The paper presents a brief overview of the results of integrated geological, geophysical and oceanographic studies for the period 2017–2023, for which interregional generalizations were made on some promising areas of study of underwater mineral resources and the environment. The data on geological underwater objects, in particular, manganese ores of the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk and adjacent water areas; rare-earth ores of the Tomtor ore cluster, ancient and modern coastal-marine placers of the Laptev Sea coast are presented; barite ore occurrences “Barite Hills” (in the Sea of Okhotsk); ferromanganese formations of the Eastern Arctic shelf of Russia; coastal marine placers of the shelf and coast of the Far Eastern seas, including gold-bearing placers. including gold-bearing placers of the shelf zone of the south of Primorye and north of Sakhalin, titanomagnetite placers of the Kuril Islands, gold-bearing placers of the North Sakhalin Plain and others. Direct signs of hydrocarbons were obtained in areas previously considered unpromising (including the South China Sea), gas hydrate accumulations were mapped and studied in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan, prospecting for gas hydrates in the Bering Sea was prepared, and comparative studies of hydrate-bearing capacity of the marginal seas of the NW Pacific and the Indian Ocean were carried out. The main features of the distribution of lithologic and gas-geochemical indicators of hydrocarbon gases in bottom sediments of the southwestern sector of the East Siberian Sea, which is the least studied in terms of oil and gas content, were studied. Based on the data of gas-geochemical studies, the prospects of oil and gas content of the eastern shelf of the Arctic were assessed. The results of geomicrobiological studies in the seas of the Far East region are described. In some cases deepsea sediments themselves (peloid-like sediments, etc.) appear to be a separate huge mineral resource. At present, the “continent-ocean” transition zone and neutral waters can become the most important source of replenishing the mineral resource base of these mineral components. The presented research corresponds to the main objectives of the GEOMIR project of the national action plan within the UN Decade of Ocean Sciences for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) and was carried out mainly in accordance with the directions of the state assignment. Studies of gas hydrates were carried out within the framework of the WESTPAC working group “Gas hydrates and methane fluxes in the Indo-Pacific region” (CoSGas, 2021–2024), established on the initiative and under the leadership of Russia.

--We studied the distribution of gold, silver, and platinum group elements (Pd, Pt, Rh, Ir, and Ru) in two bottom sediment cores of the southern Chukchi Sea. It is shown that the Holocene pelite-silty sediments with an age of up to 4.0 ka BP are significantly enriched in these elements, except for Ru and Rh, relative to their clarkes. Native silver minerals were found in all samples by probe microanalysis, whereas gold minerals were revealed only in the surface layer of the sediment core closest to the Chukchi Sea coast. Multicomponent statistical analysis of the chemical composition and grain size of the sediments and the content of organic matter in them has led to the conclusion about the accumulation of clastogenic and chemogenic forms of precious metals. The abnormally high content of gold (0.3 ppm) in the recent sediments near the Chukchi Peninsula coast might be due to its additional removal from the continent as a result of the placer mining there.

The content and distribution of precious metals in fine-grained bottom sediments, accumulated in the technogenic period (last decades) in the southwestern part of the Chukchi Sea, have been studied. The ubiquitous or local enrichment of the sediments with silver, gold, platinum, and palladium according to the average for the Earth’s crust, as well as their enrichment with gold and palladium relative to pre-technogenic (Late Holocene) deposits, was shown. Differences in the conditions of the accumulation of precious metals in the Late Holocene and modern sediments were shown. Sources of input were determined, and the possibility of technogenic enrichment of the sources was proved by the methods of multicomponent statistical analysis of the total chemical composition of the sediments.

