Geological and Geographical Expedition of A.A. Keyserling and P.I. Krusenstern to the European North-East of Russia

Abstract

The paper provides information about the expedition to the European North of Russia in 1843. The expedition travelled about 8000 miles (about 8427 km). The main route was connected with the wa-terway along the rivers Vychegda, Pechora, Izhma and their tributaries. Hiking routes were connected with the description of the Ural Mountains sites (Bolvano—Iz, Skala). On reindeer sledges, the expedition reached the coast of the Barents Sea and carried out geological and geographical work in the Timan tundra. The work was supervised by a paleontologist, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, Count A.A. Keyserling. The scientist described and paleontologically characterized the rocks of the Lower Silurian, Devonian, Permian, Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous age. As a result of the expedition, the main minerals (coal, gypsum, oil, domanic, copper ore, salt, grindstone) were studied. The significant geological and geographical result was the discovery of the Timan Ridge and its mapping. P.I. Krusenstern conducted topographic surveys, astronomical and geographical observations. He compiled a geographical map on a scale of 1:3000000 with a rectangular geographic grid and detailed drawing of rivers, lakes and settlements. The published works of the scientists are kept in the funds of the A. A. Chernov Geological Museum, Institute of Geology.

Keywords

• history
• expedition
• keyserling
• krusenstern
• timan
• pechora krai