Role of Irkutsk State University Geologists in the Discovery of the Yakutsk Diamondiferous Province

Authors

A.T. Korolkov

Irkutsk State University, Irkutsk, Russia

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About the authors

Korolkov Aleksey Tikhonovich,

Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences,

664003, Irkutsk, Karla Marksa St., 1, Russia,

Professor of ISU,

email: baley51@mail.ru.

Abstract. 75 years have passed since the discovery of the diamond placer on the Sokolina Spit in the valley of the Vilyu River, located 6 km upstream from the village of Krestyakh, which forced the search to be moved from the territory of the Irkutsk region to the Sakha region (Yakutia). This discovery was made on August 7, 1949 by the party of Grigory Feinstein, who at that time was part of the Tunguska expedition, led by Mikhail M. Odintsov, the initiator of the diamond search on the Siberian platform, who in the autumn of 1949, after defending his doctoral dissertation, was appointed the first dean of the independent geological faculty. 5 years later, on August 21, 1954, a young woman from ALL over Leningrad, Larisa A. Popugaeva, discovered the first indigenous diamond source in Siberia, the Zarnitsa kimberlite pipe, using the pyrope method of searching on the advice of Alexander A. Kukharenko. 70 years have passed since that date.

Keywords: Tunguska expedition, diamond placer, Sokolinaya Spit, pyrope search method, kimberlite pipe Zarnitsa, Lenin Prize.

P. 58–66

References

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Feinstein G.H. Cities are rising up behind us. Cygnus G.G. Awakened genies. Irkutsk: East Siberian Book Publishing House, 1988. 304 p.

For citation

Korolkov A.T. Role of Irkutsk State University geologists in the discovery of the Yakutsk diamondiferous province // Geology and Environment. 2024. Vol. 4, No. 4. P. 58–66.DOI 10.26516/2541-9641.2024.4.58

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