German Geologist Research Articles

Deciphering the footprint of Emil Grosse from Germany to Brazil: a brief review

After the German geologist Emil Jakob Grosse concluded his work as head of the General Geological Commission of Colombia in April 1931, he lived and worked between Germany and Brazil, where his record has been largely unknown to the present date. In this contribution, we document some historical aspects of his life and briefly review Emil Grosse’s trajectory from Germany to Brazil. The oldest record of Emil Grosse in Brazil dates from August 20, 1936, when he worked at the “Fábrica mine” until 1939. The Fábrica mine contains an iron deposit located southeast of the São Francisco Craton in what is now known as Quadrilátero Ferrífero, within the municipality of Ouro Preto. Grosse worked in a hematite ore site located in a banded iron formation (BIF), but there is no record of him having worked in the coal deposits. Years after, in 1946, the Fábrica mine changed owners and name to Ferteco, a subsidiary of the German corporation Industriegewerkschaft Bergbau, with headquarters in Bochum, Germany, where Grosse possibly worked to validate the deposit. In the 1940s, Grosse lived between the steelworks town of Peine, Germany, and Belo Horizonte, Brazil. There is a record of his trip in the middle of the Second World War on October 26, 1942. In 1946, his work on the Fábrica mine was finally published in Volume XI (No. 62) of the Brazilian journal Mineração e Metalurgia. Later, on August 18, 1949, Grosse obtained his permanent visa through the mediation of the Brazilian Military Mission and the German control council. Finally, he settled in Würzburg, Germany, where in 1971, he died at the age of 91.

Resolving the 1886 White Terraces riddle in the Taupō Volcanic Zone

Among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, only the Great Pyramid of Giza survives. Yet there is another, older than the seven, that was found and then lost again in the 19th century and once more located by the research herein: the White Terraces, named Te Tarata by indigenous peoples, of the Taupō Volcanic Zone in New Zealand. The greatest geoscience and tourist attractions in the southern hemisphere were the siliceous Pink and White Terraces. European, American, and British tourists bypassed the calcareous terraces at Saturnia, Yellowstone, and Pamukkale for the long sea voyage down to New Zealand. The 1886 Mount Tarawera eruption buried the siliceous terraces, decimating their indigenous owners and their tourism. An eruption crater lake now occupies much of the Rotomahana Basin in the Taupō Volcanic Zone, leading to assumptions that the Terraces were lost. However, no evidence was produced. The indigenous Māori owners did not believe they were lost. Controversy ensued. The resolution of this controversy is of economic and cultural importance as well as scientific interest. In 2011, a joint New Zealand-American project claimed to have found the Pink and White Terraces underwater in crater lake but produced no sinter samples. Recently, their claims were refuted. In Europe, terrestrial survey documents were unearthed, including compass bearings to the terraces by the German geologist Ferdinand Hochstetter. His survey records were digitally repatriated, and the reconstruction of his 1859 survey showed that the terrace springs lay outside the eruption crater. This renewed research in the Rotomahana Basin which has resolved the controversy. By studying topography and with the aid of Māori navigation knowledge, the geographic coordinates of the White Terraces have been triangulated and lie on land, on the shoreline outside the 1886 crater. Surprisingly, this evidence demonstrates that the White Terraces could have been located after the 1886 eruption by observation of the Rotomahana Basin with mapping available since 1864. Exploration and excavation of the Terraces are now possible. Even if degraded by the 1886 eruption, the White Terraces may earn a World Heritage listing and a second life in global tourism.

