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Blatt, H. & Tracy, R. J. 1996. Petrology. Igneous, Sedimentary, and
Metamorphic, 2nd ed. xix + 529 pp. New York, Basingstoke: W. H. Freeman &
Co. Price £34.95, US $64.95 (hard cove...
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Geol. Mag. 134 (1), 1997, pp. 121–142. Copyright © 1997 Cambridge University Press
REVIEWS
TANKARD, A. J., SUAREZ SORUCO, R. & WELSINK, H. J. (eds) 1996.
Petroleum Basins of South America. AAPG Memoir no.
62. xiii + 792 pp. Tulsa: American Association of
Petroleum Geologists. Price US $74.00 (members’ price
US $49.00) plus shipping and handling; hard covers. ISBN
0 89181 341 1.
Petroleum Basins of South America is dedicated to the memory
of Juan Keidel (1877–1954). Dr Keidel was the first head of the
Argentinian Geological Survey. He was a staunch supporter of
Wegener’s ideas of continental drift, in the days when such
ideas were considered heretical, before the plate tectonic revolution. This fact sets the stage for the book, because it is much
more than a volume on South American Petroleum Basins. One
of its most useful attributes is the way in which paper after paper
set South American basins into their wider setting in
Gondwanaland.
The book is divided into four parts: Regional Setting,
Paleozoic Basins, Mesozoic Rifts, Andean Basins, and Northern
South America. Each part consists of about ten papers. These
are largely co-authored by a mixture of indigenous and exotic
geologists. The first part, Regional Setting, is particularly useful. It opens with a paper by Tankard and a whole field party of
co-authors, on ‘Structural and Tectonic Controls of Basin
Evolution in Southwestern Gondwana During the Paleozoic’.
This gives an account of the separation of South America from
southern Africa supported by details of the geology of the two
regions. This paper is followed by one on ‘Oil and Gas
Discoveries and Basin Resource Predictions in Latin America’.
This short paper provides a succinct statistical review of the history of discovery and distribution of South American oil and gas
fields. Then comes a paper on ‘Petroleum Basins of Southern
South America: An Overview’. This helpful paper presents a
series of palaeogeographic maps that extend out into the
Atlantic Ocean to include the Falkland Islands, sorry, Malvinas,
basin. Williams then presents ‘A Tectonic Subsidence Analysis
and Paleozoic Paleogeography of Gondwanaland’. This paper
includes global plate and palaeogeographic reconstructions
throughout Phanerozoic time. These extend beyond
Gondwanaland to include the continents of the present Northern
Hemisphere, making this a very valuable contribution. After a
paper on the ‘Evolution of the Andes, and its Control on
Hydrocarbon Habitat’, Part 1 concludes with a paper on the
‘Correlation of the Phanerozoic strata of South America’. This
helps readers of the later papers in the volume to see how the
various stratigraphic terminologies relate from basin to basin.
The 161 pages that together make up the first part of this
volume justify its publication irrespective of the merit of the
subsequent papers. These will not be reviewed in detail. Suffice
to say they provide an excellent intimate account of the habitat
of oil and gas in South American petroleum basins. The papers
are illustrated with maps, cross-sections, burial history curves,
seismic lines, and photographs of cores, photomicrographs and
even rocky outcrops. There is a considerable number of pull-out
pages for the display of regional seismic lines and their geological interpretation. Colour printing is sparingly used, and is
largely restricted to landscape water colours at the commencement of each part. These are in the primitive style that some will
admire. The book concludes with a full subject index.
Considered overall, Petroleum Basins of South America is an
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essential source of information for any petroleum explorationist
interested in Gondwanaland in general and South America in
particular. Juan Keidel would be well pleased.
R. C. Selley
TURNER, P. & TURNER, A. (eds) 1995. Palaeomagnetic
Applications in Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production.
Geological Society Special Publication no. 98. vi + 301 pp.
London, Bath: Geological Society of London. Price
£65.00, US $108.00 (hard covers); members’ price £39.00,
US $65.00. ISBN 1 897799 42 X.
Because most sedimentary rocks possess only tiny amounts of
ferromagnetic minerals they could not be properly studied during the first three decades of palaeomagnetic research. Only red
sediments were considered to be widely usable, and even in this
case it was quickly recognized that protracted histories of lithification and diagenesis, as well as sensitivity to later tectonism,
were often responsible for multiple magnetization and often
complete overprinting. Since the 1980s the advent of sensitive
cryogenic magnetometers and improved techniques of demagnetization and analysis have opened up the sedimentary rocks to
systematic study. Inevitably hydrocarbon-bearing rocks have
proved to be an important focus of investigation. This volume is
a compilation of 18 research papers from academic and industrial contributors which summarizes the state of the art in these
studies. Whilst most of the results described in the book come
from western Europe, and especially from the North Sea Basin,
examples from North America and New Zealand are also
included.
The most obvious application of palaeomagnetism to oilfield
investigation, namely borehole to borehole correlation, actually
proves to be the least efficacious. Although stable magnetizations are usually recoverable, their origins are complex. This
means that zones of normal and reversed polarity can seldom be
definitively correlated with the Geomagnetic Polarity Time
Scale and all such correlations have to be made within an existing biostratigraphic framework. Nevertheless, as this book
makes clear, palaeomagnetism has other, and often unique,
contributions to make to studies of oilfield diagenesis. Thus a
primary depositional magnetic remanence may only survive in
rare chromite and manganese minerals, possibly released in part
from silicate hosts, because the more common magnetic
minerals are preferentially leached. New magnetic minerals
may then be formed which are a record of later events.
The seepage of hydrocarbons, for example, produces a transient reducing environment: iron oxides are replaced by iron
sulphides to produce an effect which is often of prospecting
value. In boreholes it leads to changes in magnetic intensities
and susceptibilities which correlate with zones of high porosity.
The direction of the secondary remanence produced at this stage
can be used to date the timing of oil migration. Other examples
are given where the comparison between zones of primary magnetization (of detrital or early chemical origin) and diagenetic
remanence can separate zones of former vertical and lateral
fluid flow.
There is a developing methodology associated with the
palaeomagnetic study of borecores which is also documented in
this book. The viscous magnetizations acquired in the Recent
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magnetic field by grains with short magnetic relaxation times
can be used to orientate the core. However, any ancient remanence has first to be separated from magnetizations which may
have been acquired during drilling and extraction. These include
a drilling induced remanence caused by the effects of the core
barrel, and a partial thermal remanence acquired as the borecore
is raised from the elevated temperatures at depth in the oilfield.
The first effect can be recognized and isolated by controlled
plugging on opposite sides of the borecore whilst the latter can
be separated by thermal demagnetization.
The editors are to be commended for compiling a volume of
value to all workers aiming to integrate palaeomagnetic and
rock magnetic studies into comprehensive recovery of data from
boreholes.
J. D. A. Piper
WHITE, D. J. 1996. Upgrading Coal: the Essential Step for
Sustaining Future Markets. vi + 111 pp. Petersfield:
McCloskey Coal Information Service. Price £350.00, US
$595.00 (paperback). No ISBN.
PORTER, D. & SCHMITZ, J. 1995. Utility Coal Procurement.
‘Perspectives’ series, no. IEAPER/20. 31 pp. London: IEA
Coal Research. Price £255 (paperback); substantial discounts to member countries and educational establishments. ISBN 92 9029 259 8.
CARPENTER, A. M. 1995. Coal Blending for Power Stations.
IEACR/81. 83 pp. London: IEA Coal Research. Price £450
(paperback); substantial discounts to member countries
and educational establishments. ISBN 92 9029 256 3.
With a continued rise in world coal production and more competition in world markets, the question of improving the quality
of product will become increasingly important. In a relatively
slim but expensive volume (with no educational discount),
White considers the range of options for coal upgrading. The
volume comprises twelve sections: summary and conclusions;
introduction; coal cleaning technologies; environmental pressures on the use of coal; established preparation processes;
recent developments and alternative physical cleaning; chemical and bio-chemical cleaning; associated developments; utilities companies growing awareness of quality issues; the logic of
use cycle analysis; prospects for clean coal in advance use
options; prospects for upgraded coals in international trade. It is
clear that the message here is that for a coal producer to remain
competitive, coal cleaning processes are an important consideration. This volume is interesting but it is not particularly well
illustrated or extensive and most libraries will be put off by the
cost.
Whilst the previous volume concerns issues important for the
producers of coal in providing an improved product, the volume
by Porter & Schmitz concerns those purchasing coal. This slim
volume assesses the coal procurement practices and strategies
of the electricity utilities. An understanding of the practices of
the purchasers is vital for coal producers and will affect everyone in the coal industry including geologists. The volume is
well written but is so slim that I doubt it will find its way onto
library shelves, which is a pity as it makes interesting reading.
Once coal has been purchased it will be burnt in coal-fired
power stations. The run-of-of-the mine coal from the seam can
rarely be burnt and an important element in coal purchasing is
the blending of a variety of coals to very tight specifications.
This volume comprises nine chapters: introduction; why
blend?; methods of blending; assessing blend properties; combustion properties and behaviour; ash properties and behaviour;
emissions; conclusions and references. Many geologists are
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concerned with the location of coals and a few with their extraction but few will worry how coal is burnt. This area will continue to remain important in the future as more emphasis is
placed upon using resources efficiently and reducing pollution.
As pointed out by the report the behaviour of coals in a boiler is
affected by: the nature of the coal blend; the limitations imposed
by the boiler design, burner position, physical configuration and
the heat transfer area in different parts of the boiler; and the
operating conditions used, control possibilities and instrumentation. In a useful chapter the authors discuss a wide range of
methods for the assessment of coal blends. Interestingly coal
petrography is widely used but no mention is made of the possibility of using palaeobotanical data. This highlights the divide
between those working on how coal is formed and how coal is
used. It is important for future research that coal geologists and
technologists talk to each other. In this light I would recommend
this volume to coal geologists so that they may see how they
may contribute to future research programmes on coal combustion. I hope that the title will not put off geological libraries
from purchasing the volume.
Andrew C. Scott
JOLLY, L., MILLSTEED, C. & STUART, R. 1994. Indonesian Coal
Prospects to 2010. ‘Perspectives’ series, no. IEAPER/14.
38 pp. London: IEA Coal Research. Price not stated
(paperback). ISBN 92 9029 246 6.
DANIEL, M. 1995. Asian Coal Prospects to 2010. ‘Perspectives’
series, no. IEAPER/18. 64 pp. London: IEA Coal
Research. Price £255 (paperback); substantial discounts to
member countries and educational establishments. ISBN
92 9029 252 0.
Whilst there may be a temptation to believe, based on the experience of the UK, that coal is in severe decline, evidence from
Asia–Pacific paints a rather different picture. From these two
interesting and informative reports it is shown that over recent
years energy demand has grown rapidly in most Asian countries. Indeed in India alone coal production rose from 90.6 million tonnes in 1982 to 174.8 million tonnes in 1992 and
production has continued to rise. Here, however, the coal has
been used for domestic electricity output. Even in Asian countries with low coal, use has increased with Japan for example
increasing coal use by 15 million tonnes over the period. In
total, therefore, coal use in Asian countries (excluding China
and Indonesia) has increased from 220 to 364 million tonnes. So
what of the future to 2010? In total the demand for coal is
predicted to rise from 493 million tonnes to between 733 and
1015 million tonnes – so who says prospects for coal are low?!
From the analysis of supply and demand it is clear that demand
is likely to outstrip supply thus being one important target for
coal exporters such as Australia.
Indonesia is one country in Asia which is developing its coal
industry to take advantage of this ever expanding market. In the
report it is considered that Indonesia’s coal exports are likely to
continue to rise to reach around 35 million tonnes per year but is
unlikely to increase beyond 45 Mt/y because of the limited
size of Indonesia’s higher quality coal reserves. The domestic
market for coal is also projected to rise substantially. Coal
production has risen from almost nothing in 1982 to 28 Mt in
1993. Much of this (18 Mt) was exported. Production is projected to rise substantially over the next few years to between 50
and 64 Mt by the year 2000.
These two volumes, packed with important data on the coal
industries of many Asian countries, provide important insights
into the world coal trade. Clearly a UK approach which belittles
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coal is not appropriate and these volumes show the underlying
strength of a important fossil fuel industry. I hope that both
these volumes will find their way onto geology department
library shelves.
Andrew C. Scott
SWEETING, M. M. 1995. Karst in China. Its Geomorphology and
Environment. Springer Series in Physical Environment
Volume 15. xi + 265 pp. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York,
Barcelona, Budapest, Hong Kong, London, Milan, Paris,
Tokyo: Springer-Verlag. Price DM 198.00, Ös 1445.40,
SFr 187.00 (hard covers). ISSN 0937-3047; ISBN 3 540
58846 9.
This text, published posthumously, is based on extensive excursions to China by Marjorie Sweeting over an 18-year period
from 1977, when scientific visitation became possible after the
end of the cultural revolution. Sweeting spent time at many of
the most important institutions for karst research in China, and
visited many of the karst areas described in the book. China has
a particular and important place in the study of karst areas:
about one quarter of terrestrial carbonates terrains occur within
its boundaries, and as 60% of the Chinese population depend on
food produced in limestone areas, indigenous scientific study
has a long and illustrious tradition; indeed there are presently
more karst specialists in China than any other country in the
world. This book, reporting on Chinese approaches to karst
geomorphology, is thus of some interest.
The text adopts a predominantly regional approach. After
three initial thematic chapters dealing with the physical context
(a useful chapter), the history of karst studies and karst terminology and types in China, the next seven chapters are devoted
to specific karst areas and the karst types present. There are two
further thematic chapters on the position of China in world karst
studies and on karst hydrogeology and chemical characteristics
of karst waters. The latter is somewhat weak given the extensive
exploitation of karst waters in China, and focuses predominantly on regional hydrological differences, rather than dealing
with applied hydrogeology or the Chinese approach to development of karst water resources.
The general approach adopted is very much classical, with
extensive descriptions of the physical setting and morphology
of the surface, and to a lesser extent underground landforms
supported by maps and photographs (reproduced to a high standard), and morphometric data. This will undoubtedly prove of
utility to those lacking prior experience of the Chinese karst, but
a number of Chinese papers in English have also covered the
same ground, although with much less detail. In the Preface,
Sweeting identifies the significant barriers to communication
which she and other western geomorphologists face in China,
relating not simply to language but also the less analytical and
more descriptive Chinese thinking on landforms. She has therefore drawn heavily on Chinese work published in English,
which is perhaps intellectually more accessible to a nonChinese audience, and also on studies by western scientists
(some 40% of the references included). In particular, the review
of Barbary et al. (1991) is used extensively in the introductory
chapters, while the maps and diagrams of the 1985 China Caves
Project form a significant contribution to chapters 4 and 5
(although I note some of the maps used are not attributed to this
source (e.g. Figure 24 of the Guanyan Cave system)).
The text is in fact a synthesis of these published sources, with
little if any new research or insight offered. More seriously,
much of the published work is accepted uncritically. For
instance, no actual data or surveys are presented which demon-
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strate the occurrence of multiple levels in the Guilin karst (p.
72). Similarly, in discussing climatic controls on limestone dissolution rates (pp. 23–27) no indication is given of the techniques used, or of the reliability of the differences reported.
Morphometric and other data are also reproduced from the original source without any indication of variance, and often with a
spurious degree of precision, e.g. Table 11, p. 68, quotes percentages of 263 isolated peaks developed on different rock
types to two decimal places (not ± 0.5%), while Table 12 suggests that we are able to measure cumulative volumes of caves
totalling in excess of 100 000 m3 to the nearest cubic metre. A
secondary result of the extensive inclusion of figures and tables
derived from other studies, is that in some cases captions are
inadequate, and do not provide a complete key to the figure. For
instance, Figure 23 on p. 83 has no explanation of the symbols
used either for the variables graphed (H and h implied by the
equations or H/h as marked on the axis), or for the two data sets
A and B plotted, nor is a reason given for the change from filled
to open symbols where the two lines overlap. Finally, some of
the quoted material simply does not support the statements
made in the text. For instance, the largest caves in the Guilin
area apparently occur in sparry limestones because ‘…of their
greater physico-mechanical strength (i.e. low permeability and
porosity (0.67%) and greater compressive, tensile and shearing
strengths (Table 3))’ (p. 69). In fact, Table 3 shows only average
compressive and tensile strengths; the former is identical for
sparry limestones and dolomites, and actually less than for
the micritic limestones, while average tensile strength is greater
by only 4 and 2 kg/cm2 for the dolomites and sparites respectively (but no variance is given for the 9 tests undertaken). No
data at all are presented to support the assertion that the sparry
limestones have a lower corrosion rate.
