Walter Alexander Schnitzer

Walter Alexander Schnitzer (born June 2, 1926 in Berlin ; † September 8, 1985 ) was a German geologist and paleontologist. He was a professor at the University of Würzburg .

Schnitzer was the son of an engineer and came to Erlangen with the family in 1940. After high school and military service in the Second World War, he studied geology in Erlangen with a diploma in 1950, was an assistant there, received his doctorate under Friedrich Birzer in 1951 (The landscape development of the southern Franconian Alb in the Denkendorf - Kösching area north of Ingolstadt) and in 1957 private lecturer. The habilitation took place with Bruno von Freyberg (The lithology and palaeogeography of the red sandstone on the western edge of the Bohemian Massif). In 1963 he became an adjunct professor and made trips to India to prospect dolomite for a steel mill in Rourkela. In 1967 he became a scientific councilor and in 1972 a full professor in Würzburg.

He dealt particularly with the Triassic and its stratigraphy, but also with other epochs from the Quaternary to the Precambrian. He introduced the quartz grain color as a stratigraphic aid. His method of differentiating rocks by smell (so-called paleo smell ) was original . In addition to research trips to India (until 1967), he also went to Brazil (1976 to 1983) and Canada (1978 to 1982). He also dealt with applied geology.

Fonts

• The landscape development of the southern Franconian Jura in the Denkendorf - Kösching area north of Ingolstadt, Geologica Bavarica 28, 1956
• The quartz grain color methods and their meaning for the stratigraphic and palaeogeographical exploration of psammitic sediments: natural. Quartz grain colors u. Irradiation colors, Erlanger Geologische Abhandlungen, 103, 1977
• with RG Schwab: New possibilities of geological research with the help of the paleo smell, Erlanger Geologische Abhandlungen, 101, 1975
• Geology of the White Jura on the leaves of Kipfenberg and Gaimersheim (southern Franconian Jura), Erlanger Geologische Abhandlungen, 57, 1965
• The quartz grain color as an aid for the stratigraphic and palaeogeographical exploration of sandy sediments: (shown with examples from Eastern Bavaria), Erlanger Geologische Abhandlungen, 23, 1957
• The lithology and paleogeography of the red sandstone on the western edge of the Bohemian Massif, Erlanger Geologische Abhandlungen, 24, 1957
• with Wilhelm Haarländer : Geology and lithology of the ancient castle sandstone of Erlangen and the surrounding area, Erlanger Geologische Abhandlungen, 37, 1961
• The Young Precambrian of India (Purana System): reorganization, stromatolite management and lithofacial comparisons, Erlanger Geologische Abhandlungen, 85, 1971
• The heavy mineral content of the peripheral facies of the Franconian Middle Keuper in deep drilling profiles, in: Erlanger Geologische Abhandlungen, 11, 1954

literature

• Herbert Voßmerbäumer: Obituary for Walter A. Schnitzer In: Geologica Bavarica 89, pp. 241–249, Munich 1986 (the whole volume - contributions to the geology of Franconia - is dedicated to him)

Web links

• Literature by and about Walter Alexander Schnitzer in the catalog of the German National Library