N.V. Sobolev graduated from the Lvov State University in 1958 (now Ukraine). In 1960 he joined a newly established Institute of Geology and Geophysics (now the United Institute of Geology, Geophysics & Mineralogy - UIGGM), Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk.
His main research interests are in studying the mineralogy, petrology, and geochemistry of ultrahigh pressure rocks in the lithosphere. This includes crystalline inclusions in diamonds, deep mantle xenoliths in kimberlites, ultrahigh pressure metamorphic rocks, and mineralogic approach of exploration for diamonds.
N.V. Sobolev is elected a full member (Fellow) of Academy of Sciences of the USSR (now Russian Academy of Sciences), Academia Europaea, Foreign Associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
He is now a director of the Institute of Mineralogy & Petrography, which is one of three institutions within UIGGM.
Basu A., Poreda R.J., Renne P.R., Teichmann F., Vasiliev Y.R., Sobolev N.V., Turrin B.D. High 3He plume origin and temporal-spatial evolution of the Siberian flood basalts // Science, 1995, V. 269, P. 822-825
Chopin C., Sobolev N.V. Principal mineralogical indicators of ultrahigh pressure in crustal rocks // Ultrahigh Pressure Metamorphism / Eds: R.G. Coleman, X. Wang, Cambridge Univ. Press., 1995. P. 96-131
Claoue-Long J.C., Sobolev N.V., Shatsky V.S., Sobolev A.V. Zircon response to diamond - pressure metamorphism in the Kokchetav massif // Geology, 1991, V. 19, P. 710-713
Dobretsov N.L., Sobolev N.V., Shatsky V.S., Coleman R.G., Ernst W.G. Geotectonic evolution of diamondiferous paragneisses, Kokchetav complex, Northern Kazakhstan - the geologic enigma of ultrahigh-pressure crustal rocks within a Phanerozoic foldbelts // The Island Arc, 1995, V. 4, N 4, P. 267-279
Finnie K.S., Fisher D., Griffin W.L., Harris J.W., Sobolev N.V. Nitrogen aggregation in metamorphic diamonds from Kazakhstan // Geochim.e.Cosmochim.Acta, 1994 V. 58, P. 5173-5177
Griffin W.L., Sobolev N.V., Ryan C.G., Pokhilenko N.P., Win T.T., Yefimova E.S. Trace elements in garnets and chromite: diamond formation in the Siberian lithosphere // Lithos, 1993, V. 29, N 3-4, P. 235-256
Langer K., Robarick E., Sobolev N.V., Shatsky V.S., Wang W. Single-crystal spectra of garnets from diamondiferous high-pressure metamorphic rocks from Kazakhstan: indications for OH-, H2O and FeTi charge transfer // Eur.Journ.Mineral., 1993, V. 5, P. 1091-1100
Shatsky V.S., Sobolev N.V., Vavilov M.A. Diamond-bearing metamorphic rocks from Kokchetav massif (Northern Kazakhstan)// Ultra High Pressure Metamorphism / Eds: R.G.Coleman, X.Wang. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1995, p. 427-455
Shigley J.E., Fritsch E., Koivula J.I., Sobolev N.V., Malinovsky I.Y., Palyanov Y.N. The gemological properties of Russian gem-quality synthetic yellow diamonds // Gems and Gemology, 1994, V. 29, P. 228-248
Shimizu N., Sobolev N.V. Young peridotitic diamonds from the Mir Kimberlite pipe // Nature, 1995, V. 375, P. 394-397
Sobolev N.V., Galimov E.M., Yefimova E.S., Usova L.V. Crystalline inclusions, isotope composition of carbon, nitrogen centers in diamonds and compositional features of garnets from the Madjgawan pipe (in Russian) // Geologiya i Geofizika, V. 34 (12), P. 77-83; English translation: Russian Geology & Geophysics, 1993, V. 34 (12), P. 77-83
Sobolev N.V., Pokhilenko N.P., Afanasiev V.P. Kimberlitic pyrope and chromite morphology and chemistry as indicators of diamond grade in Yakutian and Arkhangelsk provinces // Mid-Continent Diamonds / Eds: K.P.E.Dunne, B.Grant, GAC-MAC Symposium Volume, 1993, P. 63-69
Sobolev N.V., Shatsky V.S. Diamond inclusions in garnets from metamorphic rocks: a new environment for diamond formation // Nature, 1990, V. 343, P. 742-746
Sobolev N.V., Shatsky V.S., Vavilov M.A., Goryainov S.V. Zircon from ultra high pressure metamorphic rocks of folded regions as a unique container of inclusions of diamond, coesite, and coexisting minerals (in Russian) // Doklady Akad. Nauk, 1994, V. 334, P. 488-492
Sobolev N.V., Yefimova E.S., Reimers L.F., Zakharchenko O.D., Makhin A.I., Usova L.V. Arkhangelsk diamond inclusions // Proc. Sixth Intern. Kimb. Conf., Novosibirsk (in press)
Taylor L.A., Snyder G.A., Crosaz G., Sobolev V.N., Yefimova E.S., Sobolev N.V. Eclogitic inclusions in diamonds: Evidence of complex mantle processes over time // Earth Planet.Sci.Lett., 1996, V. 142, p. 535-554