M.A. Levitan was born in 1946 and graduated from Moscow State University in 1969. Both scientific degrees (Ph. D. - 1975, and Dr. Sci. - 1990) are received for marine geology studies. Main scientific interests are concentrated in the fields of sedimentology and inorganic geochemistry of marine sediments, and paleoceanography. M.A. Levitan, Head of Laboratory of sedimentary geochemistry in V.I. ... Read moreVernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry RAS (Moscow), is (co-) author of more than 200 publications including several monographs (in Russian). He participated in 21 scientific cruises in all main areas of the World Ocean. Yu.A. Lavrushin was born in 1931 and graduated from Moscow State University in 1954. He has both scienticfic degrees (Ph.D. - 1963, and Dr.Sci - 1973). Main scientific interests lay in the field of stratigraphy and sedimentology of terrestrial and marine sediments. Yu.A. Lavrushin, Head of RAS Comission on Quaternary Studies (Moscow), is (co-) author of about 200 publications including several monographies (in Russian). R. Stein, born in 1954, completed his Ph.D. thesis at the Geology Department at Kiel University in 1984. After a research stay at the Institute for Petroleum and Organic Geochemistry at the KFA Jülich and an assistent professorship at the Institute for Geosciences and Lithosphere Research, Giessen University, he moved in 1991 to the Alfred Wegener Institute (Bremerhaven) where his main research interest concentrates on reconstruction of paleoenvironment of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent Eurasian continental margin, using sedimentological and organic-geochemical proxies. R. Stein has participated in >15 major research cruises in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans, and is (co-) author of >120 publications in international journals. Show Less