Hermann Karsten, pioneer of geologic mapping in northwestern South America

摘要

In the late 19th century, a regional map of NuevaGranada (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), anItalian who emigrated to Venezuela and Colombia to serve as a governmentcartographer and geographer, in his popular Atlas geográfico ehistórico de la Republica de Colombia (1889). Geologic mapping and mostobservations provided in this 1889 atlas were taken from Karsten'sGéologie de l'ancienne Colombie bolivarienne: Vénézuela,Nouvelle-Grenade et Ecuador (1886), as cited by Manual Paz and/or FelipePérez, who edited this edition of the atlas. Karsten defined four epochsin Earth history: Primera – without life – primary crystallinerocks, Segunda – with only marine life – chiefly sedimentaryrocks, Tercera – with terrestrial quadrupeds and fresh water lifeforms life – chiefly sedimentary rocks, and Cuarta – mankindappears, includes diluvial (glacigenic) and post-diluvial terranes. He notedthat Colombia is composed of chiefly of Quaternary, Tertiary and Cretaceousplutonic, volcanic and sedimentary rocks, and that Earth's internal heat(calor central) accounted, by escape of inner gases, for volcanism,seismicity and uplift of mountains. Karsten's regional mapping andinterpretation thus constitutes the primary source and ultimate pioneeringgeologic research.