Walther von Knebel

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Johann Heinrich Carl Matthaeus Ralph Walther von Knebel (born April 13, 1880 in Jauer , Province of Silesia , † July 10, 1907 on the Askja ) was a German geologist , volcanologist and speleologist . He made significant contributions to the understanding of the geological formation of the Canary Island of Gran Canaria and to the interpretation of the genesis of karst caves . In the summer of 1907 he disappeared in Iceland without a trace .

After Walther von Knebel was manganese-rich fayalite - variety knebelite named.

Life

Origin, education and private life

He was born as the son of Major Heinrich von Knebel (later Colonel z. D. ) and his wife Hedwig von Knebel, née Baroness von Seckendorff-Gutend, and came from the originally Middle Franconian noble family of Knebel . He completed his schooling one after the other at the Royal High School in Wiesbaden , at the Royal Prussian Cadet Institute in Karlsruhe , at the Prussian Main Cadet Institute in Groß-Lichterfelde and at the Royal Realgymnasium in Wiesbaden . There he passed the school leaving examination at Easter 1898 . He then enrolled at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich , from which he moved to the Friedrich Wilhelm University at Easter 1900 . His lecturers included Erich von Drygalski , Adolf von Baeyer , Ferdinand von Richthofen and Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff . On April 12, 1902, the university was that of gag at the Faculty of Philosophy thesis contributions to the knowledge of thrust faulting on volcanic Ries of Nördlingen doctorate .

Walther von Knebel was engaged to the adventurer and author Ina von Grumbkow , who was seven years his senior .

Scientific career

In June 1901 von Knebel received an assistant position in the geological- paleontological institute of the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin. He later worked as a private lecturer . In 1905 he undertook a research trip to Iceland with his own funds and in 1906 and 1907 he completed three excursions to Gran Canaria .

During his short career, von Knebel acted as one of the main players in a fundamental scientific discussion: In karstology , which was just emerging at the time, a debate about the correct genetic interpretation of the karst caves discovered in the Northern Limestone Alps had flared up at the turn of the century . Alfred Grund and Albrecht Penck led the camp of those who favored the theory of karst groundwater. Von Knebel, on the other hand, together with Friedrich Katzer , saw so-called karst rivers - i.e. the runoff of rainwater through underground channels created by carbonic acid weathering - as the cause of the cave formation. Ultimately, the latter theory was confirmed. Furthermore, von Knebel introduced the term pseudokarst in a monograph published in 1906 .

Stone pyramid at Öskjuvatn

With financial support from the “Humboldt Fund for Nature Research and Travel” of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences , he set off on another trip to Iceland in the summer of 1907 with his student Hans Spethmann and the painter Max Rudloff . He and Rudloff disappeared on July 10th during a boat trip on the Öskjuvatn , the crater lake of the Askja . It is possible that the two men were killed by a rockfall avalanche near the bank. Von Knebel's fiancée Ina von Grumbkow traveled to the area in the summer of 1908, accompanied by Hans Reck , to at least find and recover the bodies of the two men. However, it was unsuccessful. On the west bank of the Öskjuvatn they built a four-meter-high stone pyramid and carved "† 1907, Walther von Knebel, Max Rudloff" into the lava rock. More recently, a metal plaque has been installed on the pyramid.

Publications

Own works

  • von Knebel, W .: Contributions to the knowledge of thrusts in the volcanic Ries of Nördlingen . Dissertation, JF Starcke, Berlin, 1902.
  • von Knebel, W .: Comparative studies on the volcanic phenomena in the area of ​​the Table Jura . In: Meeting reports of the physical-medicinischen Societät zu Erlangen , year 35, 1903, pages 189-210.
  • von Knebel, W .: Basalt maars in the Taunus . In: Meeting reports of the physical-medical society in Erlangen , year 35, 1903.
  • von Knebel, W .: Evidence of different ice ages in the plateaus of the inner Iceland . In: Centralblatt für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie , Stuttgart , 1905, № 17 & 18, pages 546–553.
  • von Knebel, W .: Studies in Iceland in the summer of 1905 . In: Globus , Volume 88, № 20, 22 & 24, 1905, Braunschweig pages 309–314, 341–346 and 373–380.
  • von Knebel, W .: Preliminary communication on the storage conditions of glacial formations on Iceland and their significance for knowledge of the diluvial glaciations . In: Centralblatt für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie , Stuttgart , 1905, pages 535-546.
  • von Knebel, W .: Speleology with consideration of the karst phenomena . Publishing bookstore Friedrich Vieweg and Son , Braunschweig , 1906.
  • von Knebel, W .: Studies in the thermal areas of Iceland . In: Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau , Volume 21, Braunschweig , 1906.
  • von Knebel, W .: About the lava volcanoes on Iceland . In: Journal of the German Geological Society , Volume 58, 1906, pages 59–76.
  • von Knebel, W .: Volcanism . In the series: The Nature - A Collection of Scientific Monographs , Volume 3, published by AW Zickfeldt, Osterwieck , 1906.
  • von Knebel, W .: On the question of the diluvial glaciations on the island of Iceland. - Reply to Helgi Pjetursson . In: Centralblatt für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie , Stuttgart , 1906, № 8, pages 232–237.
  • von Knebel, W .: Studies on the surface design of the islands Palma and Ferro . In: Globus , Volume 90, № 20 & 21, 1906, Braunschweig , pages 312–316 and 329–332.
  • von Knebel, W .: An overview of our current knowledge of the interior of the earth . In: From nature - magazine for all friends of nature , Verlag von Erwin Nägele, Leipzig , year 1906/1907, pages 530 ff.
  • von Knebel, W .: Theories of Volcanism. A panorama of older and more recent teachings . In: Globus , Volume 91, № 18 & 19, 1907, Braunschweig , pages 277–280 and 303–305.
  • von Knebel, W .: Lava crevices and crater grooves on Iceland . In: Gaea - Nature and Life , Volume 43, № 9, Leipzig , 1907, pages 547-561.
  • von Knebel, W .: The volcanic structure of the island of Gran Canaria . In: Globus , Volume 92, № 21 & 22, 1907, Braunschweig , pages 325–331 and 343–348.
  • von Knebel, W .; Reck, H .: Iceland. A scientific study . E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagbuchhandlung , Stuttgart , 1912.

Participation

  • Spethmann, H .: Overview of the results of the v. Knebel's Icelandic expedition in 1907 . Otto Sautter publishing house printer, Stuttgart , 1909.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Günter Voss: The Canary Primer. From German writings 1777–1965 . epubli GmbH, Berlin, 2012, ISBN 978-3-8442-3123-6 .
  2. ↑ Johannes Mattes : Journeys into the Underground. A cultural history of cave research in Austria up to the interwar period . Böhlau Verlag , Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-205-79687-9 , page 185.
personal data
SURNAME Knebel, Walther von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Richthofen, Ferdinand Freiherr von; Richthofen, Ferdinand Paul Wilhelm Dieprand von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German geologist, volcanologist and speleologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 13, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Jauer , Jauer district
DATE OF DEATH July 10, 1907
Place of death Askja