A. Wegener is well-known for the idea of continental drift and the
Polar expeditions. However, his contribution to the science was much
bigger than one would imagine. The best proof of this fact is his book
published in co-authorship with his father-in-law W. Köppen and
devoted to the climates of the geological past. Unfortunately, this
publication is less known to the modern scientists, in whose mind the
name of Köppen is often associated with the only tectonics.
Therefore, the re-publication of the noted book by Gebrüder
Borntraeger in the form accessible for the broad international
audience is a really big deal.
The composition of the reviewed thick volume is complex. Its first
part is the careful reproduction of the original German version of the
Köppen & Wwegener’s writing published yet in 1924 and the Köppen’s
amendments to it appeared in 1940. The second part consists of the
very accurate translation of the both in English. The original writing
includes several chapters. One explains past climate indicators (e.g.,
traces of ice, coal, desert sandstone, fossils, etc.), and one is
reserved to brief description of the polar wander. The other chapters
address to climates and climate zones of several major geological time
slices, namely the Carboniferous–Permian, the Mesozoic, the Tertiary,
the Precambrian–Devonian, and the Quaternary (listed in the same order
as appear in the book). The above-mentioned indicators are reviewed
for each slice. However, the book is not just a summary of the
knowledge, but a product of its intellectual reworking. The
reconstructed palaeoclimate zones are plotted against the continental
reconstructions in order to find agreement. As for the Quaternary,
much is told also about the findings of M. Milankovitch, and these are
used to explain the significant climate fluctuations.
Köppen & Wwegener’s writing is nothing less than a masterpiece that
should be understood only so. Three general reflections are
possible. First, this book demonstrates the efficiency of the almost
philosophical approach in geoscience. The authors reconstructed the
past climate zones and compared them with their palaeoreconstructions,
and the established coincidence of two interpretations strengthens the
proof of each of them. A good approach for making theories from
hypotheses! Second, the book is very rich in facts. The evidence from
a lot of places is collected. Neither remote areas of Russia, nor
Australia are omitted. And this is done for all analyzed time slices!
Unfortunately, rare modern “global” study can boast by so excellent
global awareness of the researcher. Third, the book presents so much
information that the reviewer is not sure many of those facts and
predictions (especially local) were tested since the times of Köppen &
Wegener. Looking at them through the eyes of the modern geologists
seems to be very promising and “adventurous” research topic.
When one will read this book, she/he may have an impression of some
uncertainty. Surprisingly, this is not linked to the lack of
arguments. The problem is the consideration of the too big time
slices, but only this was allowed by the stratigraphical resolution
available in two first decades of the 20th century. If so, the
increase in this resolution, the improvement of the geologic time
scale, and the refining of the correlation tools have facilitated our
geological knowledge. Köppen & Wegener could operate with eras and, in
the best cases, with periods and rarely epochs. Now, we can make
similar interpretations for epochs and stages. Is this enough? Of
course, not! And, thus, the reading of this book teaches us to focus
on the stratigraphical research, which, unfortunately, seems to be in
crisis now.
The Köppen & Wegener’s writing is vivid, inspiring, well-organized
logically, and convincing. Interestingly, the idea of the major
changes on the Earth linked to what is now known as plate tectonics is
not offered as a “marginal” or “fundamentally new” hypothesis. No,
this is described as a full-scale theory considered seriously by the
contemporary geologists. To realize this fact is very important to
understand why the “true” plate tectonics, which appeared decades
later, conquered the world so easily. Moreover, the book demonstrates
that the Wegener’s idea of continental drift was not a simplification
or easy-to-achieve redrawing of the continental contours. This was a
well-though and well-argued concept. The main impression of the
reviewer after reading this book is it sounds modern and employs the
general principles that are often used nowadays: for instance, just
look at the well-known Palaeozoic reconstructions of Cocks (e.g.,
2001)!
Technically, the reviewed book is wonderful. The quality of
reproduction of the original German version is exceptional, and the
English translation is also excellent. The book is organized so that
it is clear what is where and how diff erent parts are related to one
another. Two orders of page numbers are given: the first refers to
the page numbering in the original version and its translation, and
the second refers to the actual pages of the entire book. The subject
indices (one for the original German version and one for the English
translation) are as well as necessary. Preface written by the editors
is informative with regard to the history of this book and the
scientific (and also family) relations of Köppen and Wegener.
However, the full biographies of the both figures would also be given
if even in abridged form. The publisher should be thanked for the
design of this book. It looks as impressive as should be such an
important monograph.
This reprinted and translated version of the Köppen & Wegener’s book
is a landmark publication that deserves close attention of the modern
research community. How pleasant is to “feel” the very spirit of the
“classical” geological thinking! And even more exciting (and
important) is to dream about the present gives us two additional
lessons: The first lesson is about how to write a really convincing
text; the second lesson is about the care of the geoscience literature
heritage. Well, this book will be excellent gift to each geoscientist,
especially working with the subjects of palaeogeography, Quaternary
geology, and, of course, history of geology.
Dmitry A. Ruban, Rostov am Don
Zentralblatt für Geologie und Paläontologie, Teil II, Jg. 2016 Heft 3-4