What is it about carbonates that to leads their foremost students to compose massive tomes? The great opus of Erik Flügel, Microfacies of Carbonate Rocks (second edition, 2004), is such a work and, like the Bathurst book, has had tremendous influence on the community of carbonate researchers. Also recalling Bathurst, Erik Flügel was held in great admiration and affection by his colleagues who organized a special issue of the journal Facies (which he founded) in his honor. Erik Flügel was born in Steiermark, Austria and studied at the universities of Graz and Marburg, receiving a Ph.D. in 1957. He pursued his research interests at the Natural History Museum in Vienna, at the Technical University of Darmstadt, and ultimately became chair of the Institute of Paleontology at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. His work was central to the development of "microfacies analysis", an approach that applies an understanding of modern ecosystems to the interpretation of ancient biotic components and depositional settings of carbonate rocks. One of his trademark innovations was making oversized thin sections, up to 8x10 cm, that provided larger-scale views of the symbiotic relationships of organisms. His book is richly illustrated with beautiful photomicrographs and has something to teach you about almost every kind of carbonate rock imaginable. Erik Flügel
Photograph provided by
Mrs. Erentraud Fluegel-Kahler