When the Petrovsky Agricultural and Forestry Academy was founded, the Department of Mineralogy and Geognosy was established, along with other departments. The course of geology, taught at the department, had an applied significance as well as a huge ideological and educational value. During its existence, a scientific and pedagogical school in the field of crystallography, mineralogy and geology was established. The research of agronomic ores, linking the geological and agronomic sciences is of great importance. For a century and a half since its foundation, the department has gone through a difficult path from purely descriptive geological research (lithological-petrographic, paleontological) to complex interdisciplinary (paleolandscape and adaptive landscape) research.