Buch, (Christian) Leopold von 1774-1853
German geologist and traveller

Born in Stolpe, near Angerm�nde, Prussia, at the age of 15 he was sent to nearby Berlin to study mineralogy and chemistry and subsequently he went to Freiburg to study under Abraham Werner. He later contradicted Werner's teaching and accepted basalt as a product of volcanic activity. Fieldwork in the Canary Islands led to his proposal of a 'craters of elevation' hypothesis, now refuted. As a result of travels in Scandinavia (1806-08), he recognized the uplift of land relative to sea level. He published the first coloured geological map of Germany in 42 sheets (1826) and undertook important early studies of Alpine geology. He introduced the term gabbro and described other igneous rocks. In later years he turned his attention to palaeontology, and formulated a classification of cephalopods (1829-30).