Semiluki () is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and the

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

of Semiluksky District in

Voronezh Oblast Voronezh Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Voronezh. Its population was 2,308,792 as of the Russian Census (2021), 20 ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, located on the Don River. Population

Paleontology

In the spring of 1984, on the right bank of the

Veduga The Veduga () is a right tributary of the river Don, flowing through the northwestern corner of Voronezh Oblast in Russia. It is long, and has a drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges ...

River, 4 km north of Semiluki, students of the Geological Faculty of Voronezh State University found an incomplete sketeton of ichthyosaur during their field work. Remains, including bones of

skull The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

, a fragmentary

coracoid A coracoid is a paired bone which is part of the shoulder assembly in all vertebrates except therian mammals (marsupials and placentals). In therian mammals (including humans), a coracoid process is present as part of the scapula, but this is n ...

, limbs, incomplete

vertebral column The spinal column, also known as the vertebral column, spine or backbone, is the core part of the axial skeleton in vertebrates. The vertebral column is the defining and eponymous characteristic of the vertebrate. The spinal column is a segmente ...

and

rib In vertebrate anatomy, ribs () are the long curved bones which form the rib cage, part of the axial skeleton. In most tetrapods, ribs surround the thoracic cavity, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the ...

s, were collected from the glauconitic–

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

sand, whose age is set in the range from

Albian The Albian is both an age (geology), age of the geologic timescale and a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch/s ...

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy's (ICS) geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age (geology), age of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or the lowest stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Upper Cretace ...

(

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

). In 2008, this animal was named '' Platypterygius ochevi'', after the paleozoologist and professor Vitalii Ochev. In 2020, this naming was declared a

junior synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

of '' Maiaspondylus cantabrigiensis''.

History

It was founded in 1894 near the Semiluki railway station, which was named after the nearby village. In 1929, the main enterprise of the settlement, a factory of fireproof materials (now JSC "Semiluksky refractory plant"), was built. In 1931, Semiluki became the

of Semiluksky District. In July 1942, it was occupied by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. It was liberated on January 25, 1943. A factory of fireproof materials was almost completely destroyed by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

. Town status was granted to Semiluki in 1954.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Semiluki serves as the

of Semiluksky District.Law #87-OZ As an administrative division, it is incorporated within Semiluksky District as Semiluki Urban Settlement. As a municipal division, this administrative unit also has urban settlement status and is a part of Semiluksky Municipal District.Law #88-OZ

Informal divisions

As most other towns in Russia, Semiluki is divided into

microdistrict A microdistrict or microraion is a residential complex—a primary structural element of the residential area construction in the Soviet Union and in some post-Soviet and former socialist states. Residential districts in most of the cities a ...

s for town planning purposes. The microdistricts bear proper names; however, an informal and traditional system of dividing the town into residential areas also exists. Many such areas also have informal names, and some of those names are used in official documents together with, or instead of, the official names. Severny 1 Microdistrict, for example, is commonly known as ''Pole chudes'' (lit. ''the field of wonders'').See, for example, th
2012–2015 Semiluki Infrastructure Development Program
or a
article in the local ''Semiluksky Vestnik'' newspaper
(№40 (151) 4 - 11.10.2013

References

Notes

Sources

* *

External links

Residential areas of Semiluki and their informal names
{{Use mdy dates, date=August 2011 Cities and towns in Voronezh Oblast Populated places in Semiluksky District