Obedientova, Glafira Vitalevna

She was born in the village of Sosnowiec (now Rodnikovsky district of the Ivanovo region ) in the family of a rural deacon , was the sixth child in the family. She studied at the school in the city of Plyos 18 km from her home, she studied well, but because of her descent from the family of a clergyman, she could not immediately continue her education.

She worked as a teacher, at a spinning mill, at MTS , at the Research Institute of Agriculture, she was fired from her next job when she learned that she entered the correspondence department of the Geological Faculty of Leningrad University . The university teachers, having learned that their first-year student, who had passed the first session perfectly, was left without work and without a livelihood, contributed to its transfer to full-time study to provide a place in a student dormitory and a scholarship.

During her studies, Glafira Vitalievna became interested in a new science - geomorphology. Later, she herself in one of the articles gave her the definition: " Geomorphology is a relief science that studies the morphology of the earth's surface, the formation of a relief in the interaction of oppositely directed internal and external forces ." She took part in a number of expeditions to the Far East , and was planning to leave there after graduating from the university, however, doctors forbade her to live in such a climate. Was on an expedition on the Volga .

She got a job as a researcher at the Moscow Institute of Geography of the USSR Academy of Sciences , where she worked for 33 years. Since 1940, she has been developing the theme “Valleys of Ancient Rivers of the Volga Basin”.

After the start of World War II, the institute was evacuated, but Glafira Vitalievna and several other employees remained in Moscow, compiling topographic maps for the front. She worked almost around the clock, and after the house where she lived was bombed and lived at the institute. She was awarded with medals.

Toward the end of the war, Obedientova again took up work in her specialty. She was sent to the Oksky Reserve , where previously no geomorphological studies were carried out, and where she made a description of fifteen sections of the Quaternary sediments.

Immediately after the surrender of Germany, Glafira Vitalievna was appointed head of the geomorphological detachment, which was to make a detailed description of the Kuybyshevsky reserve . However, she insisted that research was needed on Samara Luke as a whole. At the same time, a geological party from the Kuybyshevnefterazvedka trust worked on Samarskaya Luka, she managed to establish close contact and exchange of collected materials between the detachments, which benefited both expeditions.

There were six people in Glafira Vitalievna’s detachment: a nerd, four students, and she, as a geomorphologist. She even had to mow the hay for the horse herself, since no one else knew how. Her report on the results of the first season was highly appreciated, and the detachment was provided with an old truck, which greatly accelerated the research.

In total, the expedition lasted three years, during which geomorphological maps of Samara Luka were created, levels were leveled on several profiles, including complex mountains, coastal sands were discovered at a height of a hundred meters at sea level, which told about the history of the formation of the Zhiguli relief. Her geomorphological surveys became one of the grounds for transferring the construction of the Kuybyshev hydroelectric station from the originally chosen location near the village of Krasnaya Glinka to a new one, in the vicinity of the village of Otvazhnoe . She introduced the terms to designate the first discovered layers of sedimentary rocks: Perevolokskaya Formation, Zhiguli Horizon, Batratsky Horizon.

During the study of the pit under the building of the Kuibyshev hydroelectric power station, G.V. Obedientova managed to detect deposits of the Khvalynsk Sea - the last in the geological history of the Middle Volga. Previously, it was believed that its northern border was in the area of ​​the modern city of Khvalynsk , by which they gave the name. However, Obedientova managed to prove that it extended to Kazan .

In 1950, Obedientova completed her monograph, “The Origin of the Zhiguli Upland and the Development of Its Terrain,” published in 1953. This is still the main book, which substantiates the natural boundaries of the natural territorial complex of Samarskaya Luka .

In subsequent years, she also does not leave the Volga theme. She studied the development of the valleys of the Volga and its tributaries. In work, her daughter Tatyana Leonidovna Smoktunovich helps her. It was established that the pra-Volga is a river of the Cenozoic period, but even in the Paleozoic ( carbon ), the place of the main watershed of the Russian Plain in the Valday Upland area was determined. Since then, rivers have always flowed south. Modern rivers have largely inherited the paths of ancient rivers. She assumed that in the Cenozoic period the great Volga flowed in a southeastern direction, and only later did the sections of the modern Oka and Kama enter its basin. Today, these provisions are disputed by some scholars who believe that the Valdai source of the Volga appeared later than the source of the Kama, and the Kama, respectively, is the beginning of the Volga .

She passionately fell in love with the Volga and Samara Luke, which she wrote about: “ The whole territory of Samara Luke is an amazing natural monument, which is often called the pearl of the Russian Plain. Its wealth is mountainous terrain, the presence of a water frame, the diversity and antiquity of the animal and plant world. All this is due to the peculiarities of the geomorphological structure and the structure of Samara Luke ... "

She developed the project of creating a geological and geographical museum on Samarskaya Luka with a detailed program and a detailed description of individual areas that should be used in the museum complex, especially the Perevoloksky area with its Pre-Zozoic territory, Pliocene sediments, forest Quaternary sediments, which allow you to trace the geological history from Upper Paleozoic to the present.

