( Compilation and working study by JGB - LachlanHunter Services, Sydney, Australia )

 

MINES OF THE DONETSK BASIN, UKRAINE

 

 

The location symbols within the geological provinces here are oil fields (black symbols) and gas fields (red symbols).  

 

 

The maps above show the whereabouts of the Kiev - Moscow/Moskva - Donetsk/Donbass - Volgograd region.  The geological province areas are numbered following the usage decided upon by the US Geological Survey World Energy Project (Persits et al., 1997).   Area 1014 is the Donbass Foldbelt or the southern part of the Donetsk Basin.  Exending WNW-NW from this is the  Donetsk (or Dnieper - Donets) Basin  (area 1009) (others refer to it as the Dnieper Graben).   Along the northern flank of the basin is the Belorussian-Voronezh High (area 1004), which is also known topographically as the Central Russian Upland (this upland narrows eastward, and east of the longitude of Rostov na Donu is known as the Don Upland or Donetz chain of hills).  The region along the southern side of the basin is part of the Ukrainian Shield (area 1013) and includes the topographic Dnepr upland.  

The above map by the Institute of Geology and Geochemistry of Combustible Minerals, showing the Deposits of Principal Minerals, uses a somewhat different terminology to the 1990s province numbering of the USGS, and one which is probably now the commonest terminology.  It labels the eastern part of the belt (here shown with coal deposits displaying) as the Donetsk Basin (a coal resource region), and calls the remainer (which is rich in gas locations) the Dniper-Donets Trough or Depression (an oil and gas region).   Moreover, the whole belt (Dniper-Donets Depression + Donetsk Basin) according to this nomenclature is encased within transitional zones on each side, named the Dniper-Donets Northern Shoulder and the Dniper-Donets Southern Shoulder (others refer to "Northern/Southern Monoclinal Flank" for the same zones).   Another simple structural sketch showing all this is:

In the above sketch map (which is concerning petroleum formation), I is the Voronezh Crystalline Massif, II is the Northern Monoclinal Flank of the DDB, III is the Dnieper Graben, IV is the Southern Monoclinal Flank of the DDB, V is the Ukrainian Shield, and VI is the Donetsk  Basin.  The numbers 1-25 are particular oil and gas fields.  

And the above is another very similar map from Saintot et al. (2002).  These authors state that the "Donbas Foldbelt" (using this term apparently for both the Donbass and Dnieper-Donets structural units) is part of a "Prypiat–Dnieper–Donets" intracratonic rift basin.  The structural trend continues to the southeast as the contiguous, deformed Karpinsky Swell. 

The initial rift basin is believed to have developed in Late Devonian times and to have been reactivated in the Early Carboniferous.   Basin ‘‘inversions’’ led first to the uplift of the Palaeozoic series (mainly Carboniferous but also syn-rift Devonian strata in the southwesternmost part of the Donbas Foldbelt, which are deeply buried in the other parts of the rift system).  Later on the continued inversion and compression led to the formation of features typical of  fold-and-thrust belts.

The general structural trend of the Donbas Foldbelt, formed mainly during rifting, is WNW–ESE. This is the strike of the main rift-related fault zones and also of the tight ‘‘Main Anticline’’ of the Donbas Foldbelt that developed along the previous rift axis. 

The Main Anticline is shown in the following geological map (from Spiegela et al. 2004, and based on the Geological Map of the "USSR and Adjoining Water-Covered Areas" -  VSEGEI, 1983):

The main anticline is structurally unique in the Donbass Foldbelt in that its formation was initiated in Permian times, during a period of  (trans-) tensional reactivation.  This was the time when active salt movements occurred.  A major relief inversion of the basin also took place at this time with a pronounced uplift of the southern margin of the basin and the adjacent Ukrainian Shield. Subsequently, Cimmerian and Alpine phases of tectonic inversion of the Donbas Foldbelt led to the further development of flat and shallow thrusts (commonly associated with folds) in the basin. According to Saintot et al. (2002) a fan-shaped deformation pattern is recognised in the field, with south-to southeast-vergent compressive structures, south of the Main Anticline, and north- to northwest-vergent ones, north of it.  Such compressive structures they believe to be clearly superimposed onto the WNW–ESE structural grain of the initial rift basin.

Shortening structures that characterise the tectonic inversion of the basin are (regionally) orientated NW–SE and N–S.  Because of the obliquity of the compressive trends relative to the WNW–ESE strike of inherited structures (major pre-existing normal faults and the Main Anticline), in addition to reverse displacements, right lateral movements occurred along the main boundary fault zones and along the faulted hinge of the Main Anticline.  The existence of pre-existing structures is used to explain local deviations in contractional trends (which are E–W in the southwesternmost part of the basin).

