Founded in 1926.
The Institute is the leading geology institution in fundamental and applied developments in the majority of basic research areas of the Earth sciences, it is engaged in sistemic studiies of geological structure and geological evolution of the territory of Ukraine and adjacent areas; it coordinates regional geological studies done by production enterprises and interagency organizations; it collaborates with international structures, takes part in numerous integrated projects and programs.
Science schools started by Acad. P. A. Tutkovsky, V. G. Bondarchuk, V. B. Porfiriev, A. Ye. Babinets are developed further. Today research is done by 3 NAS academicians, 7 NAS corresponding members, 37 doctors of sciences and 82 candidates of sciences.
The Institute incorporates the Center for Aerospace Sensing of the Earth, the Center of Management and Marketing in Earth Sciences; 4 specialized councils for awarding doctor-of-science and candidate-of-science degrees; the Institute is the basic institution of the Ukrainian Paleontological Society and Interagency Stratigraphic Committee of Ukraine. It publishes the “Geological Journal” and collected scientific works; Institute’s scholars are Editors-in Chief and Editorial Board members of journals “Ecology of the Environment and Safety of Life”, “Geoinformatics” etc. The Institutes’ library is the richest geology library in Ukraine.
Institute’s researchers address fundamental geological problems, deal with top-priority issues of mining and raw-materials industry (fuel-and-energy, water resources, solid minerals), develop scientific fundamentals of preserving and improving the environment, study the World Ocean. They have made a significant contribution to general geology; paleontology; paleobotany; stratigraphy; geotectonics; lithology; paleostructure, space, engineering, marine geology; geology of oil- and gas-bearing provinces, coal fields; hydrogeology; technogenic hydrogeology; geoecology.
Scientists of the Institute have validated the idea of global faults of the Earth’s lithosphere; founded a new branch of fundamental lithogenesis theory – lithogeodynamical analysis of rock-forming basins, which is the basis for forecasting fuel and ore mineral resources; a geo-historic model of Phanerozoic has been developed; foundations of Pre-Cambrian biostratigraphy have been laid; stratigraphic and palaeogeographic criteria of forecasting and prospecting for minerals have been developed; patterns of water exchange formation in hydrogeologic structures of Ukraine under natural and man-disturbed conditions have been discovered; theoretical and methodological aspects of pollutants migration in the geologic environment have been substantiated; two new provinces of ‘Naftusia’-type mineral water have been found; digital geological&geochemical maps of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov have been produced; novel technologies for studying Antarctic geological environment have been developed and implemented; integrated research work has been done to study, forecast and minimize the impacts of Chornobyl accident.
RESULTS OF FUNDAMENTAL PALEONTOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS The Institute is the only inter-scientific center in Ukraine where the fundamental paleontological investigations are carried out. Conceptual principles of the basic variability of organic world at different stages of the biosphere evolution are studied. New classifications are proposed; systematics, nomenclature, evolutionary changes of various groups of the Phanerosoic faunas and floras of Ukraine are specified (acritarchs, trilobites, mollusks, foraminifers, conodonts, nannoplancton, sponges etc.). Their significance for stratigraphy and correlation of sedimentary Phanerozoic basins is estimated. The results are based on methodological and methodical principles (mathematical methods, evristical modeling, technologically advanced equipment). The works of our scientists on micropaleontology that was founded by Academician P.A. Tutkovsky are worldwide known.
THE UNIQUE EXPERIMENTAL POLYGON IN CHERNOBYL FOR MONITORING AND FORECASTING OF RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION IN THE GEOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT The Institute of Geological Sciences, NAS of Ukraine, in cooperation with the Ukrainian Institute of Agricultural Radiology and Institute of Radiological Protection and Nuclear Security, France, since 1999 supports the international radioecological polygon in the Chernobyl Alienation Zone ("Experimental Platform in Chernobyl") distanced 2.5 km from the destroyed 4th block of the nuclear power plant at the site of the very contaminated "Red Forest". The experimental location is equipped with modern automatic systems for monitoring of hydrological and meteorological processes that enables to study the migration behavior of radionuclides from the catastrophic outburst in the actual natural-technogenous system "nuclear fuel particles - aeration zone soils - ground waters - vegetation".