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INTERNATIONAL GEOLOGICAL CONGRESS, MOSCOW The 27th International Geological Congress was held in Moscow from August 4th-l4th, and

was attended by some 5,600 geologists from many countries. The largest attendances were understandably from the USSR and Eastern Europe, although some 300 geologists came from the USA, and substantial numbers also from Canada, France, India, China and many other countries. The Congress was preceded and followed by about 60 well-supported Pre- and Post- Congress Tours, which were of great scientific interest and also gave the participants the relatively rare opportunity of visiting and appreciating the scenic beauties of some remote areas of the USSR.

The opening and closing ceremonies took place in the impressive Kremlin Palace of Congresses, when the delegates were welcomed and addressed by the Minister of Geology of the USSR (Congress President), the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and representatives of the IUGS and UNESCO. The scientific meetings and colloquia were divided in their locations between the new International Trade Centre (Sovincentr), where the facilities were outstandingly good, and the M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University. Simultaneous translation systems were always available. Anumber of films devoted to the earth sciences were shown daily, and a parallel exhibition of geological books, publications and equipment (“Geoexpo 84”) was also mounted.

The Secretary-General of the Congress, Dr. N. A. Bogdanov, together with his staff, must be congratulated on the successful execution of a difficult but extremely worthwhile task, particularly at a time when the science of geology has attained new levels of world-wide interest and importance for humanity in the fields of resources development, environmental protection, the exploration of the ocean basins, earthquake prediction, etc. In recognition of his services he was awarded the Spendiarov prize.

The scope of the Scientific Programme can be seen by the following list of 22 major Sections: C. 01 Stratigraphy C. 12 Metallogenesis and Mineral Ore C. 02 Palaeontology Deposits C.03 Quaternary geology and geo- C.13 Oil and Gas Fields

morphology C.14 Solid Fuel Mineral Deposits C. 04 Sedimentology C. 15 Non-Metallic Mineral Ores C. 05 Precambrian geology C. I6 Hydrogeology C.06 Geology of Ocean Basins C. 17 Engineering Geology C. 07 Tectonics C. I8 Remote Sensing C. 08 Geophysics C. I9 Comparative Planetology C. 09 Petrology C.20 Mathematical Geology and Geo- C. 10 Mineralogy logical Information C. I 2 Geochemistry and Cosmochemis- C.21 History of Geology

try C.22 Geological Education

K.OI Geology of the USSR K.02 Energy Resources of the World K. 03 Palaeoceanography K.04 Arctic Geology K.05 Tectonics of Asia K. 06 Earthquake and Geological Hazard Prediction.

Programme included the following Symposia: L. 01 Evolution of Sedimentary Basins and their Mineral and Energy Resources L.02 Circum-Pacific Orogenic Belts and Evolution of the Pacific Ocean Basin LO3 Archaean Lithosphere and Early Crustal Evolution L. 04 Recent and Quaternary Plate Motions L. 05 Paleoenvironmental Evolution of the Oceans and the Atmosphere

There were also six extremely interesting colloquia:

The Scientific Programme of the Special Session of the International “Lithosphere”

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L. 06 Geochemical and Geophysical Modelling of Plate Tectonics L. 07 Geological, Geophysical and Geochemical Constraints on the Deep Structure of the

Continents and Ocean Basins L. 08 Continental Drilling L. 09 Groundwater Exploration and Development in Semi-Arid Zones L. 10 Proterozoic Crustal Dynamics and Lithospheric Evolution.

From the point of view of the petroleum geologist, the papers and discussions of Section C.13, with Colloquium K.02 and Symposium L.01 were clearly of the greatest interest. However, many papers given in other Sections on subjects related to the exploration for and evaluation of hydrocarbon resources were also of significance - e.g. sedimentology, remote sensing, applied geophysics and geochemistry, basin evolution and development, oil shale resources, etc.

Details of the major sub-sections of Section C.13 are as follows: Conveners: A. W. Bally, F. N. Talukdar, A. A. Trofimuk.

