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Composition and Properties of Petroleum
1682
Book Reviews
“Marine Electrochemistry-A Practical Introduction,” M. Whitfield and D. Jagner, eds. John Wiley and Sons. 1981 pp 529, $21.50. BEHIND THIS modest title lies a very nice book devoted to electrochemical techniques for probing the chemistry of sea water. The book is dedicated to the late Klaus Grasshoff whose long and thorough chapter on the electrochemical determination of oxygen by amperometric and polarographic techniques appears posthumously. The editors point out correctly that electrochemical techniques have wide applicability in ocean science offering inexpensive, selective, non-destructive, sensitive and miniaturized systems. The book begins with an excellent, brisk review of the physical chemistry of sea water (Whitfield and Turner) followed by a simple account of the classification of electroanalytical techniques on the IUPAC scheme (Turner and Whitfield). Electrochemical instrumentation (Ben-Yaakov) covers problems of electronic design for in sim electrochemical sensing particularly for a pH sensor package. Jagner describes computer control of electrochemical measurements. The second half of the book on applications covers conductometry for the determination of salinity (Wilson). This reviewer would have appreciated much more emphasis here on the Brown C. T. D. which has made a major contribution to oceanography. Culberson describes direct potentiometry
“Mineral Resources: Genetic Understanding for Practical Applications”, edited by Paul B. Barton, Jr., 198 1, I 19 p.,
paperbound $12.95 Cdn., National Academy Press. Mineral Resources: Genetic Understanding for Practical Applications is an assessment from the scientific community of the value of research in mineral deposit genesis on the continued discovery and evaluation of nonfuel mineral resources. The thesis is developed that a better understanding of mineral deposit genesis is essential to an adequate and dependable nonfuel mineral supply to the U.S. economy. The study encompasses questions of both a scientific and societal nature. It is directed at a diverse audience including advisors and policymakers whose mandate encompasses decisions related to trade-offs between mineral resource development, land-use, economic and foreign policies. The book consists of three main sections titled Resources and Exploration, Ore-Formation Processes and Future Mineral-Resource Strategies. These sections include ten papers written by three authors from industry, three from government and ten from the university sector. The introduction is an Overview and Recommendations chapter prepared by Dr. Paul Barton, Jr. who served as chairman of the Panel on Mineral Resources which undertook the study on behalf of the Geophysics Study Committee and the U.S. National Committee for Geochemistry. Among the more interesting conclusions of the study is the recommendation that much future mineral deposits research should consist of large. multidisciplinary, coordinated studies.
“Composition
and Properties of Petroleum,” H. J. Neumann, B. Paczynaski-Lahme and D. Severin 1981, 137 p,, $9.50, John Wiley & Sons Limited.
like so many others, grew out of the lecture notes for a university course, in this case taught by the senior author. He has been helped throughout by Paczynaski-Lahme, and Severin contributed most of the an-
THIS BOOK,
for pH determination and the application of specific ion electrodes. He votes firmly for the NBS pH scale and gives a plea for development of a reproducible liquid junction for marine work. Potentiometric titrations (Jagner) for alkalinity, chloride and the alkali metals are treated carefully. Brooks and Mark describe electrodeposition on wax-impregnated graphite electrodes in a chapter I am uncertain about. The promise of electrodeposition as a Lrouble and contamination-free precursor to highly sensitive trace metal analysis has been around for a decade or more, yet the wave of analytical success for trace metals in sea water owes nothing as yet to this approach. Voltammetry uf sea water (Zirino) covers anodic stripping at various electrodes for trace metal determination with a feel for the practical complexity this involves. The book is weak on acid-base characteristics of organic matter and on organic interactions, which is somewhat surprising, and does not cover electrochemical sensing of sed. imentary pore waters and the innovative recent use of microelectrodes for oxygen in this environment. It is however a very sensible contribution and many parts are excellent. Whitfield and Jagner are to be commended. Ocean Sciences Division National Science Foundation Washington, D. C. 20550
Peter (1. Brewer
Section 1, Resources and Exploration, includes two papers dealing with the current status of selected mineral commodities, possible future resource problems and the importance of geological research to exploration and future discoveries. Section 2, Ore-Formation Processes, comprising approximately one-half of the book, deals with genetic aspects of specific classes of ore deposits or ore-forming processes. In general, each paper presents a review and current status report of genetic knowledge, points out how genetic modelling has been used in exploration, identifies the major areas of uncertainty and suggests where future research efforts should be concentrated. In total these papers represent balanced, concise and authoritative summaries of genetic knowledge on a wide variety of ore deposits. Section 3, Future Mineral-Resource Strategies, addresses two topics. One deals with the need to develop more effective mineral-occurrence models of both regional and local scope, while the second deals with the importance of education, training and information transfer in achieving improved understanding of mineral resources. The book should prove useful to planners and pohcymakers responsible for decisions on societal problems that involve earth science. It should also be of much interest to those students of ore genesis whose interest is largely scientific, particularly at a price of $12.95. Deparlment of Geology McMasrer University Hamilton. Ontario L8S 4Ml Canada
,I.
