Günther Frasl

Günther Frasl (born May 3, 1924 in Vienna ; † March 10, 2003 ) was an Austrian geologist and paleontologist . He was a professor at the University of Salzburg .

Life

After military service and captivity, Frasl studied geosciences from 1946 at the University of Vienna , where he received his doctorate under Leopold Kober in 1950 ( the northern edge of the Tauern window between Gerlospaß and Habach valley ). He was then a research assistant and from 1955 assistant to Alfred Till at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, where he taught engineering geology and completed his habilitation in 1955 ( signs of molten and high-temperature growth on the large potash fields of some porphyry granites, porphyry granite gneiss and eye gneiss in Austria ). In 1963 he became an associate professor with a permanent position. In 1967 he became a full professor of geology and paleontology at the newly founded University of Salzburg, where he built up the Institute of Geology and Paleontology from small beginnings (teaching for candidate teachers). In 1971 the institute moved and in 1986 again in the new building of the natural science faculty. In 1979 the institute was merged with the Institute for Mineralogy and Petrography to form the Institute for Geosciences, which Frasl headed from 1979 to 1983 and 1985 to 1987. In 1990 the institutes were separated again and Frasl was again director of the Institute for Geology and Paleontology until his retirement in 1992.

A focus of his research was regional geology, especially the crystalline of the Central Alps (stratigraphy of the middle section of the Hohe Tauern , among other things by marking the volcanic layers in the almost fossil-free schists of the Habach series that he introduced, which he recognized as Paleozoic) and the crystalline of the Bohemian Mass ( Moldanubic in Upper Austria, Mühlviertel , Moravikum in the Lower Austrian Waldviertel) as well as crystalline pebbles leading layers in the flysch zone and cliff zone from Salzburg to the Vienna basin . Among other things, he investigated the Bohemian Massif because the granite problem (relationship between granite intrusions and the environment) could be better studied there than in the highly metamorphic and tectonically shaped central crystalline of the Hohe Tauern. He also examined the heavy minerals in recent sediments in the area of Lake Neusiedl and around Retz . From the evaluations of crystalline pebbles, he also concluded that there were a few other crystalline masses on the northern edge of the Eastern Alps between the Bohemian massif and the Tauern window (Cetian massif). In his habilitation he dealt with the formation of potash feldspars and conclusions from them on the formation (magmas) of granites and similar rocks (gneiss). In the discussion about the genesis of granites at that time, he advocated igneous origins. 108 scientific publications originate from him.

He worked at the research focus N 25 of the Austrian universities (geological civil engineering of the Eastern Alps), the priority project S 15 (Early Alpine History of the Eastern Alps) and the IGCP project 233 (Terranes in the Circum-Atlantic Paleozoic Orogen).

In 1975 he became a corresponding member of the Federal Geological Institute . In 1988 he became an honorary member of the Austrian Geological Society . In 1964 he received the Vienna City Promotion Prize.

In 1952 he married Elfie Jünger, with whom he had a daughter.

Fonts (selection)

• The current status of central gneiss research in the Eastern Alps, Min. Mittbl. Joanneum, Graz, Volume 2, 1957, pp. 41-63
• For the serial structure of the slate envelope in the middle Hohe Tauern, annual reports Geolog. Bundesanstalt, 101/3, 1958, pp. 323-472
• Excursion I / 2 Mittlere Hohe Tauern, Mitt. Geolog. Ges. Wien 57/1, 1964, pp. 17–31
• The original basis of Flysch and Ultrahelvetic in the Salzburg area, annual reports 1983 Hochschulschwerpunkt S 15, Graz 1984, pp. 37–65
• with W. Frank: Introduction to the geology and petrography of the Penninicum in the Tauern window with special consideration of the central section in Oberpinzgau, Land Salzburg, in: Der Aufschluss, special issue 15, 1966, pp. 30-58
• with EC Kirchner: Early Halpine Basic and Ultrabasic Eruptiva from the Northern Limestone Alps and the Helvetikum Cliff Zone, Annual Report 1980 University Focus S 15, Graz, 1981, pp. 81–90

literature

• Gottfried Tichy: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Günther Frasl, the first professor for geology and palaeontology at the University of Salzburg, 4th symposium on the history of earth sciences in Austria, reports by Geolog. Bundesanstalt, Volume 64, 2003, PDF (310 kB; German)
• Gottfried Tichy, obituary for Frasl, Mitt. Österr. Geolog. Ges., 94, 2003, pp. 177-181
• V. Höck: Mr. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Günther Frasl on his 65th birthday, Mitt. Österr. Geolog. Ges., 81, 1988, pp. 1–3, PDF (171 kB; German)