There are also a number of silly typographic and editorial
errors (for instance p. 13 quotes times in units of BP not yr BP
(although this is well beyond the timescale of 14C dating for
which this style is conventionally adopted), and p. 88 suggests
that total Quaternary denudation is 100–150 mm despite previously quoting a figure of 100–300 mm/1000 years three lines
above). The reviewer’s initials are also wrong in both the text
and (differently!) in the bibliography.
In summary, despite the stiff price I am sure that this book
will be widely quoted, as was Sweeting’s well-known text on
karst landforms. I would, however, urge readers to adopt a
critical approach to the material included.
P. L. Smart
HART, M. B. (ed.) 1996. Biotic Recovery from Mass Extinction
Events. Geological Society Special Publication no. 102.
viii + 392 pp. London, Bath: Geological Society of
London. Price £79.00, US $132.00 (members’ price
£39.00, US $65.00); hard covers. ISBN 1 897799 45 4.
Some time ago Richard Fortey observed that ‘There are extinctions and extinctions’, and so we might also conclude that there
are different sorts of biological recovery after a time of disaster
and ecological trauma. It certainly is rather extraordinary that
the aftermaths of mass extinctions have received so little
attention. Yes, one can understand the almost morbid fascination with dying oceans, impact surges of searing hot rock and
rubble sweeping across defenceless ecosystems, kilometre-high
tsunami crashing down on coastal plains, the blackness at noon
as soot and rock dust lofted high into the atmosphere block out
the sunlight, but sooner or later the dust settles, the seas return to
normal and life picks up the pieces to rebuild the shattered
ecosystems. Despite the intense interest in the physics and
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chemistry of the process, mass extinctions are only of interest
because they affect a living planet. However severe the disaster
some groups will always pull through, and perhaps in some
circumstances reset the evolutionary and ecological agendas.
This book arises out of IGCP Project 335, the brief of which
is to address biotic recovery from mass extinctions, and it transmits to us the proceedings of a meeting held in 1994 at the
University of Plymouth. Not surprisingly the volume covers a
broad ground, and contains papers that vary from the widely relevant to the parochial. A few are so short that their inclusion is
of questionable usefulness, whereas others are rich in primary
data. Of greatest interest to most readers, I suspect, will be the
first three chapters. Bottjer and co-workers begin with a characteristically interesting and stimulating review that draws
together a number of published strands on such topics as
onshore–offshore patterns, ichnofabrics, and guild occupation.
More specifically in the context of ecospace vacation and refilling they draw attention again to the intriguing resurgence of
stromatolites in early Triassic ecosystems, suggesting a world
that has tumbled back towards a Proterozoic system. They also
speculate, all too briefly, on the connections between ecospace
availability and the surprising fact, at least to some, that new
animal bodyplans do not arise as a consequence of such opportunities. The next chapter, by Kauffman & Harries, is also stimulating, injecting a sense of ecological realism into the mass
extinction debate. They recognize a series of important ecological categories, that will help us to dissect the period of biotic
recovery in a more satisfactory manner. One might question
some of the distinctions drawn, notably between so-called disaster species and ecological opportunists, but their concept of
crisis progenitor taxa will surely find wide applicability. The
next chapter by Harries and co-workers further develops these
themes to indicate ways in which the seemingly chaotic series
of events that we call a mass extinction may be unravelled once
the ecological properties, especially survival mechanisms, are
understood so as to provide a discernible pattern in the fossil
record.
Thereafter the remaining 24 papers for the most part are more
likely to be of interest to the specialist, although as ever there
are gems of information and points of view that will be of benefit to any palaeobiologist. Armstrong, for example, provides an
interesting discussion of the recovery of conodont diversity in
the early Silurian. He identifies the bathyal region of the oceans
as the main recruiting zone for repopulation of the devastated
shelf environments. Whether expansion of the bathyal region
during the transition between the postulated S and P ocean
states would lead to cladogenesis may require further testing,
but the notion of deeper waters providing refugia and sometimes evolutionary reservoirs deserves a more comprehensive
treatment. Two other noteworthy chapters are those by Erwin &
Pan, on Permo-Triassic snails, and DiMichele & Phillips on
the late Carboniferous transition in land floras. The paper
by Erwin & Pan (incidentally the editor has blundered in misreading Pan’s given name of Hua-Zhang as his family name)
raises a whole series of intriguing questions concerning the
Permo-Triassic record of the snails. A largely unacknowledged
problem has been the role of taphonomic filters: a good part of
our knowledge of Permian faunas depends on rich silicified faunas that simply are unavailable in the early Triassic. A particular
peculiarity is the apparent abundance of so-called Lazarus taxa
(surely an inappropriate name; remember Lazarus was dead).
Did these genera, which re-emerge in the mid-Triassic, skulk in
refugia, and if so, where? Alternatively are they simply homeomorphic taxa, and if so what might this tell us about the constraints on snail form? In some ways the chapter by DiMichele
& Phillips takes an even broader approach, but again in expert
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hands. Their discussion of how an ecosystem is transformed has
an importance that goes far beyond those who specialize on
Carboniferous mires because it touches on the way in which we
understand the self-regulatory nature of persistent ecosystems.
Perhaps surprisingly there is little on the K/T boundary itself,
although Spiejer & van der Zwaan’s update of the situation of
the famous section in El Kef, Tunisia is equally useful.
Significantly they question to what extent faunal changes in this
interval are actually controlled by sea-level changes, as is often
supposed, as against oxygenation and productivity. The latter
may make for a more complex story, but ultimately may provide
a more realistic framework to explain the extinctions documented in the benthic forams. A series of other papers draws
more heavily on oxygenation, or lack thereof in Oceanic Anoxic
Events (OAE), especially in the mid-Cretaceous. Taking a different tack Koch reminds us forcibly and sensibly that seeking
to understand mass extinctions on the basis of the examination
of a few stratigraphic sections may be seriously misleading.
Only when data have been collected across a wide geographical
area can some assertions, such as trophic response to the post
K/T world, be made with confidence.
This book has much of value, and certainly should be purchased by libraries. Perhaps its reduced price to members of the
Geological Society of London will act as a bait to those yet to
join this august institution, including your reviewer.
S. Conway Morris
SHAW, H. R. 1994. Craters, Cosmos, and Chronicles. A New
Theory of Earth. xlvii + 688 pp. Stanford: Stanford
University Press; marketed and distributed outside North
America by Cambridge University Press. Price $60.00,
US $79.50 (hard covers). ISBN 0 8047 2131 9.
Textbooks on statistics are fond of exemplifying randomness by
telling us how soldiers in the early days of this century would
take shelter in bomb craters, in the mistaken belief that a location
already hit was less likely to be struck for a second time. Herbert
Shaw’s central thesis in this challenging volume is that the history and location of terrestrial impacts by extraterrestrial objects
is very far from being random, and that there are significant
patterns in both space and time to the record of such impacts.
Further, the impact record is intimately linked with Earth history,
and further again, that the link is not unidirectional in terms of
cause and effect. It may initially be counter-intuitive to think of
the influx of impactors as being in part ‘controlled’ by the internal workings of the Earth, but to one as steeped in the notions of
non-linear dynamics and chaos theory as Shaw, it would actually
be counter-intuitive to think in any other way. Anyone doubtful
of this should consider two well-known facts about the Moon.
One is that the same side of the Moon always faces the Earth;
this phase-locking of its own rotation and its orbital period about
the Earth (what Shaw refers to as ‘spin–orbit resonance’) is not
unique in the Solar System and there are other instances of resonance such as in the distribution of the orbits of the planets. The
other is that the nearside of the Moon shows about twice as many
Copernican period (1100–0 Ma) large craters as does the far
side. Neither of these facts is likely to be in any sense random.
Both are suggestive of non-linear, non-Newtonian effects.
This is a tough and demanding work. Its organization is,
appropriately enough, highly non-linear; the main text comprises a mere 200 pages, but this is previewed in a lengthy
Introduction (60 pages) after which comes a section in which all
of the main illustrations are grouped together with substantial
accompanying explanations (57 pages). The nine chapters of the
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main text are followed by an Epilogue and then by 50 pages of
further illustrations and commentary, then another 182 pages of
chapter notes. The result is that it is virtually impossible to read
the book from beginning to end and the number of pathways
through all of the material is essentially infinite. The overall
dynamic effect is heightened by the author’s enthusiastic style,
which leads him to write sentences of great length and complexity; it is hard to know whether to praise him for his irrepressibility or to castigate him for indiscipline!
As to the science, there is plenty here, and drawn from an
impressive array of subjects (the reference list runs to nearly 80
pages). The book’s subtitle – A New Theory of Earth – tells us
that this is indeed a work of theory, and the challenge will be to
draw from it a number of specific falsifiable hypotheses through
which to test the central thesis. I thoroughly recommend it to
anyone concerned to find new perspectives on Earth history, or
to learn more about the wider implications of non-linear dynamics in the Earth Sciences. The book will not, however, be found
accessible by the broad readership that I think the theory
deserves, and I urge the author to consider making his ideas
more popularly accessible by condensing the essential thesis
into a shorter and more approachable work. I look forward to
reviewing it!
David G. Smith
BUDD, D. A., SALLER, A. H. & HARRIS, P. M. (eds) 1995.
Unconformities and Porosity in Carbonate Strata. AAPG
Memoir No. 63. xii + 313 pp. Tulsa: American Association
of Petroleum Geologists. Price US $119.00 plus shipping
& handling (hard covers); members’ price US $79.00.
ISBN 0 89181 342 X.
Thirty years after Seymour Schlanger (USGS Prof. Paper
260-BB) documented correlatable ‘solution unconformities’ in
the limestone sequences of Pikinni and Anewetak atolls and
concluded that such features indicated periods of low eustatic
sea level, an AAPG Hedberg Research Conference met in Vail,
Colorado, to discuss the detection of unconformities and associated porosity in carbonate strata. This book is an outcome
of that meeting and addresses four major topics: (1) detection of
unconformities and subaerial exposure; (2) modification of
porosity and permeability during subaerial exposure; (3)
preservation of exposure-related porosity during burial; and (4)
influence of unconformities on subsequent depositional and
diagenetic patterns. The editorial foreword is concise and gives
a well written outline of how the chapters contribute to these
topics. These chapters comprise fifteen case studies and, as
such, the book complements a number of excellent previously
published systematic reviews of carbonate diagenesis in the
meteoric zone (James & Choquette, 1984; Lohmann, 1988).
Chapter one is a timely account of the controls and effects of
subaerial exposure on diagenesis within the Plio-Pleistocene
subsurface sequences of Great Bahama Bank (Beach) and is followed by a hydrogeochemical study of diagenesis within uplifted
deposits of similar age from the Ryukyu Islands (Matsuda et al.).
Interestingly, the latter of these chapters argues strongly that the
key to diagenetic alteration in carbonate sequences composed
predominantly of calcite (as opposed to magnesian calcite and
aragonite) is not an active hydrologic environment but CO2
fluxes into the groundwater system. Other chapters include the
following. (i) A regional study of a lower Miocene carbonate
platform from South China introduces the concept of ‘chaotic’ or
diagenetic seismic facies. (ii) Complementary studies of reservoir creation (British North Sea, Vahrenkamp) and reservoir
degradation and compartmentalization (West Texas, China and
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Oman; Wagner et al.). (iii) An analysis of a subaerial exposure
surface and its significance to the designation of sequence
boundaries on the basis of stacking patterns (Devonian, Alberta;
Wendte & Muir). (iv) A study focusing on the identification of
exposure surfaces and porosity preservation (Pennsylvanian and
Lower Permian, Texas; Dickson & Saller). The last mentioned
provides particularly thoughtful treatments of both the factors
determining ultimate porosity and the use of stable isotope profiles to detect subaerial exposure surfaces.
This memoir is generally well illustrated and provides a
useful collection of case studies on a scientifically and economically important topic. At £79 it is not inexpensive.
Paul Wilson
References
LOHMANN, K. C. 1988. Geochemical patterns of meteoric diagenetic
systems and their application to studies of paleokarst. In
Paleokarst (eds N. P. James and P. W. Choquette), pp. 58–80. New
York: Springer-Verlag.
JAMES, N. P. & CHOQUETTE, P. W. 1984. Digenesis 9. Limestones – The
meteoric diagenetic environment. Geoscience Canada 11, 161–94.
LYONS, P. C., MOREY, E. D. & WAGNER, R. H. (eds) 1995.
Historical Perspective of Early Twentieth Century
Carboniferous Paleobotany in North America. Geological
Society of America Memoir 185. xx + 404 pp. Boulder:
Geological Society of America. Price US $105.00 (hard
covers). ISBN 0 8137 1185 1.
This substantial volume comprises 29 chapters documenting the
development of Carboniferous palaeobotany in North America
over the last century. To some extent the title is misleading and
may put off potential readers as there is more here than just historical sketches. The impetus of the volume has come from a
wish by the editors to celebrate and highlight the work of W. C.
Darrah. Darrah, they maintain, has been rather neglected and
they argue that he was a pivotal figure in the development of
Carboniferous palaeobotany in North America and had worldwide influence. His neglect, it is argued, may be related to the
charges of plagiarism following the 1939 publication of his textbook of palaeobotany. It is as if to exorcise this ghost that the
editors push Darrah’s achievements with the zeal of devoted disciples. For myself, who whilst using Darrah’s early work was
never struck by his overwhelming importance, I found mention
of him on almost every page of the 400 page volume rather irksome (the first editor is only cited a little less!). I suspect that
this over enthusiasm may turn off readers from what is an interesting volume in many ways.
The volume is divided into five sections. The first section
contains four articles concerning the life and works of Darrah
(73 pages). Darrah comes over as a normal palaeobotanist publishing, working with colleagues, exchanging letters and
reprints. The detail with which his life is documented seems
rather obsessive. The story of his demise following the charges
of plagiarism is, however, fascinating and I would love to read a
totally objective account. This chapter in Darrah’s life obviously
had a major effect on his research career. A complete bibliography of Darrah’s work is given.
In the second section portraits of five selected European
palaeobotanists are presented: Jogmans, Gothan, Bertrand,
Florin and Stopes. These contributions are of varying quality. In
several cases I was frustrated by the continual insertion of reference to Darrah when clearly this was often peripheral to the
main story. In general I found these essays well written and
interesting although the chapter on Florin came across as rather
superficial, and I would have liked to have seen an article by
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someone who knew or had worked with him or was able to comment on his research. Clearly each of these palaeobotanists was
a major influence on the development of palaeobotany not only
in Europe but also worldwide.
The third section comprises twelve portraits of North
American palaeobotanists. Many of these I would rate very
highly but others had significantly less impact. The portraits of
Schopf, Arnold, Wilson and Andrews are particularly interesting and I appreciated the many and varied photographs that
bring the subject to ‘life’ (two of those highlighted have only
‘retired’!). The fourth section of three portraits highlights amateur collectors and this must be considered of much more local
interest.
The most useful section of this volume to non-historians is
the final one on ‘special papers reflecting W. C. Darrah’s interest
or influence’. I find the title of this section rather pretentious as
many of us have equally broad interests, but the topics chosen
have wide appeal. The first two chapters of this section concern
arguments on stratigraphy and are perhaps less enthralling but
useful in summarizing the history of the many problems in correlation. The final three chapters are of much greater significance and I suspect of all the chapters these will be the most
quoted in the volume. The chapter by Phillips & Cross on early
and mid-twentieth century coal-ball studies in North America
makes fascinating reading about a subject which until only a
few years ago held centre stage in Carboniferous palaeobotany.
I certainly would have liked the story to have been continued!
From a teaching point of view the paper by Gastaldo,
Pfefferkorn & DiMichele is certainly the most useful, considering the taphonomic and sedimentologic characterization of
roof-shale floras. There are here a number of new figures and
summary tables which many will find very useful. These
authors must be congratulated on summarizing an interesting
field with up-to-date information. The final chapter by Cross &
Kosanke considers the history and development of
Carboniferous palynology in North America during the early
and middle twentieth century. This was a most interesting
period with the subject first developing under the impetus of
coal studies and subsequently because of the use of palynology
in oil exploration.