H. Cracker
alytical sections including the whole of Part 2. The text 1s divided into four sections and the first deals with the “Compositions of Petroleums, Natural Gases and Oil Field Waters”. This concludes with a short summary of the origins of oil and gas. Part 2 on “Analysis” accounts for almost half of the text (56 pages) and covers separation of oils into fractions and characterization of the fractions. Mass spectrometry is dealt with at some length but has only a single
Book Reviews generalized mass spectrum. This section would have benefited from more diagrams, and this is also true for the section on infrared spectroscopy. Gas chromatography is slighted and gets only seven lines and a table referencing ASTM methods. A useful feature of this part of the book is its constant references to standard ASTM procedures, Part 3 is devoted to “The Properties of Petroleums and Natural Gases”. The first part of the treatment is at a very low level and almost any U.S. student would have covered this. Many of the diagrams are generalized and more real data would have helped. I was surprised by the lack of any discussion of solubility of natural gas in subsurface waters. The “Classification of Petroleums, Natural Gases and Oil Field Waters” is dealt with in Part 4 which has only six pages and is necessarily superficial. References (called “Literature”) are adequate but not comprehensive and roughly half refer to German-language journals. The text concludes with an index (labelled “Register”) and a threepage Glossary with a German translation of terms. The book is poorly translated and poorly edited. A few
1683
sentences are not grammatical and some are incomprehensible. While it may be amusing to read that Boyle (of Boyles Law) was a physician, that sulfur compounds have bed smell, or that petroleums are fluent, there are far too many of these errors. The choice of words is often poor and I found myself reading sentences twice, which soon gets to be irritating. Also there really is no excuse for (inter alia) kation, reduktion, protones, gaschromatography, graphit, elementary sulfur or even hydrogen sulfate. All of the problems might be tolerated if the book had a clearly defined audience. However it ranges from very elementary discussions of the ideal gas laws (with plots of V versus T, and V versus P) to discussions of compound type analysis by mass spectrometry with no diagrams at all. This uneveness of level is probably the book’s major weakness, I cannot recommend it. Department of Geosciences University of Tulsa Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104
Cohn
Barker
Book Reviews
“Marine Electrochemistry-A Practical Introduction,” M. Whitfield and D. Jagner, eds. John Wiley and Sons. 1981 pp 529, $21.50. BEHIND THIS modest title lies a very nice book devoted to electrochemical techniques for probing the chemistry of sea water. The book is dedicated to the late Klaus Grasshoff whose long and thorough chapter on the electrochemical determination of oxygen by amperometric and polarographic techniques appears posthumously. The editors point out correctly that electrochemical techniques have wide applicability in ocean science offering inexpensive, selective, non-destructive, sensitive and miniaturized systems. The book begins with an excellent, brisk review of the physical chemistry of sea water (Whitfield and Turner) followed by a simple account of the classification of electroanalytical techniques on the IUPAC scheme (Turner and Whitfield). Electrochemical instrumentation (Ben-Yaakov) covers problems of electronic design for in sim electrochemical sensing particularly for a pH sensor package. Jagner describes computer control of electrochemical measurements. The second half of the book on applications covers conductometry for the determination of salinity (Wilson). This reviewer would have appreciated much more emphasis here on the Brown C. T. D. which has made a major contribution to oceanography. Culberson describes direct potentiometry
“Mineral Resources: Genetic Understanding for Practical Applications”, edited by Paul B. Barton, Jr., 198 1, I 19 p.,
paperbound $12.95 Cdn., National Academy Press. Mineral Resources: Genetic Understanding for Practical Applications is an assessment from the scientific community of the value of research in mineral deposit genesis on the continued discovery and evaluation of nonfuel mineral resources. The thesis is developed that a better understanding of mineral deposit genesis is essential to an adequate and dependable nonfuel mineral supply to the U.S. economy. The study encompasses questions of both a scientific and societal nature. It is directed at a diverse audience including advisors and policymakers whose mandate encompasses decisions related to trade-offs between mineral resource development, land-use, economic and foreign policies. The book consists of three main sections titled Resources and Exploration, Ore-Formation Processes and Future Mineral-Resource Strategies. These sections include ten papers written by three authors from industry, three from government and ten from the university sector. The introduction is an Overview and Recommendations chapter prepared by Dr. Paul Barton, Jr. who served as chairman of the Panel on Mineral Resources which undertook the study on behalf of the Geophysics Study Committee and the U.S. National Committee for Geochemistry. Among the more interesting conclusions of the study is the recommendation that much future mineral deposits research should consist of large. multidisciplinary, coordinated studies.
