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Geology
368 and (3) environmental integration A l t h o u g h the third stage Is the eventual mm of the project, thts volume o n l y just begms to touch on the second o f these stages, and most o f the reports belong to the first stage of speclahzed research, w i t h each report wrttten for readers m the author's specmlty In the sectton devoted to c h m a t o l o g y and meteorology, we can read of the effects of vegetation on mlcrochmate in papers by Benjey and by Aufdemberge, whde m the section devoted to biology, we can read of the effects of one aspect of mlcrochmate (duration of snow cover) on vegetation in articles by Scott and by D e t w y l e r A u f d e m berge chose a tundra stte "covered w t t h t u n dra moss, Itchen and grass" for hts meteorological study, b u t Scott differentiated m a n y d=fferent tundra assoc=at~ons each controlled by d~fferent snow melt and sod moisture conditions m his botamcal study Some mterdlsclphnary interaction prior to inttlatton of the speciahzed research could have been benefimal to both fields of research Interaction even w t t h m a single d~sctplme seems to have been lacking Two papers - The effect of snow d u r a t i o n on alpine plant c o m m u m t y c o m p o s i t i o n and dist r i b u t i o n , by Scott, and Vegetation--snowcover relations m an alpine pass Alaska, by Detvvyler - appear, at least to this reader, to cover the same top,c and to reach the same conclusions The better smence of Scott could have been combined w , t h the much more readable style of D e t w y l e r to produce a smgle and better paper A n o t h e r example of the unnecessary duphcat~on of papers ts the t w o papers on the height of M t Logan The art,cle by Holds w o r t h , noting that M t Logan is probably l O 0 m lower than the currently accepted value, and another, by Wood, suggesting that the currently accepted he=ght of M t Logan be revised to be 1 0 0 m lower, could have been combined mto one very much shorter paper It is encouraging to note the widespread use of the metric system in most papers m th=s volume Bryan's use of m i x e d English and metric units in his hmnologmal studves =s u n f o r t u n a t e Theconverslon f r o m Enghsh to metrm umts =s far easier to make before a paper ~s wr=tten than whde it is being read A puzzle m th~s connection is w h y Deter/let
converted hts tmtlally metric measurements back to feet f o r his f o l d - o u t F~g 1, whde the accompanying paper entitled " S n o w melt " is exclusively metric The t~tle of this paper ~s m~sleadmg as it deals o n l y w i t h snow depth, and the meager density m f o r matron ts inadequate to assess snow melt This error p r o b a b l y reflects the author's botanical background The quality of reproduction of t e x t and figures is very good T h e t l l e g t b t l t t y of a v e r y few figures ~s not the fault of the prmter Typographical errors are surprisingly few m number, b u t it is unusual to see an author's name misspelled beneath the t~tle of a paper The volume contains a great deal of useful mformat~on for spectahsts m many dtsct phnes A full third of the articles have al ready been pubhshed (one, as long ago as 1969) m other journals and should be famdlar to the speclahst, most of the remainder should be pubhshed in other jourpals m the near future The collectton of speciahzed scientific articles f r o m a number of dlsci plmes into a single volume, however, ts a very sure way of h~ghhghtmg the need for mterd~sc~phnary mteractton This volume seems intended f o r the shelves of an institutional hbrary, b u t its l o w cost makes tt well w o r t h adding to any collection of alpme sctenttfm hterature, for all ~ts excess verbiage M J McSaveney, Columbus, Ohio
INTRODUCTION
TO GEOLOGY
L E Long, 1974 Geology McGraw Hdl, Dusseldorf, 5 2 6 p p , D M 43 30 This b o o k represents y e t another att e m p t to summarize w~thm a single volume the many topics which go to make up the science of the solid Earth Precisely w h y Professor Long should have f e t t t t necessary to do what so many others have done over the past f e w years is n o t made enttrely clear m the Preface, nor does it become apparent f r o m a reading of the t e x t The reasonglven for wrttmg the b o o k is that it was required for a one-semester m t r o d u c t o r y course at
369
