An analysis of the current state of the regional stratigraphy of the Lower Paleozoic in the northwest of the East European Platform has revealed quite a number of problems: 1) the officially approved by the Interdepartmental Stratigraphic Committee in the late 1980s regional stratigraphic schemes of the Cambrian, Ordovician and Silurian are fundamentally outdated; 2) the results of irregular work to update them are scattered and often remain in unpublished reports, including commercial ones, with the impossibility of using contemporary data; 3) the absolute majority of the regional stratigraphic units stratotypes after the Soviet Union collapse turn out to be outside of Russia with limited access to their study; 4) due to the facies heterogeneity of deposits, there is difficulty in recognizing the boundaries of many horizons (in some cases, stages) in Russian sections; 5) it is necessary to re-evaluate the biostratigraphic criteria for identifying and correlating the boundaries of a number of regional stratigraphic units, and to use a range of methods of bio-, litho- and chemostratigraphy. The Lower Paleozoic of the Russian part of the Baltic region contains industrial and potentially productive oil and gas complexes as well as other mineral resources, the exploration, search and prognosis of which require an actual basis of regional stratigraphy. There are all the prerequisites for its creation. It is possible to effectively implement this work within the framework of a special program, including drilling and/or access to high-quality core material from subsoil user companies.

Elena G. Raevskaya   ORCiD  Scopus
Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences,
Head of Department
Russian Geological
Research Institute,
74, Sredny pr., St. Petersburg, 199106, Russia
e-mail: Elena_Raevskaya@karpinskyinstitute.ru
Author ID: 141367

Ivan Y. Gogin
Lead geologist
Russian Geological
Research Institute,
74, Sredny pr., St. Petersburg, 199106, Russia
e-mail: Ivan_Gogin@karpinskyinstitute.ru

Georgii S. Iskül ORCiD
Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences,
Researcher
Russian Geological
Research Institute,
74, Sredny pr., St. Petersburg, 199106, Russia
e-mail:Georgy_Iskul@karpinskyinstitute.ru
SPIN-код: 6561-2121

Anna A. Suyarkova
Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences,
Researcher
Russian Geological
Research Institute,
74, Sredny pr., St. Petersburg, 199106, Russia
e-mail: Anna_Suyarkova@karpinskyinstitute.ru
Author ID: 69307

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