Overall this volume contains a wide variety of material but I
suspect it is one that many on tight library budgets may feel
obliged to omit. Personally I am pleased to have a copy but feel
that at $105 the cost will prohibit many from buying the book. A
slimmer volume without the excessive references to Darrah
would have perhaps been preferable but in this case the volume
would probably not have been written.
Andrew C. Scott
SIMKIN, T. & SIEBERT, L. 1994. Volcanoes of the World, 2nd ed.
xi + 349 pp. Tucson: Geoscience Press for the Smithsonian
Institution. Price US $25.00 (hard covers). ISBN 0 945005
12 1.
Production of the 1994 edition of Volcanoes of the World
reflects a mammoth, sustained task since this particular project
of cataloguing volcanic eruptions began in 1971. The book
contains (1) a directory of volcanoes, (2) lists of fatalities and
evacuations at volcanoes, (3) a chronology of eruptions, (4) a
gazetteer of volcano names and (5) references. It is a unique,
useful reference text that all volcanologists working at active
volcanoes should both have access to and be contributing to.
The 1994 edition is an up-date of the 1981 book in which
over 170 ‘new’ volcanoes active in the last 10 000 years have
been added to the original data set. Despite their comprehensive
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search for information on active volcanoes the authors are keen
to stress that ‘It must be recognized as an inescapably incomplete record’, not least because most global volcanism occurs on
the sea floor and yet few submarine eruptions have been documented in the scientific literature.
All volcanoes active in Holocene or Recent times have been
listed, and the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary has been taken as
10 000 years BP. In other words, all volcanoes known to have
been active since 10 000 years BP or since 8000 years BC have
been included. Because of the lack of widespread prehistoric
dating of recent volcanism, half of the volcanoes listed have no
dated eruption but are recorded in the text because they show
clear evidence of having erupted in the last few thousand years.
Only 13% of the eruptions listed are older than 2000 years, but
these form a rapidly growing part of the file. The main building
blocks of the data file have been the Catalog of Active
Volcanoes, the Bulletin of Volcanic Eruptions and the
Smithsonian SEAN-GVN Bulletins.
An extensive introduction to the book summarizes previous
volcano lists, sources of information used in compilation of the
book, the years of volcanic activity covered, the volcano numbering scheme and the abbreviations used in the data tables. The
codes and abbreviations are also provided on the inside front
cover for easy reference. The book uses a numbering scheme,
derived from the Catalogue of Active Volcanoes of the World, to
place all volcanoes into one of 19 regions. The world map on the
inside front cover serves as a useful reference for this scheme; a
more detailed map is provided on the inside back cover. The
introduction summarizes the volcano data in the file and comments cautiously on the historical record. It illustrates the World
population growth in parallel with the number of volcanoes
reported to be active each year. It highlights the fact that reporting of volcanic activity has improved dramatically over time but
that even in the last 200 years historical ‘blips’ in reporting, such
as World War I and World War II, have overshadowed trends in
volcanism and that socio-economic and exploration influences
can explain all major trends in our recent volcanological record.
The authors point out that the best evidence that these trends are
apparent rather than real comes from the record of large eruptions alone. The large eruptions with a volcanic explosivity
index (VEI) > 4, which have occurred at a rate of nearly one per
year for the last 200 years, are far reaching and are not likely to
have been missed in the recent record. Their constancy over the
past 120 years implies that the wide variation in the overlying
record of all eruptions is solely due to the variation in smaller
events that are more likely to be missed. Thus the authors
demonstrate that our record for small eruptions is sound only for
recent decades but that the record for larger events is good for
more than a century.
The directory of volcanoes is divided into 19 sections which
deal with the 19 volcanic regions, examples of which are
Europe to Caucasus, Indonesia and Andaman Islands, and
Hawaii and Pacific Ocean. Each section opens with detailed
maps, showing the relative positions of volcanoes (to a level not
possible on world maps) and their numbers, and an interesting
few paragraphs on the geography of the region. The book lists
389 volcanoes known to have been active this century and these
are designated by solid red triangles on the directory maps. A
further 231 earlier AD eruptions are represented by part-filled
red triangles, and 689 BC or undated eruptions have been
allocated open red triangles. A fourth category for less certain
activity in the last 10 000 years is represented by small open
red triangles and 202 locations have been recorded. Therefore,
in total 1511 volcanoes are listed in Volcanoes of the World.
Within each section of the directory the volcanoes are listed
by number. A single line of geographical and geological
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information, which includes name, subregion, latitude, longitude, elevation, volcano type (i.e. the morphology, such as stratovolcano, tuff cone, maar), volcano number and status (i.e. the
reason for including the volcano in the compilation, such as
because it has had an historical eruption or because radiocarbon
dating implies that it has been active in the last 10 000 years) is
provided for each volcano. Each dated eruption for the volcanoes listed is then summarized on a single line chronologically.
The eruption start date by year, month and day, where known
are given, with an indication of the uncertainties. When a date is
not historical, but results from a dating technique, that technique
is shown by a letter code immediately preceding the start year. A
brief summary of SOFAR, dendrochronology, varve count, ice
core, anthropology, lichenometry, magnetism, radiocarbon,
thermoluminescence, tephrochronology, potassium–argon,
argon–argon and fission track dating techniques is provided in
the introduction. The directory indicates the presence of 20
characteristics for each eruption. The first four describe whether
the eruption took place from a central crater, flank vent, radial
fissure or regional fissure. The next characteristics deal with
eruptions interacting with water, i.e. whether they were submarine or subglacial eruptions, or generated a new island or mudflows. The next characteristics deal with explosive volcanism
and indicate whether eruptions were explosive, produced pyroclastic flows, were phreatic and produced fumarolic events.
Other characteristics deal with the production of lava flows and
lava lakes, lave domes and lava spines. Finally, the effects of
that particular eruption on humans are summarized; the number
of fatalities are listed and whether or not damage to property
occurred. Also included is an indication of whether mudflows
and tsunamis were generated. The VEI is used as a measure of
the size of the eruption and the volume of erupted products is
given where known. Therefore, the directory condenses information on the location of volcanoes, geographic data, morphology, activity status and known eruptive history. This is all
achieved in just 125 pages of tables! The tables are in a computer format which allow rapid retrieval of information by the
reader and ready manipulation by the authors and their coworkers so that the tables may be continually up-dated.
The fatalities and evacuations section tabulates all fatal eruptions known to the authors, in 11 pages, and all evacuations
between 1976 and 1994, in one page. A summary page
describes the codes used in the fatality section. Fatalities are
arranged in the same sequence as the preceding directory, with
the volcano name and number followed by entries for each fatal
eruption, carrying date, number of deaths and the proportion
that can be assigned to specific causes. For cross-referencing
between sections, both volcano number and start date of the
eruption are shown.
The chronology of eruptions section lists the 7886 eruptions
known to the authors chronologically by eruption start date.
It displays all known volcanism in each year up to 1993. The
volcano number allows cross-referencing to the directory. The
chronology of eruptions is interspersed with 20 figures showing
a range of volcanic processes, some of which are paintings from
the Maurice and Katia Krafft collection.
Because volcano names are commonly confused by synonyms, official geographic name changes, subsidiary feature
names, and the grouping of nearby features in different ways,
the authors have compiled an alphabetical list of all 10 400
volcano names in the file. This is the gazetteer part of the book.
Here, this multitude of volcano names is related to the 1511
used in the directory. The volcano number is used for crossreferencing to the directory. A summary page is provided at the
start of the gazetteer.
The source documents used in compilation of the data set are
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provided in the references at the back of the book. The references are listed chronologically by region and a list of abbreviations used in citations is provided at the start of this section.
This text is a very fine attempt to catalogue all the active volcanoes of the World and their events of the last 10 000 years.
The task that the authors have set themselves is enormous and
will never be finished. The authors are persistently up-dating
their data set and the 1994 edition of Volcanoes of the Eoeld is a
snap-shot in time of our current record. The text will be an
invaluable source of information for scientists initiating
research programmes at active volcanoes, for those enquiring
about hazards of particular volcanoes and as a data set for World
and regional trends of volcanic activity. Simkin & Siebert and
their co-workers are to be congratulated on production of this
volume. I would recommend that all volcanologists use and
contribute to future editions of Volcanoes of the World.
Jennie Gilbert
WILSON, C. (ed.) 1994. Earth Heritage Conservation. 272 pp.
London, Bath: Geological Society of London, in association with the Open University. Price £15.00, US $25.00
(paperback), plus £2.00 postage and packing. ISBN 1
897799 03 9.
O’HALLORAN, D., GREEN, C., HARLEY, M., STANLEY, M. & KNILL, J.
(eds) 1994. Geological and Landscape Conservation.
Proceedings of the Malvern International Conference
1993. xiv + 530 pp. London, Bath: Geological Society of
London. Price £70.00, US $117.00 (hard covers). ISBN 1
897799 09 8.
In 1840, Louis Agassiz pointed to glacial striae on Blackford
Hill in Edinburgh as evidence that Scotland had been glaciated.
This first demonstration of prehistoric glaciation in the British
Isles was duly recognized and commemorated on site by the
City Fathers of the day. In doing so, ‘Agassiz Rock’ also became
the first recognized site of geological conservation in the British
Isles. Now over 3000 geological conservation sites are recognized and three separate new national conservation agencies
(NCAs–English Nature, etc.) have responsibility for them.
Despite the common ground of the titles and aspirations of
these two books, they are very different creatures. Both make
novel and important contributions to the literature on what has
become an important, if somewhat problematic, interface
between geology and conservation. At one level, geology and
conservation, especially landscape conservation, might seem a
contradiction in terms. For geologists the study of the ‘geo’ still
requires as much exposure of rock as possible, preferably fresh
rock as found in sea cliffs and working quarries and unencumbered with soil, vegetation or concrete sea defences. However,
in their different ways, these two books address these inherent
problems and illustrate a variety of solutions.
Earth Heritage Conservation is an introductory text designed
for a mixed readership, from conservationists with little or no
knowledge of geology through to professional geologists, with
little or no knowledge of conservation. As befits its Open
University parentage, the book is designed to be used as a working textbook. There are study comments for each chapter,
for example outlining aims and objectives of conservation;
suggested activities, mainly questions such as ‘from your understanding of the conservation issues raised … list the categories
of interest groups’, etc.; boxes (e.g. the justification for Earth
Heritage conservation); and finally summaries with bullet
points (e.g. conservation of Earth Heritage sites is justified
primarily • to allow research for the advancement of science
and for the success of industry…). To the ordinary reader such
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structure can be obtrusive but it is very helpful to the student for
learning and reference.
Ten sites are described to illustrate the range of geological
features, from the sand dune system of Morfa Harlech,
Gwynedd through Barton Cliffs, Hampshire to Shap Quarry in
Cumbria. For each site a basic outline of the geology is given,
followed by the reasons for conservation, how it is conserved,
who uses the site and concludes with a discussion of how the
conservation and other interests are reconciled. My only quibble
here is that it would have been better if the authors had selected
illustrative sites, which have been already described in the published series of Geological Conservation Review books. Cross
reference could then have been made to much more complete
site descriptions, for those readers that want more than a GCSE
level of geology.
These brief descriptions are followed by a very basic introduction to geology and geological field work, based on two of
the previously described sites and a quick trip through Britain’s
geological history. There is even an optional kit of rock and
mineral samples, which can be bought to accompany the book
and these samples are referred to in the text. I am slightly surprised that there are not a couple of audio tapes and a video as
well but if you want those you will have to sign up for the Open
University general geology course (S236).
The last part of the book is called ‘Conservation in action’
and is of most interest to geologically literate readers. Being
geologically biased, I think that it is a pity that this section did
not form the bulk of the book. Reference is again made back to
the early site descriptions, with elaboration of the justifications
for site selection and the potential threats to their conservation.
For anyone concerned with the teaching of geology in the field,
such conservation issues are of increasing importance in these
crowded little islands. The academic community has a duty to
engage in the issues and support the conservation efforts of the
underfunded NCAs, in spite of various problems. For example,
there have been complaints that publication of site details may
lead to increased despoliation by unscrupulous collectors.
Whilst this is a risk, it must be balanced against the wider benefits of site conservation in general and a greater public awareness of the need for conservation of all kinds. There are much
greater threats to geological sites than from greedy collectors.
Tipping and landfill of old quarry sites and the building of sea
defences, which covers up coastal sites, are the most common
problems.
An important aspect of the whole conservation strategy that is
perhaps not fully appreciated, is that individual SSSIs are not
generally ‘stand alone’ sites but are part of site networks and
supposed to be backed up by the Regionally Important
Geological/Geomorphological Sites (RIGS). So that even if an
individual site is irreparably damaged or lost, there will still be
representation of that particular stratigraphic horizon elsewhere
in the region.
The view points of the various interested parties are presented
so that you can come to your own conclusions about individual
cases. There are the usual questions, inviting reader participation, which will be ideal as basic student exercises for anyone
presenting an introductory course on geological conservation. I
know undergraduate Earth Science courses are already overloaded but all graduates ought to be aware of conservation
issues today and this book is a good starting point and complements Nigel Woodcock’s Geology and Environment in Britain
and Ireland (1994, UCL Press).
Geological and Landscape Conservation is a very different
kind of text in that it is a collection of papers from the Malvern
International Conference on Geological and Landscape
Conservation in 1993. This was convened by the Joint Nature
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Conservation Committee in association with the Geological
Society and Geologists’Association. Under the headings of various themes, there are contributions ranging from ‘Conservation
of geomorphological landscapes in Taiwan’ (Wang et al.),
through ‘The role of voluntary organisations in Earth science
conservation in the UK’ (Green) to ‘Rock poems, rock music:
using poetry and the arts to interpret geology’ (Carter &
Badman). In other words, with nearly a hundred short contributions there is a bit of something to suit all tastes.
One of the clearest messages that recurs throughout these
international contributions is the plea for better understanding
of geology (Burek & Davies), its educational (Wilson; Fisher)
and even touristic potential. At all levels of society and civil
administration, there appears to be a lack of appreciation of the
contribution that the materials of the Earth continue to make to
modern society. Britain needs over 200 million tonnes of rock
aggregate each year for civil construction. Various solutions to
the communication gap are proposed but perhaps one of the
most promising has been the typically British ‘grass root’ solution. Through the RIGS scheme (Harley), local amateur and
professionalized conservation groups have been encouraged to
help develop and manage their own ‘patches’ (Cutler; Toghill).
There is a considerable question of whether the different
‘players’ in the conservation debate have reconcilable goals or
not. Is it simply a question of industry (including tourism, see
De Bastion), commerce and land owners (Toghill) versus conservationists? Britain, through the JNCC and NCAs, has a substantial organization with a responsibility for conservation and
supporting legislation but a lack of financial resources to really
enforce the legislation, so conflicts of interest generally have to
be resolved by the power of persuasion. This power can be
pretty limited, especially in the present economic climate. If
geological conservation is to develop for the benefit of everyone, then the arguments for conservation have to be broadcast;
this book helps serve the cause of geological conservation and
should be available as a reference in all geology libraries.
Douglas Palmer
ELLIS, N. V., BOWEN, D. Q., CAMPBELL, S., KNILL, J. L.,
MCKIRDY, A. P., PROSSER, C. D., VINCENT, M. A. &
WILSON, R. C. L. 1996. An Introduction to the Geological
Conservation Review. Geological Conservation Review
Series no. 1. ix + 131 pp. Peterborough: Joint Nature
Conservation Committee; distributed by Natural History
Book Service, 2–3 Wills Road, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5XN,
UK. Price £30.00 plus postage and packing (hard covers).
ISBN 1 86107 403 4.
After some ten volumes of the proposed 42 in the Geological
Conservation Review series having now been published,
the Introduction has at last appeared, following a somewhat
difficult and protracted preparation by many hands. The result
is a well produced volume, aimed primarily at non-geologists. However, since the volume contains an ‘official’ introduction to the rationale of site selection and conservation, the
relevant sections should be read by all geologists concerned
with these issues. The protracted gestation period reflects
various structural changes in the management and preparation
of the whole GCR series, which now fortunately seems to have
settled down with volumes appearing fairly regularly.
The Geological Conservation Review series of books,
describing a total of some 2300 designated geological SSSIs, is
perhaps the most ambitious book publishing project in British
geology since the Geological Survey launched their series of
Sheet Memoirs back in 1846. The GCR series covers all types
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of geological sites, from igneous rocks (British Tertiary
Volcanic Province), through structures (Caledonian Structures
in Britain South of the Midland Valley), stratigraphy (Marine
Permian of England) and fossils (Fossil Reptiles of Great
Britain) to geomorphology (Karst and Caves of Great Britain,
in press). A wide range of predominantly academic geologists
have already been involved in the eleven published volumes.
