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The effect of high-power electromagnetic pulses of MHD-generator on the seismicity of the Bishkek geodynamic test ground has been studied. Local earthquakes became more frequent after the MHD-generator had been started up. High activity of local earthquakes was observed 2 to 4 days after startups. It is shown that electromagnetic pulses cause release of the energy accumulated during tectonic deformation process. The energy releases as a series of relatively weak earthquakes rather than as a catastrophic event.

This paper deals with deformation processes in the Earth's crust recorded by tiltmeters and extensometers in the Northern Tien Shan. The characteristics of instrumentation are reported. The deformation stations located in different geological conditions are described, and the accuracy of measurements of deformations is estimated. Examples of deformation disturbances preceding an earthquake are given. The deformations are of seasonal character. Thus, expansion deformations are recorded in vernal periods, and compressional ones, in the fall. Zones of development of abnormal deformations during preparation of a seismic event are characterized. Abnormal deformations irrelevant to earthquakes are recognized, which are usually due to changes of the groundwater regime.

The 1911, M_s = 8.2 Kemin (Kebin) earthquake in the Northern Tien Shan (Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan) formed a complex system of surface ruptures nearly 190 km long and numerous landslides and rock avalanches up to tens of millions of cubic meters in volume. Judging from their distribution, six fault segments of the Kemin-Chilik and the Aksu fault zones with different strikes, dips, and kinematics have been activated. The Kemin earthquake was one of the strongest events of a sequence of seismic catastrophes that affected the Kungei and Zaili-Alatau mountain ranges between 1887 and 1938. The effects of the Kemin earthquake are well documented in a monograph published soon after the event by K. I. Bogdanovich. In the frame of a European INCO-COPERNICUS program, the surface ruptures, landslides, and rockslides associated to this earthquake have been re-examined in detail. In addition, the large-scale tectonic setting of the Kemin-Chilik and Aksu fault zones has been re-evaluated, and their segments have been identified and described. The whole system forms a sinistral transpressional structure, which controls the formation of the mountain ranges between the Issyk-Kul depression and the Kazakhstan block. The surface ruptures of the 1911 earthquake can presently be observed in the field over a total length of nearly 100 km and generally reactivate longer-term cumulative paleoseismic fault scarps. The presence of well-expressed paleoseismic fault scarps and several tremendous ancient landslides in the Chon-Kemin, Chon-Aksu, and Aksu valleys can be considered as evidence for strong prehistoric earthquakes.

Study was given to a thin structure of pulses of acoustic and electromagnetic emission recorded on axial compression of specimens of rocks at the stage of their dilatantion deformation. Four types of signals have been distinguished in frequency and duration. It is supposed that the type I signals account for the formation of detachment fractures; the type II signals, of shear fractures; and the low-frequency type III signals correspond to vibrations of constructive elements of the loading device. The type IV signals are referred to as pulse electromagnetic emission caused by charged dislocations coming to a grain boundary in minerals with ionic bonds, components of granite.

The recent decades have become a "golden age" for lithology and marine geology. The principal achievements include investigation and mapping of oceanic bottom sediments and studies of the sedimentary material in the atmosphere, rivers, seas, and oceans, in ice and snow; development of a new approach to the role of biogenic processes; analysis of endogenic material supplied to the mid-oceanic ridges; and changes in the view of sedimentary material of the land provenance and its transformation at the river-sea boundary. Another achievement is the concept of rapid ("avalanche") sedimentation at several levels, responsible for concentration of 93% of the sedimentary material of the Earth in limited basins, which become major reservoirs of hydrocarbons. The regions of avalanche sedimentation alternate with those of sedimentation gaps.
The lithology is gaining a more solid quantitative basis, using such dynamic parameters as flux and vectors of sedimentary material.
It has been found out that sedimentation in oceans follows its specific laws, as the oceanic crust differs from the continental crust. Modern lithological studies employ remote sensing methods (seismic stratigraphy, magnetometry, multiray sea beams, side-view sonars, etc.), as well as mapping and special sampling from natural bottom outcrops at depths of to 6000 m with the use of submersibles.
Deep-sea drilling experiments (since 1968) and data processing performed by the joint efforts of international teams became an important step forward. As a result, the amount of data obtained in the course of the recent 30-40 years is hundreds or thousands of times as great as that accumulated through the whole previous history of the science, though lithologists, unfortunately, use very few of these data. The recent results led to numerous discoveries and creation of the mobilistic lithology, or the lithology of lithospheric plates, and required the synthetic use of the data of tectonics, geophysics, marine geology and geochemistry, petrology and petrochemistry, oceanology and climatology.

