Patterns in the Population History of Northern Eurasia from the Mesolithic to the Early Bronze Age, Based on Craniometry and Genetics

This study examines the craniometric differentiation of Northern Eurasian groups with reference to genetic and partly linguistic facts. Measurements of 66 series of male crania from that territory, dating to various periods from the Mesolithic to the Early Bronze Age, were subjected to statistical methods especially destined for detecting spatial patterns, specifi cally gradients. Using the nonmetric multidimensional scaling of the matrix of D2 distances corrected for sample size, a two-dimensional projection of group constellation was generated, and a minimum spanning tree, showing the shortest path between group centroids in the multivariate space, was constructed. East-west clines in Northern Eurasia, detected by both genetic and craniometric traits, likely indicate not so much gene fl ow as isolation by distance, resulting from an incomplete evolutionary divergence of various fi lial groups constituting the Boreal meta-population. The western fi lial component, which, in Siberia and Eastern Central Asia, is mostly represented by Afanasyevans, has evidently made little contribution to the genetic makeup of later populations. The eastern fi lial component, which had appeared in the Cis-Baikal region from across Lake Baikal no later than the Neolithic, admixed with the autochthonous Paleosiberian component. The latter’s principal marker—the ANE autosomal component—had been present in Siberia since the Upper Paleolithic. Likewise autochthonous were both Eurasian formations—Northern and Southern; statis tical analysis has made it possible to make these more inclusive, whereby the former has been expanded in the eastern direction to include the Kuznetsk Basin, and the latter westwards, to the Middle Irtysh. Nothing suggests that Eastern European groups had taken part in the origin of either the Northern Eurasian formation or the proto-Uralic groups.

Experimental studies of in-line gasification of mechanically activated coal fuel

The 1 MW experimental stand was modernized with a scroll swirler and a crushed fuel supply system. Comparative data on combustion and gasification of coal fuel crushed in high-stress mills - disintegrator, vibrocentrifugal and hammer mill - at a stand with a thermal power of 1 MW were obtained. The experiments used coal of the Kuznetsk Basin, grade D, with technical characteristics: Wr, % = 5.4; Ar, %=22.3; Vr, % = 32.3; Qsr, MJ/kg = 20.0. Elemental analysis showed that: Cr, %=54.6; Hr, % = 4.1; Nr, % = 1.3; Sr, % = 0.5; Or = 11.8. In experiments with grinding coal on a disintegrator mill, the value of H2 = 4.5 vol.% and CO = 9.4 vol.%, when grinding in a vibro-centrifugal mill, the values of H2 = 0.6 vol.% and CO = 5.8 vol.%, when grinding in a hammer mill, the values of H2 = 0.3 vol.% and CO = 2.8 vol.%. When studying the combustion of mechanochemically treated coal samples, it was found that, all other things being equal, the gasification parameters, namely, the gas concentration and the distribution of temperature zones, depend strongly on the type of equipment used for processing. In particular, processing to approximately the same degree of fineness in mechanical mills-activators with constrained impact and in free impact mills (disintegrators) resulted in different flame parameters.

BIOSTRATIGRAPHIC SIGNIFICANCE OF OSTRACODS FROM THE UPPER DEVONIAN OF THE NORTHWESTERN KUZNETSK BASIN (TOM RIVER, SOUTH EAST OF WEST SIBERIA)

New data on ostracods from three Upper Devonian key sections located in the northwestern part of the Kuznetsk Basin along the Tom River have been obtained. Biostratigraphic analysis allowed define biostratons identified in the rank of Beds with ostracods (Bairdia vassinoensis, Hollinella valentinae and Acratia (cooperina) granuliformis). Beds with ostracods are of different correlation potential. Thus, Beds with Bairdia vassinoensis and Beds with Hollinella valentinae can be traced in two structural-facies subzones of the Kuznetsk Basin margin. Forms with a wide geographical distribution have been established in the ostracod complexes. They could be regarded as markers for interregional correlations.

Russian Regional Carboniferous Stratigraphy

Several existing schemes for Carboniferous stratigraphy officially adopted in regions of the Russian Federation are summarized and discussed. These regions with different geological histories and distinct depositional settings include the Moscow Basin, the Urals, North Timan, Siberia, the Kuznetsk Basin, the Mongol-Okhotsk Region, and the Verkhoyansk-Okhotsk Region, and Kolyma-Omolon Region. Region. Broad correlations based on macro- and microfossils are possible between the regions, while all regional schemes are correlated to the official Russian General Stratigraphic Scheme for the Carboniferous, using zonations based on orthostratigraphic fossils. The Russian General Stratigraphic Scheme is correlated to the International Stratigraphic Scale using ammonoids, conodonts, foraminifers and palynomorphs.

