AASP Primary Records Program

PALYNOS 24(2): p. 16-17, 2001.

In Memoriam
Professor Valentina I. Khomutova

Professor Valentina Khomutova died unexpectedly on July 8, 2001. Prof. Khomutova was a well-known specialist in Quaternary palynology, palaeogeography and palaeolimnology of NorthWestern Russia. For many years Prof. Khomutova was a leading Scientist at the Limnology Institute, St.Petersburg, Russia. She is the author of more than 150 papers.

Valentina (Ivanovna) Khomutova was born on June 30, 1935 in Leningrad where, as a very small girl, she lived during the hard days of the military blockade. She entered the Geography faculty of the State University in 1953, and graduated from there in 1958. During the next 10 years (from 1958 to 1968) she worked in the Geography and Economics Institute of the State University, Leningrad. First as an assistant, and then as a scientific researcher. During the early years of her scientific activity Prof. Khomutova specialised in pollen and spore analysis of Quaternary deposits. From 1958 to 1959 she studied the pollen and spores of Quaternary deposits in the Bolshesemelskoi tundra. From 1960 she developed the palynological substantiation for Quaternary Stratigraphy of the Vologda region. Later, in the 1970s, these empirical data were used in her Master's dissertation, "Palaeobotanical substantiation of the stratigraphical sequences of the Middle and Upper Pleistocene deposits in the Vologda region (the Kubeno-Sukhonskya depression and the Vologodskaya Upland)."

After 1968, she worked at the Limnology Institute, in St. Petersburg, where she studied pollen and spores of many of the large lakes of the North Western part of European Russia, such as Ladoga, Onega Lacha, Vozhe, Il'men', Beloe, Kubenskoe, as well as many smaller lakes in Latvia, Karelia and South Ural.

These experimental data (pollen and spore diagrams) were used for the palaeogeographical and palaeoecological reconstructions of the evolution of these lakes during the Late Glacial to Holocene. Prof Khomutova carried out the first investigations of ten bottom cores from the deeper part of the Baltic Sea and the Finnish Gulf (near St. Petersburg). These data permitted specific analysis of the palaeohistory in a different part of the Baltic Sea during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Prof Khomutova also made the first investigation of the bottom deposits of Lake Taimyr. Using her accumulated collection of experimental data she was able to make a significant contribution to the development of limnopalynological methods in the reconstruction of the main stages in the evolution of Lake Taimyr. In 1959 Prof. Khomutova received a doctorate for her thesis " Palaeogeography and biostratigraphy of lake deposits of the forest (taiga) zone in the European part of the Former Soviet Union". This investigation was based on the vast amount of empirical pollen data collected from lake deposition in different parts of Russia.

From 1986 Prof Khomutova played an active role in the preparation of a monographic series, "History of Lakes", which comprises eight volumes. She made 15 contributions to the series, as well as being Editor of the eighth and last volume which was concerned with the evolution of the lakes of the Russian Plain during the Pleistocene. In 1994 the Russian Geographical Society bestowed on her, and the others authors of "History of Lakes", an Honorary Diploma for their significant contribution to geographical science. Prof Khomutova took part in a number of international, as well as many Russian conferences and symposia. She was as a leader and executive of many research projects. She took part in international projects such as, The Global Palaeo Vegetation Project - Biome 6000"; "Holocene, and Temporal Patterns of Environmental Change in the Arctic -CAPE"; as well as Russian-based projects including, "Lake Status Records from the Former Soviet Union and Mongolia: Data Base Documentation". She was a co-ordinator of joint investigations with the Institute of Geography (Moscow), the Pedagogical University (Chelyabinsk), and the Geological Institute (Minsk, White Russia).

Prof Khomutova was a member of the Palaeontological Society of Russia, The International Palynological Association (IFPS), The Russian Botanical Society, and the Russian Geographical Society. At the IX All-Russian Palynological Conference, in 1999, she was elected to be one of two Councillors representing the Russian Palynological Commission on the IFPS Council. Three candidature dissertations were carried out under her supervision. During her last year she completed the monograph "Lake bottom sedimentation of North Western Russia chronicles palaeogeographic events of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene". This book is the result of her long-standing scientific interest, and its publication is a fitting tribute to her memory.

Valentina Khomutova was a brilliant and complex person, there were many facets to her personality. Her inexhaustible vitality helped her overcome any difficulties that might prevent her achieving her objectives. Not only was she persuasive, she was alsao ready to lead the way in scientific projects. Within her family circle she was also natural leader, always ready to support elderly relatives, and those who were sick. She also took care of the education of her beloved granddaughter. Valentina (lvanovna) Khomutova was in the prime of life, when she died. She still had many projects to complete. Her premature death is a great loss. Her relations, friends and colleagues mourn her death, but her memory will live on.

Dr. Irma Ju. Neustrueva
Institute of Limnology, Russian Academy of Sciences
St.-Petersburg, Russia

Prof. Irena I. Borzenkova
State Hydrological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences
St.-Petersburg, Russia

Dr. Valentina A. Fedorova
VNIGRI St.-Petersburg, Russia