the University of Texas But were n o t any of the ex=stmg books suitable f o r the purpose ? A n d ~f not, w h y n o t ? Or to p u t it another way What does Professor Long bring to the Earth Smence t e x t b o o k that others have not brought before h~m? Content? mop=cs, or a particular arrangement of topics, not dealt w i t h elsewhere? Style? An original way of presenting and teaching the subject? In fact, none of these This may appear harsh As a w H t e r myself, I am well aware of the hardship involved in w h a t Professor Long refers to br=efly as " t h e strata of a task t h a t t o o k so long to accomphsh" Nor do I overlook or underestimate the ded=catlon of anyone w h o can pat0ently write away for many years and hundreds of pages on subjects, many of which are outside the sphere of his d~rect exper=ence But the bastc question remains, and calls for an answer f r o m Pro fessor Long and many others Why undergo the stra=n and w h y misdirect the dedication towards a task which has been fulfilled so many times before? None of which ~s to suggest t h a t Profes sor Long has not produced a b o o k w h m h is interesting in itself Beginning, as ~s usual, w0th the origin and structure of the universe, matters proceed rapidly down-scale to the E a r t h - - M o o n system, the Earth and finally the atoms which go to f o r m terrestrial materials This leads naturally t o a c o n s l d e r atlon of igneous rocks and thence to the sedimentary and metamorphic mater=als derived f r o m them Then follows a d~scuss~on of geological t,me and the ways ~n whmh geological events may be dated But t~me and the evotut=on of the Earth are closely related to the evolut=on of hfe, and so lead to a consideration of palaeontology N e x t comes a conceptual break, at wh=ch p o i n t Professor Long begins a summary of the principal results o f geophysicalstud~es Th~s =s f o l l o w e d by a "grand synthesis" in terms of plate tectonics, and the b o o k ends (apart f r o m various Appendices) w i t h dtscuss~ons of depos~t=onal systems, ~ce ages and the problems of the Earth's resources The t e x t =s clear and straightforward, b u t the clar=ty is achieved at the expense of style -- ch=efly through the pecuharly Amerman habtt of equating good scientific writ~ng w~th short, staccato sentences The dlus-
trattons are exceptionally well chosen and have been b e a u t d u l l y drawn by Felix Cooper w i t h an elegance seldom seen ~n such pubhcattons M y ma=n critic=sin of the arrangement o f toptcs ts that the grand syn thesis is left far too late in the proceedings It seems to me that the t,me has n o w come when plate tectomcs should be introduced at the outset and thereafter regarded as the natural f r a m e w o r k w i t h i n which to discuss the more conventional geolog=cal lines But whatever the merits or demerits of the b o o k as such, the fact is that it largely duplicates a score of others, and so ~ts use fulness must be judged by compaNson My choice from a wide field and by a wide margin is stdl Earth by Frank Press and R a y m o n d Siever (Freeman, San Francisco, 1974) For the time being =t rema=nsunsur passed Peter J Smith, M i l t o n Keynes
BRAZILIAN MINERALS
R R Franco, A Leprevost, J J BIgarella and A Bolsanello, 1975 Minerals o f Brazl/ Elsewer, Amsterdam, 3 v o l s , 426 p p , 869 c o l o u r p l a t e s , Dfl 2 0 0 0 0 The w o r k opens w~th a f o r e w o r d and i n t r o d u c t i o n , In Portuguese and in English, each language occupying a b o u t one-half of the x x x v i l pages of p r e f a t o r y matter (The t e x t t h r o u g h o u t the three volumes is duplicated in these languages ) The authors plan ned to assumble " t h e largest possible number of good quality photographs of Brazd~an minerals, gems and rocks" To ~ntroduce thts subject there is f~rst a brief account of modes of occurrence of minerals, w~th a suggested classification according to their abundance or rarity in Brazil There follows an extremely condensed summary of crystal m o r p h o l o g y , t w i n n i n g , modes of aggrega tlon, physical properties such as cleavage and hardness, specific grawty, lustre and so forth, all w i t h i n the compass of e=ght fur ther pages The remainder of v o l u m e I, and the t w o further volumes, present the 869 coloured photographs arranged on some 4 0 0 pages The classical chemical sequence is fol
converted hts tmtlally metric measurements back to feet f o r his f o l d - o u t F~g 1, whde the accompanying paper entitled " S n o w melt " is exclusively metric The t~tle of this paper ~s m~sleadmg as it deals o n l y w i t h snow depth, and the meager density m f o r matron ts inadequate to assess snow melt This error p r o b a b l y reflects the author's botanical background The quality of reproduction of t e x t and figures is very good T h e t l l e g t b t l t t y of a v e r y few figures ~s not the fault of the prmter Typographical errors are surprisingly few m number, b u t it is unusual to see an author's name misspelled beneath the t~tle of a paper The volume contains a great deal of useful mformat~on for spectahsts m many dtsct phnes A full third of the articles have al ready been pubhshed (one, as long ago as 1969) m other journals and should be famdlar to the speclahst, most of the remainder should be pubhshed in other jourpals m the near future The collectton of speciahzed scientific articles f r o m a number of dlsci plmes into a single volume, however, ts a very sure way of h~ghhghtmg the need for mterd~sc~phnary mteractton This volume seems intended f o r the shelves of an institutional hbrary, b u t its l o w cost makes tt well w o r t h adding to any collection of alpme sctenttfm hterature, for all ~ts excess verbiage M J McSaveney, Columbus, Ohio