A GENTLE GRADUALIST IN A CATASTROPHISTS’ WORLD: REINHOLD SEEMANN’S TECTONIC THEORY OF RIES IMPACT CRATER (GERMANY)

ABSTRACT The German geologist Reinhold Seemann (1888–1975), curator at the Wurttemberg natural history collections in Stuttgart, focussed most of his scientific work on the younger Tertiary north of the Alps. After 1936 he became especially interested in the Nordlinger Ries, an enigmatic geological structure in Southern Germany, which at that time was considered by most geologists to have originated through a volcanic catastrophe, but in the 1960s was to be reinterpreted as an impact crater. Seemann, however, adhered to a gradualist theory of Ries Basin genesis throughout his life, regarding the abundant broken and fragmented debris at Ries Basin as tectonic breccias, crushed by a hypothetical subterranean ‘wedge’ of rock slowly moving north, pushed by pressure built-up during alpine orogenesis and surfacing at the Ries area. As his correspondence with his younger colleague Helmut Holder shows, Seemann’s tectonic alternative was motivated strongly by his philosophical attitude preferring even wildly speculative and complex processes—as long as they acted gently and gradually—over any violent, catastrophic explanations however well-founded. His philosophy may have been influenced by his personal experience with two world wars, leading to his preference and campaigning for a gentle view of geological processes.

The bicentenary of Georg Hartung, a German pioneer geologist, explorer, and illustrator

Abstract. We present a tribute to Georg Friedrich Karl Hartung (1821–1891), a less-known, non-academic German geologist, on his 200th birthday anniversary. Influenced by eminent 19th century scientific personalities, such as Oswald Heer, Charles Lyell, and Alexander von Humboldt, he performed pioneer geological observations and sampling in the Azores, Madeira, and Canary Islands volcanic archipelagos. Later in his life, he travelled to the USA and explored the Scandinavian countries. His scientific endeavours were published in several books and papers, many of them co-authored by academic German geologists and palaeontologists. His works on Macaronesia are deemed as classics, and many have been enriched by his detailed geological illustrations.

Growth and development of homeopathy in India: a perception study in and around Kolkata

India is a country of wide diversity in terms of physiography, climate, language, religion andavailable methods or systems of treatment. India also has a rich culture and heritage with ancient beliefs and knowledge; a large number of people use traditional methods of healing. 
 
 Homeopathy was first introduced in Kolkata, in 1810, by a German geologist who had come to perform geological investigations. By this time, Mr. Mullence, of the London Missionary Society, was known for treating the local people of southern Kolkata. The Calcutta Medical College was the first homeopathic medical college, established in 1881. This institution played a major role in the spread of homeopathy in India. However, at an earlier time, a homeopathic hospital was set up by the surgeon Samuel Brooking in south India. Many clinics and dispensaries opened at this time. 
 
 In 1973, the Government of India passed the Central Act, by which homeopathy is recognized as one of the national systems of medicine in India. This represents a true milestone in the growth and development of homeopathy in the country. The Central Council of Homeopathy (CCH) was established to regulate homeopathy education.
 
 In the present time, there are about 200 homeopathic medical colleges and 38 post-graduate colleges that deliver degree courses; institutions such as like CCH (Central Council of Homoeopathy), NIH (National Institute of Homoeopathy), CCRH (Central Council For Research In Homoeopathy), AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy)promote high-level research. Several hundred thousands of practitioners deliver homeopathic medications all over the country. There are over 200, 000 registered homeopathic doctors, and further 12,000 graduate every year. Government of India introduced the Homeopathic Enquiry Committee in 1948, which recognized homeopathy as a scientific system of medicine. Scientific homeopathic research is performed by investigators from different fields, such as: zoology, physiology, physics, etc. The mechanism of action of homoeopathic potency is actively investigated by them. The experiments are performed on human, animal and plant’s body. The faith in homeopathy increases day by day, as it represents a safe, effective and natural mode of healing. 
 
 The aims of the present study were: 1) to analyze the growth and development of homeopathy in India; 2) To establish the degree of acceptance of homeopathy by different socioeconomic groups; and 3) To establish the degree of satisfaction with homeopathic treatment of different socioeconomic groups.
 
