Carl Diener (11 December 1862 – 6 January 1928) was an Austrian geographer, geologist and paleontologist.

Carl Diener
Carl Diener (1922)
Born(1862-12-11)11 December 1862
Died6 January 1928(1928-01-06) (aged 65)
Vienna
NationalityAustrian
Occupation(s)Geographer, geologist, paleontologist

Biography

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In 1883 he received his doctorate from the University of Vienna, where his instructors included Eduard Suess and Melchior Neumayr. In 1893 he changed his venia legendi from geography to geology, a subject that he became an associate professor of in 1897. In 1906 he was named a full professor of paleontology at the University of Vienna.[1]

He is best remembered for his geological (including stratigraphic) and faunistic investigations of the Alps. He also conducted important research on his numerous travels worldwide — Syria and Lebanon (1885), the Pyrenees (1886), the Himalayas (1892), Svalbard (1893), the Urals and the Caucasus (1897), North America (1901), et al.[1] In 1895, with Wilhelm Heinrich Waagen, he proposed the Anisian Stage (a division of the Middle Triassic) as a replacement for the "Alpine Muschelkalk".[2]

He was an avid mountaineer, and for a number of years was president of the Österreichischer Alpenverein (Austrian Alpine Club). He was also a member of the Alpine Club in London.[1]

Diener Creek on Ellesmere Island is named after him, and indirectly the Dienerian substage of the Early Triassic epoch.[3]

Published works

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With Viktor Uhlig, Rudolf Hoernes and Eduard Suess, he was co-author of the four-part Bau und bild Österreichs (1903), of which Diener wrote Part 2: Bau und bild der Ostalpen und des Karstgebietes (Construction and image of the eastern Alps and the karst areas).[4] He also made major contributions to the paleontological bibliography, Fossilium Catalogus (1913 –).[5] Diener's other noteworthy written efforts include:

  • Libanon. Grundlinien der physischen geographie und geologie von Mittel-Syrien, 1886 – Lebanon: Outlines of physical geography and geology of central Syria.
  • Der Gebirgsbau der Westalpen, 1891 – The mountain structure of the western Alps.
  • Triadische Cephalopodenfaunen der ostsibirischen Küstenprovinz, 1895 – Triassic cephalopodic fauna of the east Siberian coastal region.
  • Mittheilungen über einige Cephalopodensuiten aus der Trias der Südalpen, 1901 – On some cephalopod groups from the Triassic strata of the southern Alps.
  • "Triassic faunae of Kashmir", 1913.
  • Paläontologie und Abstammungslehre, 1920 – Paleontology and evolutionary theory.
  • Ammonoidea permiana, 1921 – Permian Ammonoidea.
  • Cnidaria triadica, 1921 – Triassic Cnidaria.
  • Lamellibranchiata triadica, 1923 – Triassic Lamellibranchiata.
  • Grundzüge der Biostratigraphie, 1925 – Outline of biostratigraphy.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Diener, Carl Deutsche Biographie
  2. ^ Biostratigraphic Classification of the Marine Triassic in North America by Norman John Silberling, Edward T. Tozer
  3. ^ Tozer, E.T. (1965). Lower Triassic Stages and Ammonoid Zones of Arctic Canada. Ottawa: Geological Survey of Canada. p. 14.
  4. ^ OCLC WorldCat Bau und bild Österreichs
  5. ^ Fossilium Catalogus de.Wikisource
  6. ^ HathiTrust Digital Library published works