Pacific Ocean, ores of all genetic types of known deposits, unique minerals and their crystalline natural formations, fauna and flora fossils of the Far-Eastern region. Today the fund is represented by the stone materials sampled in the course of expeditions or donated by researchers and collectors or acquired from the State Production Association Soyuzkvartzsamotsvety.

ARISTOCRATS IN THE WORLD OF STONES

The museum has a collection of semi-precious stones numbering 150 samples and faceted gemstones collected at mineral deposits in different parts of our vast country. Except for the Ural emerald, malachite, amethyst, avanturine, uvarovite, Pamir lazurite, Siberian chariot, lazurite and heliodor from the Trans-Baikal region, eudialyte and amazonite from the Kola Peninsula, one can see here also articles less known to a wide range of nonprofessionals such as spring green variety of diopside, i.e. chrome-diopside. It has a stable trade name "Siberian" or "Yakut emerald" due to its formal resemblance with the known gem though it differs from the latter in lesser hardness and refraction index. The Inagli river (in Yakutia) where deposits of this mineral are located gave another name to the latter, i.e. inaglite. It was also discovered in Finland, the Republic of South Africa, Myanma (Burma), the Swiss Alps and Kenya. However, it is the Inagli deposit which remains the biggest in chrome-diopside reserves in the world up to now.

"Blue jasper" or microquartzite unparalleled in the world, whose color is conditioned by an amphibole dispersed in quartz mass relates to less known semi-precious samples. Its deposit is situated in the north-western spurs of the Taikan Range in the basins of the Ira and Nimi rivers (Khabarovsk Krai) in the development area of manganese ore thickness.

The rare collection samples include the Sakhalin amber or sakhalinite found, judging by its name, on the Sakhalin coast. According to specialists it is not inferior to the best Baltic amber specimens and has a color of thick tea with cherry shade.

The magical world of Primorski semi-precious stones from the institute's gemological laboratory is presented at the exhibition "Semi-Precious Stones of the Russian Far-Eastern Region". The only Russian placer deposit of jewelry corundum (sapphire) and zircon (hyacinth) is located in the Krasnoarmeisk District (Nezametny mine). Our collection includes also 5 to 20 mm rounded dolioform, lamellar and tabular shape crystals of different colors: violet-blue, blue-green, blue, cyan-blue, olivegreen and grey. Particularly notable are faceted light-blue sapphires and dark red hyacinth resembling corundum from the Nezametny placer (Sikhote Alin Ridge). By expert estimates the decorative quality of these stones allows their utilization as faceting material for jewelry. Besides, the gemological properties of their samples correspond to sapphires from the southern Vietnam, Myanma and Thailand.

The exhibition displays also varieties of local opals (Raduzhnoye deposit located within the Western Sikhote Alin volcanic zone), topazes from greisens of the Zabytoye deposit in the eastern part of the Primorski Krai, boric minerals of the Dalnegorsk borosilicate deposit (middle part of the Rudnaya River flowing down the eastern slope of the Sikhote Alin Ridge to the Sea of Japan), which include danburite (complete orthorhombic prisms, colorless or wine yellow, not inferior in physical and optical properties to topaz), morion, smoke-colored quartz, wolframite and cassiterite from chamber pegmatites of the Verkhne-Shibanovskoye deposit (western element of the Sikhote Alin mountainous region). Altogether 22 specimens of semi-precious stones were faceted for the exhibition.

* See: V. Pakhomova, "Gemology and Its Development in Siberia and the Far East", Science in Russia, No. 4, 2013.--Ed.

A broad range of ornamental stones is presented at the exhibition. They include agates various in form, color, genesis and structural features from deposits of the Primorski Krai, rhodonite, obsidians, rhyolites and their tuffs, sealing-wax jasper from the Kavalerovsky District and rose quartz from the Pozharski District, peridotite of the Vladimiro-Alexandrovsky deposit, granodiorite of the Vrangelevsky deposit, black limestone of the Spassky deposit, tuff breccia and spherolite rhyolite of the Nezhdankinsky deposit. Of permanent interest is organogenic limestone filled with skeletal remains of marine and plant organisms such as megalodontia (Dalnegorsky District), algoid archaevocyatha (Spassky District) and reef limestone containing sponge remains (Nakhodka District). However, it is only an insignificant part of semi-precious stones of the Primorski mineral wealth.

Prominence is given to skarn (metasomatic rock resulting from reactive interaction of contacting carbonates and alumosilicates) of the unique in scale and geological structure Dalnegorsk borosilicate deposit where, apart from ore, a fine ornamental stone is quarried, which has a subtle structure with a beautiful concentrically stripped "malachite" design. Individual strips in skarn aggregates are formed by garnet, heden-bergite, wollastonite, datolite and sometimes by axinite and chlorite, but their composition changes considerably in different parts of deposits. The exhibited specimens demonstrate a varied picture of mineral associations in the ore zone and diversity of textural designs of rare beauty and singularity. Different from its Ural analog by a broader range of colors, "Primorski malachite" is similar to it in concentric zoning, fanciful design and changeable coloring. Sometimes polished cuts reveal wonderful multicolor pictures of the great painter of the Dame Nature.