Marine and oceanic carbonate accumulation in the Vendian-Cambrian was a biochemogenic process, i.e., was caused mainly by the vital activity of organisms that formed a geochemical environment favoring carbonate sedimentation. In the early Paleozoic, this process became completely biogenic. Later on, till the end of the Paleozoic, carbonates accumulated mainly in vast shelf seas, and in the Mesozoic, in ocean shoals, reefs, and pelagic zones. In the Cenozoic, pelagic zones and, to a lesser extent, reefs became the main accumulators of carbonates. It is shown that the carbonate accumulation process depended on the atmosphere composition.

Modern notions of phosphorite genesis are reviewed, with emphasis on the role of A. L. Yanshin's studies. We have recognized three stages in the development of the theory of phosphorite genesis: biogenic; orthochemogenic (according to A. V. Kazakov's theory); and modern, biochemogenic-diagenetic. We considered the features of phosphorites belonging to major genetic types, analyzed the global distribution of the resources of marine phosphorites with time, and revealed two main phosphorite accumulation epochs – Vendian-Cambrian and Cretaceous-Paleogene. The structure-tectonic conditions of phosphorite deposition proceeding in global tectonomagmatic epochs are considered. It is shown that the largest deposits are confined to shelves (land margins).
The phosphorite deposition zones are connected with the ocean, partially isolated, or occur in the internal continental areas. These are mainly shallow-water zones with enhanced bioproductivity, peneplain provenance of the terrigenous sediment component, and arid climate.
nderstanding of phosphorite genesis requires considering the peculiarities of various types of phosphorites and changes of the process of phosphate mineralization with evolution of geologic processes. The most probable mechanisms and conditions of phosphorite genesis are outlined.

The recent concepts on the processes of marine phosphorite genesis are discussed. Modern and ancient phosphorites show significant differences in facies and paleogeographic aspects. The most important factor for phosphorite formation is the process of replacement of biogenic material by phosphate, which to a certain degree allows matching the hypotheses of phosphorite genesis in spite of the difference in the geologo-mineralogical and structural parameters of marine phosphorites.

The idea of the relation between phosphorite genesis and weathering is based on the corresponding concepts of N. S. Shatskii. V. P. Kazarinov accepted this idea and substantiated correlation of the epochs of intense phosphorite formation with the epochs of deep chemical weathering. G. I. Bushinskii had a similar, though not quite identical, opinion that phosphorus involved in the formation of phosphorite-bearing deposits and basins is supplied by rivers of the nearby plains in the regions of humid climate. Today many researchers hold to the idea of the significant importance of weathering in phosphorite genesis. This idea has received further support for many global epochs of phosphorite formation (Early Ordovician, Late Jurassic, Early Cretaceous, Late Cretaceous, Paleocene, Eocene, Miocene, etc.) and is treated as reasonably justified. At the same time, some epochs of deep chemical weathering (e.g., Late Devonian) are characterized by high contents of dispersed phosphorus in rocks, which, however, did not participate in the formation of commercial phosphorite deposits.

Academician A. L. Yanshin, who paid much attention to studies and use of mineral products of agrochemical purpose, appreciated the works on bog phosphates started in the early 1980s. He treated them and other mineral accumulations in peats as a serious basis for improving the structure of soils and increasing the fertility of Siberian lands.
In recent years, high contents of bog phosphates, bog carbonates (alm), and sapropel have been found in lowland peat deposits in Siberia, which is the largest peat territory of the world.
Prediction studies including analysis of the composition of peats, their substrate, underground waters feeding peat deposits, and other characteristics provided insignt into the geochemical processes of bog lithogenesis and the character and sequence of peat mineral formation.
Assessment-prospecting and exploration works have been carried out in the revealed promising areas and some objects. The assessed and predicted resources of bog phosphates, alm, and sapropel indicate that West Siberia is rich in organic mineral products, which might compensate for a deficiency of phosphorus and calcium in Siberian soils and improve their structure. The lines for judicious usage of resources are suggested.