Gamkrelidze Erekle

Erekle Gamkrelidze (b. May 8, 1933, Tbilisi) is a geologist, full member of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (1988; corresponding member from 1983), Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences (1974), professor (1984). In 1956 he graduated from the Faculty of Mining and Geology of the Georgian Polytechnic Institute (present-day Georgian Technical University). In 1956–1957, he worked at the Georgian Non-Ferrous Metals Exploration Group, in 1957–1958 – at the Tbilisi State University (TSU), from 1958 – at the A. Janelidze Institute of Geology of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (in 1975, he became the head of the Tectonics Department and in 1986 – the head of the Regional Geological, Tectonic and Seismotectonic Department). In 1988, he became the Academician-Secretary of the Department of Earth Sciences of the Georgian Academy of Sciences. From 1970, he was engaged in pedagogical work at the Georgian Technical University. Gamkrelidze's works concern regional geology (covering Georgia and the entire Caucasus, as well as adjacent territories), methods of detailed structural analysis, research of planetary fractures, issues of the origin of tectonic structures, problems of geodynamics and general tectogenesis. He co-authored several tectonic maps. His research in fracture tectonics, along with detailed geological planning, significantly clarified the issues of the geological structure of mineral water and oil and gas regions of Georgia. In 1976–1979, he was Vice-President of the International Planetary Association, in 1976–1989 – Head of the Working Group on Multilateral Cooperation of the Academies of Sciences of the Socialist Countries; In 1976, he became a member of the Bureau of the International Tectonic Committee of the USSR. He received A. Janelidze Prize of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (1986). In 1984, he became the member of the Main Scientific Board of the Georgian Encyclopedia.

Literary works: რაჭა-ლეჩხუმის სინკლინის ჩრდილო ფრთის აგებულება, თბ., 1966; Планетарная трещиноватость дислоцированных толщ и связанные с нею явления, «Геотектоника», 1972, № 6; Механизм Формирования тектонических структур (на примере Аджаро-Триалетской зоны) и некоторые общие проблемы тектогенеза, Тб., 1976; Тектонические покровы Южного склона Большого Кавказа (в пределах Грузии), Тб., 1977 (თანაავტ. П. Гамкрелидзе); Геология центральной Аджаро-Триалети и проблема Боржомской минеральной воды; Тб., 1984 (თანაავტ. Г. Лобжанидзе); Тектоническое строение и альпийская геодинамика Кавказа, წგ., Тектоника и металлогения Кавказа, Тб., 1984; Geodynamic evolution of the Caucasus and adjacent areas in Alpine time, «Tectonophysics», Amsterdam, 1986, v. 127; Tectonic nappes and horizontal layering of the Earth’s crust in the Mediterrnean belt (Carpathians, Balkanides and Caucasus), იქვე, 1991. V. 196.

V. Javrishvili