 The study was based on primary and secondary data. The primary data were collected in a survey using a questionnaire applied to 100 individuals, randomly selected and with different socioeconomic background in and around Kolkata; the participants were categorized in 3 groups. The secondary data were gathered from the electronic media. The data were subjected to statistical analysis. Variables assessed were: 1) frequency of visits to homeopathic services; 2) type of diseases for which homeopathy is preferred; 3) age range for which homeopathy is preferred; 4) Weather the respondent is the first generation using homeopathic medicine or his/her ancestors used to take it; and 5) level of satisfaction. These variables were compared among the 3 groups.
 
 The result showed that low-income group - family income 8,400 Euro per month (businessmen, college professors etc) prefer homeopathy for their children, visit reputed urban doctors and obtain medicines from reputed manufacturers, but the level of satisfaction is almost equal in 2nd and 3rd groups.

EDUARD SUESS AND PALAEONTOLOGY: HIS ILLUSTRATIONS

The very first scientific paper by the great Austrian geologist Eduard Suess (1831–1914), the dean of geologists internationally during his lifetime, treats the graptolites of Bohemia (the ‘Barrandian’). This paper and most of his subsequent papers on palaeontology are accompanied by superb drawings of his observations in which Suess took great care not to insert himself between Nature as he perceived it in the framework of the knowledge of his day and his readers. In his drawings, he exercised what the great German geologist Hans Cloos later called ‘the art of leaving out’. This meant that in the drawings, the parts not relevant to the discussion are left only in outline, whereas parts he wished to highlight are brought to the fore by careful shading; but even the parts left only in outline are not schematic, instead they are careful reconstructions true to Nature as much as the material allowed it. This characteristic of Suess’ illustrations is seen also in his later field sketches concerning stratigraphy and structural geology and also in his depiction of the large tectonic features of our globe representing a guide to his manner of thinking. His illustrations in his early palaeontological work foreshadowed the later global geologist’s approach to our planet (and the Moon!) as a whole.

1859 YILINDAKİ ŞAMAHI VE ERZURUM DEPREMLERİ HAKKINDA RUSYA BİLİMLER AKADEMİSİ ÜYESİ HERMANN VON ABICH’İN RAPORU

Karadeniz’den Hazar Denizi’ne kadar uzanan dağların adeta ortadan ikiye böldüğü Kafkasya, 18. Yüzyıldan itibaren Rusya’nın genişleme alanlarından birisi olmuştur. Takip eden yüzyılda Za-Kafkasya olarak adlandırılan Güney Kafkasya bölgesi de dahil olmak üzere bütün bir Kafkasya’yı sadece siyasi ve askerî değil, aynı zamanda bilimsel çalışmalarla da domine etmeyi başaran Rusya, kurduğu Bilimler Akademisi bünyesindeki çalışmalarla tarih, coğrafya ve sosyoloji başta olmak üzere bir çok disiplini ilgilendiren envanter oluşturmayı başarmıştır. Üstelik bu bilimsel çalışmalar Osmanlı Devleti gibi diğer devletlerin egemenliğindeki topraklarda da yapılmıştır. 1859 yılında Şamahı’da ve Osmanlı hâkimiyetindeki Erzurum’da eş zamanlı depremlerin olması üzerine Bilimler Akademisi, uzun zamandır Kafkaslarda araştırmalar yapan Alman jeolog Abich’i bu bölgelerde sismik araştırmalar yapması için görevlendirmiştir. Abich, saha araştırmalarını akademiye Fransızca olarak sunduktan kısa bir süre sonra Rusça yayımlanan bu rapor, çalışmamızın en önemli kısmını oluşturmaktadır. Raporun, ilgili depremler hakkındaki saha araştırmalarının sonucuna geçmeden önceki giriş kısmında, jeoloji bilimine ait değerlendirmeler yapan Abich, Kafkasya bölgesinin bu bilim dalı için taşıdığı önemin üzerinde bilhassa durmuştur. Şamahı ve Erzurum depremleri hakkındaki incelemelerini ise barometre ve teknik cihazlar yardımıyla gerçekleştiren Abich, şehirlerin topografisi ve uğradığı yıkıma dair de önemli bilgiler vermiştir. Bu çalışmanın raporun tercümesinin dışındaki kısımlarında, tarafımızca her iki depreme ve sebep olduğu tahribata dair birinci el kaynaklar ışığında bir değerlendirme de yer almaktadır.

