Hermann Karsten, pioneer of geologic mapping in northwestern South America
In the late 19th century, a regional map of <i>Nueva Granada</i> (present-day Colombia, Panama and parts of Venezuela and Ecuador) was published by German botanist and geologist Hermann Karsten (1817–1908). Karsten's work was incorporated by Agustín Codazzi (1793–1859), an Italian w...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2015-06-01
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| Series: | History of Geo- and Space Sciences |
| Online Access: | http://www.hist-geo-space-sci.net/6/57/2015/hgss-6-57-2015.pdf |
| Summary: | In the late 19th century, a regional map of <i>Nueva
Granada</i> (present-day Colombia, Panama and parts of Venezuela and Ecuador)
was published by German botanist and geologist Hermann Karsten (1817–1908).
Karsten's work was incorporated by Agustín Codazzi (1793–1859), an
Italian who emigrated to Venezuela and Colombia to serve as a government
cartographer and geographer, in his popular <i>Atlas geográfico e
histórico de la Republica de Colombia</i> (1889). Geologic mapping and most
observations provided in this 1889 atlas were taken from Karsten's
<i>Géologie de l'ancienne Colombie bolivarienne: Vénézuela,
Nouvelle-Grenade et Ecuador</i> (1886), as cited by Manual Paz and/or Felipe
Pérez, who edited this edition of the atlas. Karsten defined four epochs
in Earth history: <i>Primera</i> – without life – primary crystalline
rocks, <i>Segunda</i> – with only marine life – chiefly sedimentary
rocks, <i>Tercera</i> – with terrestrial quadrupeds and fresh water life
forms life – chiefly sedimentary rocks, and <i>Cuarta</i> – mankind
appears, includes diluvial (glacigenic) and post-diluvial terranes. He noted
that Colombia is composed of chiefly of Quaternary, Tertiary and Cretaceous
plutonic, volcanic and sedimentary rocks, and that Earth's internal heat
(<i>calor central</i>) accounted, by escape of inner gases, for volcanism,
seismicity and uplift of mountains. Karsten's regional mapping and
interpretation thus constitutes the primary source and ultimate pioneering
geologic research. |
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| ISSN: | 2190-5010 2190-5029 |