We recognize that the publication of this obituary is long overdue but we wished to proceed with publication in order to recognize Dr Burger's accomplishments over the years.
Kurt Burger was born on 3rd August 1927 in Bausnitz in the District of Trautenau in the Bohemian Riesengebirge. He went to the local primary school there and to the secondary school in Schatzlar. He then trained as a mining-surveying technician in the Schatzlar coal mines. He was a soldier in World War II for a short time before he was taken prisoner. On his release, since he had no home to go back, he found his way to the Ruhr mining district, where he joined the mining-surveying section at the Consolidation coal mine, which belonged to the Mannesmann Steel Pipe Co. (mannesmannröhrenwerke) in Gelsenkirchen-Schalke.
As early as in 1947, Kurt Burger supplied the mine directors with detailed reports on the mine reserves, from both the resources and geological points of view, including qualitative and quantitative estimates of the reserves in the Bochumer, Essener, and Horster Schichten in the area of the coal mine. Particular regard was paid to the application of coal petrography in his studies of the coal seams. These reports provided valuable information for mine planning as well as for the initial crushing and blending plants for coking coal in the Ruhr District.
From 1949 to 1952, he had attended the School of Mines in Bochum and passed his Dipl. Ing. and mining-surveying foreman's (Vermessungssteiger) examinations. In 1969, in connection with the company's integration into the Ruhrkohle AG, he was made senior mining-surveying foreman (Vermessungsobersteiger) and put in charge of the company's geological department. At that time stratigraphic classification of the coal-bearing strata was based on extensive marine horizons containing index fossils, as well as on the grade of coalification. However, this often proved to be insufficient for the purpose. Dr. Kurt Burger found that carbonaceous tonstein horizons interbedded in the coal seams provided an extra but important aid in regionally correlating the coal seams. He devoted many years to detailed work on the practical application, texture, composition, genesis, and distribution of tonsteins. Fine glass fragments, idiomorphic apatite, sanidine, and characteristic clay minerals were found as constituents of the tonsteins and provided reliable evidence that volcanic activity had produced this characteristic facies. An additional factor was that, on account of their volcanic constituents, the tonsteins could be dated using the potassium-argon method.
Kurt Burger devoted his life to the work of collection, study, and interpretation of these tonsteins. As a result, he has earned the recognition and esteem of his colleagues worldwide.