Centre for Russian and Central EurAsian Mineral Studies (CERCAMS)
Central Eurasia on the map
An atlas covering the central part of the Eurasian
lithospheric plate, an area of some 7.5 million km2, is now
available*. This vast region includes 15 oil basins as well as major
mining areas such as the South Urals, central Kazakhstan, Tian Shan,
Pamir, Kunlun, and Altai regions. Compilation of the atlas has relied
on a vast amount of geological and geophysical data as well as data
from thousands of boreholes and papers on stratigraphy, tectonics, magmatism,
paleogeography etc.
There are 71 digital maps illustrating the geological structure, development
history, mineral resources and the natural environment of which 37 are
included in the printed version. More than 600 geological sections were
correlated of which 280 are in the printed version, and all are contained
within the digital version. The bulk of the Atlas comprises lithological-
palaeo-geographical maps at a scale of 1:2.5 million but there are also
structural maps.
The atlas project, focused on the geology, ecology, oil, gas and mineral
resources of Central Eurasia, was initiated in 1996 and sponsored by
the governments of Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. There have also been sponsors
from the private sector including mining companies such as Placer Dome
Inc. of Canada.
The formidable task of co-ordinating this unique international project
was undertaken by Dr Oleg Fedorenko of Kazakhstan’s Scientific
Research Institute of Natural Resources (YugGeo) in Almaty. Work on
the atlas project is facilitated in two stages, and the atlas available
now is the result of the first stage (1996-2002), whereas the second
stage (involving in addition, Armenia, Georgia, and Turkey), will focus
on the geology, geodynamics and metallogeny of the Central Eurasian
transboundary basins and ore provinces (2002-06).
The atlas was officially launched in London last week at a workshop
at the Natural History Museum (NHM) organised by the Centre for Russian
and Central Asian Mineral Studies (CERCAMS). The Centre, supported by
mining companies and other agencies, is a forum for mineral deposit
studies focused on the former Soviet Union and adjacent territories
of eastern Europe, China and Mongolia. CERCAMS is assisting in the sales
and marketing of the atlas, which is available at a price of US$600.
An order form can be obtained via the CERCAMS website: www.nhm.ac.uk/mineralogy/cercams/index.htm
The atlas contains only an estimated 40% of the total available project
data. A more comprehensive atlas in digitized form (CorelDraw, ArcView)
will eventually be made available as a CD. To date, the project has
cost an estimated US$2.0 million (not counting the invaluable datasets
from the archives of Soviet-era research and exploration which were
accessed and used free-of-charge). More information can be obtained
at www.yuggeo.nursat.kz.
* Fedorenko, O.A., Bykadorov, V.A., Daukeev, S.Zh., Miletenko, N.V., Morozov, A.F., Uzhkenov, B.S. et al.: ‘Atlas of lithological-paleogeographical, structural, palinspastic and geoenvironmental maps of Central Eurasia’. Publisher: © Scientific Research Institute of Natural Resources YugGeo, Almaty 2002. ISBN 9965-13-566-5.
Mining Journal, London
Vol. 339, No. 8715, p. 412
December 13, 2002
MINING WEEK