О взаимовлиянии на Великом Шелковом Пути: исторические примеры отношений между Средней Азией и Китаем

The term “Great Silk Road” was coined in 1877 by the German geologist, geographer and traveler Ferdinand von Richthofen (1833-1905). Through the Great Silk Road from China to Rome from the 3rd century BC not only silk spread, but also religious and cultural ideas. Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva - ancient cities were the central points of the Silk Road. Trade and diplomatic exchange between China and Central Asia begins in the 1st century. BC. The ruler of the Han dynasty, U-Di (reigned in 141-87 BC), sent in 138 BC his envoy Zhan Tsan to establish an alliance with Yue-chi in the fight against the Huns. Many years later, Zhan Tsan managed to return home with information about the prosperous Fergana, Samarkand, Bukhara and Balkh and gained access to the homeland of the legendary “heaveny horses”, and also gave China the opportunity to open trade routes through Sichuan to Turkestan and Bactria. The relationships between East and West were bilateral - Western fabrics were imported into China, especially Persian and Syrian brocade, Byzantine fabrics, cotton and wool fabrics, embroidery. In addition to the glorious horses, the Chinese valued hunting dogs, falcons, cheetahs, wines, glassware and rock crystal. In the VIII century, music, dancers, actors from Samarkand and Bukhara gained wide popularity in China. Gradually, silk production began to spread outside of China, by the 6th century, silk weaving centers arose in Sogd and the Byzantine Empire. The significance of the Great Silk Road was not only in commodity exchange, but also for centuries there has been a cultural, scientific and technological exchange.

Translation, Annotation and Knowledge-Making: Leopold von Buch's Travels through Norway and Lapland (1813)

This paper sheds new light on the relationship between translation and annotation by adding the theoretical coordinate of expertise to the discussion about the ways in which translators contribute to the making of knowledge. It takes as its case study the German geologist Leopold von Buch's account of his scientific travels through Scandinavia, the Reise durch Norwegen und Lappland (Berlin: Nauck, 1810), which appeared in English three years later as the Travels through Norway and Lapland during the Years 1806, 1807 and 1808 (London: Colburn, 1813). It was translated by the Scottish journalist John Black, who added a handful of his own annotations, while a weightier footnote apparatus was appended by Robert Jameson, Professor of Natural History at the University of Edinburgh. The paratextual material was not, however, meant merely to aid comprehension. Black's additions helped to vaunt his ‘practical’ expertise as a linguist and translator, while Jameson's additions repeatedly stressed his own ‘subject’ expertise as a specialist on the geology of Scotland and an ardent devotee of the German geologist Abraham Werner. These two sets of footnotes highlighted the tensions between transnational scientific knowledge-making and national, regional and individual agendas in nineteenth-century translation and annotation practice.

On the sedimentary geology

In this time of year of 2018, I have recieved a special prize (called "Distinguished Service Prize") from the authorized committee of the Sedimentological Society of Japan (SSJ), for which I have no word to express my cordial thanks to all of the office members of the society. I am extremely happy to have this prize, and I thought that I should say thanks to all of the students and graduates, members of SSJ. In stead of saying thanks, it will be more fruitful to all of them to write something on the sedimentary geology, particularly based on my own experiences of the studies during my own academic works in these years. Fortunately, I have found my notes each of them being filed, and stored in a study room of my home. They were compiled at the time of my original paper had published, for example, 1957, 1959 and so on. I had read many papers mainly foreign papers written in English or German. Imagine that in 1950’s we have no copymachine or photo-copier, all the information, which should be memorize, had to be hand-written in my notebook. Most of the table, map, figure, were recorded in the notebook. It had been time-comsuming work for the students, and I has been clearly reminiscent of my old days by reading these notes. By referring them, I would like to describe the essential part of my papers published. It will contain the fundamental idea, e.g. of Kolmogorov, or those of German geologists. Topics treated in this paper are exclusively concerning the sedimentary geology; however, related sciences are so wide in their fields covering petrology, mathematics, chemical kinetics and so on. I believe that my notebooks are reminiscent of what I read, and what I thought, at the time of my research works on each subjects described herein.

