Мурманская миля. 2016, № 3.

PIONEERS OF THE ARCTIC Anna GAVRENKO Photo courtesy of the MAGE Archive Almost half a century ago, at the time when masses of people moved to the Siberian and Far Eastern lands that had yet to be explored, most oil and gas deposits, metals, and other riches of the Earth were discovered. Few of those who have nothing to do with geology know that the Arctic shelf was first explored by Integrated Marine Arctic Geological-Geophysical Expedition concisely abbreviated as IMAGE. In 1981, IMAGE was renamed into MAGE but still remained committed to the integrated marine offshore survey as shown by the initial letter in its full name. The debate over the national marine geo logy dates back to the 70s o f the last ce n tu ry when all onshore oil p rodu c tion regions had been explored and developed. Those included Western Siberia, p a rt o f Eastern S iberia, the entire Volga area, Tatarstan, Bashkiria, and o the r te rrito ries . In 1972, by the o rde r o f the M in is te r o f Geology was established the firs t marine expedition in M urmansk tha t joined the Northern Research and P roduction Association fo r Marine Geological P rospecting (SEVMORGEO) under the Soviet M inistry of Geology. The main goal of the expedition headed by N ikolay Trubyatchinsky was to find out about the prospects fo r oil and gas p roduction in the Barents and Kara Seas. GEOLOGISTS AND THEIR TIMES It all started in the basement of a building on Karl Marx Street in Murmansk. They did their work on leased vessels or refitted veteran craft of the fishing fleet, such as the once renowned RV SAZAN only to be remembered in old photographs. However, substandard living and working 4 MURMANSK MILE • 3-2016