The Main Anticline is the largest and most pervasive close to tight fold of the Donbass Foldbelt.  It is an almost symmetric structure with steeply dipping limbs (60–80 degrees), complicated by faults as thrusts (or oblique thrusts) and as oblique normal and strike-slip faults developed at its hinge.  It is bordered by two gentle synclines and anticlines of the same trend.  The Main Anticline is believed to continue eastward, beneath up to 1500 m of Mesozoic platform cover sediments in the area of the Karpinsky Swell.

 

 

Google view, showing some place markers (from the KMZ file set given below) for five of the mines in the Donetsk region.  Note also the prominent NNW trends as seen in some of the river stretches (Don, Donec, Dnepr and Manyc rivers) and in the Caucasus Range between the Black and Caspian Seas.

 

DONETSK - THE PLACE

Donetsk (Ukrainian: Донецьк, Donets'k; Russian: Доне́цк) is a city in eastern Ukraine on the Kalmius river. Administratively, it is a center of Donetsk Oblast (Oblast = region) while historically it is the unofficial capital and largest city of the Donets Basin region, or Donbass. The city's name is often spelled as Donetsk or Donetz in English.

Donetsk metropolis has over one and a half million inhabitants, and is the fourth-largest city in Ukraine.  The workforce is largely involved with heavy industry, especially coal mining.

Donetsk began as a small Cossack village late in the 17th century, named Alexandrovka (Oleksandrovka) in 1779.  By 1820, small scale coal mining had begun.  This reached an annual output of about 7,000t by the mid-1850's.  The local economy further diversified in 1869 when the Welsh businessman John Hughes built a metallurgical plant and opened several coal mines around Alexandrovka.  The coalfield adjoins the ironfield of Krivoi Rog.  Hughes and others formed the New Russia (Novorossiyskaya) Company there, to mine coal, smelt iron, produce rails, and operate a railroad.  Skilled workers and technicians were brought from Britain and by 1913 the Donetsk Basin was producing 87% of Russian coal.  The new development was initially given the name Yuzovka ("Yuz" being the phonetic rendering of Hughes; also spelled Hughsovka, Jousofka, Jusowka or Yuzovo).  By the beginning of the 20th century Yuzovka had ca. 50,000 inhabitants .  It was renamed Stalino in 1924.  It was almost completely destroyed by the Nazis in World War II and well over half the inhabitants lost.  The population fell from over 500,000 to 175,000.  There are few or no buildings older than 50 years in Donetsk.  Following destalinisation in the 1960s it was re-named Donetsk, after the Donec or Donets river, a tributary of the River Don.

Although the Donetsk region is best known for coal, it also has limestone, potassium salt, mercury ores (in Volnovakhsky area), asbestos, graphite, iron ore, fireclay, chalk, gypsum, dolomite, marl, etc.

The Donetsk region is today dotted with mountains of tailings, strewn both throughout the countryside and in the city landscapes.  These are sometimes called "terracones".  There are possibly over 3000 dumps in the Donetsk region, with at least 1185 being of the distinctive cone-shaped type.  They can be over 100 meters tall, making them a dominant feature of the landscape.  At least 300 of the dumps have been burning.  The writer's correspondent Maurice de Graaf is interested in burning coal dumps on account of the 'minerals' or other features that can result from the burning process.  The Mayskaya mine dumps show evidence of their former burning.

 

FINDING THE MINE LOCATIONS

No souces have been found yet via the internet to indicate where the mines precisely are located in the Donbass.

Published geological and structural maps of the Donbass have not been seen, and these might have the mine locations plotted(?).   Two major maps known to exist are one at the scale 1:500,000 by the the All-Union Ministry of Geology ( U.S.S.R., R.S.F.S.R., Ukr.S.S.R. cooperation) published in 1985; and another good geological map of the "Ukrainian Donbas Foldbelt" at a scale of  1:200,000 which was published in 1995 by "Artemovsk Geological Survey".  No listing of the holdings of Ukrainian and Former Soviet Union geological maps within Australian repositories has yet been obtained.

The following topographic map (from Triplett et al. 2001) highlights the locations of  29 of the basin's mines.   This is only a very small proportion of the coal mines known to exist in the basin.  The basin has at least 400 coal mines, most of which are no longer working.  There are more than 40 coal mines within the city limits of Donetsk.  At the end of 1999, Ukraine had 244 working coal mines (241 underground mines and 3 surface mines) and most of these are Donbass mines.  By 2004 the number of working mines was down to 192.  The figures for working mines have now further diminished to 162 underground mines and 3 surface mines.

Besides the 29 mines in the Lumansk (Lugansk) - Donetsk region that Triplett et al. (2001) focuss on for discussion, and highlight on their map, the background of their map shows numerous other plots of the same "mine" symbol.  More than a hundred mines are faintly depicted in that map, which unfortunately the authors do not give any reference to (and for which clearer references are still being sought).   Also across the border in the Rostovskaya Oblost of Russia, to the east of Lumansk-Donetsk there are many more mines.

