The modern geodynamic transformations of the Amur geoblock are related to the activation of pull-apart–strike-slip and simple strike-slip movements. These movements resulted in the formation of destruction zones along ancient transregional fault systems (Nenjiang–Selemdzha, Lermontovka–Belogorsk, West Turan, Khingan, Tan Lu, and others) and young NW- and WE-trending fractures with distinctly expressed shearing displacements. These processes are fixed by earthquakes, focal magmatism, pulsed degassing of the Earth’s interior, and fluid discharge. High-permeability structures confined to the juncture of the destruction zones and young fractures served as the deep degassing drainage systems. These structures are traced by decompaction fields and anomalies of He and other gases. The most contrasting Varvarovka anomaly is located in the northeastern flank of the Yerkovtsy brown coal deposit. The paleogene coal-bearing rocks studied in the Yuzhny quarry within this deposit are characterized by high contents of noble, rare metals, and rare-earth elements, which frequently exceed their average abundances by ten orders of magnitude. Based on assay analysis, the Au content in the coals varies from trace amounts to 4.6 ppm.

In 2010–2012, the Lower Zeya basin was studied by magnetotelluric sounding accompanied by gas-geochemical sampling. The results of the geophysical studies provide sufficient insight into the large geological structures with a measurement step of 5 km and detail of individual elements (boundaries of troughs and rises and the cover thickness) with a step of 1 km. It was established that the MTS method highlights the block structure of the Lower Zeya basin, the inner structure of troughs, the style of the uplift-depression junction, and the regmatic framework of the region. Gas-geochemical studies were used to decipher faults established from geophysical methods and to identify high-permeability zones. The helium and hydrogen anomalies found in the soils suggest that these zones served as the fluid pathways. In some cases, our studies made it possible to outline the localization of many mineral resources.

The evolution and deep structure of the Songliao and Zeya-Bureya basins can be divided into the rift, platform (subsidence), and neotectonic phases. The rift phase (Middle Jurassic-Early Cretaceous) climaxed at the formation of a basin-wide near N-S-oriented rift system, which was followed (Late Cretaceous) by the deposition of the deep-water organic-rich lacustrine source facies with the maximum thickness identified in the Songliao basin (up to 1100 m). The neotectonic phase was marked by the pronounced differences in the basin’s development caused by the formation of a series of E-W-trending transverse structures, which eventually separated the basins, changed the drainage pattern, and blocked the rivers draining southwards from the Zeya-Bureya to the Songliao basin.

The Zeya-Bureya Basin is a part of the East Asian intracontinental riftogenic belt, which includes oil-and-gas bearing and Mesozoic-Cenozoic sedimentary basins perspective for oil and gas (Upper Zeya, Songliao, Liaohe, North Chinese). The basins are characterized by certain geophysical features: reduced thickness of the Earth’s crust and lithosphere, a higher thermal flow and a raised roof of the asthenosphere. The Zeya-Bureya Basin is composed of Mesozoic-Cenozoic sedimentary-volcanic units, with respect to which the deep structure data are absent. In 2010, geoelectric studies were carried out in this territory using the method of magnetotelluric sounding along the profile Blagoveshchensk-Birokan. These works yielded geoelectric sections down to 2 and 200 km depth. The sedimentary cover is characterized by electric resistivity of 20–50 Ohm m and by thickness of 1700 m. In the section, the Khingan-Olonoi volcanogenic trough is distinct for resistivity of 200–300 Ohm m at a background of 500–1000 Ohm m of the basement rocks. The Zeya-Bureya Basin, in terms of its geophysical characteristics, differs from oil-and-gas bearing basins of the riftogenic belt (thickness of the lithosphere is increased up to 120 km, thermal flow is low, 40–47 mW/m2). The structure of mantle underplating is explicitly seen in the section. The geophysical characteristics close to those of the Zeya-Bureya Depression are typical for gold-bearing structures of the Lower Amur ore district. Nevertheless, manifestations of oil-and-gas bearing potential in particular grabens are possible.

A combining of the methods of the magneto-telluric probing and gas-geochemical investigations was carried out for the first time in the territory of the southern part of the Zeya–Bureya basin to study its deep structure and location of the faults. A gas-electric section was plotted to the depth of 8 km. along the latitudinal profile dissecting the Grodekovo uplift and the Lermontovka depression. Electric characteristics of the sedimentary cover and basement of the basin are obtained. Confinement of the anomalies of soil gases (helium, hydrogen, radon, methane, hydrocarbons) to the reduced zones, serving as channels for a degassing of the Earth’s interior, is established.

The results of long-term studies of the neotectonic processes and related phenomena such as the Earth's interior degassing, the fluid discharge, and the high seismicity in the zone of interaction between the Amur and Okhotsk lithospheric plates at the transition between the Verkhnii and Srednii Amur regions were used for defining the separate structural blocks with different geodynamics and analyzing their relations with the seismic events during the periods of high seismic activity and quiescence. The heliometric and atmochemical studies in the Zeya-Bureya basin revealed zones of high permeability. Long-term observations of the fluid dynamics at the Konstantinovka mineral water deposit demonstrate a correlation between the variations in the water-soluble helium contents and the changes in the stress-deformed state of the blocks located up to 200 km away from regime observation sites.

New data on the neotectonic processes, seismicity, and earth’s interior degassing in the southern part of the Zeya-Bureya artesian basin and their influence on the hydrogeological processes are considered. The helium-measuring and atmochemical methods that were used for defining zones of elevated permeability and channels of the fluid discharge revealed the discrete permeability of fractures and confinement of active “breathing” zones to intersections of faults that border high-order artesian basins and internal hydrogeological massifs. The confinement of discharge sites of different-type mineralized waters to definite structural-tectonic junctions of seismogenic zones is considered. Their description and trace-element composition are reported. The results of long-term helium measurements for understanding the dynamics of the earth’s interior degassing and the fluid regime in the Konstantinovka deposit of mineral chloride sodic waters are presented.

The Amur-Zeya geodynamic test ground was set up in 2000 to study recent intracontinental crustal deformations. The velocity field calculations for the period of 2000 to 2003 describe three movements scales. The general level is characterized by the vectors of IGS sites in the eastern part of Asia, the BLAG (Blagoveshchensk) site included. The southeast movement of the IRKT (Irkutsk) site of the stable Siberian Platform is indicative of deformations in the northeastern part of the Amur Plate. Measurement data on the regional near-latitudinal profile Blagoveshchensk-Sutara, which crosses the Nizhnyaya Zeya Basin, demonstrate a southwestward displacement of the Badzhal-Bureya-Lesser Khingan block relative to the North China block. The dynamic effect of the convergent boundary between the Amur and Okhotsk Sea plates is assumed to extend inland also involving the Zeya-Bureya Basin area. The measurements on the local geodynamic test site relate the deformations of buildings and constructions in the Settlement of Konstantinovka to the mobility of basement faults in the southern part of the Nizhnyaya Zeya Basin. Aseismic deformations are determined by slow horizontal tectonic movements in the junction zone of NNE-trending structures of the latter basin and near-latitudinal faults of the Khailar-Xunhei Belt.