CONTRIBUTION TO THE DESCRIPTION OF THE AKTAS FAULT ZONE,CENTRAL KAZAKHSTAN

Vernadskiy's views on the origin of oil, as originally expressed in 1924 in the first French edition of Geochemistry and more extensively in his Essays in Geochemistry (especially in the fourth or second Russian edition, 1934), are evaluated and praised in light of more recent information. The principal reference is the second Russian edition, in six essays. The several points of Vernadskiy's thesis, that oil is of organic origin, are noted and discussed with reference to data more extensive than that available to him. Vernadskiy's interest in the origin of oil was subordinate to his major interest in the geochemistry of carbon and its history in the crust, and in biogeochemistry — the role of living matter in the development of the upper geosphere. To him the emergence of oil was “one of the momentous manifestations of a transfer of solar energy to deeper reaches of our planet, by means of living substance.” Vernadskiy, in light of Trask's work, even conceded the possibility of oil originating from organic matter of continental fresh-water basins. He read widely in his field and appreciated the need for understanding the history of thought on the subject. The organic theory, he strongly believed, was born in 1763 with the publication of Lomonosov's On Terrestrial Layers. — W.D. Lowry.