Kursk Magnetic Anomaly

[1] It is a territory rich in iron ores located within the Kursk, Belgorod, and Voronezh oblasts in Russia, and constitutes a significant part of the Central Black Earth Region.

In 1883, N. D. Pilchikov, an assistant professor at Kharkiv University, conducted a series of 71 observations of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly.

These revealed a much larger extent than previously measured and for the first time attributed the anomaly to the presence of iron ore.

Serious investigation of the economic potential of the anomaly occurred under the leadership of Ivan Gubkin in 1920–1925, originally based upon the possibilities for oil.

The ores are spread over an area estimated at 120,000 km2 (46,000 sq mi) and are magnetite quartzites disseminated throughout metamorphic rocks and Pre-Cambrian granitoids.

Oblasts comprising Central Black Earth Region
Magnetic intensity from satellite data. The Kursk anomaly is the high-intensity (red) anomaly in the north while the Bangui anomaly is the one in central Africa.