Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
| Online Publication Date: 05 Nov 2007
Aimé Bonpland's Drawings of Itá Pucú, 1834, and the History of Early Geological Representations in Argentina
Aimé Bonpland's Drawings of Itá Pucú, 1834, and the History of Early Geological Representations in Argentina
Page Range: 121 – 133
The early geological representations in Argentina dated from the middle of the nineteenth century when Alcide d'Orbigny, Charles Darwin, Bartholomew James Sulivan, Franz Foetterle, Auguste Bravard, Jakob Christen Heusser and Georges Claraz, and Victor Martin de Moussy accompanied their scientific observations with geological maps, stratigraphic sections or sketches of rocky outcrops. Aimé Bonpland (1773-1858), a French naturalist mainly known by his travels with Alexander von Humboldt and by his contributions on tropical botany, settled in southern South America in 1817, and displayed a relevant activity as botanist, zoologist, paleontologist, and geologist. In this last field, Bonpland prepared in 1834 a series of drafts and drawings about the geology of the Itá Pucú that constitute one of the first geological representations to the country and it is the first document providing a detailed description and a schematic graphical representation of a sedimentary outcrop.
Bonpland, Aimé, Documentos Oficiales. Santa Ana, Octubre 27 de 1854. Al Exmo. Gobernador y Capitan Jeneral de la Provincia Dr. Juan Pujol, El Comercio, 1855, año 3, 165 (4 March 1855). Without pagination.
Bonpland, Aimé, Correspondencia, De M.r Bonpland a Larrañaga, in Escritos de Don Dámaso Antonio Larrañaga. Tomo III. Edición Nacional (Montevideo: Instituto Histórico y Geográfico del Uruguay, 1923), 257-276.
Bravard, Auguste, Mapa geologico y topográfico de los alrededores de Bahía Blanca, Lithography (Buenos Aires: Julio Beer, 1857).
Brinkman, Paul, Bartolomew James Sulivan's discovery of fossil vertebrates in the Tertiary beds of Patagonia, Archives of Natural History, 2003, 30:56-74.
Brunel, Adolphe, Biographie d'Aimé Bonpland, Seconde édition, considérablement augmentée (Toulon: E. Aurel, 1864).
Burkhardt, Frederick, and Sydney Smith, eds., The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Volume 3. 1844-1846 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987).
Cuvier, Georges, and Alexander Brongniart, Essai sur la géographie minéralogique des environs de Paris (Paris: Institut Imperial de France, Mémoires, 1811).
Darwin, Charles, Geological observations on South America. Being the third part of the geology of the voyage of the Beagle, under the command of Capt. FitzRoy, R. N. during the years 1832 to 1836 (London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1846).
de Moussy, Victor M., Description géographique et statistique de la Confédération Argentine. Atlas (Paris: Firmin Didot Frères, Fils et Cie., 1869).
De Wever, Patrick, François Guillocheau, Jean-Yves Reynaud, Emmanuelle Vennin, Cécile Robin, Annie Cornée, and Delphine Rouby, Deux siècle de stratigraphie dans le bassin de Paris, Comptes Rendus Palevol, 2002, 1:399-414.
d'Orbigny, Alcide, Voyage dans l'Amérique méridionale (le Brésil, la République Orientale de l'Uruguay, la République Argentine, la Patagonie, la République du Chili, la République de Bolivia, la République du Pérou), exécuté pendant les années 1826, 1827, 1828, 1829, 1830, 1831, 1832 et 1833). Tome Troisième. 3ePartie: Géologie (Paris: P. Bertrand and Strasbourg: V. Levrault, 1842).
d'Orbigny, Alcide, Voyage dans l'Amérique méridionale (le Brésil, la République Orientale de l'Uruguay, la République Argentine, la Patagonie, la République du Chili, la République de Bolivia, la République du Pérou), exécuté pendant les années 1826, 1827, 1828, 1829, 1830, 1831, 1832 et 1833). Tome Troisième. Atlas historique, géographique, paléontologique et botanique (Paris: P. Bertrand and Strasbourg: V. Levrault, 1846).
Foetterle, Franz, Die Geologie von Süd-Amerika, in Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes' Geographischer Anstalt über wichtige neue Erforschungen auf dem Gesammtgebiete der Geogrphie von Dr. A. Petermann (Gotha: Justus Perthes, Band 2, 1856), 187-192.
