Collections of Alfred Senn

Collections of Alfred Senn

Alfred Senn has completed his PhD study in the Southern Alps (see Senn, A., 1924). Later he worked in Barbados and Cuba (main working areas) and in Venezuela, Tobago, St. Barthélémé (West Indies), and NW Morocco (1933-1934).

1.) Archive of A. Senn

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A documentation of Alfred Senn's materials exists in K3, comprising the fieldbooks of A. Senn (Maroc I and II, 1933-1934), Algeria (1935), from the Lesser Antilles, and from Barbados. There are also reports, notes, sections, and drawings from A. Senn from his work with various collaborators.
A. Senn's card-file catalogues: Sample numbers S 1 to S 799, and S 800 to S1513, also including a card file about pit samples and N.V.P. numbers (Northern Venezuela Petroleum Company numbers). For enclosures about detailed stratigraphic sections from N.V.P. locations in Venezuela from A. Senn see the Archive of H.G. Kugler, Venezuela, Box No. 35.
A second cardfile catalogue in two wooden boxes with A. Senn numbers (S 1 through S 1513, Barbados materials), and containing a card file and a fieldbook of C.S. Lee (various Craelius-Wells, and L. 1 through L. 240, all Barbados materials). On Craelius-Well #1 see H.G. Kugler (1936, unpublished).

For further description of natural and ground-water resources of Barbados, see also the reports Senn, A. (1944) and Senn, A. (1946), respectively. A third catalogue of A. Senn samples exists also.

There also exists a hand drawn section from the Boscobelle area, NW Barbados (Scotland District), showing TLL sampling numbers, together with a geomorphological map 1:1000 from Boscobelle area, showing locations of samples taken by Charles S. Lee in the 1950ies (sampling numbers beginning with L for Lee), see Archive of Charles S. Lee in the maps collection.

2.) Alfred Senn's collection from Barbados, W.I.

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A major collection of washed and picked residues in glass vials from Paleogene to early Neogene sections from the eastern Coast and central area of Barbados, West Indies (see Barbados sampling areas). A large portion of the benthic foraminiferal fauna was determined by J.-P. Beckmann (1953) in his PhD thesis "Die Foraminiferen der Oceanic Formation (Eocaen-Oligocaen) von Barbados, Kl. Antillen. Original charts of A. Senn Samples from Mount Hillaby Section, Bath Section, and Consets Section (all three from Barbados) is deposited with the materials.



Publications and documentation enclosed with the collection:

A. Senn (1939 and 1940). Paleogene of Barbados and its bearings on the history and structure of the Antillen-Caribbean region. A copy of the company report with field maps (Conset Bay area) and cross sections (Ragged Point, easternmost part of Barbados) showing Senn numbers is enclosed with the materials, and a reprint of the 1940 publication are enclosed.

Along with this report a set of detailed maps and sections from various Barbados study areas, that was compiled by Alfred Senn from 1938 to 1948 is enclosed. The original drawings and transparencies of these sections are deposited in the archive under Barbados/A. Senn.

Senn, A. (1946). Report of the British Union Oil Company Limited on geological investigations of the groundwater resources of Barbados, B.W.I. Standort: map archive, Lista unit 15, drawer 10.

A. Senn (1947). Die Geologie der Insel Barbados B.W.I. (Kleine Antillen) und die Morphogenese der umliegenden marinen Grossformen (a reprint is included).

A copy of J.-P. Beckmann (1953).

A list of Bath Cliff samples collected by A. Senn.

See also unpublished notes and reports of H.G. Kugler on Barbados geology, Kugler, H.G. (1961), Caudri, C.M.B. (1972), The larger foraminifera of the Scotland District of Barbados, and De Cizancourt, M. (1948a), Nummulithes de l'ile de Barbade (Petits Antilles); and the collection of fish remains from Edgard Casier (1966).

Collection of partially unpublished topographic and geological maps, sections and range charts from Barbados, compiled by A. Senn between 1934 and 1948.

A list with a correlation between Senn field numbers and NMB locality numbers (status: 18.7.1997) is deposited with the collection (Standort: K3/C18/4/122).

3.) A collection of washed and picked residues from various Trinidad formations, collected by A. Senn, partially during the Trinidad Geological Conference 1939. See H.G. Kugler's Stratigraphic Collection of Trinidad.