Розвиток палеозоологічної науки в епоху перемоги еволюціонізму (1859-1895 рр.)

The article is devoted to the analysis of the development of Paleozoology science in the world in the era of the victory of evolutionism (1859-1895). Historical, comparative and biographical methods were used while making this article. It allowed to systematize and critically evaluate the used sources, to compare the assessment of the results of activities of different scientists, and to describe those works that contributed to the development of the science of Paleozoology. An analysis of the sources allowed an objective assessment of the contribution from the representatives of different countries to the development of the science of Paleozoology. The merits of our domestic zoologists in the marked process are shown. The multi-vector activity of the Kovalevskys brothers and M.V. Pavlova was analyzed in the context of the theory of evolution development. Based on the comparison of assessments made by different zoological scientists regarding the development of Paleozoology, the role of these scientists in solving evolutionary issues is shown. It is established that the development of the science of Paleozoology quickly found support from the evolutionists of the second half of the nineteenth century thanks to their personal contribution. This analysis enabled to draw the paths of development in both Paleozoology and Evolutionism in general. The victory of evolutionism was not simultaneous; this victory went a long and painful way of rejection and ruthless criticism. And it was the eminent scientists paleozoologists who played a significant role in the formation and strengthening of evolutionary theory in the world. They are such scholars as: Austrian geologist and paleontologist Melchior Neumayr, French paleontologist and geologist Albert Gaudry, Swiss zoologist and paleontologist Ludwig Rutimeyer, American naturalist, paleontologist and comparative anatomist Edward Соре, American paleontologist Othniel Marsh, German geologist, paleontologist and mineralogist Karl Zittel, American geologist and paleontologist Henry Osborn, and many others. The article analyzes the works of these scientists, thanks to which paleontology was able to separate from geology, since for a long time paleontology was a “helper”, “maid” of geology. This separation later contributed to the division of paleontology into paleozoology itself and paleobotany. The use of the biographical method made it possible to consider the persons of evolutionary paleozoologists as separate individuals, which made it possible to evaluate their contribution to the development of the theory of evolution, to re-evaluate their scientific achievements.

European and Italian trades on the Silk Road: a reassessment

The principal aim of my essay is looking at the presence and the role of the European and particularly Italian merchants on the so called “Silk Road” during the 17th and 18th century. We have to remember that this expression was introduced by the German geologist Ferdinand von Richthofen, a topic that is receiving a growing attention from the contemporary historians. Indeed this focus is connected to the attention that is given by contemporary economic/political actors to the fortune of the Chinese economy. It is not an accident that Chinese advance is seen by many as the cause of the declining role of Western economies inside the world market.

Geikie's science in the cemetery

Abstract Natural stone is an important material used for buildings, walls and monuments. However, when used outdoors, it is subject to damage by the effects of weathering. Inspired by the experiments carried out by Friedrich Pfaff, a German geologist and professor of mineralogy at the University of Erlangen, Germany, in the 1870s, Archibald Geikie became interested in the subject of rock weathering and came up with the idea of using gravestones as a means of monitoring weathering in stone used for building. This work, apparently carried out in cemeteries in Edinburgh as a sideline to his normal fieldwork activities, was described in 1880 in a communication read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. It represents the first comprehensive scientific study of rock weathering published in English, and the methodology Geikie developed for his study formed the basis for modern studies of rock weathering using gravestones.