Изучено распределение золота, серебра и элементов платиновой группы (Pd, Pt, Rh, Ir, Ru) в двух колонках донных осадков южной части Чукотского моря. Установлено значительное обогащение этими элементами, за исключением Ru и Rh голоценовых пелит-алевритовых осадков с возрастом до 4 тыс. лет, относительно их кларка в земной коре. При электронно-микрозондовом анализе самородные минералы серебра встречены по всем пробам, минералы золота только в поверхностном слое осадков колонки, наиболее близкой к побережью Чукотки. При анализе данных по химическому составу, гранулометрии, содержания органического вещества с использованием методов многокомпонентной статистики обосновано накопление благородных металлов в кластогенной и хемогенной формах. Аномально высокое содержание золота 0.3 г/т в современных осадках вблизи побережья Чукотки, возможно, обусловлено дополнительным выносом его с материка из-за разработки россыпных месторождений на суше. We studied the distribution of gold, silver, and platinum group elements (Pd, Pt, Rh, Ir, and Ru) in two bottom sediment cores of the southern Chukchi Sea. It is shown that the Holocene pelite–silty sediments with an age of up to 4.0 ka BP are significantly enriched in these elements, except for Ru and Rh, relative to their clarkes. Native silver minerals were found in all samples by probe microanalysis, whereas gold minerals were revealed only in the surface layer of the sediment core closest to the Chukchi Sea coast. Multicomponent statistical analysis of the chemical composition and grain size of the sediments and the content of organic matter in them has led to the conclusion about the accumulation of clastogenic and chemogenic forms of precious metals. The abnormally high content of gold (0.3 ppm) in the recent sediments near the Chukchi Peninsula coast might be due to its additional removal from the continent as a result of the placer mining there.

The structure and chemical composition of ferromanganese crusts formed on the sedimentary cover of the underwater volcanoes of the Peter the Great Seamount and the Vasilkovsky Ridge, located near the continental slope of Primorye (Sea of Japan), are studied. The crusts were formed as a result of cementation and precipitation of manganese hydroxides on the sediment surface. The signs of the hydrothermal nature of these formations are very high titanium and low aluminum modules, low contents of nonferrous and rare-earth elements (REEs), and an excess of heavy REE contents over the light ones. An ore substance was probably deposited in the Pleistocene–Holocene from postvolcanic hydrothermal solutions. Unlike the crusts deposited on basalts in the central parts of the Sea of Japan, these crusts do not contain inclusions of fine grains of medium- and high-temperature mineral phases of nonferrous metals.

Изучено строение и химический состав железомарганцевых корок, сформированных на осадочном чехле подводных вулканов горы Петра Великого и хребта Васильковского, расположенных у материкового склона Приморья (Японское море). Корки образовались в результате цементации и осаждении на поверхности осадка гидроксидов марганца. Признаками гидротермальности этих образований являются очень высокое значение титанового и низкое алюминиевого модулей, низкие содержания цветных и редкоземельных элементов, превышение содержаний тяжелых РЗЭ над легкими. Отложение рудного вещества произошло, вероятно, в плейстоцен-голоценовое время из поствулканических гидротермальных растворов. В отличие от корок, отложившихся на базальтах в центральных частях Японского моря, эти корки не содержат включений мелких зерен средне- и высокотемпературных минеральных фаз цветных металлов.

—The Sea of Japan is a tectonically active region with rift-related destruction of the Earth’s crust and numerous volcanic edifices on the seafloor. Since the 1970s, numerous zones with ferromanganese crusts (FMCs) and phosphorite and barite ore occurrences have been discovered during the repeated expeditions of the Pacific Oceanological Institute, Vladivostok. Analysis of the distribution of these ore occurrences showed that all of them are confined to tectonically active zones of the seafloor: submarine volcanoes, tectonic scarps, or fault zones. In some zones, phosphorites occur together with FMCs, and in one zone, together with FMCs and barites. Ferromanganese hydroxides, phosphorites, or barites are found in the pores of basalts composing submarine volcanic edifices in the Sea of Japan. These data indicate that the ore matter in all zones is supplied with postvolcanic gas-hydrothermal fluids or hydrothermal solutions circulating along deep faults during the destruction of the continental crust in the southern and eastern parts of the sea. Thus, ferromanganese, phosphate, and barite ore occurrences in the Sea of Japan are related to low-temperature hydrothermal-sedimentary processes.