The area of mines shown by Triplett et al. (2001) above is also covered by Spiegal et al. (2004) as below:

Numbered mines shown:

Krasnoarmeisk Monocline

DON1 Belozerskaya 

DON2 Dobropolskaya 

DON3 Dimitrova 

Folds east of Donetsk

DON4 Butovskaya 

DON5 (Bore, not a mine)

DON6 Yasinofskaya Glubokaya

DON7 Kirov Makeevugol

DON8 Rassvet 

DON9 Zhdanovskaya 

DON10 Ternopol’skaya 

DON12 Poltavskaya 

DON13 Komsomolets Donbassa

DON14 Severnaya 

DON16 Kommunist Novaya

DON17 Stephano-Krinkvil

DON18 Blagodatov 

Yuzhno –Donbassky region

DON19 Y-Donbasskaya

DON20 Y-Donbasskaya1 

 

GOOGLE EARTH PLACE MARKERS

Below are some Google Earth placemarker files for mines detectable in the Donetsk Basin (Donbass).   Many more need to be determined:

Almazkaya mine.kmz

Amyukminskaya No.2 mine.kmz

Armeni mine.kmz

Ayutinskaya mine.kmz

Azovskaya mine.kmz

Burdusma mine.kmz

Glubokaya mine.kmz

Kirov mine.kmz

Komsomolskaya mine.kmz

Kraskiy Nesvemay mine.kmz

Krasnina mine.kmz

Mayskaya mine.kmz

Mirnaya mine.kmz

Oktyaberskoi mine.kmz

Shakhta No15.kmz

Shakhta No19.kmz

Shakhta No2.kmz

Shakhta No23.kmz

Shakhta No26.kmz

Shakhta No27.kmz

Shakhta No3(2).kmz

Shakhta No309.kmz

Shakhta No4.kmz

Shakhta-No1.kmz

Shakhta-No10.kmz

Shakhta-No2.kmz

shakhta-No201.kmz

Shakhta-No21.kmz

Shakhta-No22.kmz

Shakhta-No3.kmz

Shakhta-No4.kmz

Shakhta-No43.kmz

Shakhta-No56.kmz

Shakhta-no57.kmz

Shakhta-No62.kmz

shakhtaNo3-35.kmz

Shakta No36.kmz

Shkahta No3.kmz

Smepkaya mine.kmz

Sokolovskaya No. 2 mine.kmz

unknown mine, Amyukminsk (1).kmz

unknown mine, Amyukminsk (2).kmz

unknown mine, Amyukminsk (3).kmz

unknown mine, Artem (1).kmz

unknown mine, Artem (2).kmz

unknown mine, Artem (3).kmz

unknown mine, Artem (4).kmz

unknown mine, Artem (5).kmz

unknown mine, Artem (6).kmz

unknown mine, Artem (7).kmz

unknown mine, Artem (8).kmz

unknown mine, Artem (9).kmz

unknown mine, Ayutinsk (1).kmz

unknown mine, Ayutinsk (2).kmz

unknown mine, Ayutinsk (3).kmz

unknown mine, Ayutinsk (4).kmz

unknown mine, Belyshev (1).kmz

unknown mine, Bogultay (1).kmz

unknown mine, Gukovo (1).kmz

unknown mine, Kalinovka (1).kmz

unknown mine, Krasniy (1).kmz

unknown mine, Krasniy Kut (1).kmz

unknown mine, Krasniy Kut (2).kmz

unknown mine, Krasnyy (1).kmz

unknown mine, Krasnyy (2).kmz

unknown mine, Krasnyy Sulin (1).kmz

unknown mine, Krasnyy Sulin (2).kmz

unknown mine, Krasnyy Sulin (3).kmz

unknown mine, Krasnyy Sulin (4).kmz

unknown mine, Krassnyy Sulin (5).kmz

unknown mine, Krassnyy Sulin (6).kmz

unknown mine, Mayskaya (1).kmz

unknown mine, Mayskaya (2).kmz

unknown mine, Novaya Sokolovka (2).kmz

unknown mine, Novaya Sokolovska (1).kmz

unknown mine, Novoazovka (1).kmz

unknown mine, Novoazovka (2).kmz

unknown mine, Novoazovka (3).kmz

unknown mine, Novoazovka (4).kmz

unknown mine, Novogrigorievka (1).kmz

unknown mine, Novogrigorievka (2).kmz

unknown mine, Novogrigorievka (3).kmz

unknown mine, Novoshakhtinsk (1).kmz

unknown mine, Sambek (1).kmz

unknown mine, Sambek (2).kmz

unknown mine, Shakhtinsky (1).kmz

unknown mine, Shakhty (1).kmz

unknown mine, Shakhty (2).kmz

unknown mine, Shakhty (3).kmz

unknown mine, Shakhty (4).kmz

unknown mine, Shakhty (5).kmz

unknown mine, Shakhty (6).kmz

unknown mine, Sokolo (1).kmz

unknown mine, Sokolo (2).kmz

unknown mine, Sokolo (3).kmz

unknown mine, Sokolo (4).kmz

unknown mine, Soleny (1).kmz

unknown mine, Talovy (1).kmz

unknown mine, Talovy (2).kmz

unknown mine, Ukrainsky (1).kmz

unknown mine, Vesely (1).kmz

unknown mine, Yubileyniy (1).kmz

unknown mine, Yubileyniy (2).kmz

unknown mine, Zapadniy (1).kmz

unknown mine.kmz

unknown quarries, Krasnyy Sulin (1).kmz

unknown quarries, Krasnyy Sulin (2).kmz

unknown quarry, Bogultay (1).kmz

unknown quarry, Sadki (1).kmz

unknown quarry, Vladimirovskaya.kmz

Yubileynaya mine.kmz

Yuzhnaya-1 mine.kmz

Yuzhnaya-mine.kmz

Zamkovaya No 3 mine.kmz

Zapadnaya Kapitalnaya mine.kmz

 

This is work in progress and only a small portion of the Donbass mines are in the above list.  Also the names of the mines are not yet properly established  (The tentative names used for KMZ file place-markers here are those suggested by Maurice de Graaf, pers. comm., who has recognised these places from his ongoing interest in the region).  Almost all these sites appear to be coal mines.  A few are quarries but these are also thought to be quarries operated in conjunction with the needs of the coal mines.    

