Geotectonic Institute
The Geotectonic Institute was founded in 1946 as an academy institute of the GDR on the proposal of the geology professor Hans Stille (University of Berlin). Organizationally, it was assigned to the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin and - in accordance with a memorandum of July 19, 1946 - bundled research on geotectonics and field work on tectonic geology . Stille had already initiated a research institute at the Kaiser Wilhelm Society under the direction of Franz Lotze in 1938 , but this failed because of the outbreak of war.
The institute existed as an independent research unit for 23 years and from 1969 as a geotectonics department in the Central Institute for Earth Physics (ZIPE). When it was redesigned to become a geology department , it was expanded considerably around 1980 and further departments were set up in Potsdam and Jena . After German reunification, the institute came under the sponsorship of the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam in early 1992 .
Institute director 1946–1991
The directors of the institute were:
- 1946–1950 Hans Stille
- 1950–1957 Serge von Bubnoff
- 1957–1961 Werner Schwan
- 1965–1969 Karl-Bernhard Jubitz (from 1986 as part of the ZIPE)
- 1987–1991 Peter Bankwitz
- from 1992 geology department at the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam.
Areas of activity until 1957
Initially, the space for independent projects was limited and contract research was integrated into the tasks of the GDR's economy . The clients included the State Geological Commission, geological exploration companies , the petroleum-natural gas combine and the potash combine and the cement industry . Soon, however, collaborations with universities in Berlin, Leipzig and Greifswald were added.
Scientific employees were initially only R. Schörenberg and A. Schreiber (until 1949) and W. Schwan, although the budget provided for twelve geologists. With the beginning of support from doctoral students from the Berlin Humboldt University , however, research assignments came to F. Lotze (thrusts in the Teutoburg Forest ), Walter Schriel ( Lower Harz ) and Walter Robert Gross (paleogeography of the Devonian in Northern Europe). In 1949, Hans Stille protested against political reservations about hiring a prominent West German scientist and subsequently proposed the dissolution of the institute. However, it was agreed to form an academy consortium: in addition to Stille, his successor v. Bubnoff and W. Gothan, P. Ramdohr and W. Gross.
Bubnoff has now been able to hire six more scientists and intensify geological field work . Saxon tectonics and structural research in crystalline were new areas of work . Those in young ( Alpine ) fold mountains (Spain) had to take a back seat, but field work was carried out in the Eastern Alps , in Thuringia (Upper Devonian Magmatism and Rotliegende) and in Bulgaria (published 1952 to 1957 in twelve volumes of the treatises on geotectonics ).
In 1956/57 the institute included P. Bankwitz, S. Chrobok, KB Jubitz, G. Möbus, W. Neumann, E. Schröder, W. Schwan and HJ Teschke.
Development 1958–1967
At the end of 1957, after Bubnoff's sudden death, the academy decided to expand it into a geological institute, but did not do so. In addition to the academician Fritz Deubel , the institute's founder Hans Stille (although 81 years old and now residing in Hanover) was won as a consultant, which he remained until 1964. The new managing director Werner Schwan from West Berlin was able to expand the company, but resigned in 1961 after the construction of the Berlin Wall . Instead of Adolf Watznauer , who moved to the Freiberg Mining Academy , Karl-Bernhard Jubitz became head of the institute (director from 1965).
After the consolidation of the GDR, Jubitz was able to expand the institute to around 20 specialists: In addition, there were the scientists R. Benek, R. Meier, HJ Paech, G. Schwab and F. Wendland and several technical employees. Some geological skilled workers have also been trained and employed. Furthermore, at the beginning of 1966, the practical geology in Jena , headed by Deubel, was affiliated to the Geotectonic Institute, together with the geologists E. Grumbt, J. Ellenberg, E. Falk and H. Lützner. In the course of the university reform in 1967, geoscientific working groups were initiated at the Bergakademie Freiberg and the Humboldt University in Berlin. The relocation of paleobotany and coal science to the latter, however, did not materialize, which benefited the GI - and later the ZIPE - but led to the discontinuation of geology studies at Humboldt University.
The field work and research of this decade dealt primarily with the following areas: systematics of the fissures , recent earth crust movements in the GDR, plutons and folds in the Harz (low mountain range) , sedimentary stratigraphy , post- Variscan folding in the Bulgarian Balkans, crystalline basement mountains near Ruhla-Brotterode, slate mountains in Ostthüringen, and Teschke's Russian-German dictionary of geosciences .
Brief development 1967–1986
- 1967 large excursion to Siberia (Head of AL Janschin, Russian Academy)
- 1967 petroleum-natural gas forecast
- 1969 Incorporation into the Central Institute for Earth Physics (ZIPE, Potsdam) as Division III - Geotectonics
- from 1969 new employees in Potsdam- Telegrafenberg
- 1975 now 22 scientists with a total of 41 employees (20 Berlin, 11 Jena, 10 Potsdam)
- 1978 Incorporation of geotectonics in Area III - Geology of the ZIPE and extensive thematic expansion
- 1987 division manager Peter Bankwitz , in 1988 his election to the academy
- 1989 around 100 employees
- 1991/92 liquidation, transition to the GFZ Potsdam GeoForschungsZentrum .