Geological Committee

Geological Committee was the main state geological institution in Russia. The Geological survey of Russia and the USSR.
1882 — Established in Saint Petersburg for the systematic and comprehensive study of the subsoil of the Russian Empire and the compilation of geological maps.
[1912 — Geological Committee of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
1918 — Geological Committee of the VSNKh
1930 — Abolished in January 1930.

History

The Geological Committee was created on by a decree of Emperor Alexander III within the Mining Department of the Ministry of State Property.
The tasks of the Geolkom included the systematic study of the geological structure of the country and the mineral wealth of its subsoil, conducting regional geological mapping, and later, the systematic description of the geological structure of the territory of the Russian Empire.
In 1912, Nicholas II approved the Law "On the Establishment of the Regulations on the Geological Committee and the Staff of this Committee," which had been approved by the State Council and the State Duma. It essentially retained, without change, the main foundations upon which the Regulations on the Geological Committee of 1882 and 1897 were built.
In 1914, it was part of the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Russian Empire.
In 1912–1916, a new building for the Geological Committee was constructed in St. Petersburg, at the address: Sredny Prospekt, building No. 74 / 19th Line, building No. 20 — 20th Line, building No. 21. The project author was architect A. A. Poleshchuk. Construction work was completed by 1914; during the war, the building housed a military hospital. The Geological Committee equipped the building with laboratories, a museum, a library, and a photographic pavilion.

Specialization

At the beginning of 1917, a plan for the reorganization of the Geological Committee along sectoral principles, for the needs of the mining industry, was adopted.
The Geolkom was subdivided into departments:
Geological Map
Applied Geology
Museum.

Soviet Reorganization

After the revolutions of 1917, the activity of the Geolkom expanded sharply. It became the "central geological institution of the USSR".
In March 1918, the committee was transferred to the Supreme Council of the National Economy, and from 1923, its tasks included: organizing, implementing, and regulating all geological and exploration works of national significance. Branches were created and bureaus.
In 1923, the management "Tsentropromrazvedka", which was under the Mining Department of the VSNKh, was introduced into the structure of the Geolkom. From this time, the tasks of the Geolkom included not only geological mapping and coordination of scientific research of a geological profile but also the exploration of mineral resources.
Structure of the Geological Committee in 1924:

Directorate

Administrative Office
Financial and Supply Department
Museum
Laboratory
Councils
Scientific
Administrative and Economic
Bureaus
Bibliographic
Topographic
Publications
Sections
Paleontological
Petrographic
Oil
Coal
Metallic
Non-Metallic Minerals
Gold and Platinum
Hydrogeological
Departments
Regional Geology
Applied Geology and Exploration

Regional Sections
Exploration Bureau
Accounting Bureau
Branches
Moscow
Ukrainian, Siberian, Far Eastern
North Caucasian, Transcaucasian, Ural, Turkestan

In March 1926, by order of the Chairman of the VSNKh, the elective system for forming the governing bodies of the Geolkom was abolished, while the powers of the Scientific Council of the Geolkom were narrowed. Thus, in addition to a sharp expansion of activity and staff numbers, the organizational structure of the Geolkom was gradually changing in accordance with the development of the state structures of the USSR.
On April 20, 1926, Professor and Rector of the Mining Institute D. I. Mushketov was appointed Chairman of the Geolkom. His deputy was appointed I. M. Gubkin, and his assistants were A. K. Meistner, V. K. Kotulsky and N. N. Tikhonovich.
In 1927, by order of the VSNKh of the USSR, the Geological Committee was entrusted with determining the provision of newly constructed enterprises for capital construction with reserves of mineral raw materials. In the same year, in execution of Order No. 881 of the VSNKh of the USSR, the Geological Committee formed the Commission for Calculating Mineral Reserves "to give uniformity and authority to all reserve figures originating from the Geological Committee". The first meeting of the "Commission" took place on May 31, 1927, which is considered the birth date of the currently existing State Commission on Mineral Reserves.
In 1928–1929, the Geolkom had over 600 prospecting and exploration expeditions and 10 major regional branches carrying out mapping, prospecting, and exploration of mineral resources.