Following Maurice's recommendation,  and source of KMZ-file positionings as above, there is one very good and systematic aid for locating the coal mines is the form of a set of 1:100,000 topographic maps.  These are the "super military topographic maps" referred to in the links provided below, under Map References (see files added 07.02.2002 - the maps themselves are from the 1980s), and which can be found via the Otas map server http://mapy.mk.cvut.cz/index_e.html    These maps are at a useful scale, and are quite adequate for directly comparing with Google Earth viewing.   Here is portion of one (Map L-37-008):

 

Scanning this portion of the map one can see a dozen of so of the traditional crossed pick symbols which indicate excavations (mines or possibly quarries too).   But more important is the word "шахта", meaning mine or shaft.  Many of the crossed picks symbols have the word mine in front of them in the abbreviated form of "шах.".  Hence one can see on the map "шахта (Mine) No.5" and southwest of it a presumably smaller/lesser "шах. No. 3".  The city name also looks rather like 'Newmines' or "New Shakhty" (новые шахты).  Using the Babelfish translation service and its virtual World Keyboard aplet one can try to translate the name on the mapface "Новоша́хтинск" but it will not translate in Babelfish and only comes out as the transliteration Novoshakhtinsk.    It is a city with a population around 117,800 according to the 2002 census.  Coal was first recorded from here in 1696, and coal mining settlements on the present city site arose between 1840 and 1910, then collectively known as the “Nesvetay” mines (on the Maly Nesvetay River).  In 1913 the arrival of Nikolai Paramonov, son of a Rostov millionaire, was followed by the establishment of the first five big mines in the area, and its development as a major anthracite coal-mining centre.  

  Waste dump     

The Google Earth view of the Novoshakhtinsk area is as below:

On the above view the mine symbol "1" is Komsomolskaya Pravda mine (комсомолъская прабда),  and mine "2" is Zapadnaya Kapitalnaya mine (шахта западная капиталъная) [translation = mine is Western Kapital'naya].   In October 2003 work underground at Zapadnaya Kapitalnaya accidentally struck old abandonned workings that were flooded (just as occurred in the Gretley disaster in New South Wales where a similar incident caused loss of life).  Water gushed in from the old water-filled workings.  Seventy-one miners were underground at the time.  Some 25 managed to escape straight away but 46 others were trapped below ground.  The last were reached alive, and rescued, after six days.  Their rescuers tunneled through to them from the Komsomolskaya Pravda mine.  One of the trapped miners died underground and one remained missing.  The rescue of most of the men, who survived so long without food, light, communications, or drinking water thrilled family members, who called it a miracle.

Across the lower part of the image may be noted several dark elliptical bodies, and on the  topographic map these bear the letters 'mep.' next to them, and they are often numbered.  

Whatever these presumed coal processesing areas are, the index of numbers would be of interest to obtain.  It is not in any index on specific sheets, and so might be some numbering system used across the whole of the Donbass(?).

Please contact me if you have any ideas on this or suggestions on how to identify unkown mines.

A couple of the several other suggestions known about are:

* Additional information on Russian mines might be found using Russian search engines as well as Google.  One such is www.aport.ru for instance.

* One may use an automated translation available through various software (e.g. Altavista's Babelfish) gives a close approach to a correct translation in English.   Key words to look for in translated or transliterated works may be ugol (coal), shakhtyor (miner), and of course whatever names of mines or districts or settlements that one already is aware of in a district.