She died in Moscow after a long illness. Until the last days, the researcher worked on the book “Neotectonics of the Volga Region” and corresponded with colleagues in Samarskaya Luka. In her last letter to Yu. K. Roshchevsky, she wrote: “ I love Zhiguli, every blade of grass, stone, hill and valley ... ”.

The appearance of the cascade of reservoirs on the Volga, so beloved by Glafira Vitalievna, changed the life of Obedientova. From now on, she is actively involved in environmental work. She was one of the first to openly declare that the creation of artificial reservoirs on the Volga does much more harm to the national economy than good. She writes articles on the shortcomings of reservoirs, in which she concludes that the only benefit from them is electricity. She gives recommendations to reduce the negative impact.

Partly listened to the recommendations of Glafira Vitalievna and other environmentalists: the Saratov reservoir regulates only daily and weekly runoff, not accumulating huge reserves of water, it reduces electricity generation, but increases river flow, reduces erosion of the banks and accumulation of bottom sediments .

In 1983, the popular science book Obedientova “Centuries and Rivers” was published, in which the masses of readers were informed about the enormous significance of the Volga and other rivers for Russia.

In 1988, her book about Samarskaya Luka “From the Depth of Centuries” was published, which talked about the Volga, the Zhiguli , highlighted and scientifically substantiated issues of nature conservation. For example, it was proposed to ban the use of mineral fertilizers on the territory of Samara Luka, the construction of poultry farms and pig farms. This is due to the special structure of the rocks on Luka, penetrated by tectonic cracks, and the absence of water-resistant rocks, which is why the effluents from such industries freely reached the level of the reservoir.

In her work “Moral and Aesthetic Principles of Nature Conservation of Samara Luke” Obedientova stated: “ Until the 40s of the XX century, Samara Luke preserved the appearance and way of life of the 18th century. Over the past 40 years, Luke has suffered more than in previous centuries. The man did not fit into the landscape of Luke: they built dams, laid quarries, erected a cement plant in the Yablonev ravine, knowing that it would harm the inhabitants of the working village and the whole environment . ”

An important part of Glafira Vitalevna’s biography is the creation of the Samarskaya Luka National Park . In the 1970s, a movement of scientists began in the Kuibyshev region to create a national park on the territory of Samara Luke. The Samara scientists led the supporters of the idea: T.V. Tezikova, V.E. Timofeev, Yu.K. Roshchevsky, T.I. Plaksina. Glafira Obedientova actively helped them from Moscow. In 1984, the park was legally registered. However, for more than four years, its design took place. Obedientova traveled around the territory of the national park in 1984 and in 1986, after which she turned to the regional council with comments that the land plots obtained on the territory of the park in 1984 and subsequent years should be declared illegal, that it was necessary to stop the summer house construction in the protected area, which unacceptable tree felling, construction of a pig complex and quarrying are still underway.

In 1990, Glafira Obedientova turned 79 years old. However, as a member of the scientific and technical council and a member of the central council of the All-Union Society for the Conservation of Nature, she was sent to her beloved Samara Luka with an inspection.

The report to the CC of VOOP was not particularly comforting:

“... Felling has been reduced by five and a half times compared with 1985, but a tractor is used, which violates the soil and vegetation of the forest. Horse traction should be used for the park. Beautification work in its infancy, there are no full houses, there is no excursion work. The staff includes former employees of the timber industry enterprise, which did not accept park status. Careers continue to work. The pig farm is expanding its activities. ”

On the centenary of the birth of Glafira Vitalievna, the Institute of Ecology of the Volga Basin of the Russian Academy of Sciences, together with the Zhigulevsky Reserve, conducted readings in their ecological museum. An exhibition dedicated to her “Zhiguli around the world in seven million years” was opened there.

• Obedientova G.V. Century and river. - M .: Nedra , 1983 .-- 120 s.
• Obedientova G.V. From the depths of centuries: the geological history and nature of the Lada. - Kuibyshev: Kuibyshev Book Publishing House, 1988. - 210 p.

• Ekaterina Babenkova. I also want to love Zhiguli (about the researcher of Samara Luke Glafira Vitalievna Obedientova) // Togliatti branch of the Russian Botanical Society FLORA FOLIUMII: journal. - Tolyatti, 2011. - No. 5 (41) . - S. 7-13 . Archived March 25, 2016.
• Lydia Lyuboslavova. Glafira Obedientova - a fighter with reservoirs // Volzhskaya Commune .. - 2013-02-15.