Eugen Seibold – författare

This textbook deals with the most important items in Marine Geology, including some pioneer work. The list of topics has grown greatly in the last few decades beyond the items identified by Eugen Seibold as central and now includes prominently such things as methane and climate change; that is, the carbon cycle and the Earth system as a whole. Relevant geophysical, geochemical, sedimentological and paleontological methods are shortly described. They should allow the reader to comment on new results about plate tectonics, marine sedimentation from the coasts to the deep sea, climatological aspects, paleoceanology and the use of the sea floor. The text tries to transmit to the reader excitement of marine geological research both aboard and in modern laboratories. Basic mineralogical, geochemical, biological and other relevant data and a detailed list of books and symposia are given in an Appendix. This Introduction builds on the third edition of “The Sea Floor” byE. Seibold and W.H. Berger. While much of the original text was written by Seibold, a considerable portion of the material presented in this edition is new, taking into account the recent great shift in marine geological research, some of it with great relevance to human concerns arising in a rapidly changing world.

This textbook deals with the most important items in Marine Geology, including some pioneer work. The list of topics has grown greatly in the last few decades beyond the items identified by Eugen Seibold as central and now includes prominently such things as methane and climate change; that is, the carbon cycle and the Earth system as a whole. Relevant geophysical, geochemical, sedimentological and paleontological methods are shortly described. They should allow the reader to comment on new results about plate tectonics, marine sedimentation from the coasts to the deep sea, climatological aspects, paleoceanology and the use of the sea floor. The text tries to transmit to the reader excitement of marine geological research both aboard and in modern laboratories. Basic mineralogical, geochemical, biological and other relevant data and a detailed list of books and symposia are given in an Appendix. This Introduction builds on the third edition of “The Sea Floor” byE. Seibold and W.H. Berger. While much of the original text was written by Seibold, a considerable portion of the material presented in this edition is new, taking into account the recent great shift in marine geological research, some of it with great relevance to human concerns arising in a rapidly changing world.

Derzeit steigt der Meeresspiegel weltweit an, und es wirddiskutiert, ob sich dabei schon der Treibhauseffektauswirkt. Solche positiven Ver{nderungen, aber auch dasGegenteil, ziehen sich durch die Geschichte derMenschheit,etwa bei der biblischen Sintflut, und als Transgressionenund Regressionen durch die gesamte Erdgeschichte. Wie mandiese an ihren Auswirkungen erkennen kann, wann sieauftraten und worauf sie zur}ckzuf}hren sind, wird in Textund Bild er|rtert. So wird ein fesselnder Ausschnitt auseinem multifaktoriellen Geschehen gegeben, das sich auf dieVerteilung von Land und Meer, auf das Klima und auf dasLeben auf dieser Erde ausgewirkt hat.

Derzeit steigt der Meeresspiegel weltweit an, und es wirddiskutiert, ob sich dabei schon der Treibhauseffektauswirkt. Solche positiven Ver{nderungen, aber auch dasGegenteil, ziehen sich durch die Geschichte derMenschheit,etwa bei der biblischen Sintflut, und als Transgressionenund Regressionen durch die gesamte Erdgeschichte. Wie mandiese an ihren Auswirkungen erkennen kann, wann sieauftraten und worauf sie zur}ckzuf}hren sind, wird in Textund Bild er|rtert. So wird ein fesselnder Ausschnitt auseinem multifaktoriellen Geschehen gegeben, das sich auf dieVerteilung von Land und Meer, auf das Klima und auf dasLeben auf dieser Erde ausgewirkt hat.

Man''s understanding of how this planet is put together and how it evolved has changed radically during the last 30 years. This great revolution in geology - now usually subsumed under the concept of Plate Tectonics - brought the realization that convection within the Earth is responsible for the origin of today''s ocean basins and conti­ nents, and that the grand features of the Earth''s surface are the product of ongoing large-scale horizontal motions. Some of these notions were put forward earlier in this century (by A. Wegener, in 1912, and by A. Holmes, in 1929), but most of the new ideas were an outgrowth of the study of the ocean floor after World War II. In its impact on the earth sciences, the plate tectonics revolution is comparable to the upheaval wrought by the ideas of Charles Darwin (1809-1882), which started the intense discussion on the evolution of the biosphere that has recently heated up again. Darwin drew his inspiration from observations on island life made during thevoyage of the Beagle (1831-1836), and his work gave strong impetus to the first global oceanographic expedition, the voyage of HMS Challenger (1872- 1876). Ever since, oceanographic research has been intimately associ­ ated with fundamental advances in the knowledge of Earth. This should come as no surprise. After all, our planet''s surface is mostly ocean.

Man''s understanding of how this planet is put together and how it evolved has changed radically during the last 30 years. This great revolution in geology - now usually subsumed under the concept of Plate Tectonics - brought the realization that convection within the Earth is responsible for the origin of today''s ocean basins and conti­ nents, and that the grand features of the Earth''s surface are the product of ongoing large-scale horizontal motions. Some of these notions were put forward earlier in this century (by A. Wegener, in 1912, and by A. Holmes, in 1929), but most of the new ideas were an outgrowth of the study of the ocean floor after World War II. In its impact on the earth sciences, the plate tectonics revolution is comparable to the upheaval wrought by the ideas of Charles Darwin (1809-1882), which started the intense discussion on the evolution of the biospere that has recently heated up again. Darwin drew his inspiration from observations on island life made during the voyage of the Beagle (1831-1836), and his work gave strong impetus to the first global oceanographic expedition, the voyage of HMS Challenger (1872- 1876). Ever since, oceanographic research has been intimately associ­ ated with fundamental advances in the knowledge of Earth. This should come as no surprise. After all, our planet''s surface is mostly ocean.