This wonderful stone was used for decorative design of the Petrovsko-Razumovskaya station of the Moscow subway opened in 1991. It may be called without exaggeration a museum of the Dalnegorsk skarn as its 48 columns are decorated with symmetric and unusually diversified in design insertions of all varieties of a decorative material.

The museum has in stock specimens of diamond-bearing kimberlites from the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) where actually all national mining of diamonds (~99.8 percent) is concentrated. We display exhibits from 25 known kimberlite pipes such as Zarnitsa, Mir, Udachnaya, Sytykanskaya, Nyurbinskaya, Aikhal and others obtained by exchange from the Museum of Kimberlites in the city of Mirny.

"UNUSUAL TOYS OF THE NATURE"

The unusual representatives of the mineral world, which did not meet the generally accepted standards, were thus named by the great Russian natural scientist Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765)*. We mean crystals, the most perfect type of minerals and a rare creation of the nature.

The world known Dalnegorsk skarn (polymetallic and borosilicate) and Kavalerovsky (tin-polymetallic) deposits are not only industrial objects for many decades but also the sources of such crystals, i.e. collection raw material. The unique in beauty druses of calcite, quartz, apophyllite, datolite, galenite, sphalerite and other minerals (the so-called "stone flowers") are a real adornment of our museum. The geometric perfection of crystals forming a druse in combination with a somewhat random location embodies that graceful carelessness which the nature uses in relations with its treasures.

The mineral congeries of unusual beauty from the Dalnegorsk deposits were formed in cavities called "airholes" by geologists. Yekaterina Radkevich, the first director of the Far-Eastern Geological Institute and the RAS corresponding member who had visited many deposits in the world wrote: "What a strong impression is created by this wealth of crystals in the place of their natural location, in the underground workings of Dalnegorsk! I have never encountered more beautiful ores."

* See: A. Utkin, "Phenomenon of Lomonosov's Personality", Science in Russia, No. 6, 2011.-Ed.

The collection material at the institute numbers above 400 exhibits, most part of which is represented by crystals, splices and druses from the Primorski Krai deposits. Its study, including by methods of infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction, provided considerable increase of information value of the specimens selected for the exhibition "Collection Minerals from Primorski Deposits as a Source of Genetic Information".

Diversity and combination of unusual in appearance and rare varieties give a special charm to the Dalnegorsk druses. The nature had to work long on the creation of such unique minerals. The minerals passed a long and arduous way as if specially for reincarnation into museum treasures. Not so much aesthetic passion as scientific interest was a prime cause due to which rare and valuable specimens collected by several generations of geologists, mineralogists and crystallographers for the 50-year history of the institute were preserved. Today they are known not only in Russia but also abroad, and their popularity grows at the international exhibitions in Tucson and Denver (both USA) and also in Munich (Germany). Thanks to the proximity of Dalnegorsk, the supplies of stone materials continue and add new masterpieces to the exhibition.

TRAINING AND EDUCATIONAL CENTER

We are trying to make our collection accessible whenever possible to a larger number of students, researchers, practical geologists, schoolchildren and generally the people interested in science. Our consistent principle--

collections should live actively. One of the museum's target audiences is represented by young people from higher educational institutions of Vladivostok who study mineralogy, crystallography and gemology. The exposition halls have long become their training place holding subject excursions based on the college education programs. Besides, our systematic collection serves as a laboratory for their practical familiarization with representatives of all classes of minerals in line with a respective course of studies.

Another line of our activity in vocational-oriented training is work with high school and preschool children who absorb love of the environment, their native land and geology by joining to a beautiful and mysterious world of stone. The subject excursions "Open Slightly a Malachite Box", "Many-Sided Quartz", "The Corundum Brothers (ruby and sapphire)", "Puzzles of Mineralogy", "Sun on the Palm (amber)", "The Salt of Life", "Legends on the Stone: Myths and Reality (curative properties of the stone)", "A Chance for the Dinosaur" often become an occupational reference point leading the younger generation to a reasonable choice of the future profession.

