The results of the ground-based absolute gravity and space geodetic measurements for the Altai Mountains were considered in combination with EIGEN-6C4 Global Geopotential Model (ETOPO1 Global Relief Model) generated from the satellite data. Analysis was made on different kinds of data: model values for the vertical component of gravity, values of Bouguer and Faye gravity reductions, variations of the vertical gravity gradient, and changes in altitude of the measurement sites. With EIGEN-6C4 model for Bouguer reduction, the crustal thickness curve was drawn along the Novosibirsk (southern West Siberia) – Ukok Plateau (Altai Mountains) line with a length of 800 km. The Moho depth increases from 40 km in the northwest of the area to 51 km in the southeast. For the homogeneous crust model, there was obtained the Moho depth distribution in the Altai Mountains and their foothills.

The analysis of the results of modeling Bouguer and Faye reductions, the data on quasigeoid heights and the relationship between relief height and Bouguer anomalies implies that the Altai Mountains area as a whole is isostatically compensated. Non-compensated are some intermountain basins, such as, for example, the Kurai and Chuya valleys.

In accordance with the detailed first-arrival data, the near-surface part of the Earth’s crust consists of three layers. The upper discontinuous layer is represented by the Mesocenozoic deposits in local basins. The two inhomogenous layers decrease in thickness towards the north from 1.5 km to total thinning in the Stanovoy block and from 4 km in the Chulman basin to 1 km in the Aldan. It is implied that the nature of thinning lies in weathering and disintegration of crystalline rocks. Their underlying boundary at a depth of 1–4 km with a longitudinal wave velocity of 6.0–6.2 km/s can be assigned to the unchanged Early Precambrian basement surface.

The deep seismic sounding data show that the two-layer crust thickness of the Stanovoy block reaches 40 km, and the three-layer crust in the Aldan block is as thick as 50 km. These blocks are separated by the vertical zone beneath the Stanovoy ridge with contrast inhomogeneities in the crust and step-like increase in the Moho depth beneath the Chulman basin.

There was discovered an isostatic imbalance of the lithosphere, correlated with seismicity of the Chulman basin.

This work deals with the importance of studying seismicity and deep structure of the Earth’s crust in the region of the Baikal rift zone. The study presents a three-dimensional velocity structure of the Earth’s crust in the central part of Lake Baikal, obtained from the results of tomographic inversion of the travel times of P- and S-waves from more than 800 seismic events. Synthetic tests provide substantiation for the resolution of the tomographic inversion algorithm. The seismic structure of the crust was obtained to a depth of 35 km and has a direct relationship with the geological structure. The three-dimensional distributions of seismic P- and S-wave velocity anomalies are in good agreement with each other.

The sharp contrast between the anomalies may indicate a difference in the material composition of the basement of the Central Baikal basin. At a 15-km depth below the Selenga River delta, there is observed a strong low-velocity anomaly which confirms the presence of a thick sedimentary cover therein. In the basement (at depths of 20 km or greater), to the northeast of the intersection between the Delta fault and the Fofanov fault, there occurs a high-velocity anomaly elongated towards the Olkhon Island. This anomaly is probably related to a rigid block in the earth’s crust. The same depths, on the western side of the Baikal-Buguldeika fault, show a reduced Vp/Vs ratio: 1.56–1.65 versus 1.70–1.75 in the adjacent areas. This indicates another type of basement rock composition and the presence of consolidated matter there.

Besides, there has been made a more accurate hypocenter determination for further comparison between seismic events and active fault structures. For the central part of Lake Baikal, the distribution of seismicity mainly corresponds to depths of 10–22 km. The situation is different below the Selenga Delta – the only area where seismicity is observed at depths greater than 22 km, – which can be attributed to complex fault interactions.

The velocity anomalies discussed herein are confined to reliably identified active faults and correlate well with the distribution of seismicity and gas hydrate structures.

Numerous publications by domestic and foreign authors deal with a significant role of underwater canyons in transit of loose material from the littoral to the abyssal surfaces of the seas. Lake Baikal fully corresponds in its hydrodynamic and bathymetric parameters to sea water basins, and the Baikal canyons are similar in their morphological and morphometric factors to sea canyons. A digital elevation model of the southwest underwater tip of the lake, generated based on a large array of bathymetric data, allowed identifying clearly defined valleys of the Shamanka and Slyudyanka canyons. The data obtained during the study of the canyon-valley area, carried out using special geophysical measuring instruments – Kongsberg EM710S multibeam echosounder and Knudsen CHIRP 3260 profilograph, – and analysis of the published materials showed a rather high degree of confindness of coarse debris to the canyon valleys and alluvial fans which implies their significant role in sediment transit. It has been shown that high seismicity of the Baikal basin and active wave conditions give rise to the formation of movable loose sediment masses and to the occurrence of gravity flows in the canyon valleys. Climate changes over the last decades contribute also to permafrost decomposition in the Baikal basin and to new-sediment transport into the lake. It is implied that an intensive development of the coastline leads to the coastal accumulation of a large amount of industrial and municipal contaminants which can move through the canyons to different distances into the lake water area. To date, there is no definite answer to the question about an actual role of underwater canyons in the transit of technogenic wastes to the abyssal lake surface. This requires organized large-scale specialized fieldwork with the use of high-precision geological-geophysical measuring instruments, and systematic sampling and thorough analysis of the bottom material.

