On May 10-15, the II International Scientific and Practical Conference “Patterns of transformation of ecological functions of geospheres of large mining regions” was held with the support of Francisk Skorina Gomel State University, Voronezh State University, P.M. Masherov Vitebsk State University, the Center for Geophysical Monitoring of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, the Belarusian National Group of the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment (IAEG) and the Gomel Regional Department of the Belarusian Geographical Society.
The route of the conference took place along the most interesting and informative sites of Vitebsk, Polotsk and Lake Naroch. The opening of the conference took place in difficult weather conditions on the observation deck of the dolomite quarry “Gralevo” in the vicinity of the village of Ruba. The leading specialist of JSC “Dolomite” told the conference participants about the dynamics of dolomite mining, the main environmental problems arising during the operation of the quarry, as well as the main trends in the development of dolomite raw materials in the Republic of Belarus. The opening of the conference was held as part of an online session as a field plenary session.
The second day of the conference was held in the form of a round table on the topic “Problems of technogenic and environmental safety at mining and processing enterprises, technogenic and environmental risks” on the basis of Polotsk State University.
The organizers of the conference Kosinova I.I., Aronov A.G. and Pavlovsky A.I. made welcoming speeches. The participants of the conference Harkina M.A., Shakhov S.V., Galkin A.N., Zhigalin A.D. and others presented their reports in the format of an online session. For the first time, the results of their research were presented by second-year students of the Geological Faculty of Voronezh State University Sopin D.O., Yuyukina A.L. on the topic “Ecological and geological assessment of dust load during open-pit mining of granite raw materials”.
In addition, the conference participants took a tour of Polotsk University, which is one of the oldest in the country. The conference participants got acquainted with the unique architectural objects of the Polotsk land – St. Sophia Cathedral and the Polotsk Spaso-Evfrosinievskim Monastery.
On the third day of the conference, a round table was held on the topic “Transformation of ecological functions of geospheres of mining areas: sources, directions, evaluation criteria” on the basis of the geophysical observatory “Naroch” of the Center for Geophysical Monitoring of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus.
The conference participants got acquainted with the process of obtaining and processing geophysical data at the station, and also witnessed geophysical activity in the area of the Kermadec trench in the Pacific Ocean during their stay in the center's hardware room. The results of the event were summed up here, diplomas were awarded for the best reports, further ways of cooperation were identified and a conference resolution was adopted. A collection of materials will be published based on the results of the conference.
We wish new professional successes to all participants of the conference and hope for further fruitful cooperation in the field of studying the transformation of ecological functions of geospheres.
The conference was held with the support of the Belarusian Republican Foundation for Basic Research (Agreement No. X20R–284 dated 04.05.2020) and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Agreement No. 20-55-00010 dated 30.04.2020).
Associate Professor of the Department of Geology and Geography S.V.Andrushko