Nowadays a virtual component becomes obligatory: application of different levels of information in the

course of construction of an exposition promotes a fuller understanding of its subject matter. It is of prime importance for a geological and mineralogical museum as static specimens without extra explanations cannot reflect a plentitude of geological knowledge on their formation and areas of common use. "The live labels" or digital video frames installed in showcases and thematic movie lectures increased the exposition information capacity. Our film library includes over 20 popular science films such as "Inside of the Planet Earth", "A History of the Earth", "Evolution of Life", "Travels with Dinosaurs", "Inside of a Volcano" and others, in which very interesting geological processes and natural phenomena are discussed from the position of modern science. Based on the findings of detailed geological studies of unique natural objects in the Primorski Krai a slide-film "Vanishing Volcanoes of the Krabbe Peninsula" and a video-film "Ash Tuffs of the Cenozoic Depressions in the South-West of the Primorski Krai as Evidence of Catastrophic Volcanic Eruptions" were created.

Promotion of research work carried out by the museum and institute personnel through authors' expositions became an important part of educational activities. For example, recently the museum obtained a collection from the gemological laboratory headed by Vera Pakhomova, Cand. Sc. (Geol. & Mineral.) entitled "Gemology of Semi-Precious Stones of the Russian

Far-Eastern Region" with 20 specimens of corundum, zircon, sapphire, spinel, opal varieties, boric minerals... The exposition is of interest primarily to young specialists. Besides, it serves as a perfect material for promotion of knowledge of the stone culture history.

Of undoubted value is the collection of Vitaly Gvozdev, Dr. Sc. (Geol. & Mineral.) "Typomorphic indications of skarn-scheelite-sulphide deposits using the example of tungsten-bearing deposits of Agylki, Vostok-II and Lermontovskoye", which illustrates the genetic ore-magmatic system of skarn-scheelite-sulphide deposits. The scientist revealed the typomorphic features of metasomatic rocks and ores which enabled him to improve the sequential chart of mineral-formation and suggest it as a criterion for quantitative assessment of tungsten reserves at the regional geological sites.

Primorski Krai is a unique place on the planet: fragments of its rocks contain remains of fossil plants. In this regard the researchers' attention is drawn to the so-called Voznovskaya flora discovered on the eastern slope of the Sikhote Alin and notable for a high taxonomic variety and a perfect conservation of fossil plants, which enable paleophytologists to determine in most cases their generic belonging. In 2003-2005 Boris Pavlyutkin, Cand. Sc. (Geol. & Mineral.) and his colleague Igor Chekryzhov made an unusual collection from rocks of a standard section of the Voznovskaya suite with numerous imprints of leaves, fruits and leafy shoots. In

most cases macroremains have a contrasting image on rocks, and the plant tissue of their substantial part is replaced by brown and brownish-black aggregates of aqueous oxides of iron and manganese. Scientists date the flora-bearing series as Oligocene, the last geological period of the Palaeogene, which began 33.9 mln years ago and lasted for ~11 mln years. They managed to reveal the presence of 67 morphotypes from 500 inclusions of the phytocomplex. Many of them were demonstrated at the exhibition "Voznovskaya taphoflora as one of the unique burial sites of Oligocene plants in the Primorski Krai".

The findings of geochemical studies of hyaloclastites, i.e. original rocks formed in the process of outpouring of basaltic lavas to aqueous medium or ice, and volcanic glasses presented by the laboratory of petrology of volcanic formations headed by Vladimir Popov, Cand. Sc. (Geol. & Mineral.) aroused considerable interest. They appeared during mass eruptions, which took place 13-11 mln years ago. Volcanic glasses form sharp shears, split easily and can be manually processed, which conditioned their widespread occurrence in the Stone Age cultures. By methods of their mining, processing and utilization one can determine a level of development of ancient industries, processes of exchange, trade, direction and specifics of people's migration. Therefore, the study of volcanic glasses from archeological monuments is important for solving of not only geological but also archeological problems associated with determination of migration routes and contacts of population in the Paleolithic, Neolithic and Paleometal (the last 20-30 thous. years).

The Primorski obsidian (magmatic rock) was studied by an international team of archeologists, geologists, paleographers and archeometrists from Russia, Australia and New Zealand. By 2000 it succeeded in the discovery of an unusual type of volcanic glasses in numerous archeological monuments of the southern and eastern parts of Primorski Krai and also on pebble spits of big rivers in its southern part. But a large outcrop of such bed rocks in the shape of a high cliffed scarp formed by pillow lavas of basalts and hyaloclastites and stretched along the right side of the Ilistaya river valley was first discovered only in 2002 during a joint expedition of geologists and archeologists of the RAS Far-Eastern Branch. Nearby on the terrace flat escarps they found dwelling sites of prehistorical people.

The following years were spent on geological and archeological studies carried out in the Ilistaya river basin. Near the sources of volcanic glasses the scientists found archeological monuments with numerous obsidian artifacts. The museum exposition illustrated by graphic materials and photos of rock outcrops displays genetic types of hyaloclastites, varieties of volcanic glasses of the Shtokovsky basalt plateau and also specimens of implements of early man obtained as a result of experimental processing of magmatic rocks.

Illustrations supplied by the author