Eulogy for Dieter Meischner (21 November 1934 – 24 May 2012)

Abstract

Dieter Meischner was born in Braunschweig and studied geology and palaeontology at Gottingen, where he passed his examinations in record time. From 1970 to his retirement in 2000, he served as a professor and head of the sedimentary geology group in Gottingen. He was awarded the Hermann Credner Prize of the Deutsche geologische Gesellschaft (1969) and the Gustav Steinmann Medal of the Geologische Vereinigung (1996). Dieter Meischner’s scientific oeuvre covers an enormous range of topics: Palaeozoic biostratigraphy, facies and tectonics, circulation and ecology of marginal seas, palaeoecology, cold-water carbonates, modern carbonate systems as sea-level gauges, carbonate diagenesis, speleology, construction of marine sampling tools and even the detailed planning of a research submarine. For his doctoral thesis, Dieter Meischner studied the sedimentology and palaeogeography of an early Carboniferous sequence of basinal bioclastic limestones, from which he deduced the basics of limestone turbidites. In the same profiles, he established the biostratigraphy of Visean conodonts. Together with fourteen students, Dieter Meischner produced a new, precise geological map of the Kellerwald area in the eastern Rhenish Massif, based on numerous conodont datings of rocks devoid of macrofossils. These findings not only led to a revolution in large-scale palaeogeography, but also yielded complex tectonic profiles with duplex structures and evidence of long-distance tectonic transport—results which later proved indispensable in plate tectonic interpretations of the German Variscides. Dieter Meischner greatly respected the work of his own supervisor, Hermann Schmidt, who had aroused his interest both in Palaeozoic facies and in marine geology. Following H. Schmidt’s example, Meischner set-up a low-budget but highly efficient research programme, delving into the marine geology of the Adriatic, beginning at Rovinj. A small but devoted working group mapped the sea floor and studied benthic communities, hydrographic profiles and sediment cores, which documented—among other features—profiles of pH and Eh as the driving forces of early diagenesis. Did you know that there are Slovenian rose wines with a pH of 2.5? Forty years ago, research in the Yugoslavian Adriatic was an adventure that called for a lot of improvisation, in spite of Dieter Meischner’s meticulous planning. Most instruments and spare parts had to be imported and crammed into minibusses, in which driver and co-pilot occupied the front seats while two others were trying to sleep on top of the load behind—a difficult task, especially with Dieter at the wheel. After passing two frontiers with lots of bureaucracy, the cargo would be set-up in some makeshift laboratory and sampling tools launched from a hired fish trawler. The remains of the night’s catch in the stern net W. Franke (&) G. Wefer Frankfurt, Germany e-mail: w.franke@em.uni-frankfurt.de