Chloroplast ultrastructural changes were investigated in chilling-sensitive (cucumber, Cucumis sativus L.) and cold-tolerant (winter rye, Secale cereale L.) plants during low-temperature hardening. Cold hardening was found to shorten the total length of thylakoid membranes in chloroplasts of both species by 20–30%. The reduction in total membrane length in cucumber was due to the decline in membrane length of both grana and stroma thylakoids, whereas the membrane length of grana thylakoids in winter rye was reduced without changes in length of stroma thylakoid membranes. In cucumber plants, the chloroplast section area decreased during hardening in parallel with more than threefold increase in starch grain area. In winter rye, the chloroplast area increased after hardening, while starch grains were completely absent. Both S. cereale and C. sativus retained photosynthetic activity at hardening temperatures, although photosynthetic rates decreased by 2–3 times compared to those in untreated plants. The content of soluble sugars in leaves increased by 20% in cucumber and increased more than threefold in winter rye. The accumulation of starch in cucumber chloroplasts provides evidence that a significant part of photosynthetic products was removed from the osmotic pool, which limited the efficiency of hardening in C. sativus plants. In winter rye plants, the thylakoid system rearrangement and the lack of starch synthesis in chloroplasts caused a severalfold increase in the content of intracellular soluble sugars, which ensured highly efficient low-temperature hardening of these plants.

Changes in invertase activities were studied upon hardening of chilling-sensitive (Nicotiana tabacum L.) and cold-resistant (Arabidopsis thaliana Heynh. (L.)) plants to hypothermia. In tobacco plants, the activity of cytoplasmic and vacuolar invertases was found to decrease by 20% during hardening, while the activity of cell wall invertase increased almost twofold. In arabidopsis, the activity of all three types of invertases increased more than twofold during hardening. The hardened tobacco plants showed a 20% increase in sugar content, while the relative content of sucrose and hexoses (fructose and glucose) in sugars did not change after hardening and equaled approximately 50% each. During hardening of arabidopsis plants, the sugar content increased 2.5 fold, whereas the proportion of sucrose in the total sugar content decreased (from 44 to 24%) and the proportion of hexoses increased (from 56 to 76%). It was proposed that the increase in activity of cell wall invertase in both plant species suppressed the outflow of assimilates and facilitated the accumulation of photosynthates in mesophyll cells of tobacco and arabidopsis leaves. The decrease in activity of cytoplasmic and vacuolar invertases in N. tabacum restricted the formation of hexoses in cells and reduced the efficiency of cold hardening in tobacco plants. More than a twofold increase in the content of soluble carbohydrates in arabidopsis was mainly caused by hexose accumulation, which was due to the increased activity of cytoplasmic and vacuolar invertases and ensured high efficiency of A. thaliana hardening to hypothermia.

Data on the structure and chemical and mineral composition of sericite–quartz schists of the southern slope of the Kashevarov Bank of the Sea of Okhotsk are presented. The studied schists have a banded texture, due to the alternation of fine, from 0.2 to 2 mm, layers of sericite, quartz, and less frequently biotite–quartz compositions, microscale chlorite, and iron hydroxides. Scattered fine “ore dust” gravitates to the boundaries of layers. Schists are broken by quartz veins. The walls of small cavities are lined with quartz brushes, less frequently pyrite crusts. In all the studied schistsamples, inclusions of Fe, Mn, Ti, Cr, Ni, Cu, Sn, Zn, Pb, W, Ba, and REE are present in some quantity in native form or as oxides, sulfides, sulfates, phosphates, or intermetallic compounds. The source of ore matter was probably postintrusive fluids, possibly with a water–silicate–carbon composition. Circulating in increased fracture and discontinuous faulting zones, they mobilize and transport ore elements, followed by their deposition in schists or as ferromanganese crusts.

Arabidopsis thaliana Heynh . (L.) plants of the Columbia ecotype (Col-0) and its ethylene-insensitive etr1-1 (ethylene resistant 1) and ein2-1 (ethylene insensitive 2) mutants were studied. The plants were compared in respect to their cold tolerance conferred by cold acclimation. The tolerance to negative temperature increased in all the three genotypes after 5-day cooling of the plants at 2°C. Meanwhile, a quantitative difference was observed between them: the Col-0 plants survived better than the mutants, and the electrolyte leakage from the tissues reached 50% at higher (by 1°C and more) temperature in the hardened mutants than in the Col-0. Only the mutants manifested the increased lipid peroxidation over the hardening period; this indicates ROS production and general oxidative stress. From this point, we speculated that the tested Arabidopsis genotypes are different in the efficiency of their antioxidant systems. For testing, the total activities of the chief antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase, including their isoenzymes, were monitored in the course of hardening. The total SOD activity was found to be lower in the mutants than in the Col-0 both at the normal growing temperature and over the whole time of the cold hardening. The isozyme analysis revealed the link of the reduced total SOD activity of the mutants with the reduced activity of their Cu/Zn-SOD isoforms at 22°C and at the beginning of the hardening. This relationship was supported by the lower relative content of the CSD1 and CSD2 gene transcripts of Cu/Zn-SOD in the mutants in comparison with the Col-0. The decrease in the total catalase activity was also observed and would be ascribed to the lowered activity of the CAT2 isoform. The reported results evidence to the principal feasibility of the ethylene signaling control of the Cu/Zn-SOD and catalase activities associated with the cold acclimation of Arabidopsis .

