Nickel weathering ores are used to produce metallic nickel, stainless steels, and nickel sulfate, the main component of batteries. The global production of nickel from weathering ores is increasing and has surpassed production from sulfide magmatic deposits. The efficiency of the mining and processing of nickel ores from weathering rocks is determined by their mineralogical composition. The weathering crust profile of the Kempirsay ultramafite massif is divided into three zones—leached (kerolitized) serpentinites, nontronites, and final hydrolysis minerals (later referred to as “ochers”). The kerolitized zone consists of a mixture of Ni-bearing talc and saponites (later referred to as “kerolite”). During the geological mapping of the Donskoye, Buranovskoye, and Shelektinskoye deposits, the products of ultramafite hypergenic transformation into disintegrated and leached serpentinites, kerolites, nontronites, and ochers were selected and studied. For this purpose, 44 rock samples were studied via X-ray diffractometric and thermal analyses, supplemented with data from chemical, microscopic, and granulometric determinations. Based on the obtained numerical parameters of the crystalline structure of the weathering products, the thermochemical values were obtained. The hypergenic transformation of the initial minerals and their subsequent transformation were traced. The trace element distribution along the profile of the serpentinite weathering ores is related to the initial material composition of the ultramafites. The accumulation of nickel in industrial concentrations is associated with the nontronite–kerolite zone. X-ray diffractometric analysis can be used as a fast and reliable method for controlling the nickel content of ores and monitoring their mineralogical composition.

The features of geological and geodynamic formation of promising oil and gas basins of Southern Kazakhstan (Shu-Sarysu, Pre-Balkhash-Ili) are considered and the geological evolution of these basins is described, which is associated with the conditions of stable subsidence throughout the late Paleozoic-Mesozoic-Cainazoic. A model of the deep structure of the main structural units of Southern Kazakhstan (folded paleozoid base) and a cover of sedimentary basins along the profile of “Turkestan“are offered. As a result of interpreting geophysical data in the crustal section along the traverse of the profile, numerous gently sloping reflectors are described at depths from several kilometers to the Mohorovicic boundary. These reflecting planes in the regional section form a system of detachments that are associated with a system of gentle over thrusts and interformational disruptions, forming a system of intermittent packets of tectonic lenses folded by dynamometamorphic and metamorphic rocks. The position in the section of these tectonic lenses is an expression of the tectonic stratification of the earth’s crust. The characteristic of the main tectonic elements of this region (suture, accretion prisms, intraplate complexes, collision thrusts and shifts, etc.) is given. As initial reconstructions, various paleogeographic, paleotectonic and geodynamic constructions were used.

Various genetic and morphological types of voids in carbonate reservoirs make it difficult to diagnose them, which can be seen in the determination of reservoir properties in the northern marginal shear zone of the Caspian Syneclise. A macro- and microscopic study of rocks was carried out by staining carbonates in thin sections with alizarin (determination of the mineral composition, structure, texture, void and fracture spaces, rock genesis). Instrumental methods (X-ray, DTA—differential thermal analysis, TGA—thermo-gravimetric analysis, and probe microanalysis) established the composition of rocks, the nature of their diagenetic transformations, and the formation of void space. The elemental and oxide composition of a number of samples was carried out using the X-ray probe microanalysis method, and mineral formations with intermediate thermochemical properties were found. The results of X-ray, DTA, and TGA measurements and the data of probe microanalysis made it possible to reveal thermally inert formations of oxides of calcium, magnesium, silicon, iron, and other compounds in the composition of carbonates. A relatively low-cost express method was used to determine the material composition and the nature of epigenetic changes and to obtain data on the void space as a result of the development of tectonic fracturing and diagenetic processes of leaching and secondary mineral formation in bedded carbonate reservoirs.

The article deals with the issues of tectonic zoning of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic-Cenozoic structures of Kazakhstan. The principles of tectonic zoning are outlined, on the basis of which the zoning and indexation of tectonic units of the territory of Kazakhstan was carried out. For this, various data of complex geological and geophysical analysis of Paleozoids were used, including tectonic, structural, stratigraphic, lithological-paleogeographic, petrographic, geodynamic and other studies. A geological and tectonic scheme (model) is proposed that reflects the main tectonic units that make up the structural framework of the Paleozoids of Kazakhstan, consisting of a crystalline basement on which the formation of sedimentary oil and gas basins took place. The main tectonic units of the earth's crust of the territory under consideration are identified and characterized, and the mosaic-block structure of the complexes is shown. The characteristic of the complex multi-stage evolution of the paleozoids of Kazakhstan and its oil and gas regions is given.

In the process of studying the Carboniferous-Permian section, rock samples were taken from two lithologic-stratigraphic sections of the Lower Carboniferous and Permian systems, from which the most representative rocks were selected, giving an idea of the material composition of the rocks of this stratigraphic section of the Shu-Sarysu depression. Further thermal and X-ray diffraction analyzes of these samples were carried out. Mineralogical interpretation of the analysis results showed the presence in the samples a number of formations, among which there are silicon oxides, feldspars, minerals of layered silicates, carbonates, etc. The method of localization of concentrated and dispersed forms of OM in the compositions of quartz formations is based on the laws of physical and ion sorption. Therefore, connection with the surface of crystals of other minerals is carried out mainly by means of underlying films made of secondary minerals of the group of phyllosilicates. In article shown that: 1) the packaging of OM in clay minerals takes place in the intergrid spaces of their layered structures or over the broken connections of the planes of the silicon-oxygen frame of montmorillonites and members of this series of minerals; 2) in limestones concentration of C_org takes place in micro pores, as well as in cracks and chips of monomineral forms of CaCO₃; 3) the background content of the dispersed organic matter (DOM) in the Carboniferous-Permian section is uniformly distributed in the range 0.1-0.5%; 4) in terrigenous rocks, in which feldspars and clay minerals predominate, the DOM content reaches 2%; 5) the obtained data will be used to correct the forecast resources of the southwestern part of the Shu-Sarysu basin.

The study of the material composition, textural, and structural features of skarns and magnetite ores is of great importance for increasing the efficiency of iron ore mining and its subsequent processing and enrichment. In the northwestern Balkhash region of Central Kazakhstan, there is a reserve iron ore region represented by a series of skarn contact-metasomatic deposits: Bapy, Zhuantobe, Karaulken, Akchagyl, Ushtobe, Kiyik, Taitobe, Tomashev, Kyzyl-Sayak, and others. The results of field investigations and laboratory analyses have enabled the characterization of the mineralogical and petrographic composition of the skarns, as well as their material composition and textural–structural features. All these specified characteristics of skarns reflect the stage-by-stage nature of the contact-metasomatic processes of iron ore formation. The skarn formation model at the Zhuantobe deposit developed over several stages: (1) the formation of skarns during granitoid intrusion and the establishment of conditions for contact metamorphism (resulting in iron-poor, barren diopside hornfels and marbles); (2) early skarn stage, during which anhydrous, dark-colored endo- and exoskarns composed of pyroxenes, magnetite, and hematite develop; (3) late fluid–hydrothermal stage, during which hornblende, epidote, calcite, and sulfides (pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and galena) form; (4) oxidative supergene stage under near-surface conditions, during which limonite and iron hydroxides form. The conducted comprehensive analysis of the material composition and textural–structural features of iron ores of the Zhuantobe deposit made it possible to establish the influence of these parameters on the technological properties of ores. The performed studies make it possible to more accurately identify promising iron ore zones in skarns and predict the technological behavior of ore during processing.