Carl Troll: His footprints in physical geography

摘要

Carl Troll published numerous articles in various fields of geography. The present article is focused on some remarkable publications that have essentially contributed to progress in physical geography. Articles on the relationships between vegetation and climates at the global and at the regional and local scales in a three-dimensional view play a major role in this respect. Among them is the map of the seasonal climates of the earth (1964). His detailed vegetation map (1: 50,000) of the Nanga Parbat regions must also be mentioned in this context. Troll's extensive and profound article Patterned ground and solifluction' (1944) and a few related publications, however, have been at least as important and inspired younger generations of physical geographers. Troll was also a pioneer in modern high-mountain geography. It was mainly Troll's comparative approach to the world's high mountains that made his studies so valuable and unique.