The first results of U-Pb isotope dating of detrital zircons (dZr) from red-colored quartzitic-sandstones of the Shoksha formation (Shoksha horizon) are presented. The Shoksha formation completes the Vepsian sub-horizon (Vepsian) of the Lower Proterozoic of Karelia and is distributed within the South Onega trough. A sample (KL-555) of red-colored quartzitic sandstones was taken from the lower part of the section of the Shoksha formation in the same name deposit within the southwestern Cis-Onega Lake region. The 79 dZr grains isolated from this sample were analyzed by the staff of the Chemistry-Isotopic Analytic Laboratory of the GIN RAS using the equipment of the Shared Research Facilities of the GIN RAS. The weighted average of the three youngest U-Pb isotope dates for dZr grains is 1906±13 Ma. Taking into account the known isotopic dates of gabbro-dolerites from the Ropruchei sill, that cuts through the Shoksha formation, it makes possible to constrain the time of the Shoksha formation accumulation by ~1.90–1.75 Ga. A significant part of the carried out analyzes has yielded a high degree of discordance of the dates. The features of the distribution of the figurative points of these analyzes in the diagram with concordia suggest that the rocks of the studied section of the Shoksha formation were subjected to the alteration that disturbed the U-Pb isotope system of these zircon grains in the Phanerozoic.

The set of obtained dates for dZr grains has been compared with the known ages of the crystalline complexes of the basement of the East European Platform. The age sets of dZr grains from sample KL-555 and rocks of the Ladoga group, developed along the margin of the Svecofennian accretionary orogen, are very similar (p similarity coefficient in Kolmogorov – Smirnov test is 0.27) and characterize mainly tectonic–magmatic events that had immediately preceded the manifestation of the Svecofennian orogeny (1.9–1.87 Ga). Therefore, the rocks of the Ladoga group could highly probably be a secondary source for the Shoksha quartzites. Based on a comparative analysis of ages and thorium-uranium ratios (Th/U) in dZr grains from sample KL-555, it was concluded that some of the studied dZr grains with high Th/U>1.5 originate from Ludicovian mafic rocks, but those with low Th/U<0.1 originate from ultra-high-pressure formations, such as eclogites known in the Salma, Kuru-Vaara and Gridino.

A paleo-geographic scheme for the Late Vepsian is proposed, showing that the highly mature Shoksha sandstones were generated under continental conditions in a local basin due to the accumulation of clastic material carried by an extensive and branched 

The Borgoy and Botsy massifs are a part of the Dzhida alkaline province of the Western Transbaikalia. It has been stated that the rocks of the Borgoy massif were formed during the period from 246 to 243 Ma, which coincides with the formation period of the Permian-Triassic alkaline magmatic rocks common in the Vitim province. The age obtained from the zircons in the Botsy massif (121±1.0 Ma) is typical of the final stage of the transformation of the rocks related to rifting and alkali basalt lava flow. The presence of negative Nb-Ta anomaly and a relative enrichment in Rb, Ba, Sr and U imply interaction between the material of the plume and the earlier accretionary complexes of the subduction zones.

There is a description of the results of studies of deformation regimes and reconstruction of stress fields of certain time intervals of the Mesozoic – Cenozoic history of the western part of the Tien Shan based on the geological and structural data and earthquake focal mechanisms. The relevance of research is determined by the existing difficulties in the age reference of paleostress fields, which is associated with the retrospective nature of the initial data and the features of geological evolution, as well as the existence of controversial, unresolved issues regarding the development of the western periclinal part of the Tien Shan in the Mesozoic – Cenozoic. The aim of the research is to reconstruct the rank components of paleostresses in the earth’s crust in the western part of the Tien Shan at separate stages of the Mesozoic – Cenozoic development. The time intervals for which the stress field diagrams were obtained represent cyclically manifested phases of the first-rank rhythms, which are characterized by alternation of different deformation modes. The method for reconstructing paleostresses was based on the concept of the formation of superimposed systems of cracks of various generations, which were sequentially manifested at various stages of the development of deformation processes. Analysis of the data showed that with increasing age of rocks the number of different fracture systems actually increases – the earlier systems are superimposed by the later. At the same time, the characteristic elements in Quaternary rocks manifest themselves in different ways in the older rocks. This allows them to be used for the reconstruction of the Late Cenozoic stress field based on mass measurements of fracturing in rocks of earlier Mesozoic – Cenozoic ages. Based on the step-by-step identification of the heterochronous cracks system and determination of a pair of maxima of the fracture density with asymmetric scattering, region-based diagrams of the first-rank stress fields were obtained for different stages of manifestation of Mesozoic – Cenozoic deformation regimes: 1 – from the Permian-Triassic to the Middle Jurassic; 2 – Middle-Late Jurassic; 3 – Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous; 4 – Late Cretaceous – Paleocene – Eocene; 5 – Oligocene – Quaternary. The results obtained indicate the alternation of compression and extension phases, first-rank for the region, and give an idea of the main trends in its geodynamic evolution. They can be used in the development of a tectodynamic model of the region.

There were investigated seismic mode and stress state of the Earth’s crust in the South Fergana seismic activity zone. In the central part of the zone, there was identified an area of a long-term seismic quiescence during which no earthquakes with energy class K≥12 (M≥4.5) were recorded. Along the entire length of the seismic quiescence area, there occur an activation of earthquakes of lower energy classes, as well as anomalous fluctuations of the recurrence curve slope. To localize the place of seismic activation probability, the current stress of earth’s crust in the South Fergana seismic activity zone was reconstructed according to focal earthquake mechanisms by the methods of cataclastic analysis of displacements. There were identified the areas with low values of effective confining pressure and maximum shear stresses where strong earthquakes usually occur. Taking into account the stressed state of the Earth’s crust, on the basis of the prognostic parameters of the seismic regime within the South Fergana seismic activity zone there were identified two areas in which M≥6.0 earthquakes may occur in the coming years.