Shungite is a rock, an intermediate form between the amorphous carbon and the graphite containing carbon (30%), silica (45%), and silicate mica (about 20%). Schungite carbon is a fossilized organic material of sea bottom Precambrian sediments of high level of carbonization containing the fullerene-like regular structures. Shungite got its name after the village of Shunga in Karelia (Russian Federation), located on the shore of Onezhskoe Lake, where is located the only one mineral Zazhoginsky deposit of shungites on the territoty of the Russian Federation.
Shungite has a heterogeneous molecular structure in which carbon occurs as 10 nm globules irregularly distributed within carbon showing no structure. The unusual physicochemical and structural properties of shungite are used in diverse industrial and environmental applications including metallurgy, water purification, thermolysis and organosynthesis of cyclic hydrocarbons. Shungite is an effective sorbent for removal of organic and inorganic substances, pathogenic bacteria and heavy metals from contaminated water (Ore Geology Reviews, 2004; 24, 1-2:135-154).