Arabidopsis thalianaHeynh.(L.) plants of the Columbia ecotype (Col-0) and its ethylene-insensitiveetr1-1(ethylene resistant 1) andein2-1(ethylene insensitive 2) mutants were studied. The plants were compared in respect to their cold tolerance conferred by cold acclimation. The tolerance to negative temperature increased in all the three genotypes after 5-day cooling of the plants at 2 degrees C. Meanwhile, a quantitative difference was observed between them: the Col-0 plants survived better than the mutants, and the electrolyte leakage from the tissues reached 50% at higher (by 1 degrees C and more) temperature in the hardened mutants than in the Col-0. Only the mutants manifested the increased lipid peroxidation over the hardening period; this indicates ROS production and general oxidative stress. From this point, we speculated that the testedArabidopsisgenotypes are different in the efficiency of their antioxidant systems. For testing, the total activities of the chief antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase, including their isoenzymes, were monitored in the course of hardening. The total SOD activity was found to be lower in the mutants than in the Col-0 both at the normal growing temperature and over the whole time of the cold hardening. The isozyme analysis revealed the link of the reduced total SOD activity of the mutants with the reduced activity of their Cu/Zn-SOD isoforms at 22 degrees C and at the beginning of the hardening. This relationship was supported by the lower relative content of theCSD1andCSD2gene transcripts of Cu/Zn-SOD in the mutants in comparison with the Col-0. The decrease in the total catalase activity was also observed and would be ascribed to the lowered activity of the CAT2 isoform. The reported results evidence to the principal feasibility of the ethylene signaling control of the Cu/Zn-SOD and catalase activities associated with the cold acclimation ofArabidopsis.

The freezing tolerance of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. was studied in relation to functioning of the ethylene signaling pathway. Constitutive freezing tolerance was compared in wild-type plants (ecotype Col-0) and ethylene-insensitive mutants etr1-1 and ein2-1. For the first time it was established that ethylene-insensitive mutants had by 25-30% lower net photosynthesis rate, the decreased content of soluble sugars and, as a result, lower freezing tolerance. Our work provides evidence that perception and transduction of ethylene signal are necessary for constitutive tolerance of Arabidopsis to low temperature.

The data are given on the structure, chemical composition, and content of microelements in the ferromanganese and siliceous crusts of Pervenets Rise (the Sea of Japan). The crusts resulted from the cementation of small fragments of green clays (celadonite) with hydroxides of manganese (todorokite and birnessite) or silica. Initial was the formation of celadonite deposited during the eruption of ore-bearing hydrothermal solutions in the volcano caldera or on its slopes.The features of the crust structure show that they were originated through the diffusive infiltration of gas-hydrothermal solutions along the fractures or weakened zones in volcanic rocks and subsequent cementation of the celadonite already formed occurrences with manganese or siliceous oxides. The manganese and siliceous mineralization is separated in time and often in space and demonstrate more local distribution.

This paper provides information on the structure, chemical composition, and concentrations of microelements in ferromanganese crusts and siliceous crusts sampled on the Pervenets Rise, Sea of Japan. The crusts were formed by cementation of small fragments of green clays (celadonite) by manganese hydroxides (todorokite and birnessite) or by silica. The primary process involved the generation of celadonite, which was deposited as ore-bearing hydrothermal brine that was discharged in the caldera of the volcano or on its slopes. The crusts have a structure that indicates their formation during diffuse percolation of gas-charged hydrothermal brine along fissures or weakened zones in volcanic rocks and subsequent cementation of the resulting celadonite deposits with manganese or siliceous oxides. The manganese and the siliceous mineralization are separated over time, as well as, frequently, in space, and are more local.