And by the time the series has been completed, a significant proportion of the academic community will have been involved one
way or another in their preparation. Hopefully this spread of
involvement across most of the geology departments in the
country will lead to a greater awareness and use of the series
volumes for teaching and research.
The series is a ‘grand endeavour’ in the Victorian tradition of
the Blue Books or the County Survey series. It is particularly
important for its overall impact and use that the series be completed and not fall foul of some penny pinching cutback. The
JNCC is to be congratulated on its continuing commitment to
the series and I hope that it is matched by support for the
endeavour from the geological community.
Much of the subject and the objectives of this introductory
volume was pre-empted to a considerable extent by the previously published Earth Heritage Conservation (1994, edited by
Chris Wilson and published by the Open University; see review
above). Again there is a brief ‘potted’ introduction to the geological history of Britain for non-specialists before the more
important sections on the ‘why and wherefore’ of the
Geological Conservation Review. Apart from considerable
stylistic and design differences where this book does usefully
differ from the OU text is that Ellis’s book uses extended
examples from the published volumes, to which the reader can
refer for further detail. The various major themes of geological
conservation, such as the concept of ‘networks’, are illustrated
from the published volumes on the Marine Permian of England,
the Igneous Rocks of South-West England, Palaeozoic
Palaeobotany and the Quaternary of the Thames. Likewise, the
questions of site selection, problems of conservation in working
quarries, eroding cliff faces, etc., are also illustrated by
examples from published volumes but here there is some
duplication of examples with the Wilson volume.
The Ellis volume is a fairly lavish book, well illustrated with
colour photos of sites and well structured for ease of reference.
By comparison, the Wilson OU volume has much more of an
heuristic approach and lots of practical ‘hands on’ exercises.
The choice depends on what you want from the volume. For a
clear and well presented reference to the rationale of the
Geological Conservation Review, which can be easily accessed
and read fairly quickly, the new Ellis volume is ideal, whereas
the Wilson OU volume is well designed as a teaching text that
can be used independently by students or for group work.
Douglas Palmer
TSUCHI, R. & INGLE, J. C., Jr. (eds) 1992. Pacific Neogene.
Environment, Evolution, and Events. Proceedings of the
5th International Congress on Pacific Neogene
Stratigraphy and IGCP-246, Shizuoka, Japan, 6–10
October 1991. ix + 257 pp. Tokyo: University of Tokyo
Press. Price not stated. ISBN 0 86008 491 4; 4 13 068206 7.
The book contains a series of contributions presented to the
Fifth International Congress on Pacific Neogene Stratigraphy,
as part of IGCP Project 246 ‘Pacific Neogene Events in Time
and Space’. The papers, by an international group of 17 authors,
are grouped into sections as: I. Paleoenvironment of the Pacific
(8 papers); II. Tectonic Evolution of the Pacific (2 papers);
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and III. Pacific Neogene Events in Time and Space (5 papers).
In Part I the papers concern planktonic foraminifera and their
isotopic characteristics and also diatoms in relation to Neogene
palaeoceanography, the terrestrial pollen record in marine sediments, in addition to reviews of global climate evolution, New
Zealand palaeoclimates, and depositional systems associated
with upwelling in the eastern Pacific margin including the classic Miocene Monterey Formation. Part II contains two papers,
one applying palaeomagnetic data to interpret the deformation
and palaeogeography of Japan, and the second using interpreted
plate configurations to understand changes in surface-water
circulation between the Pacific and Indian oceans.
Of the five papers in Part III two concern planktonic
foraminiferal evolution and biostratigraphical application, one
larger foraminiferal biostratigraphy, one mollusc evolution and
climate, and one biotic and abiotic events in the North Pacific.
The work on larger foraminifera by the late C. G. Adams is of
interest as the corpus of his work on the Indo-Pacific region is
currently being prepared for publication by The Natural History
Museum.
The book will be primarily of specialist interest only as, other
than a short preface, there is no attempt to link the individual
papers or provide an overview of the topic.
A. R. Lord
JENKINS, D. G. (ed.) 1993. Applied Micropalaeontology. xi + 269
pp. Dordrecht, Boston, London: Kluwer. Price Dfl. 170.00,
US $99.00, £75.00 (hard covers). ISBN 0 7923 2264 9.
The title suggests a comprehensive treatment of the subject but
in fact the contents are seven invited chapters by different
authors, curiously not including Graham Jenkins himself.
S. D. Houghton describes Recent coccolith sedimentation
patterns in the North Sea and seeks to apply the results to
palaeoceanographical analysis of comparable fossil environments. The Recent data, based on a relatively limited number of
sample points, is of general interest but the palaeoceanographical application of coccoliths and other calcareous nannofossils
has made considerable advances since this study was written.
The chapter by M. C. Keen on the palaeoenvironmental use
of ostracods is a summary of previously published work, mostly
by the author on the Eocene of the Hampshire Basin, supplemented by a section on mid Mesozoic non-marine assemblages
from NW Europe, China and Brazil. R. W. Jones describes
Recent foraminifera found associated with a biogenic gas seep
in the North Sea, thereby adding to the growing body of information about living biota found with submarine hydrocarbon
seeps.
The chapter by P. D. Copestake on micropalaeontology in
hydrocarbon exploration in the North Sea is a useful overview
of what microfossils can tell the explorationist and development
geologist, how the information is obtained, and the appropriate
fossil groups to use in different circumstances, combined with a
number of examples and case histories. The growing importance of microfossils for biosteering horizontal wells is not
mentioned; however, this contribution is helpful as a teaching
aid.
R. V. Tyson’s chapter on ‘Palynofacies Analysis’ is also a
valuable overview for the general reader and for teaching purposes. The scientific importance of the chapter has been
eclipsed by his book Sedimentary Organic Matter: Organic
facies and palynofacies (Chapman & Hall, 1994). The description of the sequence stratigraphy of the Early Cretaceous age
Barrow Group, offshore NW Australia, by R. W. Jones and
others, is an interesting case study, in addition to providing
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valuable regional geological information. The final chapter by
M. B. Hart provides examples of micropalaeontology applied to
engineering and economic geological problems. The case histories used are from site investigation studies for the Channel
Tunnel, the Thames Barrier and a road development, from work
on landslips, and from estimation of reserves of economically
useful sediments, e.g. chalk for cement manufacture.
The book is arranged in an uninviting style which does not
encourage the reader and many diagrams are too small to be
easily legible. The cover depicts an offshore drilling platform,
suggesting that the content refers to industrial application in the
strict sense. The chapters are a mixture of the applied in an
economic sense, the ‘applied’ as in being generally useful for
earth scientists, and case studies. Thus, the title is misleading in
that a coherent account of the economic applications of
micropalaeontology is not provided.
A. R. Lord
topic of log to seismic calibration is totally omitted. A few more
words on seismic resolution and its physical basis would not
have come amiss.
Many photographs and seismic sections have reproduced
poorly, and/or are uninformative. While the seven seismic/
petrophysical colour plates are excellent, three of them are simple duplicates of black and whites elsewhere! The references are
both too numerous and insufficiently up-to-date for an undergraduate text; of 166 references for Reefs and Deep Water
Sands only 12 postdate 1985. The seminal work of Walker and
his students in this period on the Cardium shoreface/shelf using
well logs and cores is not referenced. A shorter and better mix of
the classics and the current would be preferable. Space saved in
this way could have provided a much needed short illustrative
review of sedimentary structures, included glacial environments
and provided the textual qualifications so often lacking. ‘The
coarser the sediment, the higher its permeability’ (p. 45) may be
true of many surface sediments but is not necessarily at all true
of ancient sedimentary rocks.
David James
SELLEY, R. C. 1996. Ancient Sedimentary Environments and
their Sub-Surface Diagnosis, 4th ed. xvii + 300 pp.
London, Glasgow, Weinheim, New York, Tokyo,
Melbourne, Madras: Chapman & Hall. Price £24.99
(paperback). ISBN 0 412 57970 7.
LISLE, R. J. 1996. Geological Structures and Maps. A Practical
Guide, 2nd ed. viii + 104 pp. Oxford: Butterworth/
Heinemann. Price £16.99 (paperback). ISBN 0 7506
2588 0.
The fourth edition of this popular and long-running text aims
very laudably to provide a link between classical sedimentology, wireline logs and seismic in a methodological framework
for the diagnosis of depositional environment and to illustrate
the economic benefits of such work, especially for the oil industry. In this it has no competition. It has been updated to include
sequence stratigraphy and some 3D seismic but retains
Professor Selley’s inimitable written style with the customary
mix of the, to me, both amusing and mildly irritating asides to
keep readers on their toes.
The text preaches a common sense approach, admits the danger of generalizations and provides bold simple diagrams. The
summaries of characteristic facies and dip meter responses are
nicely judged and the inclusion of Formation Micro Images is
very welcome. The case studies are both helpful and in several
instances (e.g. the Cambrian–Silurian of North Africa) provide
useful alternatives to more popular examples. The price is
attractive and I suspect undergraduates will continue to find the
book an easy and convenient text for examination revision: they
will, however, need to be made aware that mistakes and dangerous oversimplifications are not uncommon. I consider the book
to be insufficiently discursive and inadequately soundly based
physically to be likely to attract many postgraduates or industry
professionals.
The section on sequence stratigraphy is decidedly weak,
being drawn into lengthy discussion challenging the time significance of most seismic reflections (surely many have significance, some do not!) and omitting both the Vail ‘sea-slug’
diagram and discussion of its exciting predictive elements.
Maximum flooding surfaces appear, wrongly, separating individual parasequences (Fig 1.2) and lying immediately under a
transgressive system tract (Fig 7.6). Incised valleys and ravinements are not discussed. There is no seismic line with a full system tract interpretation. There is little or no physical
explanation of petrophysical log response: not all SP logs kick
left in sand and the CNL log diagnoses shale because it
responds to hydrogen in both matrix mineralogy and pore fluid.
Seismic reflections are wrongly explained solely in terms of
velocity contrast (not acoustic impedance) and the essential
The ability to interpret geological maps is regarded, for the time
being anyway, as an essential skill for Earth Science students.
Together with an appreciation of stratigraphy, map interpretation in three dimensions underpins the reconstruction of local
and regional geological histories. Geological maps are a vital
visual and analytical tool in applied geology, not least petroleum exploration. Even diehard proponents of Earth Science as
a merely a system of physical, chemical and biological
processes have to admit that map interpretation provides a useful conceptual and intellectual challenge for students.
No less a challenge is that of designing an effective course in
mapwork. There are limits to what can be taught rather than
learned through practical exercises. Consequently, books of collected ‘problem maps’ have had a guaranteed market for
decades. For some time Bennison’s An introduction to geological structures and maps (Edward Arnold, 1964, 1969, 1975,
1985, 1990) was the UK’s best seller. This supremacy was challenged almost annually from 1986 onwards by Butler & Bell’s
Interpretation of geological maps (Longman, 1986), the first
edition of Richard Lisle’s Geological structures and maps: a
practical guide (Pergamon, 1988), Boulter’s Four-dimensional
analysis of geological maps (Wiley, 1989), Bolton’s Geological
maps: their solution and interpretation (CUP, 1989), Maltman’s
Geological maps: an introduction (Open University Press,
1990) and Powell’s Interpretation of geological structures
through maps (Longman, 1992).
Lisle’s book skilfully combined a simplicity of style with a
rigorous geometrical approach. It was clearly arranged in seven
chapters, economically entitled geological maps, uniformly dipping beds, folding, faulting, unconformity, igneous rocks and
folding with cleavage. Each chapter comprised a clear text followed by relevant exercises. It was copiously and precisely
illustrated with photographs and two-colour graphics. However,
it suffered from Pergamon’s choice of a restrictively small page
size. Text became unavoidably separated from relevant figures
and photos, problem maps were deliberately isolated from
their accompanying questions, and many figures had to be set
landscape on the page.
I do not know what Mammonism has led to Butterworth-
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Heinemann becoming the publishers of the second edition.
However, they have matched their financial acumen with a better talent for book design than their predecessors. Their generous A4 format allows for two-column text and a more logical
and agreeable placement of figures. The photographs are reproduced with greater clarity. The main text remains virtually
unchanged, but the problem maps at the end of each chapter
have been rearranged and supplemented. In all respects, the
book is an improvement on the first edition. Its use as a selftutor would have been enhanced by providing solutions to the
maps.
The new edition of Geological structures and maps should
reliably serve another generation of geology students through
the next decade. We can only hope that map interpretation is still
valued enough then to warrant a third edition.
Nigel Woodcock
FASTOVSKY, D. E. & WEISHAMPEL, D. B. 1996. The Evolution
and Extinction of the Dinosaurs. xviii + 461 pp.
Cambridge, New York, Port Chester, Melbourne, Sydney:
Cambridge University Press. Price £29.95, US $44.95
(hard covers). ISBN 0 521 44496 9.
Eleven years ago I published a book on the subject of dinosaurs.
It was written with the (I now realise naive) intention of halting
the apparently exponential rise in number of poor-quality popular books on dinosaurs written by non-experts. The book was
moderately serious in tone, well-illustrated and pretty much factually correct – a metaphorical stamp of the foot directed at the
journalistic hordes as if to say ‘don’t bother any more unless
you know more than this.’ Needless to say my effort was futile.
But to my immense surprise and partial embarrassment the
book, though clearly not a textbook in an academic sense, went
on to become adopted, particularly in the US, as a standard
course reference book for ‘non-major’ courses on dinosaurs.
Such courses serve to provide a version of hopefully palatable
and non-threatening science to university undergraduates from a
wide range of backgrounds acting both as general interest background, and as a recruitment vehicle for some science options
later on in the undergraduate career.
In the intervening years dinosaur studies (both the methodology and the material basis for study) have moved on apace,
and the need to replace this book has become pressing. In 1994
Spencer Lucas produced the rather immodestly titled
Dinosaurs: the textbook, which though interesting in some ways
fell far short of what was really needed in this subject area. This
new book by Fastovsky & Weishampel is a far more seriously
crafted effort aimed directly at the course textbook market for
US non-major undergraduates. It can perhaps with justification
be viewed as a comprehensible abridgement and updating of a
rather turgid volume: The Dinosauria (1990) edited by
Weishampel, Peter Dodson and Halszka Osmolska.
The book is large in format and bulky in terms of the number
of pages (though some of the size accommodates the very wide
margins fashionable in US textbooks and presumably intended
for scribbling notes on, and the copious illustrations) and therefore appears to offer good value for money. As the preface
points out this book is intended for university students, and is
structured so as to introduce (and use) dinosaurs as a vehicle
for the scientific investigation of the history of life on Earth and
is well, and clearly, illustrated throughout. I whole-heartedly
support this aim and encourage this approach myself – do they
succeed?
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The first 100 or so pages of the book for Part I, are what we
might term ‘preliminaries’ setting the scene, explaining the context of investigation, techniques, measuring time, tectonics and
biogeography all of which are very much grist to the mill in
terms of content. The authors do however also dwell at some
length on systematics and phylogeny analysis and, perhaps most
importantly, establish the logic and methodology of investigation which is to be exploited throughout the rest of the book
– cladistics. Few of us can be unaware of the impact of the
cladistic method, as a means of focusing (with perhaps unnatural clarity) on features (anatomical characters for the most
part) which can be interpreted as indicating the degree of relationship between different taxa, and the algorithms (notably
PAUP and Hennig86) which can be used to analyse patterns of
relationship based on tables of such characters (as binary terms)
for groups of taxa.
Parts II & III of the book exploit this method to the full; the
authors describe the range and variety of dinosaurs known using
cladistic analysis as the organizing principle. As a means of providing a clear, analytical approach to the Dinosauria, this works
extremely well; it allows for focused discussion of alternate
patterns of relationship, and some of the assumptions which
underlie opposing points of view, and gives a structure to the
discussion which will be of enormous benefit to the undergraduate reader and teacher alike (it must be remembered that the
majority of undergraduate course teachers at this level are not
themselves dinosaur palaeontologists). The major groups of
Dinosauria: Ornithischia and Saurischia, are dealt with in two
major blocks (Parts II & III respectively). By default, but also
because it makes sense anatomically to go from less derived to
progressively more derived archosaurs, it is traditional to consider the Saurischia first in books of this type; quite why
Fastovsky & Weishampel chose Ornithischia first is not clear,
unless it is to have the group (Saurischia) with living representatives (birds) near the end of the book? Each group is examined
in detail to establish firstly its potted history, its broad pattern
of relationships and finally the ‘interesting bits’ – the palaeobiology and ecological interpretations – in a repetitive sequence.
