Traité de Géognosie
Ou, Exposé des Connaissances Actuelles sur la Constitution Physique et Minérale du Globe Terrestre

This influential French geology treatise of 1819 challenged accepted views on the origins of the earth's rocks and minerals.

Jean Francois Aubuisson de Voisins (Author)

9781108029711, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 June 2011

674 pages, 1 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 3.8 cm, 0.84 kg

Jean François Aubuisson de Voisins (1769–1841) was a French geologist and engineer who studied under Abraham Gottlob Werner at Freiberg together with Humboldt, von Buch and Jameson. Werner had coined the term geognosy to define a science based on the recognition of the order, position and relation of the layers forming the earth. His theory of the marine origins of the Earth's crust (Neptunism) was widely accepted at the time. Aubuisson however showed that igneous rocks such as basalt were similar to surface lava flows, and were not chemical precipitates of the ocean. His two-volume Traité de Géognosie, published in 1819, was one of the earliest geology books in French. It was highly successful, and gained him wide professional recognition. Volume 2 describes different categories of rocks and minerals, and formations including basalt dykes, ore deposits, and intruded veins. It also puts forward arguments challenging some of Werner's theories.

Partie II. Considérations Particuliêres sur les Diverses Masses Minérales qui Constituent le Globe Terrestre
Section 1: 1. Des terrains primitifs
2. Des terrains intermédiaires
3. Des terrains secondaires
4. Des terrains tertiaires
5. Des terrains de transport
6. Des terrains volcaniques
Section 2. 1. Des couches, amas et stockwerks
2. Des filons.

Subject Areas: Earth sciences [RB]