Carte physique de L'Ile de Palma par Leopold de Buch.

Plate III from Atlas des Iles Canaries. Engraved by P. Tardieu in 1824. In lower left corner "Dessiné sur les lieux par Leopold de Buch en 1814".
Christian Leopold Freiherr von Buch (April 26, 1774 – March 4, 1853) was a German geologist and paleontologist born in Stolpe an der Oder (now a part of Angermünde, Brandenburg) and is remembered as one of the most important contributors to geology in the first half of the nineteenth century.
His scientific interest was devoted to a broad spectrum of geological topics: volcanism, fossils, stratigraphy and more.
In 1815 he visited the Canary Islands in company with Christian Smith, a Norwegian botanist. These volcanic isles furnished the starting point from which von Buch commenced a regular course of study on the production and activity of volcanoes. This is attested by his standard work on the subject entitled Physical Description of the Canary Isles (1825). His observations convinced him that these and other islands of the Atlantic owed their existence to volcanic action of the most intense kind, and that the groups of islands in the South Sea were the remains of a pre-existing continent. During his time in the Canary Islands, he visited the Las Cañadas Caldera on Tenerife and the Caldera de Taburiente on La Palma. When he published his memoirs and observations about his excursion, he introduced the Spanish word "Caldera" for "Bowl" into the geological and scientific vocabulary. On his return from the Canaries he visited the basaltic group of the Hebrides and the coasts of Scotland and Ireland.
His geological excursions, even in countries which he had repeatedly visited before, continued without interruption until a very advanced age: eight months before his death he visited the mountains of Auvergne, and on returning home he read a paper on the Jurassic formation before the Academy of Berlin. Humboldt, who had known him intimately for a period of more than 60 years, called him the greatest geologist of that period. Von Buch was unmarried and lived aloof from the world, entirely devoted to scientific pursuits. His excursions were always taken on foot, with a staff in his hand, and the large pockets of his overcoat filled with papers and geological instruments.
He died in Berlin.