The final part (IV) of the book comprises a series of four
chapters dealing with those subjects which are unavoidably
linked with dinosaurs: dinosaur physiology, dinosaurs in space
and time, and extinction scenarios.
Additionally there is a colour plate section, showing a variety
of animals (mainly dinosaurs) across the Mesozoic Era in a variety of ecological settings, copious well-organised indexes, and
each chapter has some basic source references, which should
help the more interested student to delve more deeply into the
literature if they so desire. Minor quibbles to mention are that as
an English reader of the book I found the use of language rather
uncomfortable in an undergraduate textbook – veering between
overfamiliarity (a sort of gee-whizzery that I found irritating
and seems to my mind to demean the subject unnecessarily –
but must be aimed at the American undergraduate audience) and
simple, well-expressed phraseology. I also did not like the style
of life restorations in either black & white or colour formats, but
that is clearly a matter of personal taste.
In conclusion I think that this is an excellent book. It achieves
its aim with an intelligence and competence that cannot be
doubted, and will be widely appreciated by undergraduate nonmajors and their teachers. Courses of this type are not taught in
British universities, and dinosaurs occupy a very small niche in
Zoology and Geology degrees, so the book will undoubtedly
feature as background reading for some general vertebrate
evolution and palaeobiology courses for 1st and 2nd year
undergraduates rather than as an essential course book.
David Norman
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OLLIER, C. & PAIN, C. 1996. Regolith, Soils and Landforms.
ix + 316 pp. Chichester, New York, Brisbane, Toronto,
Singapore: John Wiley & Sons. Price £65.00 (hard covers).
ISBN 0 471 96121 3.
This book primarily describes southern hemisphere landscapes
and their soil and weathering product covers. This reviewer is a
rock-oriented geologist with experience of northern hemisphere
landscapes. However, in order to understand palaeosols in the
geological record, and especially in order properly to interpret
ancient unconformities, we need to understand how deep weathering profiles develop. The importance of this book is that it
brings together a great deal of information about a key feature of
the land surface in many parts of the world. The ignorance of
many (most) geologists about deep weathering mantles is still a
problem as shown by a recent meeting this reviewer attended
when a suggestion to include a lecture on this topic in an environmental geology degree course was met with derision, as
apparently British environmental geologists will not work in
southern hemisphere field areas. The book fills an important gap
and should be accessible to geology students let alone their lecturers and course planners.
The book contains seventeen chapters covering themes such
as weathering processes, climatic controls, landforms on
regolith, soils and duricrusts, regolith stratigraphy, tectonic
influences, mineral exploration, techniques, and regolith and the
‘geosystem’.
Key principles are explained simply and clearly, and the text
assumes that the reader has little specialist knowledge. At this
introductory level the book is very good but more sophisticated
aspects are not covered. This ‘overview’ style does create problems with over-simplification; for example, vertisols (p. 308)
are not all black!
All the chapters benefit from the simple, clear prose. Terms
are clearly explained and the diagrams are uncluttered and
informative. The strength of the book lies in the integration of a
wide range of regolith-related topics making the book useful not
only to geomorphologists and pedologists but to field scientists
of many types including hydrogeologists, explorationists and to
those of us working on pre-Quaternary buried weathering features. In this last topic the chapter on the stratigraphy and age of
the regolith (Chapter 13) is particularly useful.
I found the chapter on duricrusts (Chapter 11) rather disappointing in places, particularly because of the lack of information on calcretes and by the absence of any discussion on the
importance of groundwater processes in forming silcretes, calcretes, ferricretes and gypcretes. The important work by Thiry
and Milnes on silcretes is not referenced. I would have expected
to see more discussion on groundwater ferricretes, such as the
Australian examples documented by Fitzpatrick and coworkers. The critically important studies by Arakel and coworkers on the hydrogeochemistry of groundwater calcretes
and dolocretes are not referenced. Dolocrete is not mentioned in
the book, and, in Chapter 12 Wyoming has been moved into
Canada (p. 189).
The section on ‘Weathering in the past’ (Chapter 17) should
be revised to include the studies by Nesbitt, Young and coworkers on modern and ancient saprolite geochemistry and
recognition. It is disappointing not to see the detailed studies of
Thiry discussed, on Tertiary palaeo-weathering and climate
change of the Paris Basin, which provides one of the clearest
case-studies of ancient saprolite systems.
Despite these omissions I welcome this book and its clear,
introductory style will make it invaluable for teaching. It
deserves to be available in libraries and to be required reading
by any student enrolled on one of the ever-growing number of
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environmental geoscience courses. Regolith–saprolite veneers
are a crucial feature of much of the developing world’s landsurface and Ollier & Pain have done a considerable service in
producing a clear introduction to the topic.
Paul Wright
LANZAVECCHIA, G., VALVASSORI, R. & CARNEVALI, M. D. C.
(eds) 1995. Body Cavities: Function and Phylogeny.
Collana U.Z.I. Selected Symosia and Monographs,
Volume 8. 290 pp. Modena: Mucchi Editore. Price Lire
45000 (paperback). ISBN 88 7000 269 4.
BRIEDBACH, O. & KUTSCH, W. (eds) 1995. The Nervous Systems
of Invertebrates: An Evolutionary and Comparative
Approach, with a Coda written by T. H. Bullock. vii + 454
pp. Basel, Boston, Berlin: Birkhäuser. Price DM 198.00,
SFr 168.00, Ös 1544.40, US$ 132.00, £84.00, FF 740.00
(hard covers). ISBN 3 7643 5076 8.
Metazoan phylogeny is back in fashion, and gratifyingly for
palaeontologists the fossil record is once again being taken seriously. Despite the inevitable mistakes and misinterpretations the
fossils from soft-bodied faunas such as the Burgess Shale,
Sirius Passet, and Chengjiang are providing a wealth of unexpected insights into the early diversification of animals during
the so-called Cambrian ‘explosion’. But if zoologists cannot
afford to ignore the fossil record, so too should we remain
informed about their activities and programmes. Of the two
books under review here, that edited by Giulio Lanzavecchia
and colleagues will probably prove to be the more relevant to
our enterprise. The concept of body cavities, famously the
coelom, haemocoel and pseudocoel, have had a profound influence on the perceived framework of metazoan evolution, perhaps most influentially via R. B. Clark’s book Dynamics in
Metazoan Evolution, published in 1964. The configuration of
the body cavities, together with their modes of derivation during
embryology and larval development, have often been taken to
provide crucial clues in determining phylogenetic relationships.
Now the emphasis has changed, with the suspicion that body
cavities evolve as and when they are needed. In other words
evolutionary convergence is to be expected, and the presence of
a body cavity cannot be isolated from its functional context.
Here sixteen papers help to bring us up-to-date. One contribution is little more than an abstract, and the remainder vary from
wide-ranging reviews to specialized and technical summaries.
In the first category, that of reviews, particularly helpful are the
respective chapters by Willmer and Alexander. The former
addresses the phylogeny of body cavities in a contribution that
radiates common sense. She concludes, reasonably enough, that
convergence is the norm. McNeill Alexander considers the
functional aspects of body cavities in terms of their hydraulics
and the properties of the enclosing walls. This writer brings his
customary skill to bear on the relatively simple physics that
accompany a deeper understanding of how body cavities actually function.
One area of particular interest at the moment in metazoan
phylogeny is the status of a number of so-called minor phyla.
Ghirardelli updates our knowledge of the arrow-worms
(chaetognaths), emphasizing their unique anatomical features
that continue to baffle systematists. Also puzzling are the socalled pseudocoelomates. Wallace and co-workers review their
understanding of pseudocoelomate phylogeny, but their conclusion (popularly shared) of a close connection between the
nematodes and nematomorphs is directly challenged in the preceding chapter, written by the senior editor and his colleagues.
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There is, therefore, new information and some controversy,
but other papers cover more well-rehearsed areas. These include
a succinct review by Salvini-Plawen & Bartolomaeus on the
situation in molluscs, and Minelli’s thoughts on body cavities,
segmentation and homology. Both are valuable additions to this
book. The historical component is not neglected. Simonetta &
Insom touch on various aspects in their wide-ranging and somewhat eclectic survey of brachiopods, arthropods and chordates.
In passing, perhaps one should also note that a postscript in the
paper by these authors, drawing attention to a supposed
example of a marine onychophoran, is now not only in serious
doubt but has implications of fraud (Jayaraman, 1989). The
historical emphasis is more fully expressed in Ghiara’s chapter
on the vertebrate gastrula, which is a comprehensive and scholarly review. There is perhaps relatively little in this book that
is novel, but a fascinating exception to this is Bavestrello and
co-workers’ description of the aquiferous system of sponges,
the details of which were obtained by casting techniques using
plastics. Their conclusions are, in part, quite surprising: the
canal system does not appear to be optimized for fluid flow. The
authors suggest this is a result of ‘competition’ for space within
the organism between the canal system and the complex skeletal
framework. Here, surely, is an area of research that deserves
more extensive investigation.
The second book under review here is less likely to be of
immediate interest to palaeontologists, although it is obviously
an important contribution to neurobiology. Nervous tissue,
while not unknown in the fossil record – interesting examples
are known from amber – is nevertheless very rare. Yet, we
should be informed about this area because of such topics as
changes in vertebrate brain size (encephalization), and more
indirectly by the observation that trace fossils are a product of
behaviour and thereby are linked to neural programming. In this
book there is strong emphasis on the evolutionary aspects of
neuronal systems. Thus we learn, for example, from
Grimmelikhuijzen & Westfall, that cnidarians (as Hydra) have a
much more complex neural arrangement, including a conspicuous concentration of nervous tissue at the tentacular end of the
body, than the standard text-books would have us believe. Other
supposedly primitive metazoans, such as the platyhelminthes
(Reuter & Gustafsson) and nematodes (Walthall), all have
sophisticated nervous systems, and in the latter phylum there is
an intriguing segment-like arrangement. Amongst the invertebrates, however, nothing appears to match the remarkable complexity of the cephalopod brain and associated nervous system,
and Budelmann is correct to emphasize the enormous potential
for a deeper understanding of cephalopod nervous activity.
More than half the book is devoted to arthropod nervous systems, and several of the chapters have detailed discussions of
homology and convergence. Some aspects of insect and spider
nervous systems, for example, are remarkably stable and probably have remained little changed for hundreds of millions of
years (for example, Meier & Reichert). In other cases, however,
there is clear evidence of innovation and the development of
new structures. In the eusocial insects, for example, it is possible to identify not only learning but also memory. As
Strausfeld and co-workers stress, the insect brain may be tiny,
but its neuronal density helps to explain an astonishing range of
abilities and behaviours. They emphasize recent studies of the
so-called mushroom body, and place their discussion in a wideranging evolutionary context. For the most part Strausfeld et al.
are impressed by similarities between various arthropods (and
even annelids), whereas in the next chapter (Breidbach) the
emphasis is more on convergence. In fact, paradoxically, in
some decapods (e.g. brachyurans) evolutionary success is
achieved by reduction and simplification (Sandeman &
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Scholtz). Neural arrangements may also provide valuable
ammunition to evolutionary debates, or at least to one set of proponents. Thus, Whitington declares (p. 216) ‘It is therefore
highly surprising that early axonogenesis in the centipede and
… other myriapods, shows few similarities to that seen in the
Insecta’. However, as he then discusses, the alternative view that
insects are much closer to the crustaceans then they are to the
myriapods, which had been the consensus for many years, is
fast graining ground. The evolutionary emphasis in this book
and the various references to the fossil record suggest that however inadequate our present understanding of the fossil record of
nervous systems may be, here too the ground is being laid for
future and fertile dialogues.
Simon Conway Morris
References
CLARK, R. B. 1964. Dynamics in Metazoan Evolution. The Origin of the
Coelom and Segments. Oxford: Clarendon.
JAYARAMAN, K. S. 1989. Indian zoologist suspected. Nature 342, 333.
KRETZ, R. 1994. Metamorphic Crystallization. xiv + 507 pp.
Chichester, New York, Brisbane, Toronto, Singapore: John
Wiley & Sons. Price £22.50, US $36.50 (paperback).
ISBN 0 471 94214 6.
This book presents an unusual approach to the study of metamorphic rocks, and is largely based on a major body of work by
the author on metamorphic mineral textures and compositions.
Kretz was a pioneer in the study of metamorphic textures,
assimilating key concepts from the material science community
long before they became wider currency among geologists, and
it was with much anticipation that I learned about this book. It is
an abundantly illustrated paperback, which he has aimed at a
readership of senior undergraduates and graduate students. It is
divided into five massive chapters, with a set of appendices.
The whirlwind first chapter is devoted to building up a background in traditional metamorphic petrology. It begins with the
historical background and moves rapidly into describing metamorphic minerals, giving the briefest of introductions to crystalline microstructure. Isograds and metamorphic facies are
given a mention, as is the experimental determination of mineral
stability. Progressive metamorphism is illustrated by the progression from shale to granulite and the chapter ends with a
brief mention of PTt paths. The level of this chapter is very
uneven. At the beginning it appears to be aimed at those with
very little background knowledge of geology, but half-way
through it is clearly aimed at a graduate level. Even in those
parts which seem suitable for a beginner, the treatment is too
superficial to be of much use except as a source of references.
Much of the recent and exciting developments in metamorphism is omitted or treated in a very cursory manner. The role of
fluids in metamorphism, ultra-high pressure and temperature
metamorphism are not adequately covered, for example. The
chapter ends with a list of recent references (i.e. mid-1980s and
later) that the reader is advised to consult, although little indication is given as to their contents.
The second chapter, on thermodynamics, is a classical and
solid introduction. The basics of mineral thermodynamics are
presented along with the phase rule, and an exposition of the
thermodynamics of mineral mixtures and solid solutions. The
properties of mixed volatiles are also briefly covered. The numbering system applied to the abundant equations in the text is
baffling, although I suspect they are numbered only when they
form part of a sequence deriving some important result. The
approach to thermodynamics is rather dry, with little indication
given as to how the theory may be applied to real rocks. For this,
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the reader must wait until the following chapter. This chapter, the
longest in the book, covers mineral transformations, including
order–disorder transformations, solid solutions, mineral reactions with and without solid solution. The approach is very much
case-study oriented, with application of the thermodynamic
background developed in the preceding chapter to specific geochemical systems. The only problem is that the published case
studies are all hopelessly out of date. Surely the more recent
work on the aragonite–calcite transition (for example) should
have been mentioned here? The discussion of the
Schreinemakers method is excellent, although it is hidden away
in a section on phase equilibria in the MgO–SiO2–H2O system.
There is a large section covering element partitioning between
minerals, reflecting Kretz’s own contribution to this field, but
again the examples used to illustrate this are all rather out of date.
The fourth chapter, on chemical kinetics, covers rates of reaction, solid-state diffusion, and crystal nucleation and growth,
with a final part linking together the previous sections on nucleation and growth rate in a study of metamorphic texture development. In the final chapter, Kretz shows the kind of information
on metamorphic processes that can be obtained from an examination of granular microstructures. He covers reaction mechanisms, corona microstructures, exsolution textures and kinetics,
crystal shape and its control by interfacial energies, grain coarsening, metamorphic differentiation, and metasomatism. The
majority of the case studies are again Kretz’s own. Curiously, the
role of minimization of internal energies during equilibration of
textures is only mentioned in the context of the Wulff plot,
despite many recent developments. Similarly, recent advances in
the understanding of metamorphic differentiation in terms of
self-organization are mentioned only briefly. This chapter on
microstructures is perhaps where one would expect Kretz to have
the most authoritative voice, but his work is reported in the same
form in which it was initially published with no new insights or
perspectives or comparison with the work of other authors.
On the whole, the book’s structure is unwieldy and the organization is very weak. I got the feeling that the book would have
been easier to use, and material less difficult to find, if the subdivisions had been smaller. The index gives only the broadest
outline of the contents of each section, and it is a common failing that the existing sections contain many other topics than just
that of the title. Important concepts, such as Gresen’s treatment
of metasomatism, the nature of interfacial energy, and
Schreinemakers’ rules, are incorporated into sections almost as
an after-thought instead of having a section of their own. The
sequence in which various topics appear is baffling. Frequently,
concepts are used well before the definition occurs in the text
(and some, such as Miller indices, are not defined at all).
