Historical photographs by South African geologist Alexander L. du Toit taken along the Transandine Railway (Argentina-Chile) in 1923

Abstract

South African geologist Alexander du Toit spent three months in 1923 doing reconnaissance mapping in South America, which resulted in his seminal 1927 work “A Geological Comparison of South America and South Africa”. A few photographs taken by du Toit were published, but most were destroyed in a devasting fire in April 2021. Some surviving annotated images, giving locations, of a trip du Toit had made from Argentina to Chile on the Transandine Railway, in 1923, are reproduced here. They may help with recognizing landscape changes, such as due to melting glaciers, during the century since the photographs were taken.