GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Dark corridors, narrow winding staircases, and hidden Trinidad treasures lay within the Natural History Museum in Basel (NMB), Switzerland. I am a Trini micropalaeontologist (I study microscopic fossils) researching the Trinidad archives at the NMB.
Since the early 1900s, Swiss (and other international) micropalaeontologists were drawn to Trinidad for the exploration of oil.
Dr Hans Kugler (1893-1986), a Swiss micropalaeontologist and geologist, gained the honoured title as "father of Trinidad’s geology" after working in Trinidad for more than 45 years.
In 1959, Hans Kugler retired back to Basel after which he became the honorary head of department at the NMB.
At the NMB, he preserved a great amount of Trinidad’s history in the form of maps, documents, literature, photos, and samples.
Samples range from rocks, microscopic and macro (can be seen with the naked eye) fossils, cores from oil wells, and thin sections (thin slices of rocks that are examined under the microscope).
I am the first Trinidadian researcher to re-establish a connection with the NMB after more than 25 years of dormancy. I am providing expert insight into the Trinidad archives.
Some of my interesting finds include some of the oldest macro fossils found in Trinidad, historical photos of early oil wells, and famous microscopic fossils.
Photos and material presented here were sourced from the micropalaeontological collections at the NMB1.
[caption id="attachment_964782" align="alignnone" width="1024"] PHOTO 1: Micro fossil (cephalopod) from Trinidad. Photo courtesy the Geological Society[/caption]
Photo 1 shows a fossilised cephalopod found in northern Trinidad. Cephalopods are shelled marine organisms that lived in the world’s oceans between 450 to 66 million years ago.
Interestingly, Trinidad’s Northern Range is of different origin than central and south Trinidad. Around (at least) 22 million years ago, the movement of the Earth’s crust resulted in the translation of the Northern Range land mass from the Venezuela area.
This land mass was subsequently welled onto the land mass of the central and southern Trinidad. As such, fossils found within the Northern Range may not always be found in central and south Trinidad, and vice versa.
This also explains why oil, found abundantly in south Trinidad, is not found in northern Trinidad.
Photo 2 shows oil well No 2 drilled in Guayaguayare, south Trinidad, in December 1902.
The well was completed to 1007 feet in March 1903 and had several oil shows.
In 1857, the first documented oil well was drilled in La Brea by Merrimac Company. The well struck oil and was drilled to approximately 280 ft. However, due to low funds it was classified as being unsuccessful.
[caption id="attachment_964783" align="alignnone" width="1024"] PHOTO 2: Well No 2 in Guayaguayare, Trinidad 1902. Photo courtesy the Geological Society [/caption]
Kugler Archives at the NMB reported in 1797 the first occurrence of hydrocarbons in Trinidad by Sir Ralph Abercrombey: a gas eruption