 

THE GENERAL NATURE OF COAL MINING IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION

The lands of the former Soviet Union have extensive resources of coal, believed to be about half of the established world resources.  Coal mining in "Russia" (Former Soviet Union)  has a long history, and coal mining was one of the largest employers in the former USSR.  The areas of the Donetz Basin (Donbas) in the Ukraine, and the Kuznetz Basin (Kuzbas) in Siberia, are particularly well known for coal mining.  In recent times the larger part of coal production in Russia, about sixty percent, has been in Siberia,

The Kuznetsk Basin contains the largest number of working coal mines in Russia, many of which have been modernised.  The Donetz Basin mines by comparison have often been referred to as not modernised, and struggling to survive..

Following the collapse of the Soviet system the coal industry across the FSU has been in a state of transition and continuing privatisation.  Central state ownership of the mines was transferred at first to large regional (Oblast) companies or associations of producers.  For example the Kuzbas regional company "Kuzbassrazrezugol" (coal is "ugol" in Russian) became  Russia’s largest coal exporter and it operates mines in the "Kuzbass" or Kuznetsky Basin.

However the big regional associations first formed were never likely to be stable.  Many or most have broken down further, or have been taken over (there are countless assertions of 'mafia' style takeovers of coal mining across Russia),  and have been reformed in many various different combinations of mines and joint stock companies.   Today the Russian coal industry has become a complex structure consisting of a large number of holdings, independent traders, and separate state and private enterprises.  The industry faces the prospect of working under these various forms of mixed ownership for some time to come.  

By 1995 there arose the spectacle of new coal barrons fighting amongst themselves for control of resources, and in one famous case a leading figure in the coal mining business was accused of plotting to kill another leading figure.  In 1995 First Deputy Minister of Finance, Vitaly Artyukhov, claimed that coal companies had become totally opaque to the controls of government, and that money allotted for the assistance of the coal industry was being stolen.  An increasing number of mines were said to be coming under the financial control of organized crime.  In one of the best known cases of this struggles for control, the governor in the Kuzbass, Aman Tuleev, began accusing the former director general of  Kuzbassshakhtostroi concern, Viktor Bocharov, of unlawful privatisation of resources when creating the private Zadubrovsky open-pit mine.  The Prosecutor General's office eventually laid criminal charges against Bocharov, and exposures on other "coal generals" also followed.  However, the prosecution of Bocharov by the Prosecutor General's office in Kemerovo was eventually dropped for lack of evidence. 

Across the former Soviet Union the payment of coal miners fell into major arrears.  In February 1995 all miners across Russia went on strike.  By 1997 the average debt of unpaid wages was the equivalent of almost four months wages in the coal mining industry, which industry was then in dire straits (but has since recovered).  In the more prosperous natural gas industry the non-payment of wages was running only just behind, with an average wage payment delay of  three months.  Non-payment of social benefits ran similar to that of the non-payment of wages, since the primary reason for non-payment of benefits is the non-payment of payroll-related contributions to national social insurance funding structure.  Although the economy of the Donbass is believed to have passed through its worst crisis, and should now be improving, wage debts and shortfalls of payments into pension funds are still happening.  Indeed the situation showed a worsening again in 2005.

 

COAL IN THE DONETZ BASIN

The Donetz (or Donetsk) Basin, which is commonly referred to as the Donbas (or Donbass), is located in the southeastern part of Ukraine's territory.  The basin also extends into the current territory of Russia.  

The WNW trend of the basin, and also that of the adjoining Donbass Foldbelt, forms a natural division with Russian territory, and is also seen reflected by the course of the Dniepner river.  

The Donetz Basin covers an area of approximately 60,000 square kilometers.  The coal deposits are within the  Carboniferous sequence and over 330 seams have been identified to a depth of 1,800m.  Seams in excess of two metres thickness are rarely found.  Some 200 of the seams are less than 0.45 m in thickness.  About one hundred of the seams are sufficiently thick, and are at suitable depths, to be considered mineable.  The number of mineable seams, even in the best mining areas, never exceeds 30 to 50 seams.  The numbers of seams known in the principal mining districts are:

Krasnoarmeisky - 33 seams

Donetsko-Makeevsky - 59 seams

Tsentralny - 46 seams

Torezsko-Snezhniansky - 39 seams

Lisichansky - 25 seams 

Lugansky - 39 seams

Almazno-Marievsky -  53 seams

Krasnodonsky - 24 seams 

Bokovo-Khrustalsky - 31 seams 

Seleznevsky - 32 seams

The coal measures are at their deepest in the northwest of the basin.  The seams generally general pinch out at or towards the eastern side of the basin, and to the southern boundary of the basin is against crystalline rocks of the Donbass Foldbelt, like those around Priazovsky.

The Donetz Basin mines produce anthracite, thermal coal,  potentially coking coal and PCI coal (for powdered coal injection thermal electricity generation plants).   It is estimated that the basin contains 231 billion tonnes of coal reserves, including 170 to 180 billion tonnes of reserves that are recoverable.  In terms of rank, the coal in the basin is reported to cover a remarkable range, from lignite to highly metamorphized bituminous (anthracite and semi-anthracite).