Interfacial energy (a prime control on metamorphic crystallization) is a good example of this, being mentioned in the first
chapter, with a rigorous definition and description not materializing until the final chapter. The style of writing and authority of
the text appears to be very uneven, with those passages concerning areas of the field in which Kretz himself has worked being
the most readable.
A major criticism of the book is that it is very out of date. The
case studies covered in detail generally date from the sixties and
seventies. Later important work is mentioned at the end of each
section as a clutch of papers which the reader is invited to study.
Surely a textbook should provide the reader with an exposition
of the latest important developments in the field instead of pointing the reader in the direction of a few papers without any other
guidelines? However, despite its drawbacks, the book presents a
refreshing look at metamorphism, and differs greatly from the
standard metamorphic textbook. Kretz gives us a unique and personal view of metamorphic crystallization with an emphasis on
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grain-scale processes, with a different perspective from the usual
one. As such this book would be a valuable addition to a library,
although serious updating of material and subject matter is
needed before it can be used for teaching material.
Marian Holness
DALLMEYER, R. D., FRANKE, W. & WEBER, K. (eds) 1995. PrePermian Geology of Central and Eastern Europe. xvi + 604
pp. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, London, Paris, Tokyo,
Hong Kong: Springer-Verlag. Price DM 498.00, SFr
3635.40, SFr 469.00 (hard covers). ISBN 3 540 55472 6.
Pre-Permian Geology of Central and Eastern Europe is
designed to present the current state-of-the-art on this subject
and represents the continuation of a series of comparable treatments of regional geology in other areas, all related to the
International Geological Correlation Program 233 ‘Terranes in
the Circum-Atlantic Paleozoic Orogens’. In the preface, the editors state that this book presents a ‘comprehensive view of our
present understanding of the tectonothermal and stratigraphic
evolution of the Central European orogens’, resulting from a
‘first opportunity for completely open scientific exchange following the recent political reformations in central Europe’.
Eighty-six scientists from different countries across central and
eastern Europe provided a thorough compilation of this subject,
building on the early work published at the beginning of this
century and considering most recent work which was submitted
in 1995, all of which certainly assures the goals stated above.
The book is subdivided into eleven main chapters, with six of
them being further subdivided. Following a brief introduction,
the geophysical perspective of this topic is presented in the second chapter, considering results from a variety of geophysical
surveys completed in recent years. The following six chapters
are related to the main geotectonical units in central and eastern
Europe, the Rhenohercynian Foldbelt, the Mid-German
Crystalline High, the Saxothuringian Basin, the Western Sudetes
(Lugicum), the Moldanubian Region and the Moravo-Silesian
Zone. The similarly structured treatment of individual subjects
(stratigraphy, structure, igneous activity, metamorphic evolution
and metallogenesis) provides a most detailed assessment of the
available information on these subjects as well as a welcome
way of direct comparison of these aspects in all different areas.
An additional chapter presents data on the North Variscan
Foreland. The last two chapters discuss the palaeogeographic
and geodynamic evolution of central and eastern Europe.
This book provides a wealthy of information, either presented
directly in the text itself or in the large number of references.
The text is supported by 233 well-prepared figures, frequently
full-page geological or structural maps. Earth scientists interested in pre-Permian geology of central and eastern Europe will
certainly regard this is a repository of information and the
answer to whatever question might come up with regard to this
subject. It is an outstanding contribution to the geology of central and eastern Europe, and individual authors and the editors
are to be congratulated for this.
Harald Strauss
HSÜ, K. J. 1995. The Geology of Switzerland. An Introduction to
Tectonic Facies. xxv + 250 pp. Princeton: Princeton
University Press. Price £40.00, US $55.00 (hard covers).
ISBN 0 691 08787 3.
Previous books by Kenneth Hsü, covering the history of the Deep
Sea Drilling Project and the ‘drying-up’ of the Mediterranean,
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have been widely acclaimed for the manner in which they convey
the excitement of earth science to a wide readership. The Geology
of Switzerland is also likely to have a similar impact. Hsü comes
from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich,
and follows in the great tradition of Swiss Alpine geologists, such
as Heim and Trümpy. Yet he brings to this account a vast range of
experience and ideas from America, China and elsewhere. In
essence, this book is a highly personalized and, some would say,
controversial account of the geological evolution of his adopted
homeland. But it goes beyond that; by introducing new concepts,
particularly that of tectonic facies, this book will have wide
applicability to other mountain belts.
The Geology of Switzerland is based on an introductory lecture course for students in Zürich, and as such it develops
themes from first principles, as well as making incisive comments about how geology as a science is tackled today. The
underlying concept in this book is that, although mountain
chains may each be different, they all have certain common
characteristics or ‘body-plan’ (Bauplan in German). Thus models developed for the best-studied mountain range in the world,
the Alps, can be applied to other ranges, and this is demonstrated within the book.
Because the book assumes that some students will have little
knowledge of geology, some background to historical geology,
sedimentary facies, and to the development of stratigraphy is
given in Chapter 1. Using the Jura Mountains as the area to
demonstrate these ideas, Hsü entertainingly discusses the roles
played by early geologists like Steno, Hutton, Smith and
Werner. In Chapter 2 the author focuses on the Cenozoic record
of the Swiss Midland. Emphasis is given to the development of
the Ice Age Theory, in which Swiss scientists like Agassiz
played a key role in convincing geologists in other countries,
like Britain and America, that ice covered large parts of the
Earth. The Tertiary molasse deposits which underlie the
Quaternary glacial sediments are next described, with reference
to modern Himalayan fluvial systems.
The bulk of the volume is an account of the geology of the
Swiss Alps, presented in the context of plate tectonic theory.
Fascinating insight is given to the development of both early
and modern ideas concerning the evolution of the Alps. The
author takes an integrated approach in avoiding the usual compartmentalization of structural geology and stratigraphy. He
develops the concept of tectonic facies, where each facies ‘is
characterized not only by its style of deformation, but also by its
sedimentary association, and its palaeogeographic position in
the framework of plate tectonics’. After a general introduction
(Chapter 3), the discussion of these facies constitutes Chapters
4–11, embracing especially Helvetic stratigraphy, the Flysch,
Prealpine Klippes, Pennine core nappes, the Bünderschiefer,
ophiolites, Pennine deformation history and Austroalpine
nappes.
The last four chapters of the book expound at a more
advanced level the tectonic facies concept. These ideas are
applied to other classic mountain belts, namely the
Appalachians, the Caledonides and the American Cordillera,
while a full chapter is devoted to the geology of China. Many of
the ideas are still to be tested, and here Hsü offers a challenge to
the geological community to rethink their ideas. The book ends
with a discussion of ‘theoretical geology’, and the ‘stampcollector mentality’ of many geologists, not least of those journal editors and referees who seem incapable of accepting new
ideas unless backed by large bodies of data. Much of this will
ring true for many readers of Hsü’s book! Sadly, the author feels
that he is philosophically out of touch with modern developments in geology. This is a great pity, as here we have a marvellous ‘ideas’ book which, in addition, is full of fascinating facts
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and places early work in a proper perspective. Furthermore, it
reads well and, unlike many textbooks, is difficult to put down.
The book is well presented, with clear line drawings, of
which the cross-sections are particularly valuable. However,
there are no photographs of the spectacular Alpine geology,
which is perhaps a shame.
The Geology of Switzerland will be invaluable to all geologists interested in the development of mountain belts, and for
visitors to that country it is a must. All other earth scientists
would benefit from reading the philosophical parts of the book.
In conclusion, the author and the publishers are to be congratulated on producing such a fine, thought-provoking book, which I
believe is destined to become a classic.
M. J. Hambrey
RENAUT, R. W. & LAST, W. M. (eds) 1994. Sedimentology and
Geochemistry of Modern and Ancient Saline Lakes. SEPM
Special Publication no. 50. x + 334 pp. Tulsa: SEPM
(Society for Sedimentary Geology). Price US $90.00
(members US $65.00); hard covers. ISBN 1 56576 014 X.
Although among the very first lakes to be subjected to detailed
scientific study, saline lakes have tended to be rather neglected
by researchers in favour of their freshwater counterparts. This
volume, arising from the conference held in Saskatoon, Canada,
provides a much needed counterbalance. The editors have
selected 22 of the papers presented, arranging them in four sections addressing Modern, Quaternary, Ancient Salt Lakes, and
Ancient Salt Lake/Marine systems, introduced with a brief
overview chapter documenting the rise of interest in geological
limnology. Four papers address topics from different parts of
Africa; three are from Australia, seven from North America, and
the European lakes are represented by no less than seven studies
of ancient and modern examples in Spain.
Only a flavour of the range of topics addressed in such a
diverse collection of papers can be given in a brief review. The
modern systems studies include reviews of brine geochemistry
and processes that control water composition variations in the
lakes on short and long time scales. Problems of organic matter
preservation, degradation and sulphate reduction are addressed
as precursors to detailed examinations of solute fluxes and
solute budgets. Evaporating ponds provide controls for modelling studies of precipitation and compositional variations in the
waters of ephemeral surface lakes, and two papers address the
sedimentary structures and associated crusts which develop in
playa lakes.
Quaternary lake studies, principally using analysis of core
materials, provide the opportunity to relate temporal variability
to changing climatic conditions. Aspects such as magnetic susceptibility, mineralogical changes (including clay mineral components) and microbiological components provide central
topics for separate papers and serve to highlight the many factors which contribute to lacustrine sedimentation. Many of the
same techniques are applied to the ancient deposits, reported
principally from Spain, but also including work on the Green
River Formation of Wyoming and Jurassic graben-fill sediments
of the Hartford Basin of New England. The remarkable
glauberite-rich Spanish deposits gave rise to several of the
papers in the volume. The problems of distinguishing marine
sediments from those of saline lakes has long been recognized,
and in the three papers devoted to the topic both organic geochemistry and isotopic and fluid inclusion data are used to aid
differentiation between deposits of the two modes of origin.
Using uniformitarian principles the reviewer is certain that
this volume will be used greatly in the future as a source of
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reference material, for he has experienced difficulty in recovering it from graduate and undergraduate students during the past
year. The work is essentially accessible, the papers are very
‘readable’, well illustrated with excellent photographs and clear
line diagrams, and all have valuable scientific messages to convey. It is a must for any geological reference library as there is
no equivalent cover currently available. For the academic it
provides an ideal collection of papers to stimulate student seminars or discussion groups. A most welcome addition to the
geological literature.
John McManus
VINER, D. 1992. The Iona Marble Quarry, 2nd ed. 24 pp. Iona,
Inverness: The New Iona Press. Price £3.95 (paperback).
ISBN 0 9516283 2 1.
FAITHFULL, J. 1995. The Ross of Mull Granite Quarries. 56 pp.
Iona, Inverness: The New Iona Press. Price £5.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 9516283 6 4.
These booklets from the New Iona Press describe two rather different quarrying operations in a celebrated Scottish setting. The
Iona Marble Quarry, worked spasmodically from mediaeval
times for ornamental stone, was last operated just before the
1914–18 War. Hidden in a steep and secluded cleft near the
southernmost tip of the island, virtually all of its Edwardian
machinery remains rusting amongst a tumble of greenish
serpentine-streaked marble blocks. David Viner’s little book
briefly describes the operating history and gives an account of
the surviving machinery, its use and plans for preservation.
Granite quarrying on the immediate mainland was on a much
grander scale and although intermittent – ceasing altogether
between the 1920s and 1986 – was clearly often rather profitable. Ross of Mull granite, prized especially for lighthouse,
harbour and bridge construction as well as for ornamental work,
was exported during the 19th Century in large quantities, often
as surprisingly large blocks considering the rather primitive
techniques then at the quarrymen’s disposal. Joan Faithfull’s
book, which often presumes a rather greater topographical
familiarity than the average reader will have, ranges over the
various quarrying sites, their history of working and the destination and present whereabouts of the shipped material.
These books, with but sketchy geological detail, are for the
general reader and should interest most visitors to the area. They
will also be read with enjoyment by any lover of stone returning
to the Hebrides in his mind’s eye.
G. A. Chinner
AMEEN, M. S. (ed.) 1995. Fractography: Fracture Topography
as a Tool in Fracture Mechanics and Stress Analysis.
Geological Society Special Publication no. 92. v + 240 pp.
London, Bath: Geological Society of London. Price
£56.00, US $93.00; members’ price £29.00, US $48.00;
hard covers. ISBN 1 897799 32 2.
The editor of this book has thoughtfully provided a sub-title in
case there are potential readers who do not understand the word
fractography. The subject is, however, not entirely arcane, even
to the general public. For instance, I recall hearing some years
ago fractography being discussed by Alastair Cook in his
‘Letter from America’ on BBC Radio. Fractographers are,
apparently, key players in attempts to upgrade the ruptured
sewers beneath New York.
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Ameen’s Fractography comprises eight specifically fractographic articles and three on ‘Miscellaneous studies of fractures’. Although the latter are worthwhile contributions it is
difficult to see why they were included, other than having been
among the papers delivered at the Geological Society of
London’s 1993 meeting from which this volume arose. The editor rationalizes their inclusion by stating that they ‘… have significant implications for fracture mechanics, the main objective
of fractography’ – a true statement but one that could be applied
to most papers on natural fractures.
In the Introduction Ameen explains the historical context of
the subject, which he defines (p. 3) as ‘all aspects of fracture
surface morphology’. This definition embraces a wider range of
phenomena than many of his authors are prepared to address.
They mainly concentrate on structures such as hackle (plumose)
marks and hesitation lines (rib marks) on joint planes.
Following the Introduction the two succeeding papers focus on
minutiae of the recording and processing of fractographic data.
It might have been better to have started the main body of the
book with a thorough overview of the subject so that the reader
could appreciate why some of the detail discussed in these
papers is potentially valuable.
The next and excellent paper is by Peter & Elfriede Bankwitz
who demonstrate how fractographic markings visible on core
disking surfaces obtained during superdeep drilling at
Windischeschenbach in Bavaria can be used to determine the
orientations of the principal horizontal axes of the contemporary stress field. Probably the two names most associated with
geological fractography are Byron Kulander and Stuart Dean.
Their authoritative article, the fourth in the book, should be read
first; it is the closest approach to a review, and it also includes
the results of some simple but revealing experiments. Ameen
then contributes two of the three papers on field aspects of fractography, markings on joint planes in the Permo-Triassic rocks
of west Cumbria being appraised before those in the Chalk of
Kent. A commendable attribute of both articles, which together
occupy 33% of the book, is that Ameen sets his fractographic
observations in the context of the structual histories of the areas.
The surprise about Ameen’s paper on markings on joint planes
in the Chalk is that he found any; Alexandra Goodwin, who discusses joints in the Chalk of eastern England, reports in her
article that she did not see them. John Roberts, in a clear
account of some previously undescribed hackle marks in
Liassic rocks in the Vale of Glamorgan, concludes that confining pressures were low during jointing in that part of the Bristol
Channel basin.
John Cosgrove’s well written but short paper on hydraulic
fracturing in unlithified sediments will interest many structural
geologists but it does not fit comfortably in this book. The same
is true of Goodwin’s thought-provoking article on fractures in
eastern England, within which she argues that conjugate hybrid
joints occur in the weaker Chalks of Norfolk but are replaced by
a single set of extension fractures in the Chalk of Humberside.
The final non-fractographic paper by Michael Gross and coworkers concludes that in the Monterey Formation of California
there are factors in addition to bed thickness that control joint
spacing.
As is customary with Special Publications of Geological
Society, the standard of presentation of this volume is high
although there is an inflated number of half-tones. If the interpretation of fractures in rocks is of concern to you I recommend
buying the book, despite its shortcomings. We are likely to hear
much more about fractography in the future; perhaps by then
experts will have decided on a common nomenclature, a
requirement the editor picks out as a future goal.
P. L. Hancock
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REUTTER, K.-J., SCHEUBER, E. & WIGGER, P. J. (eds) 1994.
Tectonics of the Southern Central Andes. Structure and
Evolution of an Active Continental Margin. viii + 333 pp. +
maps in boxed set. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, London,
Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong: Springer-Verlag. Price DM
298.00, Ös 2324.40, SFr 293.00 (hard covers). ISBN 3 540
55232 4.
