11 August 2015
XVIII Congress on the Carboniferous and Permian Started At KFU

The delegates will discuss a very wide range of scientific problems of paleontology.

Vladimir SilantyevSecretary General of the Congress, Head of the Department of Paleontology and Stratigraphy of KFU, Head of the Oil Deposits Stratigraphy Lab:

- This is an interdisciplinary congress, so we'll discuss everything from paleontology to the latest advances of determining the Earth's real age. Almost all the new labs of KFU are going to take part with their research results. We demonstrate the University, we show our labs. Our sponsors organized a number of training sessions for the delegates. Of course, we would hardly be able to hold such an event without our general sponsor – PJSC Tatneft. Their help allowed us to pay 75 to 85  percent of the participating fees for the Russian visitors, some of the guests from CIS were also sponsored.

There will be 8 field geological tours in total, 3 of them organized by KFU. 4 tours already happened before the congress – to the Russian North, Moscow oblast, Leningrad oblast, and Bashkortostan. Three more are to take place after the closing. Groups will visit Tatarstan, South Urals, and Middle Urals. Some of these places were closed to foreigners during the Soviet era.

Barry C. Richards, member of the scientific committee, Chairman of the Subcommission on Carboniferous Stratigraphy of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (Calgary, Canada):

- We hold such congresses every 4 years in cooperation with the Subcommission on Permian Stratigraphy. But this is the biggest one yet.

The Standing Committee unanimously chose Kazan as the location because your region has very good Carboniferous and Permian groups that have been studied for a long time now. Moreover, Vladimir Silantyev made a great presentation about why Kazan would be a good place both geologically and logistically. He also spoke about your beautiful city, Kazan University, local geology… (By the way, I was very impressed by the Kazan Kremlin).

I have to point out that the main achievement of this congress will be the substantiation of the international chronostratigraphic scale which is jointly worked on by the geologists of the world. This scale is crucial for geological science. The right scale helps geologists orientate in time. Our task is to clarify stratigraphic classification, put them on a firm ground. I believe this is going to happen because many reports will be dedicated to the topic. We arrived to Kazan from all over the world because this congress is very important to us. We have the opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the geological groups and compare them to other regions. This is a unique chance!

Svetlana Nikolaeva, member of the scientific committee (Institute of Paleontology of the Russian Academy of Sciences):

- The organizational effort is very good. All the papers are given in both Russian and English. We have been given a great insight in the local geology and Kazan itself. I want to express gratitude to the hosts.

Alexander Byakov, Northeastern Research Institute (Magadan, Russia):

- This is not my first time in the hospitable city of Kazan. I've had a great pleasure of meeting my colleagues here today. Here we are going to sum up the current state of affairs in the research on Carboniferous and Permian. It's very pleasant to visit the congress here, in the heart of Russia, in Kazan. We've been in close cooperation with Kazan University for seven years now, especially with the Paleontology and Stratigraphy Lab. There is an international project on the hydrocarbon potential of Permian groups. We recently won one more grant for the research of Permian and will work with English colleagues.

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