Dmitry Vasilyevich Nalivkin (; 25 August 1889 – 3 March 1982) was a Soviet

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

. He was primarily interested in

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

, but was also responsible in large part for mapping the

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

of the Soviet Union.

Biography

Born in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

to a

mining engineer Mining engineering is the extraction of minerals from the ground. It is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, metallurgy, geotechnical engineering and surveying. A mining engineer m ...

, Nalivkin 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 spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. Early work dealt with

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

brachiopod Brachiopods (), phylum (biology), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear e ...

s in the

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

portion of the

Fergana Valley The Fergana Valley (also commonly spelled the Ferghana Valley) in Central Asia crosses eastern Uzbekistan, southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan. Encompassing three former Republics of the Soviet Union, Soviet republics, the valley is e ...

, 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 geologic record, rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of relating stratum, strata ...

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 (), or RGO, is a learned society based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It promotes geography, exploration and nature protection with research programs in fields including oceanography, ethnography, ecology and stati ...

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

paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...

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 m ...

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 Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...

s and

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

. He completed his doctorate in 1924 and was appointed a professor at the

Saint Petersburg Mining University Empress Catherine the Great Saint Petersburg Mining University (), is Russia's oldest technical university and one of the oldest technical colleges in Europe. It was founded on October 21, 1773, by Emperor of Russia, Empress Catherine the Gre ...

. 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 (), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)), and diaspore (α-AlO(OH) ...

as a means of assisting the war effort's need for aircraft metals. After the war, he was in

Ashgabat, Turkmenistan Ashgabat (Turkmen language, Turkmen: ''Aşgabat'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies between the Karakum Desert and the Kopet Dag, Kopetdag mountain range in Central Asia, approximately 50 km (30 ...

when it experienced a catastrophic 1948 earthquake. 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) he was awarded the prestigious

Lenin Prize The Lenin Prize (, ) was one of the most prestigious awards of the Soviet Union for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was originally created on June 23, 1925, and awarded until 1934. During ...

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 Saint Petersburg in 1982.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nalivkin, Dmitry 1889 births 1982 deaths 20th-century geologists Scientists from Saint Petersburg Academic staff of Saint Petersburg Mining University Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Heroes of Socialist Labour Recipients of the Lenin Prize Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the October Revolution Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Stalin Prize Geologists from the Russian Empire Russian geologists Russian paleogeographers Russian paleontologists Soviet geologists Soviet paleogeographers Soviet paleontologists