Buch, Christian Leopold, Freiherr von

Buch, Christian Leopold, Freiherr von (kris'tyän lā'ōpôlt frī'her fun bOOkh) [key], 1774–1853, German geologist and paleontologist, graduate of the mining academy, Freiberg, Germany, and taught by geologist Abraham G. Werner, who founded the influential Neptunist School (rocks from aqueous origins). Buch's later studies of Mt. Vesuvius found flaws in Werner's hypothesis. Buch is noted for his study of volcanism in the Canary Islands and British Isles. He developed the first geological map of Germany and was the first to determine that granites were formed by igneous processes and that the Alps resulted from an upheaval in the earth's crust.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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