One of the rel­a­tive­ly new direc­tions in geo­log­i­cal research is the iden­ti­fi­ca­tion, study, and con­ser­va­tion of geo­log­i­cal her­itage sites. Accord­ing to the Law of Ukraine “On the Nature Reserve Fund of Ukraine”, nat­ur­al mon­u­ments are defined as indi­vid­ual unique nat­ur­al for­ma­tions that have spe­cial envi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion, sci­en­tif­ic, aes­thet­ic, edu­ca­tion­al, and cul­tur­al sig­nif­i­cance.

Geo­log­i­cal mon­u­ments are unique nat­ur­al objects that most ful­ly and clear­ly rep­re­sent, for a giv­en area, the course of geo­log­i­cal process­es and their results. They pos­sess sci­en­tif­ic val­ue and are acces­si­ble for direct obser­va­tion and study. The ter­ri­to­ry of the Kyiv region is not par­tic­u­lar­ly rich in geo­log­i­cal mon­u­ments, but it still has its own geo­log­i­cal attrac­tions.

In Kyiv region there are 8 geo­log­i­cal mon­u­ments, all of local sig­nif­i­cance. They belong to strati­graph­ic and pet­ro­graph­ic types.

Strati­graph­ic mon­u­ments are sites char­ac­ter­ized by com­plete and typ­i­cal geo­log­i­cal sec­tions that rep­re­sent sed­i­men­ta­ry deposits of a par­tic­u­lar geo­log­i­cal age. Such sites are locat­ed in the north­ern and cen­tral parts of the region. These include:

• Bilo­horod­skyi hill — locat­ed near the vil­lage of Bilo­horod­ka in the Kyiv-Svi­atoshyn dis­trict;
• Novo-Petrivskyi geo­log­i­cal sec­tion — locat­ed on the right steep bank of the Kyiv reser­voir in the Vysh­horod dis­trict;
• Out­crops in the vil­lage of Stari Petrivt­si in the Vysh­horod dis­trict;
• Out­crops in the vil­lage of Pyro­hiv;
• Ref­er­ence sec­tion of deposits in the vil­lage of Kreny­chi in the Obukhiv dis­trict.

These sites have sig­nif­i­cant sci­en­tif­ic val­ue, as they clear­ly and com­pre­hen­sive­ly illus­trate the geo­log­i­cal his­to­ry of the Ceno­zoic era (from the Pale­o­gene to the Qua­ter­nary peri­ods).

Some of them, par­tic­u­lar­ly those locat­ed in the vil­lages of Novo Petrivt­si and Stari Petrivt­si in the Vysh­horod dis­trict, are also high­ly pic­turesque. In the south­ern part of the region, which lies with­in the Ukrain­ian Shield, geo­log­i­cal mon­u­ments of the pet­ro­graph­ic type are locat­ed. Here, it is pos­si­ble to observe some of the old­est crys­talline rocks:

• Expo­sures of gran­ites of the Uman com­plex near the vil­lage of Chmyriv­ka in the Bila Tserk­va dis­trict;
• Expo­sures of Bohuslav gran­ites in the city of Bohuslav;
• Quar­ry in the vil­lage of Shcherbaky (Bila Tserk­va dis­trict), where pla­giogran­ites and migmatites of the Zveny­horod­ka com­plex are exposed.

These sites also have, in addi­tion to their sci­en­tif­ic impor­tance, high aes­thet­ic val­ue. In addi­tion, with­in the ter­ri­to­ry of Kyiv region there are also three hydro­log­i­cal nat­ur­al mon­u­ments, where ground­wa­ter out­lets can be observed. These include:

• the ancient springs “Dzvinko­va Krynyt­sia” (vil­lage of Stari Petrivt­si, Vysh­horod dis­trict);
• Koshiv springs (Teti­iv dis­trict);
• St. George’s Well (Pereyaslav-Khmel­nyt­skyi dis­trict).

Thus, the Kyiv region con­tains a num­ber of inter­est­ing geo­log­i­cal sites. These objects should be includ­ed in excur­sion pro­grams and week­end trav­el routes, wide­ly pro­mot­ed, and active­ly pro­tect­ed. This is espe­cial­ly rel­e­vant today, when domes­tic tourism is rapid­ly devel­op­ing.

The Insti­tute of Geol­o­gy is char­ac­ter­ized by a high lev­el of exper­tise in geol­o­gy, hydro­ge­ol­o­gy, geo­chem­istry, geo­physics, as well as oth­er nat­ur­al sci­ences. We also pro­vide com­pre­hen­sive solu­tions for sub­soil users. If you are inter­est­ed in the list of ser­vices, please click here.