The mapping of the Lombard geologists in the XIX Century from Brocchi to Taramelli

The purpose of this paper is to show the contribution given, during the XIX century, from the Lombard researchers in order to carry out geological maps able to support the comparison with those realized by foreign geologists as L. von Buch, F. R. von Hauer, H.T. de La Beche and others. Indeed still in the first quarter of the century in Italy, the geological mapping was scarce and inadequate in order togive reliable information, surely owing to lack of suitable mapping proceedings and topographical basis. But it is really in this time the Lombard geology becomes animated by strong personalities as G.B. Brocchi and S. Breislak, inclined to work on the field because their public offices (and in the same conditions will be also G. Curioni), all skilled in the mining researches, but also scrupulous observers of the soil features.On the basis of the experiences matured in contact with the French, Swiss German and Austrian geologists, one must remember the researches and monographs made by G. Omboni, the maps made by E. Cornalia, C.F. Parona and others. Lastly, the best contribution to the Lombard and Italian geological mapping is that given by T. Taramelli, loyal disciple of A. Stoppani, indefatigable surveyor of the Carnic and Julian Alps of which he leaved very extraordinary documents. The remarkable level reached by the Italian geological mapping will be esteemed, during the second International Geological Congress in Bologna in 1881, by means also of the first edition of the official great Geological Map of Italy made by the Royal Geological Survey of Italy.

On the trail of Otto Hermann Wilhelm Abich: a journey through the Italian volcanoes

In XIX century, Italy represented an essential step for scientists aimed to study its most typical and significant geological sites. The result was the publication of a great number of papers dealing with the geological features of Italy in all the European languages. Among them, the German geologist Otto Hermann Wilhelm Abich was undoubtedly one the most important researchers that worked in Italy between 1833 and 1839, and devoted his research activity on the study of active and extinct volcanoes. Abich carried out several topographical surveys, mineralogical and petrographical analyses, and published several scientific papers, describing the structure, activity and history of Etna, Vesuvius and the other volcanoes in Southern Italy. In 1840, Abich moved to Dorpat, in Estonia, becoming the most important geologist of that region. Nevertheless, he never forgot the time spent in Italy that he visited again in 1856-57. This latter period pushed him to process the new collected data and those saved from the fire that destroyed his St. Petersburg office in 1863. The analysis of papers, private correspondence, and some original watercolours found in the Archive of the Geological Survey of Italy - ISPRA, has emphasized his admiration for Italian geological features and landscapes.

From Santorini to Trieste and Suez: scientific knowledge, discovery and use of Theran earth in the Mediterranean (from the end of the eighteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century)

This article examines the origins of the European scientific, technical and economic interest in the volcanic tephra of the islands of Santorini and Therasia as a building material in harbour and coastal projects. The research (a) brings new data on the discovery and early use of Theran earth at a point earlier in the nineteenth century than was previously known; and (b) explains the transition from the general references to Santorini’s volcanic ash by European travellers (in the eighteenth century) to the most detailed scientific and technical descriptions of the chemical properties of the ash made by the German and Austrian geologists and engineers (by the mid-nineteenth century). The role of experts was crucial in the discovery and exploitation of Theran earth. While the scientific research of European and Greek specialists was reliant on the state powers of the day, it also entertained close bonds with the entrepreneurial and technical networks that commanded the exploitation of the mineral resources of the Mediterranean. New forms of expertise and communication among experts, competition and scientific exchanges set in motion innovative channels for the movement of material resources around the Mediterranean, triggered by burgeoning industrialization in Europe and beyond. Many actors at a local, national and transnational level (such as geologists, engineers, state employees and merchants) were involved in multiple technical and entrepreneurial networks for the trading and appropriation of Theran earth for use in the harbour and construction projects under way all around the Mediterranean.

Did anthropogeology anticipate the idea of the Anthropocene?