The deep mines of the the Donbass are gassy and dangerous.  The below mapping (from Saintota et al., 2003) depicts features typical of the palaeostress state in the Donetz region.  Outbursts of both rock and gas are known to occur in some of the deeper mines of the Donbass, although no detailed description of such incidents has yet been located.

MINING DEATHS AND COALFIELDS DECLINE

Between two and three hundred miners were being killed yearly following the Ukraine's separation from Russia in 1991 - more than 3,700 dying from accidents in the first decade.  The International Labor Organization has reported that a combination of factors cause the frequent accidents, ranging from the geology of the deep coal seams to lack of investment in production and safety equipment and nonpayment of wages.  The United States EPA and the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration have advised towards increasing the degree of methane extraction prior to mining the coal (e.g. Triplett et a., 2001).

Mine headframe at Lenin Street, Snezhnoye

Snezhnoye, located 80 km east of Donetsk, in a former era was billed as a model coal-mining town.  Since the Soviet collapse, however, it has turned into a wasteland of crumbling buildings, rusted industrial equipment and waste heaps.  All but one of Snezhnoye's 11 coal mines were shut down, but the government failed to come up with any new jobs for the people.  Since 1991, about half of the town's population of 100,000 has moved away.  Of those who cannot afford to more, or have nowhere to go, the average age is rising and the official unemployment rate is close to 50 percent.  Officially these people are unemployed but unofficially many are still believed to have kept working at coal extraction, by "illegal" mining on their own behalf.  Despite the dangers associated with this, thousands of men, women and children, armed only with picks and shovels, are reported to regularly dig for coal in the woods around Snezhnoye.   It is estimated that about 600 illegal pits exist around the town.  In some the coal can be found as close as 10m below the surface, but others are 100m or more deep.  Ventilation and safety is poor.  Children as young as 11 work in these pits -- in winter they join their parents after school, while in summer they sometimes work full time.  

 

LITERATURE REFERENCES

Geological and Structural Map of the Donbas. Scale 1:500,000.  Ministry of Geology, U.S.S.R., R.S.F.S.R., Ukr.S.S.R., 1985.

Geological Map of the Ukrainian Donbas Foldbelt. Scale 1:200,000. Artemovsk Geological Survey, Ukraine, 1995.

Gramberg, I.S., and Pogrebitsky, Yu.E. (Eds),1984.  Geologic framework of the USSR and distribution of useful minerals (Geologicheskoye stroeniye SSSR i zakonomernosti razmeshcheniya poleznykh iskopaemykh).  Seas of the Soviet Arctic.  Volume 9, 280pp.  St. Petersburg. 

Nedra, 1972.  Coal deposits of the Donetsk Basin: a methodology of exploration.  Moscow.

Persits, F.M., Ulmishek, G.F. and Steinshouer, D.W., 1997.    Maps showing geology, oil and gas fields and geologic provinces of the former Soviet Union.  U.S. Geological Survey, Open-File Report 97-470E.

Pudak, V.V., Konarev, V.V.,  Alexeyev, A.D. and Brizhanev, A.M., 1996.  Exploration, technical design and commercial utilization of coal and gas deposits of the Donbass.  Ugol Ukrainy, Issues 10 and 11.

Nalivkin, D.V. (Ed), 1966.   Geological Map of the USSR  (scale 1:7,500,000).  Ministry of Geology of the USSR (Vsesoyuzniy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy Geologicheskiy Institute - VSEGEI). 

Saintota, A., Stephensona, R., Stovbab, S. and Maystrenko, Y., 2003.  Structures associated with inversion of the Donbas Foldbelt (Ukraine and Russia).  Tectonophysics, 27 pp. [preprint].)    Elsevier.  

Spiegela, C., Sachsenhoferb, R.F. Privalovc, V.A., Zhykalyakd,  M.V. and Panovae, E.A. 

2004.  Thermotectonic evolution of the Ukrainian Donbas Foldbelt: evidence from zircon and apatite fission track data.  Tectonophysics, 383, pp. 193– 215

Spizharsky, T.N. (Ed),1966.   Tectonic map of the USSR (scale 1:7,500,000).  All-Union Research Geological Institute (VSEGEI).  St. Petersburg.

Stovba, S.M., Stephenson, R.A., 1999.  The Donbas Foldbelt: its relationships with the uninverted Donets segment of the Dniepr– Donets Basin, Ukraine. In: Stephenson, R.A., Wilson, M., Starostenko, V.I. (Eds.), EUROPROBE: Georift: Vol. 2. Intraplate Tectonics and Basin Dynamics of the East European Craton and its Margins.  Tectonophysics, vol. 313, pp. 59– 83.

