Collection Fritz Weber, recent beach sands from Kai-Islands, Moluccas, Indonesia:
About Fritz Weber (1878-1959)
Back to Overview of collections of F. Weber at NMB

 

A collection of recent marine beach sands collected by Fritz Weber from various places of the Kai Islands archipelago (Moluccas), (between 5° to 6° 5' S / 131° 50' to 133° 15' E) during the early 1920ties. They contain modern beach- and coral sands containing diverse and exceptional tropical benthic foraminiferal assemblages. See maps archive of F. Weber with maps showing detailed sampling locations from the Moluccas.
 
The samples were collected at the following places:
Skat Island (between Kaimeer and Boer, north of Kur [nederl.: Koer] ).
 
Tayandu Islands:
Nusreen Island (nederl.: Noesreen), Tayandu Islands.
Taam Island, south of Ohoitom, west coast of Tam Island (nederl.: Taam), Tayandu Islands.
Wawoekebaf (Woewoekabaw), southern tip of Tayandu.
Taj (=small island at SW coast of Wahir island), Tayando Islands.
Tayandu Islands.
 
Kei Dullah Island:
Kabaeoe, close to southern tip of Kei Dullah.
Ohoitahit (Ohoitaheit [Ohoitei]), eastern coast of Kei Dullah (nederl.: Kei-Doellah).
Wanit (nederl.: Vanit), eastern coast of Kei Dullah.
Pulau Kelwik (nederl.: Poeloe Kilwick), off west coast of Kei Dullah.
Naam, northern tip of Kei Dullah.
Tandjong Serbat, northern tip of Kei Dullah.
Dulalaut (=Doelah, Dullah Laut), Palau Duroa Island.
 
Smaller Kei Island:
Oet (sample numbers RF66, RF78 [Oet east coast], RF 81 [Oet west coast], RF 82).
Noehoe Tan (RF83).
Nai (RF 74, Nai south coast).
 
Additional material comes from Adadet, Elrwak, Lem, Mator Janat, Mukus, Noeniai, Oebniwan, Ohoiwatjar (= ? Ohoiwait, Kei Besar Island), and Reejanat (= ? Pulau Reejanat).
 
 
History:
These samples were transferred in 2005 to the former collections manager at the NMB, Mr. René Panchaud. No extra documentation was delivered with the material. According to Hottinger (pers. communication from 14 November, 2006) it was collected by Fritz Weber, an early 20th century geologist from Basel and working in Indonesia, and a close fried to Prof. August Tobler. Most of the bags are labelled with a number and with a locality name (in Dutch), from where it became clear that the materials have been collected at various places in the Kai Islands.
 
Some of this material was used in the PhD thesis of Roger Lehmann (1961) (observations on Marginopora and Amphisorus [Standort] ).
 
See also the collection of Bursch, J.G. (1947). Mikropaläontologische Untersuchungen des Tertiärs von Gross Kei (Molukken). Schweizerische Paläontologische Abhandlungen, 65:1-69, plates 1-5. (PhD dissertation).
 
Curatorial reminder:
Additional Weber material from the Kai Islands and F. Weber's collection of beach-sands from Java were deposited along the Indonesian materials of Lukas Hottinger (in the former raw material cellar), and now is recombined with the Weber-collection mentioned above.
 
More information about the recent beach sand collection of Fritz Weber is deposited in the archive of the geological department of the NMB, alongside to the correspondence of A. Tobler with F. Weber. Of particular interest are two letters from Weber to Tobler dated from 23 May and 12 September 1923, where the material is mentioned, together with maps showing sampling localities.
 
Another map showing the location of Skat island is deposited in the geological archive under Schenker, M. (1953, [unpublished] ). Akten und Schliffprotokolle der Tenimber-Inseln, Molukken, Sammlung Fr. Weber, 1923/24.
Xerox copies of the letters and maps are now deposited alongside the collection.
 
Fritz Weber used the following numbering key to some of his samples (see card-file catalogue to the collections of F. Weber, also in the geological archive):
 
GK=Gross Kei
KK=Klein Kei
KD=Kei-Doelah
WK=W-islands of KK
T=Tajendo
K=Koer
TW=Tenimber W-islands
L=Fordata and Larat
J=Jamdena
 
Standort