The central Andes (c. 20–26°S) of South America have long
captured the interest of geologists and geophysicists, attracted
by the plethora of volcanic and earthquake activity located at
what has become the type example of an active continental margin. While many scientists from around the world have worked
in this region, one group in particular – geoscientists from the
Freie Unversität and the Technische Universität, Berlin, in collaboration with South American colleagues – has made a significant contribution to our understanding of the geodynamics
of this important region of the earth’s crust. Much of this book is
a review of the excellent and timely research undertaken by
German workers at both universities since 1982. In particular, it
confirms the importance of interdisciplinary (geological, petrological, geochemical and geophysical) research in tackling the
complex geodynamic processes that occur in orogenic belts.
The book is divided into two main sections, one dealing with
the structure and state of the lithosphere, and the other the geological evolution of the region. In all, fifty-six contributors provide between them 23 papers that cover topics ranging from
large-scale lithospheric structure to the origin of nitrate deposits.
Much of the section on the structure and state of the lithosphere
deals with geophysical aspects of the Andean lithosphere, with
particular emphasis on seismic refraction, gravity, heat flow and
conductivity measurements and their interpretation. Other aspects
such as the geochemical evolution of the region are also covered
in some detail. The section on geological evolution is broader
based, and brings in comparisons with other regions of the Andes
further south in Southern Chile and Argentina. The isotopic composition of the Andean (Gondwana) basement is also considered,
as are the geological factors governing metallogeny.
The fact that so much geophysical and geochemical information from a slice of the Andes is gathered together in one place
makes this book a worthy contribution to the literature. But the
inclusion of three maps of the central Andean segment, one geological (1:1 000 000) and the other two geophysical, summarizing the results of gravity surveys (Bouguer anomaly and isostatic
anomaly) by the German group between 20 and 26°S and
63–71°30´W makes it an invaluable, state-of-the-art reference
work.
In summary, the book contains a wealth of information on an
exciting area of the earth’s crust. It is essential reading for
researchers in the Andes (and other Cordilleran mountain belts),
and a useful reference book for the more general reader with an
orogenic–tectonic bent. It also shows what can be achieved
through concerted, long-term funding of geological research
in a logistically difficult area, and stands as testimony to the
generosity and foresight of the German Research Council.
Nick Petford
VELDE, B. (ed.) 1995. Origin and Mineralogy of Clays. Clays
and the Environment. xv + 334 pp. Berlin, Heidelberg,
New York, Barcelona, Budapest, Hong Kong, London,
Milan, Paris, Tokyo: Springer-Verlag. Price DM 138.00,
Ös 1007.40, SFr 132.50 hard covers). ISBN 3 540 58012 3.
Origin and Mineralogy of Clays is the first of two volumes
which aim to provide an understanding of the role of clay
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minerals in the surface environment. It sets out clearly the fundamentals of clay chemistry, formation and behaviour in soils
and sediments, during diagenesis and hydrothermal alteration,
in preparation for a second volume which will discuss more
fully the interaction of clays in different environmental systems.
The book consists of seven chapters, each written by a single or
combination of five authors (B. Velde, D. Righi, A. Meunier,
S. Hillier, A. Inoue).
Chapter 1 (Velde) is a brief introduction to the geology of
clays and emphasizes the important and topical issues that can
be addressed through the study of clay minerals. In Chapter 2
(Velde), the physical and chemical properties of clays are discussed in some detail. Crystallographic structure, chemical substitutions and mineral families are explained with admirable
clarity, and the chapter also contains invaluable introductory
paragraphs and summaries of its different sections.
Chapter 3 (Righi & Meunier) concerns the origin of clays by
rock weathering and soil formation, and is by far the densest
chapter in the book. A section on soil formation in relation to
climate, rock type, biology, age and topography is well presented, and is followed by a summary of soil types, and discussion of the properties of weathered rock and soils. Next, the
phase relations in rock weathering systems are considered and
the remainder of the chapter (a further ~60 pages!) is a detailed
study of clay genesis by weathering of different parent rocks
requiring a fairly advanced background in chemistry for ready
comprehension. Unfortunately the section summaries are less
skilful than those of Chapter 2.
Chapter 4 (Hillier), on the erosion, sedimentation and sedimentary origin of clays, appears as something of a light relief
after Chapter 3 and is very well written, but is rather disappointingly insubstantial in places. However, it provides tantalizing
hints at detail that may come to light in the second volume, and
a fairly comprehensive summary of sources of further information on the topics outlined. These include global fluxes and
transport by rivers, oceans, wind and ice, modification during
transport, settling and flocculation. The section on authigenic
formation of clay minerals is rather more detailed, but the final
section dealing with environmental interpretation of clay minerals is very thin indeed.
Chapter 5 (Velde) deals with various aspects of compaction
and diagenesis, and is once again extremely readable and accessible but lacks depth. The main topics discussed include porosity,
and the kinetics of clay transformations, mineral reactions during burial diagenesis, and sequential changes with burial depth.
It is surprising that there is no mention or discussion of the role
played by clays in overpressuring and undercompaction.
Hydrothermal alteration by veins is considered in a succinct
Chapter 6 (Meunier), detailing the principal kinds of veins
encountered and the physico-chemical mechanisms of alteration in hydrothermal systems. This leads into the final Chapter
7 (Inoue), on the wider issue of clay mineral formation in
hydrothermal environments, which include porphyry copper
deposits, epithermal ores, geothermal systems associated with
recent volcanism, and hydrothermal activity at sea-floor spreading centres. The chapter presents case studies of different types
of alteration, and discusses detailed mineralogy of selected clay
mineral types.
A clear and comprehensive table of contents, together with a
subject index mean that the book will be accessible not only to
readers-in-depth, but also to those dipping in for specific information. Chapters each have their own bibliography, while
Chapters 2 and 5 present a guided reading list which is particularly helpful to newcomers to the subject.
There is much information in this book useful for undergraduate and post-graduate teaching as well as for scientists who are
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interested in the relevance and utility of clay mineralogy to their
own sphere of interest. However the volume is not suitable for
an undergraduate textbook as the subject coverage is too uneven
in extent, depth and style. The text contains an unacceptable
number of typographic errors.
B. Manighetti & C. V. Jeans
JACKSON, D. I., JACKSON, A. A., EVANS, D., WINGFIELD, R. T. R.,
BARNES, R. P. & ARTHUR, M. J. 1995. The Geology of the
Irish Sea. United Kingdom Offshore Regional Report
Series. x + 123 pp. Keyworth: British Geological Survey.
Price £30.00 (paperback). ISBN 0 11 884507 1.
The British Regional Geology series has, for more than sixty
years, provided readable yet authoritative guides to the onshore
geology of the United Kingdom. The Offshore Regional
Reports, the first of which appeared a mere six years ago, are an
attempt to emulate the success of the onshore series. Twelve
reports, most of which are now published, cover the United
Kingdom continental shelf. They are designed to complement
the 1:250 000 scale map series covering the same area. This offshore mapping and documentation program was largely funded
by the UK Department of Energy, and is as important a part of
the national information base as the onshore surveys.
The Offshore Reports follow a traditional structure for describing regional geology, inherited from the Geological Survey memoirs, but adapted to the offshore context. Successive chapters
cover crustal structure, pre-Carboniferous, post-Caledonian
structure, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic and
Cretaceous, Paleogene and Neogene, Pleistocene and Holocene,
and economic geology. The A4 format is more generous than the
onshore regional guides and even recent memoirs, and is well
suited to the large maps and stratigraphic diagrams that comprise
much of the graphic material for the report. Colour is used ubiquitously for these diagrams, but in a restrained way which is highly
effective in enhancing their scientific clarity and artistic appeal.
The only quibble with the otherwise excellent design might be
with the twenty or so figures set in landscape format. With better
liaison between geologists and draftsperson, most of these might
have been designed in a more convenient portrait orientation.
Maybe it is coincidental that one of the last of the Offshore
Reports to be published should be the one covering the smallest
area, yet with the largest proportion of bordering land geology.
Certainly the report provides a valuable connective synthesis of
the geology of Northern Ireland, southwest Scotland, northwest
England, north Wales and the Isle of Man, and will be of interest
to as many ‘onshore’ as ‘offshore’ geologists. Particular highlights are the story of Carboniferous to Triassic basin formation
and the splendid record of Quaternary events.
The Geology of the Irish Sea provides a reliable summary of
the region and, with its extensive and up-to-date reference list, a
valuable guide to the more detailed literature. It and the rest of
the Offshore Report series should be in any library aspiring to
cover UK geology. Their price may make them less attractive to
individual purchasers than the onshore Regional Geology
guides, but may their utility be no less enduring.
Nigel Woodcock
high quality paper, it feels good, and its copious half-tones stand
out well from the pages. It is a valuable source of geological
information about the planets, presented in an authoritative but
eminently readable style, with due emphasis on the geomorphology of landforms on the Sun’s diverse family of planets and
their moons.
The first edition preceeded Voyager 2’s successful fly-bys of
the Uranian and Neptunian systems, and the hugely productive
Magellan radar mapping mission to Venus. The new edition
enables the author to bring his treatment up to date, albeit only
in so far as this is possible in the light of the rapidly-developing
field of planetary geology, and to present his readers with a
selection of the fascinating images collected by more recent
spacecraft.
The layout of the new edition is much the same as the first,
indeed, much of the text is virtually identical. Introductory
chapters deal with the geological exploration of the Sun’s
family, and planetary geomorphology. These are followed by
chapters dealing with individual planets and their satellites. It is
the latter part of the book which shows the most revision, there
being two additional chapters, covering the planetary systems of
Uranus and Neptune respectively. Readers familiar with the first
edition will notice a different map of the Jovian moon, Io, as
well as images of the asteroids Ida and Gaspra.
Magellan, after its four 243-day mapping cycles, has necessitated a complete rethink about Venus and its geological development. Greeley has had to rewrite his chapter on this planet and
includes several excellent Magellan images of impact craters,
impact haloes, ejecta flows, volcanic features and aeolian landforms. Interestingly, the new chapter is of approximately the
same length as its precursor which, to my mind, means that the
author may have missed an opportunity to expand on the geological development of this complex planet. However, to be fair,
at the time of writing much of this data had hardly been
analysed by the various groups working in this field. More
recent research has defined several distinct kinds of highland
region, a planet-wide development of ridge belts and tectonically-deformed zones, but little direct evidence for a segmented
lithosphere. The ubiquitous coronae are a manifestation of
plume activity, which appears to be the principal mode of heat
loss on Venus.
The additional material related to outer planet moons
describes the complex geology attached to those moons which,
not many years ago, were simply points of light in astronomers’
telescopes. Thus the highly fractured crusts of Europa and
Ganymede are amply illustrated and described, a modest
amount of space being allotted to the topic of cryovolcanism.
Resurfacing of these cold rock-and-ice worlds has been widespread – Voyager showed this – while geyser-like eruptions
appear to have been common on Neptune’s moon, Triton, which
has a very interesting geology. Greeley introduces the reader to
these new topics in the later chapters and includes several of the
excellent airbrush maps drawn up by the USGS at Flagstaff.
Planetary Landscapes is an excellent book and should be
on the shelves of anyone with more than a passing interest in
planetary geology.
Peter Cattermole
GREELEY, R. 1994. Planetary Landscapes, 2nd ed. xiv + 285 pp.
New York, London: Chapman & Hall. Price £79.50 (hard
covers). ISBN 0 412 05431 0.
BLATT, H. & TRACY, R. J. 1996. Petrology. Igneous,
Sedimentary, and Metamorphic, 2nd ed. xix + 529 pp. New
York, Basingstoke: W. H. Freeman & Co. Price £34.95, US
$64.95 (hard covers). ISBN 0 7167 2438 3.
The second edition of this highly valued book more than lives
up to the solid reputation built up by its predecessor. Printed on
Like the child of distinguished parents who chooses to follow
the same career path, the second edition of a long-established
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text is inevitably measured against two yardsticks: the contemporary marketplace, and the legacy of its forebears. In this case,
the burden of expectation is heightened still further by the
pronouncements on the back cover that this volume is ‘contemporary’ … ‘cutting edge’ … ‘a current account of a changing
field’. Sadly, while elements of this might apply to individual
chapters, only a cave-dwelling petrologist would consider these
to be appropriate accolades for the whole text.
Petrology is the second edition of a text by Ehlers & Blatt,
first published in 1982. Its aim is comprehensive: to provide an
introductory-level text that describes igneous, sedimentary and
metamorphic rocks and their significance. It has clearly been
designed as teaching text – with comfortably sized chapters,
each concluded with study exercises (a set of more or less contrived or leading questions, that are exclusively discursive) and
a short list of references to the literature, or to additional texts.
The content is fairly well balanced, with ten igneous chapters
(from ‘chemistry and classification’ to ‘origins’ and ‘evolution’), seven sedimentary chapters (divided principally by rock
type) and seven metamorphic chapters. Two appendices,
encompassing that old favourite the CIPW norm, and rock thermometry and barometry, round off the text together with a short
glossary and index. In general the order is obvious, and in part
sequential. The design and form would be recognizable to anyone who has scanned the geology shelves of a bookstore
recently – petrology is, it seems, primarily about grouping and
describing rocks; about collecting and gathering information.
Nothing out of the ordinary here then, except that this conventional approach seems to be a terrifically inefficient way to
approach the study of rocks. Surely petrologists should be aiming to capture their audience through an understanding of
principles and processes first, with application to Nature’s rich
diversity second? When taught the other way around there is a
danger that students will feel as though they are being led blinkered through an underground maze, before being given the tools
with which to explore and find their own way around.
So much for the structure; what of the content? The fifteen
year gap between the two editions has witnessed some remarkable advances in our understanding of the stories that rocks have
to tell us about the workings of accessible portions of the earth,
and what they reveal about the deeper, impenetrable interior. It
is just a pity that this has only partially filtered through into the
revision. A brief scan reveals that significant numbers of the references, photographs, and line drawings have been inherited
from the original. This needn’t necessarily be too much of a hindrance, but when a chapter on ‘origins of magmas by melting’
has only a single reference younger than 1980 – recalling that
the target audience of the next few generations of first-year
geology students will almost all have been born since 1978 or
1979 – there is little to suggest that substantial revision has
taken place between editions. Perhaps this is a little unfair. After
all the sedimentary petrology chapters are crisp, readable and up
to date. But then so they should be, as this section is a barely, if
at all, disguised distillation of Blatt’s own Sedimentary
Petrology (second edition, 1992; also published by Freeman).
The metamorphic petrology chapters are generally of a high
standard, though it is curious that the concepts of mineral reaction, exchange and equilibrium only appear after the description
of isograds and metamorphic facies.
To add further to these woes, the reader seeking the promised
‘outstanding art program’ will find that, sadly, many of the
photographs apparently suffered as a consequence of being carried over from the earlier edition, since they are generally
underexposed throughout. The absence of colour, although
obviously desirable to keep the costs down, isn’t helped by the
inclusion of a surprising number of grey-scale (i.e. more than
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occasionally black-and-white) microscopic images of thin sections that apparently show cathodoluminescence or interference
colours. An additional, and unforgiveable, sin is that at least
several figures are used more than once (see, for example, figures 1.7 and 10.2; 2.10 and 10.10). As Wilde might have said, to
offer one piece of evidence that a book had been imperfectly
cobbled together could be deemed a misfortune …
The overall impression, then, is that this is not quite the
sprightly, modern child that you were expecting, but instead the
ageing adult itself – the shoes and haircut might be new, but
through its straining girth and lined visage, the incompletely
rewritten passage of time is revealed. With a little more attention
to detail it might have lived up to its billing. As it is, it offers
little other than breadth to distinguish it from the crowd.
David Pyle
BENNETT, M. R., DOYLE, P., LARWOOD, J. G. & PROSSER, C. D.
(eds) 1996. Geology on your Doorstep. The Role of Urban
Geology in Earth Heritage Conservation. x + 270 pp.
London, Bath: Geological Society of London. Price
£30.00, US $64.00 (members’ price £19.00, US $32.00);
paperback. ISBN 1 897799 54 3.
Geologists can reflect enviously on some Victorian values. If
only geology was regarded by our own society as one of the four
‘greater sciences’ – along with astronomy, geometry and chemistry – honoured on the Albert Memorial in London. Instead,
current public awareness of geology is low, certainly in the
United Kingdom. This ignorance marks not just a missed opportunity for enriching people’s perception of their planet. It also
results in a decreased interest in the geology taught in schools,
more difficulty for university geology departments in recruiting
motivated and well-qualified students, and a smaller pool of outstanding geologists for eventual employers. All geologists
should therefore be sympathetic to the efforts of the dedicated
band of colleagues trying to revitalise public interest in our subject. Many of the UK-based activists contribute to the timely
and visionary Geology on your Doorstep.
