Otto Wetzel (paleontologist)

Otto Christian August Wetzel (born February 1, 1891 - † August 20, 1971 ) was a German pioneer in micropalaeontology . His botanical-mycological author's abbreviation is " Wetzel ".

Wetzel was a teacher (teacher) in Eutin and also worked on microfossils, especially in flint rocks. He referred to his laboratory in publications as a shotgun cell . In the 1930s, he examined Baltic flint attachments from the Cretaceous period and identified dinoflagellate fossils in them. Here he introduced the term hystrichospheres , which is still used today. Before they were called Xanthidia, but only Wetzel recognized the organic nature.

He is not related to Walter Wetzel , professor in Kiel and also a pioneer in micropalaeontology.

Fonts

• The types of Baltic till flint, assessed according to their microfossil content , Z. Geschiebeforschung, Volume 8, 1932, pp 129-140
• Feuerstein - Stone of Stones , Neumünster, Wachholtz Verlag, 1968, Wandering Museum Schleswig-Holstein, issue 2, 32 p. With ill.

literature

• Obituary by Walter Wetzel in Meyniana, Volume 21, 1978
• Linda Dietz, William Sarjeant, Trent Mitchell: The Dreamer and the Pragmatist: a joint biography of Walter Wetzel and Otto Wetzel, with a survey of their contributions to geology and micropaleontology , Earth Sciences History, Volume 18, 1999, pp. 4-50
• William Sarjeant: As chimney sweepers, come to dust: a history of palynology up to 1970 , in David Oldroyd (editor) The earth inside out: some major contributions to geology in the twentieth century , The Geological Society London, Special Publications No. 192 , 1992