The term anthropogeology was coined in 1959 by the Austrian geologist Heinrich Häusler. It was taken up by the Swiss geologist Heinrich Jäckli in 1972, and independently introduced again by the German geologist Rudolf Hohl in 1974. Their concept aimed at mitigating humankind’s geotechnical and ecological impact in the dimension of endogenic and exogenic geologic processes. In that context anthropogeology was defined as the scientific discipline of applied geology integrating sectors of geosciences, geography, juridical, political and economic sciences as well as sectors of engineering sciences. In 1979 the German geologist Werner Kasig newly defined anthropogeology as human dependency on geologic conditions, in particular focusing on building stone, aggregates, groundwater and mineral resources. The severe problems of environmental pollution since the 1980s and the political relevance of environmental protection led to the initiation of the discipline ‘environmental geosciences’, which – in contrast to anthropogeology – was and is taught at universities worldwide.

Geology in Germany 1933–1945: People, politics and organization

This paper explores geology in Germany during the Third Reich, 1933–1945. It deals with the effect of the political regime on the daily life in institutes and universities, with victims, perpetrators and bystanders, with geologists supporting the regime with their expertise in administration, economy and military, with ideological influences on geology as such and most of all with German geologists of that time and the broad spectrum of attitudes they cultivated.

Prussian geological maps of Northern Poland in the archives of the Polish Geological Institute and their current application in geology

Abstract The article characterizes first general geological (lithological-stratigraphical) maps presenting Quaternary deposits in Northern Poland. These were the maps of territory of the Prussian partition, elaborated by German geologists from Prussian Geological Survey “Königlich Preussische Geologische Landesanstalt”. After Poland regained its independence they became a basis for many Polish geological publications. The article discusses the chronology and objectives of the main cartographic works of German geologists operating in the area of present-day Northern Poland (general and detailed geological maps) and briefly presents the methodology of geological mapping of lowlands at the scale of 1:25,000. The authors present initial results of the sheet inventory of the Prussian geological map at the scale of 1:25,000 owned by the Polish Geological Institute - National Research Institute (PGI-NRI). Quick search of Prussian map sheets is enabled with the created GIS data base which contains basic information about sheets, i.e. map title, year, author/authors, sheet title and topographic map designation. The applied relations between data and their spatial reference make it possible to dynamically generate section map and perform spatial analyses of any type. The multiuser geodatabase was created using ESRI and Oracle technologies. Until now the inventory covered the sheets available in the archives of the Marine Geology Branch of PGI-NRI in Gdańsk and the Pomeranian Branch of PGI-NRI in Szczecin. The article also presents examples of Prussian topographic and geological maps used to realize the objectives of the surface geology of Poland. Sheets of Prussian maps are a very valuable basis for elaboration of general and detailed Polish geological maps. Prussian maps make it possible to recreate the earlier geological, geomorphological and hydrographic picture of terrains which are now highly developed and antropogenically transformed. They are often used for the purpose of various time-spatial analyses, mostly to evaluate the dynamics and pace of erosional and accumulative coastal processes of the Southern Baltic coast. The maps of this type help to reconstruct and forecast the development of river mouths and to recreate the location of excavations and inactive open-cut mines of sand, gravel, clay, brown coal and amber. Old maps documenting the exact location of exploited deposits have practical application in geo-tourism.

The first report of “Eduard Sueß. zu seinem 80. Geburtstag” (Edmund Naumann, 1911), its background and Japanese translation

The German geologist Edmund Naumann (1854-1927) wrote an article titled “Eduard Sueß. zu seinem 80. Geburtstag” published in Frankfurter Zeitung on 20 August 1911. We were the first to find the article. at the Library of the Institute of Earth Science, University of Tokyo in 2012 At that time, Eduard Sueß (1831-1931) was a renowned geologist, a Professor at Vienna University, and the author of “Das Antlitz der Erde”. Naumann respected Sueß as an esteemed geologist, but in the 1880s held different views regarding the origin of the Fossa Magna in Japan. Naumann’s tribute to Sueß on his 80th birthday signaled their reconciliation. We translated this article into Japanese.