Kola Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR

(full name, S. M. Kirov Kola Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR), the union of scholarly and scientific institutions of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR on the Kola Peninsula. It was founded in 1930 as the Khibiny Mining Station of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR; from 1934 to 1949 it was the S. M. Kirov Kola Scientific Research Base of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

The branch comprises the institutes of geology, mining and metallurgy, polar geophysics, and the chemistry and technology of rare elements and minerals; the Murmansk Marine Biology Institute; and the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden and Institute. It also has the divisions of economic research and energetics. The branch’s institutions are located in the city of Apatity and in various settlements of Murmansk Oblast.

The principal areas of research are (1) the study of the geological structure of the Kola Peninsula and of the natural geochemical processes and patterns of mineral distribution; (2) the development of an efficient technology for extracting and dressing minerals and the scientific principles and methods of their integrated processing; (3) the study of the biological productivity of the Barents Sea and ways of increasing it; (4) investigation of the soil, plant, and water resources of Murmansk Oblast; (5) problems of the introduction and acclimatization of plants and environmental control; (6) the study of problems of the physics of the upper strata of the atmosphere and near space; (7) the economic evaluation of natural resources; and (8) the working out of problems of increasing the efficiency of production and the prospects for the development of productive forces in Murmansk Oblast and adjoining regions. The Kola Branch has been awarded the Order of Lenin (1967).