INTRODUCTION
TO GEOLOGY
L E Long, 1974 Geology McGraw Hdl, Dusseldorf, 5 2 6 p p , D M 43 30 This b o o k represents y e t another att e m p t to summarize w~thm a single volume the many topics which go to make up the science of the solid Earth Precisely w h y Professor Long should have f e t t t t necessary to do what so many others have done over the past f e w years is n o t made enttrely clear m the Preface, nor does it become apparent f r o m a reading of the t e x t The reasonglven for wrttmg the b o o k is that it was required for a one-semester m t r o d u c t o r y course at
369
the University of Texas But were n o t any of the ex=stmg books suitable f o r the purpose ? A n d ~f not, w h y n o t ? Or to p u t it another way What does Professor Long bring to the Earth Smence t e x t b o o k that others have not brought before h~m? Content? mop=cs, or a particular arrangement of topics, not dealt w i t h elsewhere? Style? An original way of presenting and teaching the subject? In fact, none of these This may appear harsh As a w H t e r myself, I am well aware of the hardship involved in w h a t Professor Long refers to br=efly as " t h e strata of a task t h a t t o o k so long to accomphsh" Nor do I overlook or underestimate the ded=catlon of anyone w h o can pat0ently write away for many years and hundreds of pages on subjects, many of which are outside the sphere of his d~rect exper=ence But the bastc question remains, and calls for an answer f r o m Pro fessor Long and many others Why undergo the stra=n and w h y misdirect the dedication towards a task which has been fulfilled so many times before? None of which ~s to suggest t h a t Profes sor Long has not produced a b o o k w h m h is interesting in itself Beginning, as ~s usual, w0th the origin and structure of the universe, matters proceed rapidly down-scale to the E a r t h - - M o o n system, the Earth and finally the atoms which go to f o r m terrestrial materials This leads naturally t o a c o n s l d e r atlon of igneous rocks and thence to the sedimentary and metamorphic mater=als derived f r o m them Then follows a d~scuss~on of geological t,me and the ways ~n whmh geological events may be dated But t~me and the evotut=on of the Earth are closely related to the evolut=on of hfe, and so lead to a consideration of palaeontology N e x t comes a conceptual break, at wh=ch p o i n t Professor Long begins a summary of the principal results o f geophysicalstud~es Th~s =s f o l l o w e d by a "grand synthesis" in terms of plate tectonics, and the b o o k ends (apart f r o m various Appendices) w i t h dtscuss~ons of depos~t=onal systems, ~ce ages and the problems of the Earth's resources The t e x t =s clear and straightforward, b u t the clar=ty is achieved at the expense of style -- ch=efly through the pecuharly Amerman habtt of equating good scientific writ~ng w~th short, staccato sentences The dlus-
trattons are exceptionally well chosen and have been b e a u t d u l l y drawn by Felix Cooper w i t h an elegance seldom seen ~n such pubhcattons M y ma=n critic=sin of the arrangement o f toptcs ts that the grand syn thesis is left far too late in the proceedings It seems to me that the t,me has n o w come when plate tectomcs should be introduced at the outset and thereafter regarded as the natural f r a m e w o r k w i t h i n which to discuss the more conventional geolog=cal lines But whatever the merits or demerits of the b o o k as such, the fact is that it largely duplicates a score of others, and so ~ts use fulness must be judged by compaNson My choice from a wide field and by a wide margin is stdl Earth by Frank Press and R a y m o n d Siever (Freeman, San Francisco, 1974) For the time being =t rema=nsunsur passed Peter J Smith, M i l t o n Keynes
BRAZILIAN MINERALS
R R Franco, A Leprevost, J J BIgarella and A Bolsanello, 1975 Minerals o f Brazl/ Elsewer, Amsterdam, 3 v o l s , 426 p p , 869 c o l o u r p l a t e s , Dfl 2 0 0 0 0 The w o r k opens w~th a f o r e w o r d and i n t r o d u c t i o n , In Portuguese and in English, each language occupying a b o u t one-half of the x x x v i l pages of p r e f a t o r y matter (The t e x t t h r o u g h o u t the three volumes is duplicated in these languages ) The authors plan ned to assumble " t h e largest possible number of good quality photographs of Brazd~an minerals, gems and rocks" To ~ntroduce thts subject there is f~rst a brief account of modes of occurrence of minerals, w~th a suggested classification according to their abundance or rarity in Brazil There follows an extremely condensed summary of crystal m o r p h o l o g y , t w i n n i n g , modes of aggrega tlon, physical properties such as cleavage and hardness, specific grawty, lustre and so forth, all w i t h i n the compass of e=ght fur ther pages The remainder of v o l u m e I, and the t w o further volumes, present the 869 coloured photographs arranged on some 4 0 0 pages The classical chemical sequence is fol