Franz Ritter von Hauer’s work and one of the first loess map of Central Europe

Abstract

Franz Ritter von Hauer was the second Director of the Geological Survey in Vienna (1866–1885). The primary research of von Hauer was devoted chiefly to the evolutionary history of Cephalopods and geological mapping. Among several investigations of Cephalopods of the Triassic and Jurassic formations of the Alpine regions, he recognized and discovered 89 species and established the Middle and Late Triassic stratigraphical units of deep shelf environments: the Hallstadt facies. One of his main contributions to Quaternary science was the geology textbook of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which provided a resource to access recent developments in geology and notably loess research to many scientists. Besides the staff from the Geological Survey, von Hauer involved numerous local, well recognized experts and organized regional centres for geological investigations. This well managed and effective work resulted in a great number of publications, many of which were the reports published by the Geological Survey. The General Geological Map of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was one of the most comprehensive and complete geological map of Central Europe during that period of time. It was presented in Cologne (1865) and from 1867 until 1884 ran to four editions. The Quaternary formations were presented in two groups: Pleistocene and Holocene formations. The Pleistocene formations identified as “Dilluvial” formations and were represented predominantly as gravels and sand and also as loess. The Holocene formations were described as “Alluvial” formations. They were mapped as: peat, lime tuff, quicksand and other formations named only as “Alluvial formations”. Loess was mentioned exclusively as a Pleistocene (“Dilluvial”) formation. The distribution of loess was clearly outlined. Due to the development of the science at that time, the term loess was not clearly defined and as such at some places, loess-like sediments such as colluvial were also mapped as loess. Nevertheless it was one of the first maps which documented the extent of loess deposits and including the regions of Lower Austria with Vienna Basin, Bohemia and Moravia, the Carpathian Basin, parts of the Polish Lowland and Transylvania.