Stovba, S.M., Stephenson, R.A., 2002.  Style and timing of salt tectonics in the Dniepr– Donets Basin (Ukraine): implications for triggering and driving mechanisms of salt movement in sedimentary basins.  Marine and Petroleum Geology 19, 1169– 1189.

Stovba, S.M., Stephenson, R.A., Kivshik, M., 1996.  Structural features and evolution of the Dnieper–Donets Basin, Ukraine, from regional seismic reflection profiles. In: Stephenson, R.A.,Wilson, M., De Boorder, H., Starostenko, V.I. (Eds.), EUROPROBE: Intraplate Tectonics and Basin Dynamics of the Eastern European Platform.  Tectonophysics, vol. 268, pp. 127– 147.

Stovba, S.M., Maystrenko, Yu.P., Stephenson, R.A., Kusznir, N.I., 2003.  The formation of the south-eastern part of the Dniepr–Donets Basin: 2-D forward and reverse syn-rift and post-rift modelling.  Sedimentary Geology 156, 11 – 33.

Triplett, J., Filippov, A.,  Pisarenko, A. and others, 2001.   Coal mine methan in Ukraine:  Opportunities for production and investment in the Donetsk coal basin.  Report prepared for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

 VSEGEI, 1983.  Geological Map of the USSR and Adjoining Water-Covered Areas.  Scale 1:2,500,000. Minesterstvo Geologii SSSR.

 

 

MAP REFERENCES (for Ukraine plus "Russia" generally)

Below are links for many Russian and Ukrainian topogrphapic maps,

The geological map of the Donbass drawn up by Russian geologist Leonid Lutugin in the late 19th century  remains a classic, but no source of it has been found online.    .

The Otas map server (43684 hits at its present web address) started at http://www.svetoutdooru.cz/Users_/Mapy/default.asp with scanning of the Atlas of Kamchatka but the data volume quickly rose to 19 Gb and was moved from an FTP to a WEB server.  

Additions for Russia include:

31.1.2003 Russia - Sakhalin island military maps, scale 1:200 000. ->
31.1.2003 Russia - Kola peninsula military maps, scale 1:200 000. ->
31.1.2003 Russia - Kamchatka, scale 1:500 000. ->
19.1.2003 Russia - Altaj, military topomaps with scale 1:200 000. ->
18.1.2003 Russia - Kodar, vector map, unknow scale, classification of passes. ->
14.1.2003 Russia - Ural, quality military maps, scale 1:100 000, from http://polarural.narod.ru/. ->
  5.1.2003 Russia - area of lake Baykal - atlas Pribajkale 1:200 000, island Olchon 1:100 000, peninsula Svatoj Nos 1:100 000. ->
23.12.2002 Russia - Primorskij kraj, atlas at scale 1:200 000. ->
23.12.2002 Russia - Chabarovsk area - south part, atlas at scale 1:200 000. ->
23.12.2002 Russia - Chabarovsk area - central part, atlas at scale 1:200 000. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Pobedy pik, military topomap at scale 1:100 000. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Moscow, map, atlases + files "map" with coordinate for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Moscow area, atlases 1:200 000 + files "map" with coordinate for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Yaroslav town, in format for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Yaroslav area, scale 1:200 000 + files "map" with coordinate for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Vologda area, atlas at scale 1:200 000 + files "map" for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Vladimir region, atlas at scale 1:200 000 in format for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Vladimir region, atlas at scale 1:200 000 + files "map" for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Uglichskoe vodochranilisce + file "map" with coordinate for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Tverv region, atlas at scale 1:200 000 + files "map" for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Tula region, atlas at scale 1:200 000 + files "map"  for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Tambov region, atlas at scale 1:200 000 + files "map" for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Smolensk region, atlas at scale 1:200 000 + files "map"  for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Ryazan region, atlas at scale 1:200 000 + files "map" for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Pskov region, atlas at scale 1:200 000 + files "map"  for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Penza region, atlas at scale 1:200 000 + files "map" for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Velikiy Novgorod region, atlas at scale 1:200 000 + files "map"  for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Nizhniy Novgorod region, atlas at scale 1:200 000 + files "map" for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Lipeck region, atlas at scale 1:200 000 + files "map" for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Orthophoto of Leningrad (1991) + files "map" with coordinates for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Kaluga region, atlas at scale 1:200 000 + files "map" for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Ivanovsk vodochranilicse + file "map" with coordinate for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Ivanovsk region, atlas at scale 1:200 000 in format for OziExplorer. ->
11.12.2002 Russia - Ivanovsk region, atlas at scale 1:200 000 + files "map" for OziExplorer. ->
31.8.2002 Russia - Kaludzkaja area, atlas at scale 1:200 000. ->
31.8.2002 Russia - Ivanovo area, atlas at scale 1:200 000. ->
30.6.2002   Copy of the content of www.velotourism.ru in detail:
29.6.2002 Ukraine - Zakarpatskaja area, military topomaps, scale 1:100 000. ->
13.6.2002 Russia - Altai, military maps from Beluha and south from Kazakhstan, scale 1:100 000. ->
9.6.2002 Ukraine - Further missing or low-quality sheets of special military maps, scale 1:75 000. ->
9.6.2002 Russia - Pobedy Pik as military map, scale 1:200 000. ->
1.6.2002 Russia - Further areas in the Arkhangelsk region, scale 1:100 000. ->
1.6.2002 Russia - Altai - kilometrage of the river Katun, sheets 3-15, scale 1:100 000 - schematic. ->
27.5.2002 Russia - More military topographical maps, area on the west of Moscow, scale 1:100 000. ->
27.5.2002 Russia - Vodlozero, other version of same atlas, scale 1:200 000. ->
27.5.2002 Russia - Karelia, scale 1:200 000. ->
27.5.2002 Russia - Tuva republic - Chrebet Akademika Obrucheva, scale 1:200 000. ->
22.5.2002 Russia - Altai - Majminskij and Chujskij region, scale I don't know. ->
22.5.2002 Russia - Altai - Ongudajskij region, scale I don't know. ->
18.5.2002 Russia - Tuva republic, scale 1:1 000 000 and cut of Kyzyl district, scale 1:200 000. ->
18.5.2002 Russia - Irkutskaia region, scale 1:1 000 000. ->
17.5.2002 Russia - Altai - South-Chujskyi edge, BW maps in scale 1:100 000. ->
10.5.2002 Russia - region Orenburg, scale 1:200 000. ->
8.5.2002 Russia - Novgorod region, scale 1:200 000. ->
8.5.2002 Russia - Arkangel region, Fominskij, Vilegodskij raion, scale 1:100 000. ->
8.5.2002 Russia - Arkangel region, Shenkurskij raion, river Vaga, scale 1:100 000. ->
28.4.2002 Russia - Arkangel region, river Pinega and parts of Pinega zapovednik, scale 1:100 000. ->
26.4.2002 Russia - Towns of Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk and their surroundings, scale 1:100 000. ->
18.4.2002 Ukraine - Road atlas, scale 1:500 000, low quality. ->
18.4.2002 Russia - Arkangel, Severodvinsk and river Dvina, scale 1:100 000. ->
18.4.2002 Russia - Arkangel and river Dvina, scale 1:100 000. ->
14.4.2002 Russia - Atlas of Permskaya area, scale 1:200 000. ->
9.4.2002 Russia - Atlas of Karelia, scale 1:200 000, its higher resolution, than the old version. ->
8.4.2002 Ukraine - Topo 1_100 000, was to resume on missing parts; but there is still missing a few map lists.  Index is at the folder. ->
7.4.2002 Russia - Atlas of Karelia - Riwers and lakes, scale 1:50 000!!! ->
28.3.2002 Russia - Atlas of Tataria, scale 1:200 000. ->
28.3.2002 Russia - Samarskaya region, scale 1:200 000. ->
28.3.2002 Russia - Samarskaya luka area, scale may be 1:200 000. ->
28.3.2002 Russia - Krym peninsula, scale 1:250 000. ->
28.3.2002 Russia - Karelia area, scale 1:200 000. ->
28.3.2002 Russia - Lake Baykal - Chrebet Chamar-Daban, scale maybe 1:200 000. ->
28.3.2002 Russia - Altay - Ongudayskiy a Shebalinskiy district, scale 1:200 000. ->
24.3.2002 Russia - Karelia North, scale 1:200 000. ->
23.3.2002 Russia - Area from Vodlozero lake and Ileksa riwer, between Karelia and Arkhangelsk region, scale 1:200 000. ->
22.3.2002 Russia - Arkhangelsk region, scale 1:1 000 000. ->
22.3.2002 Russia - Neneckij autonomous district, scale 1:1 000 000. ->
19.3.2002 Russia - Kola peninsula - 28 map lists, scale 1:200 000. ->
19.3.2002 Russia - Kola peninsula  - The area of Salla-Alakurtti-Kutsa, scale 1:50 000. ->
19.3.2002 Russia - Altay - area Ust-Koksinskij rajon, scale 1:200 000. ->
12.3.2002 Ukraine - Podkarpatska Rus - a special military maps from first half of 20th century, scale 1:75 000. ->
10.02.2002 Russia/TopoMaps 1_100 000 - super military topographic maps at scale 1:100 000. But only a few from neighbourhood Ukraine. ->
07.02.2002 Ukraine/TopoMaps 1_100 000 - super military topographic maps at scale 1:100 000. ->
03.02.2002 Ukraine/sinevirsky NP.jpg ->
03.02.2002 Russia/Altai/Altai-Katuns edge ->
03.02.2002 Traffic_maps/Russian Rail - maps from Russian railways. ->
19.01.2002 Ukraine/sinevir.jpg ->
19.01.2002 Ukraine/borzava.jpg ->
18.01.2002 Ukraine/TopoMaps 1925 ->