4.) Alfred Senn's collections from Northern Venezuela:
For a survey of areas included see the PhD thesis of Hunter, V.F. (1979). The biostratigraphy and geological definition of the Mid-Tertiary stratigraphic unit of northern Venezuela and adjacent areas. Another useful source of information is the stratigraphic lexicon available under http://www.pdvsa.com/lexico/


4.1.) Reference collection to Senn, A. (1935a). Die stratigraphische Verbreitung der tertiären Orbitoiden, mit spezieller Berücksichtigung ihres Vorkommens in Nord-Venezuela und Nord-Marokko. Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae, vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 51-113 (a copy of the paper is included), and to Senn, A. (1935b). Nachtrag zu: Die stratigraphische Verbreitung der Tertiären Orbitoiden. Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae, vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 369-373.

This is an extended collection of isolated foraminiferal hypotypoids in Fema-cells, rock samples, and thin sections. In particular there are two boxes with thin sections of larger foraminifera, which are part of the colln. of H.G. Kugler et al., North Venezuela Petroleum Company. See also the studies of Brönnimann (Brönnimann, P. (1938) and Brönnimann, P. (1940) in particular) for a re-investigation of larger foraminifera from materials collected by A. Senn.

For further documents see also in the Archive of A. Senn.
See also the Archive of H.G. Kugler, Venezuela, Box No. 35 (A. Senn's enclosures to reports from Venezuela).

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4.2.) Micropaleontological residues from N.V.P. (Northern Venezuelan Petroleum Company) drillsites and localities). For stratigraphic references see also the stratigraphic lexicon available under http://www.pdvsa.com/lexico/

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On 24.7.2003 René Panchaud discovered a box containing yellow sample bags with washed residues, and that were labelled with blue numbers. According to Felix Wiedenmayer (4.8.2003) these samples come from Northern Venezuela:

Blue numbers are N.V.P. (Northern Venezuelan Petroleum Company) locality numbers. There exists a card catalogue about N.V.P. numbers (Standort of N.V.P. catalogue: in metal box together with the "old" mollusk collection from Venezuela, Kasten No. 302-303 [="Non Gibbson Smith Venezuela Collection"], on the floor of Ex Peter Jung office). The sample bags contain washed residues, mostly very poor in microfossils, some with benthic foraminifers, a few also with planktic foraminifers.

The barred numbers (L-numbers) on the yellow sample bags correspond to "Leuzinger" Field Numbers.

More and detailed information about Caribbean and Northern South American collections (e.g. collectors, field numbers, etc) are available from the CARIBLOC computer files of Felix Wiedenmayer P:\FELIX\DBDATA\CARIBLOC.DBF

Note: Additional Venezuelan and N.V.P. Material is available in the collections of Senn, Kugler, Vaughan, etc. in K3/Venezuela Colln (Kasten 130, 200 and 223).

For literature: refer to micropal hand-library of H.G. Kugler in micropal library (Weisser Bär) and in archive of H.G. Kugler.

5.) Colln A. Senn (1949)/Tobago / Balanus Beds (Ex wooden cabinet 139/18)

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A collection of fossil balanids from Balanus Beds in cliff westwards from Robinson Crusoe Hotel (in Scarborough), Tobago. The materials were collected in March 1943. Note also associated collections of H.G. Kugler from Balanus Beds from Tobago.

Numbers iclude St. 236, TLL 74508, and NMB 10160, NMB 10162, NMB 10163.

6.) Colln. Alfred Senn from Morocco

Reference collection to Senn, A. (1934). Contribution à la stratigraphie des terraines nummulitiques de la région entre Ouezzane et Souk-el-Arba (Rharb) [NW Morocco]. I Rapport. Unpublished type-written report (81 p.), II Annexes, including range charts, maps, and stratigraphic column sections indicating sampling locations (S-numbers).

In the archive of Alfred Senn (currently in K3) there exist also further notes, sample lists and correspondence and the field-books (1933-1934) of Alfred Senn while studying in Morocco and Algeria (fieldbooks from 1935).

The collection includes many washed residues stored in paper bags, rock specimens and macrofossils, all labelled with Senn (S-) numbers. The samples in paper bags were later restudied by P. Brönnimann and also by L. Hottinger.

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7.) Dissertation of Alfred Senn (Southern Switzerland)

Reference collection to Senn, A. (1924). Beiträge zur Geologie des Alpensüdrandes zwischen Mendrisio und Varese. Eclogae geol. Helv. 18(4): 550-632. Large collection of rock samples and thin sections. A reprint of the dissertation is deposited with the collection.

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