Continuing the Scientific Research
08.06.2018
The guests from Czech Republic visited the coal mines of Bogatyr Coal LLP. They were practicing professors of Carlov University, Faculty of Natural Sciences: Associate Professor, Chairman of the Commission of Faculty of Natural Sciences Stanislav Oplustil, Doctor of Natural Sciences Mark Martinek and Master of Natural Sciences Roland Nadaskay.
The interest of scientists was connected with the poorly explored geology of Ekibastuz coal basin. They set a goal to add international researches in the area of processes taken place at the time of Carbon and Devon in the local area when coal formation just started, and also to observe the development of living organisms and plants. By the way, thanks to the work performed by them earlier with the help of Bogatyr samples taken three years ago now it is possible to determine the age of coal with the fluctuation of 90 thousand years only. The radiometric analysis, the results of which became known shortly before the arrival of the guests to Ekibastuz, showed that our coal deposit began to originate about 336 million years ago and coal formation was taking place stage-by-stage for about four million years.
By Stanislav Oplustil, in much the local processes are very much similar to those, which were taking place millions of years ago in the area of coal basins of Europe and China similar to Ekibastuz coal basin by age.
Such conclusions were made after the visit of the Czech delegation to the coal mining enterprises of China, Turkey, Canada, America, and Europe. Here the researchers were also taking samples for analysis and studied rare insects found. When examining the forests covered with the coal crozzle in China they found mummified plants preserved in an ideal form, and in Czechia where brown coal is mined by open-cast mining, as for black coal - like in Karaganda, by underground mining method, - remnants of an insect similar to a dragonfly with a wings diameter of about sixty (!) centimeters. In 2015 at our enterprise the paleophytologist Josef Pshenichka opened the new type of an ancient plant with a tender name "plavuniya", the fossil of which was found on the section of overburden works.
By the way, during the recent expedition of the members of PavGeo Regional Geographic society one more interesting exemplar was found on the overburden dump. The local researchers did not manage to identify it completely. Initially it was presupposed that a find was an element of a petrified tree, however Czech colleagues disproved that supposition and determined that a fossil was a shell of an ancient squid!
Besides that, on the depth of sea deposits the guests of the enterprise took samples for micropaleonthology. They needed those samples to check the hypothesis of availability of crozzle deposits in coal seams. If analyses are positive then one will be able to determine that once long time ago the outburst of a volcano influenced the change of the local landscape, which also influenced the formation of Bayanaul mountains. Sofar, there exists one more guess along with this one regarding the change of the local landscape - it is a climatic influence of Ice Age. The results of the research will be known in 1-2 years. They will help to dot the i's and cross the t's.
The scientists thank the management of Bogatyr Coal LLP for the opportunity of the conduct of the current expedition. Next year they hope to visit our enterprise one more time to continue their scientific activity.
Marina PONKRATOVA
Photo from the archives of the Czech expedition.
