Historical reconnaissance of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

More than 100 years later, the assistant professor of Kazan University I. N. Smirnov faced the KMA mystery for the second time when he conducted the first geomagnetic survey of the European part of Russia in 1874.

In 1883, N. D. Pilchikov, a privat-docent at Kharkov University, carried out 71 series of observations of the KMA. He discovered new areas of it (in Maryina and near Prokhorovka). And he was one of the first to point out that the cause of the anomaly was iron ore deposits, for which he was awarded the Great Silver Medal of the Russian Geographical Society in 1884.

In 1898, the director of the geomagnetic observatory, Professor Muro, was invited from Paris to participate in the study of the KMA. During the magnetic surveys carried out by Muro, he was accompanied by E. E. Leist. A few working days later Muro telegraphed to Paris that the results obtained by him during magnetic surveys "are turning the whole theory of terrestrial magnetism upside down." After two weeks of shooting, Muro returned to Paris, and EE Leist, after analyzing the survey data, came to the firm conviction that KMA is associated with huge deposits of iron ore.

Geologists still believed that there could be no ore in these places. Rumors about huge deposits of iron ore on the territory of the province spread throughout the Kursk province. There was a real "iron ore rush". Some landowners began to sell their lands, others to buy them up. The zemstvo allocated money to EE Leist for the purchase of instruments for magnetic measurements and the necessary equipment for drilling wells. Everything you need was purchased in Germany. Drilling of the well was started on the instructions of E. E. Leist. According to his calculations, the ore should have been deposited at a depth of no more than 200 m from the Earth's surface. However, when the drill reached this depth, no ore was found. EE Leist's supporters turned their backs on him. The zemstvo took away his instruments and drilling equipment. However, Leist, firmly convinced that the anomaly was related to the iron ore deposits, despite the obstacles and difficulties, decided to continue filming at his own expense during the summer holidays. He wanted to outline and understand the structure of the ore bodies.

He spent KMA filming from year to year for 14 years in July-August, when the rest of the teachers were resting. Individual stages of this work were reported to him regularly, and most of all in the Moscow Society of Naturalists, of which he was a full member from the first year of work at Moscow University (secretary of the society since 1899, honorary member since 1913). In the works of the Society, a good half of its various geophysical works were published, including works on observations of magnetic storms, magnetic variations, on the characteristics of cyclones, and much more.

In 1910 Leist completed his most important work on the analysis of magnetic survey data for the regions of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly on the basis of 4500 "absolute" determinations of the elements of terrestrial magnetism he personally carried out. The work was reported to him at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Biophysics. In essence, the study of the physical nature of the Kursk magnetic anomaly is the first scientific experience of geomagnetic prospecting for iron ore deposits in Russia. In the same 1916, he headed the Geophysical Commission organized on his initiative. In the spring of 1918, together with Professor Mikhelson, he founded the Moscow Meteorological Society and accepted the offer of the Science Department of the People's Commissariat for Education to become a consultant in geophysics.

Long-term hard work without vacations undermined the health of EE Leist. In the summer of 1918, the Soviet Government sent E. E. Leista for treatment at the spa in Nauheim.

Going for treatment, Leist took with him all the materials of his research on CMA. The fact is that for the compilation of magnetic maps, data are needed not only on the values of the elements of geomagnetism, but also on the geographical coordinates of the points at which the magnetic measurements were made. Leist, making magnetic measurements, also determined the coordinates of the corresponding points. However, before his departure to Germany, he did not have time to bring these data together and build a magnetic map of the KMA. This work he intended to do in Nauheim. Unfortunately, death interrupted his work.

The Germans seized the materials of the late E. E. Leist and offered them to the Soviet government for a huge sum of money. V. I. Lenin turned to Academician P. P. Lazarev and other scientists with the question whether they would be able to organize a new magnetic survey in the regions of the KMA in a fairly short time. The answer was yes. Expeditions were organized to carry out the KMA survey. These expeditions were led by P. P. Lazarev; professor of Moscow State University A. I. Zaborovsky took part in the filming.

VI Lenin constantly supervised these works, and after the completion of the magnetic surveys - the work on the organization of well drilling. A special commission (OKKMA) was created, headed by Academician I. M. Gubkin, considerable funds for those times were allocated. And on April 7, 1923, the first samples of iron ore were mined from a well drilled near the village of Lozovka near Shchigry at a depth of 167 m.

There was a nationwide jubilation in the country on this occasion. V. V. Mayakovsky wrote two large poems about the labor feat of those who carried out this work and about the geological origin of the ore. The latter is still unclear to scientists. How, in a calm flat area at a shallow depth (200-400 m), huge deposits of iron ore were formed, the reserves of which exceed the reserves of all iron ore deposits in the world combined.

While drilling not far from the well, which was drilled in 1899 at the direction of E. E. Leist, iron ore was discovered at a depth of 220 m. his life has been praised for his outstanding achievements in the study of KMA.

As a result of all the studies carried out in the twenties, the most promising area of the KMA-Starooskolsky was outlined, where, after detailed geological exploration in 1931, the first exploration and production mine was laid. On April 27, 1933, the first shaft was brought to ore, and in November 1935, the first five thousand tons of high-grade iron ore were sent for trial smelting in Lipetsk to a metallurgical plant. The forties and fifties were marked by an intensified geological study of the KMA basin. During these years, a number of large deposits were discovered, including Yakovlevskoye and Mikhailovskoye. The latter was discovered in 1950 by the Lvov geological exploration expedition.

In 1956, the first ore mining and processing plant was built, which began mining shallow ore in an open way.

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