Dimitri Vasilievich Nalivkin (1889–1982) was a

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. He was primarily interested in

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock (geology), rock layers (Stratum, strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary rock, sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigrap ...

, but was also responsible in large part for mapping the

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. The son of a

mining engineer Mining in the engineering discipline is the extraction of minerals from underneath, open pit, above or on the ground. Mining engineering is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, and ...

, Nalivkin was born in St. Petersburg in 1889, and followed his father's footsteps by entering the local Mining Academy in 1907. During his training he began teaching there, and also became involved in fieldwork expeditions in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

. Early work dealt with

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

brachiopods in the

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

portion of the Fergana Valley, and he retained an interest in this

geological period The geologic time scale, or geological time scale, (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of relating strata to time) and geochronol ...

throughout his career.

Career

He received the A. P. Karpinsky Distinguished Award in 1913 for one of his papers on faunal composition, and this provided him with the means to go to the Russian Biological Station in Villefranche (France) to study mollusks. By 1915 Nalivkin was considered an expert in central Asian geology. He was asked by the

Russian Geographical Society The Russian Geographical Society (russian: Ру́сское географи́ческое о́бщество «РГО»), or RGO, is a learned society based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It promotes geography, exploration and nature protection wi ...

to lead an expedition to study ancient glaciations in the Pamir. Their results of their study confirmed traces of two ancient glaciations, as well as producing a stratigraphic succession and the completion of a tectonic map. Nalivkin was awarded the Small Silver Medal of the Geographical Society in recognition of his leadership of the expedition. He was called to military service in 1917, and following demobilisation in late 1917, returned to his studies of Devonian fauna. In 1917 he was elected to the Geological Commission of Russia, and remained with it for more sixty years. During his tenure with the Commission he was responsible for directing research into

palaeontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

sedimentology Sedimentology encompasses the study of modern sediments such as sand, silt, and clay, and the processes that result in their formation (erosion and weathering), transport, deposition and diagenesis. Sedimentologists apply their understanding of mo ...

and stratigraphy, work which led to the development and extraction of resources such as

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 April 2 ...

s and

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

. He completed his doctorate in 1924 and was appointed a Professor at the Saint Petersburg Mining University. During World War II, his research extended to a search for

bauxite Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO(O ...

as a means of assisting the war effort's need for aircraft metals. His most significant contribution came with the creation of the index geological maps of the USSR (and adjacent regions), which attracted considerable international attention. With the completion of his Geological Map of the USSR (1:2,500,000

scale Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...

) he was awarded the prestigious Lenin Prize in 1957.

Memberships and awards

* Director of the Institute of Geological Mapping * Vice-director of the Geological Institute of the Academy of Science * Chairman of the Technical Council under the USSR Ministry of Geology * Director of the Limnology Laboratory * Chairman of the Commission on International Tectonic Mapping * President of the Presidium of the Turkmenian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences * Member of the Science Board of the Russian Museum. * Leader, Soviet Delegation at Session XXII of the International Geological Congress, as well as delegations at other international conferences and meetings. * N. M. Przhevalsky Small Silver Medal of the Russian Geographical Society * Karpinsky Gold Medal of the USSR Academy of Sciences * F. Posepny Gold Medal of the Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences * P. Fourmarier Medal of the Belgium Academy of Sciences * L. von Buch Medal of the German Geological Society * Silver Medal of the Peace Council * Honorary Fellow of the German Geographical Society * Fellow, Turkmen Academy of Sciences * Fellow, CSSR Academy of Sciences * Fellow, Serbia Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts * Fellow, the Paleontological Society of India * Fellow of the Geological Society of America * Fellow, Geological Societies of London, France, West Germany, Hungary, and Poland

Personal life

Nalivkin married fellow geologist A.K. Zvorykina. He died in St Petersburg in 1982.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nalivkin, Dimitri V. 1889 births 1982 deaths Soviet geophysicists Soviet paleogeographers Soviet geologists Heroes of Socialist Labour Scientists from Saint Petersburg