Liquidation

On October 25, 1928, a decision was made to reorganize the Geolkom, which, on the one hand, prescribed the decentralization of the management of geological exploration and geological survey work locally, and on the other, the separation of research and administrative functions. This was part of the authorities' plan to crush the old science.
In January 1929, I. I. Radchenko was appointed director of the Geolkom for the "reconstruction" period, who resigned his powers in January 1930 along with the liquidation of the Geolkom.
In 1929, the Geological Committee was separated from the Scientific and Technical Administration of the VSNKh of the USSR and transformed into the Main Geological Survey Directorate with direct subordination to the presidium of the VSNKh of the USSR.
In January 1930, the Geolkom was abolished. The functions of coordination and planning of geological exploration work were transferred to the Main Geological Survey Directorate in Moscow, and the branches were transformed into regional geological survey departments, which were entrusted with the production of geological survey, prospecting, and exploration work.
The head of the Moscow branch of the Geolkom, I. M. Gubkin, participated in the discrediting and abolition of the parent organization, summarizing the results, he said:

Successors

The research subdivisions of the Geolkom left in Leningrad continued their activities as separate sectoral scientific institutions:

Institute of the Geological Map
Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals
Institute of Ferrous Metals
Institute of Non-Metallic Minerals
Institute of Coal
Institute of Groundwater
Institute of Geophysics
Institute of Oil
Drilling Trust
Central Chemical Laboratory
Geological Exploration Museum and Library
12 Regional Geological Survey Departments.

In April 1931, they were reunited again into a single institute under the names:
1931 — TsNIGRI — Central Research Geological Prospecting Institute
1939 — VSEGEI — All-Union Research Geological Institute.

Moscow Branch of the Geolkom

Renamings by date of reorganization:

October 19, 1918 — Moscow Branch of the Geological Committee
Autumn 1929 — Moscow Regional Geological Survey Department
Summer 1931 — Moscow Regional Geological Survey Trust
Autumn 1933 — Moscow Geological-Hydro-Geodetic Trust
Summer 1935 — Moscow Geological Trust
Autumn 1938 — Moscow State Geological Administration
Winter 1953 — Moscow Geological Administration
Autumn 1954 — Geological Administration of Central Regions
Autumn 1967 — Territorial Geological Administration of Central Regions
Spring 1980 — Production Geological Association "Tsentrgeologiya"
Summer 1991 — State Geological Enterprise "Tsentrgeologiya".

Staff

Directors by year of appointment :

1882 — Grigory Helmersen
1883s — Vasily Erofeev
1885 — Aleksandr Karpinsky
1903 — Feodosy Chernyshyov
1914 — Karl Bogdanovich
1917 — Valerian Weber
1918 — Alexander Meister
1921 — Anatoly Ryabinin
1923 — Nikolay Yakovlev
1926 — Dmitry Mushketov

Well-known scientists of the geolkom are represented in Category: Geologists of the Geological Committee

Publications of the Geolkom

Serial publications:

Proceedings of the Geological Committee
News of the Geological Committee
Herald of the Geological Committee
Materials on General and Applied Geology
Review of Mineral Resources.

Literature

Vernadsky V. I. "Fundamental changes are inevitable...". Diary of 1941 // "Novy Mir" 1995, No. 5. The manuscript of the diary is stored in the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, fund 518 V. I. Vernadsky.
Khabakov A. V. Activity of the Geological Committee in Russia // Proceedings of the Institute of Natural Science and Technology of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Volume 27. M., 1959.
Kleopov I. L. Geological Committee : History of Geology in Russia / ed. S. V. Obruchev. M.: Nauka, 1964. 175 p.
Outstanding Domestic Geologists, L., 1978
VSEGEI in the Development of Geological Science and the Mineral Resource Base of the Country, 1882–1982, L., 1982.
Outstanding Scientists of the Geological Committee — VSEGEI. L., 1982.
Evdoshenko Yu. V. // Gornye Vedomosti. 2012. No. 8. P. 72–86.
Evdoshenko Yu. V. // Gornye Vedomosti. 2012. No. 10. P. 60–72.