AASP Primary Records Program

PALYNOS 21(1): p. 5, 1998.

Anna Fedorovna Dibner

Anna Fedorovna Dibner, a noted palynologist of the USSR and Russia, passed away on February 22, 1998. Her scientific career, which lasted over a 40 year period, was mainly bound up with the Research Institute of Geology of the Arctic (NIIGA), now known as the Russian Research Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources of the World Ocean (VNII Okeangeologiva) in St. Petersburg. Anna Dibner studied the palynology ol the Middle and Late Paleozoic of Siberia, and published about 100 research papers.

A.F. Dibner was born on December 21, 1920 at Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) in a family of teachers. In 1938 she entered Leningrad State University, but in the years of World War 11 she had to interrupt her studies and work at a military plant. By 1945 she had graduated from the geography department of Leningrad State University as a geomorphologist. Having worked for three years at the All-Union Research Geological Institute (VSEGEI) as a geologist at the Department of Quaternary Geology, in 1947 she passed on to the Third Geological Department. In 1948 she became affiliated with the Research Institute of Geology of the Arctic, where she started her palynological research at the laboratory headed by E.N. Kara-Murza. This laboratory was one of the three most important palynology laboratories of the Leningrad school; others included the laboratory at VSEGEI headed by 1. M. Pokrovskaya, and the laboratory of the All-Union Petroleum Research Geological Prospecting Institute (VNIGRI) headed by S.R Samoilovich.

In 1959 Prof. Dibner received the Degree of Candidate of geologo-mineralogical sciences for palynological studies of the Nordvik area and the northwest Siberian Platform. Beginning in 1965, A. F. Dibner managed the Palynological Laboratory of NTJGA, where she worked with 12 scientific collaborators and two laborator assistants. Anna Dibner was an efficient and tactful organizer who shared the scientific interests of the workers in the laboratory and who contributed to the successful pursuit of research. She worked in both the fields of biostratigraphy and morphology and systematics oF spores and pollen. She also had an interest in the development of new methods of extraction of microfossils from metamorphosed rock. The scientific staff' in the laboratory headed by Anna Dibner carned out the systematic study of spores and pollen from Middle and Upper Paieoioic. Mesozoic, and Cenozoic sedimentary deposits in Arctic areas of the Asiatic portion of the USSR, and in Antarctica. They performed spore and pollen analyses of Quaternary deposits and preQuaternary rock from the floor of shelf seas, and studied microfossils from Upper Proterozoic deposits of Antarctica.

Palynological research performed by Prof. Dibner dealt with the study of miospore assemblages from Carboniferous, Permian, and late Devonian deposits of many areas of' Siberia, the Arctic Islands of Russia, Spitzbergen, and Antarctica A. F. Dibner distinguished and described miospore assemblages which enabled the validation of the subdivision, correlation, and dating of Upper Paleozoic deposits over the vast Angandaland area. Later, these materials formed the basis for distinguishing the Carboniferous and Permian palynozones of Angaridaland. The zonal miospore scheme proposed by Anna Dibner for the Upper Paleozoic of Angaridaland was the most prominent contribution to the biostratigraphy of those continental deposits, and it was widely adopted by patynologists of the USSR. A. F. Dibner was one of the authors of the volume "The Permian System" of the series "Stratigraphy of the USSR', published in 1966. While solving problems of Upper Palcozoic biostratigraphy of Siberia, Anna Dibner analyzed vast amounts of palynologieal material, which enabled her to carefully study the morphology of the frequent and diverse monosaccate poUen. This lead to a revision of the known genera of those pollen and to a suggested classification of the cordaite pollen of Angandaland. The resulting monograph appeared in 1971 and is still of great theoretcial and practical importance. A. F. Dibner was a member of the Interdepartmental Stratigraphic Committee (1SC) on the Penman System and was a member of the Siberian Regional Commission of the ISC (SibRISC). She always took an active part in All-Union Paleontological and Stratigraphic meetings, as well as international conferences.

Anna Dibner was a loving wife and mother, and her mild and feminine character attracted people. She was hardworking and responsible, and was \cry exacting of herself and of her associates. Everyone who knew A. F. Dibner loved and respected her, and her friends and colleagues will hold her in remembrance for ever.

written by:
Maya Oshkurkova
Natal va Pashkevich
All Russian Geological Research Institute
Sredniya Prospekt 74
St. Petersburg 199106, Russia