“Composition
and Properties of Petroleum,” H. J. Neumann, B. Paczynaski-Lahme and D. Severin 1981, 137 p,, $9.50, John Wiley & Sons Limited.
like so many others, grew out of the lecture notes for a university course, in this case taught by the senior author. He has been helped throughout by Paczynaski-Lahme, and Severin contributed most of the an-
THIS BOOK,
for pH determination and the application of specific ion electrodes. He votes firmly for the NBS pH scale and gives a plea for development of a reproducible liquid junction for marine work. Potentiometric titrations (Jagner) for alkalinity, chloride and the alkali metals are treated carefully. Brooks and Mark describe electrodeposition on wax-impregnated graphite electrodes in a chapter I am uncertain about. The promise of electrodeposition as a Lrouble and contamination-free precursor to highly sensitive trace metal analysis has been around for a decade or more, yet the wave of analytical success for trace metals in sea water owes nothing as yet to this approach. Voltammetry uf sea water (Zirino) covers anodic stripping at various electrodes for trace metal determination with a feel for the practical complexity this involves. The book is weak on acid-base characteristics of organic matter and on organic interactions, which is somewhat surprising, and does not cover electrochemical sensing of sed. imentary pore waters and the innovative recent use of microelectrodes for oxygen in this environment. It is however a very sensible contribution and many parts are excellent. Whitfield and Jagner are to be commended. Ocean Sciences Division National Science Foundation Washington, D. C. 20550
Peter (1. Brewer
Section 1, Resources and Exploration, includes two papers dealing with the current status of selected mineral commodities, possible future resource problems and the importance of geological research to exploration and future discoveries. Section 2, Ore-Formation Processes, comprising approximately one-half of the book, deals with genetic aspects of specific classes of ore deposits or ore-forming processes. In general, each paper presents a review and current status report of genetic knowledge, points out how genetic modelling has been used in exploration, identifies the major areas of uncertainty and suggests where future research efforts should be concentrated. In total these papers represent balanced, concise and authoritative summaries of genetic knowledge on a wide variety of ore deposits. Section 3, Future Mineral-Resource Strategies, addresses two topics. One deals with the need to develop more effective mineral-occurrence models of both regional and local scope, while the second deals with the importance of education, training and information transfer in achieving improved understanding of mineral resources. The book should prove useful to planners and pohcymakers responsible for decisions on societal problems that involve earth science. It should also be of much interest to those students of ore genesis whose interest is largely scientific, particularly at a price of $12.95. Deparlment of Geology McMasrer University Hamilton. Ontario L8S 4Ml Canada
,I.
H. Cracker
alytical sections including the whole of Part 2. The text 1s divided into four sections and the first deals with the “Compositions of Petroleums, Natural Gases and Oil Field Waters”. This concludes with a short summary of the origins of oil and gas. Part 2 on “Analysis” accounts for almost half of the text (56 pages) and covers separation of oils into fractions and characterization of the fractions. Mass spectrometry is dealt with at some length but has only a single
Book Reviews generalized mass spectrum. This section would have benefited from more diagrams, and this is also true for the section on infrared spectroscopy. Gas chromatography is slighted and gets only seven lines and a table referencing ASTM methods. A useful feature of this part of the book is its constant references to standard ASTM procedures, Part 3 is devoted to “The Properties of Petroleums and Natural Gases”. The first part of the treatment is at a very low level and almost any U.S. student would have covered this. Many of the diagrams are generalized and more real data would have helped. I was surprised by the lack of any discussion of solubility of natural gas in subsurface waters. The “Classification of Petroleums, Natural Gases and Oil Field Waters” is dealt with in Part 4 which has only six pages and is necessarily superficial. References (called “Literature”) are adequate but not comprehensive and roughly half refer to German-language journals. The text concludes with an index (labelled “Register”) and a threepage Glossary with a German translation of terms. The book is poorly translated and poorly edited. A few
1683
sentences are not grammatical and some are incomprehensible. While it may be amusing to read that Boyle (of Boyles Law) was a physician, that sulfur compounds have bed smell, or that petroleums are fluent, there are far too many of these errors. The choice of words is often poor and I found myself reading sentences twice, which soon gets to be irritating. Also there really is no excuse for (inter alia) kation, reduktion, protones, gaschromatography, graphit, elementary sulfur or even hydrogen sulfate. All of the problems might be tolerated if the book had a clearly defined audience. However it ranges from very elementary discussions of the ideal gas laws (with plots of V versus T, and V versus P) to discussions of compound type analysis by mass spectrometry with no diagrams at all. This uneveness of level is probably the book’s major weakness, I cannot recommend it. Department of Geosciences University of Tulsa Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104
Cohn
Barker