C.13.1 Themes C. 13.1.1. Oil and Gas Bearing Provinces of Continents. Recently Discovered Oil and Gas

Bearing Regions C. 13.1.2. Oil and Gas Potential of Submarine Continental Margins C. 13. 1. 3. Oil and Gas Source Rocks, Stages of Oil and Gas Formation C. 13.1.4. Methods of Quantitative Prediction of Hydrocarbons in Sedimentary Rocks;

Phase States of Hydrocarbons C 13.1.5. Oil and Gas in Deep Zones of the Lithosphere

S.13.2. Intersectional Symposia S. 13.2. 1. Models of Prospecting for Oil and Gas; Methods of Long-Term Prognosis of Oil

and Gas Prospecting and their Results S, 13.2.2. Tectonic Control of Non-Magmatic Degassing Processes; Mud-Volcanism.

It is impossible in a brief review to mention individually more than a very few of the 90 or so papers presented in this Section. Readers will certainly be interested to note the papers by authors who have contributed previously to the pages of the Journal of Petroleum Geofogy. Examples are: Dr. S. P. Maximov of VNIGNI, (with I. P. Lavrushko) - “Factors governing formation of major zones of oil and gas accumulation” (C. 13,1. 1)and (with T. A. Botneva and E. S. Larskaya) - “Oil source rocks, staged development and cyclicity of oil and gas generation” (C 13, 1.3); A. Perrodon - “TCctonique globale et province pCtrolibre” (C. 13, 1.1);D. Lambert-Aikhionbare (with J. Ejedawe) - “Quantitative maturation history of source rocks in Niger Delta Basin” (C. 13,1. 3);T. Gold - “Contributions to the theory of an abiogenic origin of methane and other terrestrial hydrocarbons” (Symposium S. 13,Z.Z); A. Zolotov, M. Lodzhevskaya et al. - “Petroleum prospects of deep horizons according to deep drilling data of recent years” (C13, 1.5).

M. Kholief (with I. El-Mansey) - “Modelling of depositional environment and post-diagenetic

R. P. Suggate - ”Deep Synclinal structures in Cenozoic rocks in New Zealand” (C. 07, 1.6); P. GoCev - “On the structure of the Alpine Orogen in the Ballcan peninsula” (C.07, 1.3); J. Stocklin - “Geology and Tethys evolution in the Middle East - an appraisal of current

concepts” (Colloquium 05). Abstracts of nearly all the papers presented (about 3,700 in total), mainly in English and

Russian, were published and made available to Congress members in ten volumes. Of these, Vols VII and IXb contain the most important abstracts relevant to petroleum

geology, although other volumes also contain cognate items, as indicated in the list of Sections given above.

Papers by Journal authors noted in other Sections included:

effects of Upper Cretaceous Sediments in Western Desert, Egypt” (C.04, 1.4);

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A separate publication contains 14 English-language versions of the papers presented in Colloquium 2 - “Energy Resources of the World” and is of particular interest.

Finally, 22 of the papers given on oil- and gasfields in C. 13 have been reprinted (so far in Russian only). These include translated versions of the following seven important papers by non-USSR authors: 1. M. T. Halbouty (USA): “New and potential oil and gas regions and fields of the world”. 2. M. Sasnjar (Yugoslavia): “Regularities in the development of Salt tectonics and their

importance in the ranking of Salt Structures in Salt basins with respect to their oil and gas bearing potential”.

3. C. Bois, P. Bouche, A. Mascle, L. Montadert, C. Ravenne, J. Wanneson (France): “Global geologic history and the oil and gas potential of deep sea continental margins”.

4. D. Pande, K. Misra, Sudhir Sharma (India): “Source bed history of Bombay Offshore region”.

5. L. Ivanhoe (USA): “Geologic consensus estimates of undiscovered petroleum resources”. 6. V. McKelvry and C. Masters (USA): “Undiscovered oil and gas resources: procedures and

problems of estimation”. 7. T. Gold (USA): “Contributions to the theory of an abiogenic origin of methane and other

terrestrial hydrocarbons”.

The next Congress will be held in Washington D.C., USA, in 1989.