The central premise of this book is that our traditional educational focus on the natural geology of rural areas is missing
our main target – the 80 % of the UK population who live in
towns and cities. Yet these urban areas are pervaded by geological material, sometimes in natural or artificial exposures, often
in museums and parks, and always in the built environment.
Geology on your Doorstep aims to document this wealth of educational opportunity, to stimulate interest in urban geology, and
to increase awareness of its importance in raising the public profile of Earth Sciences. The book does this admirably.
A list of the book’s sections demonstrates the scope and
vision of the volume: the rationale and scope of earth heritage
conservation in urban areas, building stones, parks and green
spaces, museums, urban geology and civil engineering, the role
of the local authority, urban geology and education, increasing
public awareness and involvement, creating an urban geological
resource. Under these headings are 24 short, well-written
contributions, skilfully chosen to represent all facets of urban
geology. Readers new to this field may find some of the urban
‘outcrops’ extraordinary and amusing. Granites in gravestones,
xenoliths in kerbstones, ballast walls and gastropod mileposts,
unconformities in brickwork and bedding in ‘pulhamite’; the
examples are diverse and diverting. Purists may recoil at the
artificiality of this urban geological record. But they should
reflect that these are the rocks that most people actually see
from day to day, not the supposedly ‘proper’ outcrops of coast
and country. Indeed there is some educational advantage in
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rocks, minerals and fossils being divorced from the complexities of their natural context. Properly described or signposted,
these small chunks of geology can feed public awareness in
digestible portions. When our town dweller meets more complex geology in books, on radio or television or ideally in the
field, they will already have some useful vocabulary and concepts, and even some basic scientific curiosity and motivation.
This is the vision.
Geology on your Doorstep deserves to be read by geology
teachers at all levels, by urban planners, by amateur geology
groups, and by industry geologists. The last group might be
excited enough to persuade their companies to facilitate or fund
some of the excellent project ideas suggested in the book. The
only obstacle to the book reaching this wide audience is its
price. Members of the Geological Society of London can buy
Geology on your Doorstep at a realistic £19, but the full £38 is
going to deter most personal purchasers. Hopefully, many
library copies will be bought and read, helping to establish
urban geology as an increasingly viable and vibrant teaching
resource for the future.
Nigel Woodcock
STUMP, E. 1995. The Ross Orogen of the Transantarctic
Mountains. xv + 284 pp. Cambridge, New York, Port
Chester, Melbourne, Sydney: Cambridge University Press.
Price £60.00, US $99.95 (hard covers). ISBN 0 521
43314 2.
The Transantarctic Mountains are one of the world’s greatest
mountain ranges, yet inevitably among the least known. They
extend for some 3500 km and commonly rise to heights of more
than 4000 m. They form the boundary between East Antarctica
with its huge volume of ice overlying Precambrian cratonic basement, and West Antarctica with its smaller ice sheet overlying
Phanerozoic accreted rocks, much of which are below sea level.
The Transantarctic Mountains differ from most major mountain ranges, which are the product of plate subduction or collision. Rather they are intracontinental and considered to represent
a rift shoulder, which has been uplifted at the boundary with the
Ross Embayment. The mountains themselves are young, the
main phase of uplift taking place after 50 Ma, but they trend parallel to the structural grain of the Neoproterozoic–early
Palaeozoic deformed rocks which form the Ross Orogen. These
rocks have been truncated by a mainly flat, erosional surface of
regional extent, upon which lies the largely terrestrial Beacon
Supergroup of Devonian to Triassic age.
This book, then, focuses on the pre-Devonian rocks that form
the Ross Orogen. It is a most welcome contribution from a geologist who has spent many seasons working through much of the
mountain range. Not only does the author provide a large body
of his own data, but also synthesizes much of the available literature, placing all this within an historical context, starting with
the observations made during the polar journeys of the ‘Heroic
Era’ in the early years of this century.
In essence, the history of the Ross Orogen begins in
Neoproterozoic time with passive, continental margin sedimentation, following the rifting of Laurentia away from Gondwana
(according to recent tectonic models). The passive margin was
activated by compressional deformation and plutonism in late
Proterozoic time, and subsequently became involved in a fullscale orogenic cycle during the Cambrian period. The orogenic
belt was exhumed and cooled from Ordovician time onwards,
eventually to be followed by deposition of the Beacon
Supergroup.
The history of the Ross Orogen is treated in six segments,
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each several hundred kilometres long: northern Victoria Land,
southern Victoria Land, central Transantarctic Mountains,
Queen Maud and Horlick Mountains, Thiel Mountains and
Pensacola Mountains. Each chapter begins with a useful
summary and is followed by a section on the chronology of
exploration. The bulk of each chapter covers stratigraphy, age
considerations, deformation and metamorphism, although in
some areas a number of discrete terranes need to be considered
separately. Each chapter also has clear, well produced location
maps, so there is no danger of ‘getting lost’. The text concludes
with a synthesis of a region that has major uncertainties
concerning stratigraphic correlation, but some similarities that
permit the outlining of a common tectonic history. However,
little attempt is made to link Antarctica to the other Gondwana
continents. A comprehensive index and reference list (with
approximately 500 entries) makes this book a valuable resource
for Antarctic geologists.
The book is beautifully presented, with stunning black-andwhite photographs and clear line drawings. Errors are few,
though read Bowers Supergroup for Beacon Supergroup in
Figure 2.16.
The author and publisher are to be congratulated on producing a volume that will appeal to all Antarctic geologists, as well
as those interested in the late Proterozoic to early Phanerozoic
phase of Earth’s history.
Michael Hambrey
HUMMEL, J. H. (ed.) 1996. The GIA Diamond Dictionary CDROM. For Windows 3.1 or higher and Windows ’95. Santa
Monica: Gemological Institute of America. Price US
$49.95.
The Gemological Institute of America’s popular Diamond
Dictionary is now available in electronic form. This CD-ROM
is an expanded version of the third edition of the GIA’s
Diamond Dictionary (see review in Geological Magazine 132,
128–9, 1995). The electronic version offers a number of advantages to the book particularly in the area of cross-searching.
Dictionaries and encyclopedia seem ideally suited to this electronic format and, if the price of this version of the diamond dictionary is anything of a guide, it is cheaper to produce than
conventionally bound hard copies. The disc version runs on
IBM PC-compatible multimedia-ready computers, under
Windows 3.1 or higher and Windows ’95. I am sure that this
electronic version will, like the hard-cover version, be of great
use to those who need or want to know more about diamonds
and the diamond industry.
Allan Pring
NEEV, D. & EMERY, K. O. 1995. The Destruction of Sodom,
Gomorrah, and Jericho. Geological, Climatological, and
Archaeological Background. xii + 175 pp. New York,
Oxford: Oxford University Press. Price £30.00 (hard
covers). ISBN 0 19 509094 2.
The Bible contains a remarkably long and rich history of the
Middle East, extending back many thousands of years. Included
in that history are descriptions of climactic events such as the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and of the breaching of
the walls of Jericho when the Israelites invaded Canaan. Many
attempts have been made over the past two thousand years to
correlate some of these biblical records with specific geological
or environmental processes that are known to occur in this
region or elsewhere. Neev & Emery have put together their con-
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siderable and extensive knowledge of the geological and environmental history of the Dead Sea region as background information that may help in understanding more about the fates of
Sodom, Gomorrah and Jericho.
Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions provide ample scope as
agents for catastrophic destruction, and there are plenty of both
in the Dead Sea region. However, if they are to be invoked
to explain some of the specific biblical events, then it has to be
shown that they occurred in the right places and at the right
times. In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, it is not at all certain
precisely where these cities were located. In the case of Jericho,
the site is well known but the dating of the Israelite invasion is
not. Neev & Emery discuss the various possibilities for both
issues, and the evidence that might help resolve the uncertainties.
There have been considerable climatic changes in the Dead
Sea region over the past 10 000 years and, since this has been a
focus of much of Neev & Emery’s research, they discuss these
climatic changes at length. They point out that major cultural
changes and large-scale migrations of people may well have
happened as a response to local climatic changes. Some of the
abandonment levels observed archaeologically, for example,
may be due to such climatic-induced migrations. Indeed, major
forceful ejections of the inhabitants of some areas may have
occurred as displaced people sought to re-establish themselves
in more favourable areas. So not all the abrupt changes in habitation found at a particular place are necessarily due to sudden
geological effects at that location: they may result from human
agency, perhaps driven, interestingly enough, by longer term
climatic changes elsewhere.
This is not a ‘popular’ book, nor is it light reading. A lot of it is
technical detail of geological and environmental data from the
Dead Sea region, and speculation concerning the meaning of
biblical and other texts and the physical locations of ancient
cities. However, the book does contain a distillation of more than
35 years of research by both authors in the Dead Sea region.
Their thoughts on the fates of Sodom, Gomorrah and Jericho,
and of the possible influence of geological factors, provide useful source material for anyone interested in understanding more
about these events.
R. S. White
BROWN, L. F., JR., BENSON, J. M., BRINK, G. J., DOHERTY, S.,
JOLLANDS, A., JUNGSLAGER, E. H. A., KEENAN, J. H. G.,
MUNTINGH, A. & VAN WYK, N. J. S. 1995. Sequence
Stratigraphy in Offshore South African Divergent Basins.
An Atlas on Exploration for Cretaceous Lowstand Traps by
Soekor (Pty) Ltd. AAPG Studies in Geology Series no. 41.
vii + 184 pp. (very large format: 11×24 inches, 28×61 cm).
Tulsa: American Association of Petroleum Geologists.
Price US $89.00 (US $59.00 for AAPG members); paperback. ISBN 0 89181 049 8.
Seismic and sequence stratigraphy have presented novel stratigraphic methods for the analysis of basin-fill successions. These
methods have extended and, to some extent, challenged the
ways in which we correlate, package and interpret sedimentary
strata. The emphasis on methods rather than models in these
opening statements is deliberate as it is the methods that are
proving to have long-lasting value rather than the first generation of models to which so many researchers reacted adversely.
This AAPG atlas is the latest in a series of large format publications that are designed to convey the practice of sequence
stratigraphy in the seismic medium and is the first to be concerned with a single depositional province, the Cretaceous age
post-rift basins of offshore South Africa.
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The atlas commences in Part One with a brief history of
hydrocarbon exploration in the province followed by a concise
regional-scale structural and stratigraphic framework. The basic
concepts and principles of seismic and sequence stratigraphy
are reviewed from a practical viewpoint in a clear, concise and
balanced manner and the inclusion of this review has the effect
of making the atlas self-contained. This section includes a generalized, conceptual summary of the South African basins
which differs from the Exxon ‘slug’ in a number of respects, but
also argues that the third-order sequences identified in the data
correlate closely with those of the Exxon chart.
Parts 2, 3 and 4 of the atlas deal with individual basins within
the province, the Pletmos, Bredasdorp and Orange basins
respectively. Paired seismic profiles (uninterpreted/interpreted)
are presented, with the interpreted sections having a subdued
display of the basic data and outline well data tied in where
available. This display technique works well and enables the
reader to evaluate the seismic pick aspect of the interpretation
to the extent that on occasions one questions why a particular
pick was made or why some ‘interesting’ reflectors were overridden. The quality of data reproduction is generally high, and
some profiles from the Orange basin (e.g. Figure 140) are spectacular. The emphasis of the analysis is on the identification,
correlation and age determination of unconformity-bounded
sequences. The geometry of seismic intervals is used to identify the depositional systems and the portions of the relative sea
level curve to which the depositional systems are felt to belong
(systems tracts). Seismic facies are used to a limited extent, for
example in the identification of seismically mappable slump
deposits. Well log data (gamma ray, sonic, density and dipmeter) and biostratigraphic data for selected wells are also
reported, allowing the reader to judge the ways in which these
data have been incorporated into the analysis. A profusion of
abbreviations is used on the interpreted figures and related captions and the reader is well advised to make a loose copy of
Figure 12 which serves as a key to the abbreviations. Riftrelated seismic packages feature prominently in many of the
profiles, but the details of these packages are not analysed and
the emphasis is clearly on post-rift strata above the rift-to-drift
unconformities.
In a depositional sense the atlas is mainly concerned with slope
and shelf-edge deltaic depositional systems that are represented
by complexes of dipping, clinoform reflectors and deep basin systems including interpreted lowstand turbidite fans. Some profiles
include data from up-dip, shelfal sectors of the basins, including
incised valley fills (e.g. Figures 146 and 152), but the focus is
clearly on the deeper basin settings. Details of clinoform intervals
clearly show truncational and onlapping relationships that are
used to identify lowstand systems tracts in the slope sector. The
identification of slope channels or canyons in the data sets is limited. Turbidite fans are recognized as mounded features which are
often of relatively small scale in comparison to the prograding
lowstand wedges that overlie them. Slope front fans and basin
floor fans are distinguished for their position in relation to the
base of slope. In two of the basins (Pletmos and Bredasdorp) the
amount of strata attributed to the transgressive systems tract is
limited due, it is argued, to low accommodation space in the shelf
sector and low sediment supply. Most of the seismic profiles are
depositional dip profiles which is understandable, but it would
have been useful to see a wider selection of depositional strike
profiles in order to better gauge the three-dimensional character
of interpreted sequences and systems tracts.
The volume of data presented in the atlas is considerable, rendering it to be extremely good value. The quality of presentation
is also high in all respects and the atlas is therefore a highly
practical, usable item that those concerned with either teaching
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or learning sequence stratigraphy in the seismic medium will
find invaluable.
T. Elliott
KEAREY, P. 1996. The New Penguin Dictionary of Geology. ix +
366 pp. London: Penguin Books. Price £6.99 (paperback).
ISBN 0 14 051277 2.
Readers may be astonished to learn that Earth Science authors at
the Open University debate etymologically. At a recent meeting
one course team was asked to approve a change of usage from
palaeo- to paleo- as the prefix denoting old, or indeed ancient.
The rather jaunty discourse terminated with, let us say, a less
than democratic decision to adopt the latter. Whereas both prefixes are valid, depending on longitude, it was comforting to
find that palaeo- is iron-clad on its ascendancy within the
Dictionary of Geology. Fine, except that studying ancient
organisms should be palaeo-ontology… I make this picayune
point because Open University students probably will buy more
copies of this neat little book than will any other group.
That confusion aside, any newcomer to a science faces
a lahar (p. 172) of jargon, rarely glossarized and one that
swiftly buries the unfortunate student. Much of it is perverse.
A lacuna is a disconformity, otherwise an hiatus or chronostratigraphic gap caused by non-deposition alone, and manifesting itself without any change in dip or omission within the
underlying sequence of beds. Philip Kearey’s careful crossreferencing allows a user to unravel the meaning within such
arcane words, and shows that more await an author’s whim.
So, his Dictionary assumes another use: that of allowing a
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hydrologist to pause before using the adjective hypopycnal to
describe the flow of water of low density as a buoyant surface
layer atop a larger, more dense body of fluid. That is, if a wide
audience is desired.
Publication demands brevity, and jargon serves to keep one
within page limits, but not always with precision of meaning, as
lacuna shows. Some is unavoidable, as in the cases of rock and
mineral names, in taxonomy, and the naming of stratigraphic
stages and local sequences, but impossible to learn entirely. Yet
others are redolent with mischievous meaning, piggyback propagation sequence for one. English, or rather Anglo-Saxon, does
not lend itself to many subtleties, so we have barchan, flaser,
culm and pahoehoe, as well as composites assembled from classical roots. Clearly, Penguin required a short dictionary, but a
brief indication of how such words arose would have been interesting. I fondly recall Doug Shearman telling me conspiratorially that the mineral dolomite is named after Count Deodar de
Dolomieu, who first described its strange property of piezoluminescence (not in the Dictionary, by the way), as well as its
curved crystal faces and pearly lustre. And then there is porphyry; nothing to do with large crystals set in a fine groundmass,
but meaning purple – a Roman mason’s name (‘Any more of
that purple from Egypt in stock, Septimus? Senate needs some
for a tomb or something.’).
For once in a review, it is not trite to conclude that The New
Penguin Dictionary of Geology demands its place on every
geologist’s bookshelf, primarily as the remedy for that horrible
feeling that one should know better. At last I know that the Lamé
constant (p. 173) has nothing to do with Gracelands, Memphis,
Tennessee.
S. A. Drury
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