Marine Geology and Geophysics, Institute of
Marine Geology and Geophysics, Institute of
(full name, All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Marine Geology and Geophysics [VNIIMORGEO]), an institute of the Ministry of Geology of the USSR. It was organized in 1967 in Riga and consisted of the institute proper, the Gelendzhik Division (based in Gelendzhik), and the Pacific Ocean Expedition (based in luzhno-Sakhalinsk). In 1972 the Gelendzhik Division with its seven departments, comprising 18 sectors and laboratories, and the Pacific Ocean Expedition were reorganized into the Southern Marine Geology and Geophysics (luZhMORGEO) Science and Production Association. As of 1973, VNIIMORGEO consisted of eight departments comprising 16 laboratories and sectors, two specialized laboratories, the Baltic Experiment and Methods Expedition, and the COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) Coordinating Center, which coordinates investigations conducted by member countries on the possible use of the mineral and raw material resources of the seas and oceans. The basic tasks of the institute are comprehensively studying the geological structure and distribution of minerals, prospecting for oil-bearing structures and deposits of solid minerals in the seas of the USSR, developing and refining equipment and methods of marine geological and geophysical investigations, and analyzing the economic efficiency of developing deposits that have been discovered.
The institute publishes the collections Marine Geology and Geophysics and Questions of the Quaternary Geology of the Baltic Region, monographs, surveys on particular topics, and annotated bibliographical indexes.