INRTU Scientist Ekaterina Kaneva Participated at Mineralogy Seminar in Kamchatka
INRTU researcher Ekaterina Kaneva participated in a scientific seminar organized by the Kamchatka branch of the Russian Mineralogical Society. She presented her report "Crystal Chemistry of Rare and Complex Silicates in Alkaline Rocks" at the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences) in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
Kaneva heads the Mineralogical-Geochemical Research Laboratory at INRTU's A.V. Sidorov Mineralogical Museum, chairs the East Siberian branch of the Russian Mineralogical Society, and serves as a senior researcher at the Vinogradov Institute of Geochemistry (Siberian Branch of RAS).
The INRTU scientist addressed her presentation to Kamchatka specialists in volcanology and mineralogy, sharing years of research on rare and complex silicates in alkaline rocks. This work was conducted at the Vinogradov Institute of Geochemistry in collaboration with colleagues from INRTU's Mineralogical Museum. The research directly relates to Kaneva's doctoral dissertation, which she successfully defended in April 2025 (currently awaiting approval by the Higher Attestation Commission).
"I focused on the most interesting minerals from our region to introduce the audience to Siberia's unique and complex mineral species," Kaneva explained. "Many of these, including those we've studied, can be seen in our university museum: charoite and associated minerals like tinaksite, tokoite, fedorite, fluorcarletonite, miserite, and others. Some are so rare they're found only in a single deposit - the Murun Massif on the border between Irkutsk Region and Yakutia."
She noted that Kamchatka and Irkutsk researchers already have established scientific connections. In 2022, during an expedition to Tolbachik Volcano, INRTU scientists collected about 20 kg of lava samples, volcanic ash, and minerals, with the most valuable specimens added to the university museum's collection. In 2023, Far Eastern colleagues participated in a seminar of the East Siberian branch of the Russian Mineralogical Society held at INRTU.
