Geology

The article highlights the features of the diamond mining industry in Yakutia. The history of the discovery and study of impact diamonds Popigai deposit formed as a result of the penetration of the eponumous huge meteorite into the rock mass are traced. Some features of Popigai crystals and the prospects of their use in various sectors of the national economy of the country are characterized.

The morphological diversity of diosculumic sponges, known as Paracraticularia cylindrical, results from the fact that many fossils assigned to this species prove to be fragments of the apical segments of internodes (branches) from major colonies that are rarely encountered as totally preserved fossils. The structures of the branch apical segments and the oscula outlines reflect various manifestations of hexactinellida synchronous division conductive to morphological diversity of the descendants, the succeeding complicatedly structured colonial sponges.

Two species of Cygnus from the Late Pleistocene deposits of Binagadi asphalt lake are described in this paper, which have not been previously known from this locality. Cygnus cygnus is represented by the left distal fragment of the radius; the right fragment of the proximal humerus and ulna belongs to Cygnus olor. Morphological analysis with recent and fossil species of the genus Cygnus makes it possible to establish taxonomic differences between species, based on certain diagnostic features that can serve as criteria for identifying species.

The Shalkar earthquake focal zone is characterized by the strongest earthquakes of all that occurred in the southeast of the East – European Platform. A physical and geological model has been developed, on the basis of which the parameters of the Shalkar earthquake focal zone have been determined, which can be used to assess the intensity of shaking from possible earthquakes. The relationship between earthquakes in the southeast of the East European platform and deformations in the mantle is shown.