Tribute to Erwin Suess on the occasion of receiving the Gustav-Steinmann-Medal award by the Geologische Vereinigung

摘要

Ladies and Gentlemen, respected colleagues, I am honored to have this opportunity to provide a short overview of the scientific accomplishments of Erwin Suess, who today receives the Gustav-Steinmann Medal for his groundbreaking contributions toward our understanding of the early diagenetic processes in marine sediment-water systems. With this award, the Geologische Vereinigung honors him as the outstanding geo-scientist of his generation. Erwin Suess is a marine geologist with a wide interest in this field. His work deals with biogeochemical, paleoceanographic, sedimentolog-ical, and mineralogical problems in the low-temperature regime of the ocean and sediments. I would like to divide the broad spectrum of his accomplishments in marine geosciences into four categories: 1. Interactions between organic matter and carbonate surfaces; 2. Pore-water chemistry and authigenic mineral formation in marine sediments; 3. Occurrence, genesis and dynamics of marine gas hydrates; 4. Dewatering of the continental margins.