Theoretical modeling of regular olivine grains misorientations in mimetic paramorphoses after ringwoodite and wadsleyite, the formation of which during the ascension of matter from the Mantle Transition Zone is expected, has been carried out. The coordinates of the misorientation axes and the misorientation angles, characterizing 10 operations of alignment in the pair intergrowths of olivine grains, eight of which are twins, are calculated. Possible conditions for the formation of mimetic paramorphoses predicted here, and the chances of their persistence are discussed. The calculated orientations are compared with the known twinning laws of olivine.

On the basis of analysis and generalization of modern data the features of the structure and tectonic evolution of granulite-gneiss (high-grade) belts of the Earth are considered. Their continental collisional tectonic nature, polycyclic and inherited character of development, expressed in repeated manifestations in the same belt of several stages of granulite metamorphism, separated by intervals of several hundred million years, are confirmed. Granulite-gneiss belts are permanent mobility structures that maintain endogenous activity in all stages of their existence, including intraplate environments. The relationship between high-grade belts and supercontinental cyclicity is revealed, which is expressed in the spatial coincidence of the majority of them to the outskirts of the young oceans that arose during the breakup of Pangea; in the control of assembly and breakup of ancient supercontinents along granulite belts; in correlation of manifestations of different types of granulite metamorphism in these belts with the stages of the supercontinent cycle. In the evolution of these belts there is a complex interaction of plate-tectonic and mantle-plume
mechanisms, which is expressed in the combination of continental collision and underplating processes. The possibility of using granulite-gneiss belts in paleotectonic analysis along with other indicators of geodynamic settings is shown.

The geological framework and tectonics of the Eastern Black Sea region is characterized through balancing a geological cross-section and paleoreconstruction during the Paleogene-Neogene period. Studied area includes the Kerch-Taman Trough, the Anapa Swell (the continuation of the immersed part of the Greater Caucasus Orogen), the Tuapse trough and the Shatsky Swell. The paper is mainly focused on the Russian shelf zone of the Black sea. The results are important for understanding of the trap formation time and the hydrocarbon deposits preservation in the Russian sector of the Black sea shelf.

Composition and origin of Visean–Serpukhovian deposits of the Southern part of the Moscow syncline based upon generalizations of our own results and analysis of published and unpublished data were specified. The levels of karst-influenced rocks correspond to the shallowest biogenic carbonate organogeneous-clastic sediments of the initial and final phases of the eustatic cycle, i.e. the beginning of the transgression (the transgressive system of the tracts) and the end of the regression (the second half of the high-standing tract). In the karst cavities alluvial sands of the Oka river were found. A generalized model of the sequence was proposed and a sequential-stratigraphic interpretation of the studied section was carried out.

The fossil Permian plants from the locality Vorkuta-1 (outcrop No. 38, left bank of the Vorkuta River nearby the City of Vorkuta opposite the Rudnik settlement) are characterized. The collection is kept at the Earth Science Museum of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. The collection includes equisetophytes Paracalamites decoratus (Eichwald) Zalessky, P. frigidus Neuburg, Paracalamitina cf. striata Zalessky emend. Naug.; Annulina neuburgiana (Radczenko) Neuburg), ferns (Pecopteris anthriscifolia (Goeppert) Zalessky, P. helenaeana Zalessky, P. vorcutana Zalessky, P. cf. leptophylla Bunbury), and leaves of vojnovskyans Rufloria spp. and putative ginkgophytes. Stratigraphically the fossil plants studied originated from the Inta Formation belonged to the Vorkuta Series (the Ufimian Stage of the Biarmian (Middle) subdivision of the Permian System). The collection is of great scientific, expositional and didactic potentiality.

Zoned crystals record changes in magma evolution, such as injection of mafic magma into a shallow magma chamber, which often triggered to eruption of arc volcanoes. We applied diffusion chronometry for reverse zoned crystals of orthopyroxene from 6 eruptions of Bezymianny volcano during 2006–2012 years and showed correlation between time of injection of new magma and recorded seismicity. We descripted two type of Bezymianny volcano eruptions, which driven by different trigger mechanisms: 1) orthopyroxene rims formed during up to 3 years previous to eruption; 2) orthopyroxene rims formed during 0–2 months previous to eruption.

Data on the distribution of elements across the Pb-Zn section of the Gatsyrovskaya vein (Upper Zgid, North Ossetia, Russia) showed that during the formation of the vein significant changes in the spectra of rare-earth elements (REE) occur in ore samples. The sharp growth of ratios LaN/YbN, LaN/NdN, GdN/HoN, and GdN/YbN is confined to the vein intervals, where the maximum amount of ore components is deposited. A comparison of the REE spectra of ores with the characteristics of the spectra of the near-vein and host rocks suggests that the deposition of the vein material occurred from solutions whose compositions with respect to the REE varied with time. REE fractionation occurred due to the mobilization of components by hydrothermal solutions during their reaction with the host Paleozoic granites.

The quantitative characteristics of the macro- and micro-component composition of the pore solutions of the see bottom sediments according to the direct analysis and the calculations from the water extracts are presented. The conclusion about the possibility of the water extracts method using to determine the salinity and chemical composition of the nature pore waters of the low permeable clay deposits of the different lithification stages was made. It was found that the water extracts solutions does not allow to accurately determine the composition of the natural pore solution, but its make it possible to estimate the content of chlorine, sodium and bromine within the error of the determination.

In order to study the effect of sunlight on the composition and properties of dissolved organic matter and metal forms in natural waters, the process of photodegradation of organo-mineral complexes in field conditions with samples of soil and swamp waters was studied. Total content of certain aliphatic and aromatic carboxylic acids increased in the studied samples after irradiation. Photodegradation of organic matter of the natural waters that are rich in iron is accompanied by formation of colloidal particles (Fe hydroxides). The amount of negatively-charged complexes of Ni, Cu, Zn and Cd increases during the insolation in swamp waters and decreases in soil waters.