Fuller, J. G. C. M., The invention and the first use of stratigraphic cross-sections by John Strachey, F.R.S., (1671-1743), Archives of Natural History, 1992, 19:69-90.
Fuller, J. G. C. M., "Strata Smith" and his stratigraphic cross sections, 1819. A review of facts worth knowing about the origin of stratigraphic geology in the mind of William Smith (1769-1839), an English country surveyor and civil engineer (Tulsa: The American Association of Petroleum Geologists, and London: The Geological Society of London, 1995).
Furlong, Guillermo, Naturalistas argentinos durante la dominación hispánica (Buenos Aires: Huarpes, 1948).
Furlong, Guillermo, Cartografía histórica argentina. Mapas, planos y diseños que se conservan en el Archivo General de la Nación (Buenos Aires: Ministerio del Interior, 1963).
García Castellanos, Telasco, Exposición de cartas geológicas. Resultado y estudio crítico e histórico sobre cartografía geológica (Córdoba: Academia Nacional de Ciencias, Miscelánea 35, 1958).
García Castellanos, Telasco, Historia de la enseñanza de la ciencia geológica en la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina, Boletín de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias, 2000, 64:5-16.
Herbst, Rafael, Esquema estratigráfico de la provincia de Corrientes, República Argentina, Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina, 1971, 26:221-243.
Heusser, Jakob Ch., and Georges Claraz, Beiträge zur geognostischen und physikalischen Kenntniss der Provinz Buenos Aires. I. Der Gebirgszung zwischen dem Cap Corrientes und Tapalquen, Neue Denkschriften der allgemeine schweizerische Gesellschaft für die gesammten Naturwissen-schaften, 1865, 21:1-22.
Humboldt, Alexander von, Voyage de Humboldt et Bonpland. Première Partie. Rélation Historique. Voyage aux régions équinoxiales du nouveau continent, fait en 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804, par Al. de Humboldt et A. Bonpland. Tome Prèmier (Paris: F. Schoell, 1814).
Humboldt, Alexander von, Essai géognostique sur les gisements des roches dans les deux hémisphères (Paris and Strasbourg: F. G. Levrault, 1823).
Humboldt, Alexander von, Schichtung der Gebirgsarten am südlichen Abfall der Küstenkette von Venezuela gegen das grosse Becken der Ebenen (Llanos). Aus einem Briefe des Herrn Alexander v. Humboldt an Herrn Ewaldl, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft, 1853, 5:18-20.
Jalfin, Guillermo A., Litofacies y paleocorrientes de la Formación Solari, provincia de Corrientes, Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina, 1987, 42:101-111.
Mendonça Figuerôa, Silvia F. de, German-Brazilian relations in the field of geological sciences during the 19th century, Earth Sciences History, 1990, 9:132-137.
Montgomery, Scott L., The eye and the rock: art, observation and the naturalistic drawing of earth strata, Earth Sciences History, 1996, 15:3-24.
Moraes Belluzzo, Ana M. de, O Brasil dos viajantes. 3° Edição (São Paulo: Metalivros, Río de Janeiro: Objetiva, 2000).
Morton, John L., Strata. How William Smith drew the first map of the earth in 1801 & inspired the science of geology (Stroud: Tempus, 2001).
Ottone, Eduardo G., The French botanist Aimé Bonpland and paleontology at Cuenca del Plata, Earth Sciences History, 2002, 21:150-165.
Rosenberg, Gary D., An artistic perspective on the continuity of space and the origin of modern geologic thought, Earth Sciences History, 2001, 20:127-155.
Rudwick, Martin J. S., The emergence of a visual language for geological science 1760-1840, History of Science, 1976, 14:149-195.
Schneppen, Heinz, Aimé Bonpland: Humboldts vergessener Gefährte? (Berlin: Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berliner Manuskripte zur Alexander-von-Humboldt-For-schung, Heft 14, 2002).
Stoddart, David R., Darwin and the Seeing Eye, Earth Sciences History, 1995, 14:3-22.
Torre Revello, José, Archivo General de Indias. Catálogo de mapas y planos. Buenos Aires. Tomo II. Reimpresión (Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura, 1988).
Torres Lanzas, Pedro, Archivo General de Indias. Catálogo de mapas y planos. Buenos Aires. Tomo I. Reimpresión (Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura, 1988).