RAINFALL PATTERNS ASSOCIATED WITH RUNOFF AND EROSION LEVELS IN WEST-SIBERIAN CHERNOZEMS

Aims of the study are to identify: 1) the main regularities of surface runoff formation due to downpours and, 2) the extent of erosion processes on arable chernozems under conditions of dissected relief and extreme continental climate. Location and time of the study. Field observations were carried out in Kuznetsk depression and Near-Ob areas during 1968-1979 and 1984-1986 years correspondingly, in Near-Ob area from 1995 until now. Methodology. Summer precipitaion and its intensity were measured by using Hydrograph unit. Water infiltration in the field was studied by the method by Nesterov using a PVN-00 device. Main results. The influence of rainfall patterns and soil physical factors on the processes of soil erosion was studied in three large geomorphological regions in the South–South-East of Western Siberia. As regards climatic factors the data of meteorological stations were analyzed for historical rainfall patterns, including interannual variability and downpour recordings. Experimental data of water infiltration, runoff and soil loss were discussed for the main soils units: Greyzemic Phaeozems (Siltic), Luvic Chernozems (Siltic) and Haplic Chernozems (Siltic) with variable content of soil organic matter and erosion levels. Conclusions. In western Siberia, the greatest erosion hazard is represented by meltwater, not only by its total volume, but also by the speed of thaw. Heavy rains cause significant damage to agricultural land only locally, during early spring, when the soil is not protected by vegetation. In both cases, the permeability of the soils plays an important role in the resulting runoff volumes. The vulnerability to erosion in the studied area is as follows: Kuznetsk Basin> Predsalairie> Ob Region (no storm damage).

Relationship between average maximum and average arbitrary reflection values of coals vitrinite

For a quantitative assessment of the degree of coalification of coals in different countries, either average arbitrary (R0,r) vitrinite reflectance or average maximum (R0,max) vitrinite reflectance are mainly used. Since these indicators differ markedly in magnitude, in many countries, equations of the relationship between them have been established relatively long time ago in order to compare correctly the technological properties of different coals of the same type by indicators R0,max or R0,r. For Russian coals, the relationship between the vitrinite reflection indices R0,max and R0,r has not yet been established. Based on the studies of 40 samples of coals from Russia (Kuznetsk Basin), equations of the relationship between the average maximum (R0,max) and average arbitrary (R0,r) reflection values of coals vitrinite were obtained, taking into account the degree of their genetic recovery. The accuracy of calculating the indicator R0,max through R0,r at that is higher when taking into account the degree of genetic recovery of coals, which was 0.03%, versus 0.04% without accounting it. To compare technological properties of Russian coals by the same type of indicators R0,max or R0,r with the coals of Australia, USA, Canada, Poland, Germany, the equations of the relationship between the average maximum (R0,max) and the average arbitrary (R0,r) vitrinite reflectance presented for the coals of these countries according to publications in scientific journals.

Low Geomagnetic Field Paleointensity on the Permian–Triassic Boundary from Study of the Kuznetsk Basin Traps (Southern Siberia)

—Here we report the first data on the absolute intensity value of the geomagnetic field on the Permian–Triassic boundary from basalts of the Kuznetsk basin. The latter are considered as one of the manifestations of the initial stage of trap magmatism during the formation of the Siberian large igneous province. The good preservation of information on the ancient geomagnetic field in the Mal’tsevskaya Formation basalts is due to the presence of small single domain and pseudo-single domain grains of primary magmatic titanomagnetite in the groundmass. The paleointensity values obtained following the Thellier-Coe method correspond to the generally accepted criteria of reliability and indicate that the geomagnetic field intensity during the formation of the Kuznetsk basin traps on the Permian–Triassic boundary was almost an order of magnitude lower than the present-day one. Moreover, the mean values of the virtual dipole moment for the Kozhukhta and the Vlasov units in the lower and middle Mal’tsevskaya Formation ((1.9 ± 0.6) · 1022 A · m2 and (1.1 ± 0.7) · 1022 A · m2, respectively) are in good alignment with determinations of the paleointensity during the accumulation of the Ivakinsky Formation of the Norilsk Region in the Siberian province, which confirms the accuracy of traditional regional correlations.

Transatlantic Workers' Solidarity

The Kuzbas (short for the Kuznetsk Basin in Western Siberia) was the largest coal mining region and one of the most important industrial centers in the Soviet Union. This chapter, after a short introduction of the history of the Autonomous Industrial Colony (AIC) that had been established in Siberia with the help of American workers, will focus on the American perspectives on Kuzbas as a real chance to build a workers’ utopia and discuss what had been promised to be achievable in Siberia. The voices of those who worked and later returned from Siberia will be compared with the arguments of those who did not believe the terrible reports that were brought back from the Soviet Union, the place where a worker could eventually be freed from the harrowing chains of capitalism.