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Handbuch der Physik, Geophysics III
436
BOOK REVIEWS
classical physics rather than solid state physics has conditioned their thinking. S. K. RUNCORN
Handbuch der Physik, Geophysics 111 (Springer, Berlin, 1971) 536 pp., $57.20. This volume completes the scheme of volumes (47-49) of the Handbuch der Physik devoted to geophysics planned by Professor J. Bartels. Volume 49 expanded in scope and the final part 3 has been edited by R. Rawer. The manuscripts unfortunately were delivered some years ago but this final volume of the series was only published last year. The original manuscript of one was delivered in 1955 and another in 1956, which are doubtless records. The volume covers magnetic
storms and the magnetosphere on the one hand and the technique of measurements on the surface and in the air of the magnetic field. The articles are thorough treatments of the topics but necessarily somewhat lacking in topicality: there is no discussion of the use of magnetometers in space. On one matter, however, the editor seeks to drag geonlagneticians, doubtless protesting, into the twentieth century: the S.I. system of units is used. However, in deference to the traditionally minded, all the formula are written so that they can be transposed into either the S.I. or c.g.s, systems and rationalized or non-rationalized. This seems to me to be a mistake as it simply makes the equations unfamiliar and unmemorable to everyone. The editor is to be congratulated on completing this valuable geophysical encyclopedia. S. K. RUNCORN
Proceedings of the Second Lunar Science Conference (Houston, Texas, January 11-14, 1971), Vols. 1, 2, 3, A. A. Levinson, ed., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta Suppl. 2 (M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1971) Vol. 1,986 pp; Vol. 2, 966 pp.; Vol. 3; $25.00 per volume, $70.00 per 3 volume set.
Vol. 1. Mineralogy and petrology The Second Lunar Science Conference was held by NASA in Houston in January 1971 to present the resuits of investigations on lunar samples from Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions. The scientific papers read at the conference have now appeared in three volumes, namely Vol. 1. Mineralogy and petrology. Vol. 2. Chemical and isotope analyses. Vol. 3. Physical properties; Surveyor 3. Volume 1 contains 68 papers from 205 authors. The majority of the papers describe the detailed mineralogy and petrology of individual specimens of the crystalline rocks, breccias and soil from the lunar surface. Inevitably much of this is descriptive and with some element of sameness in the work of different laboratories. However, the overlap and repetition between papers is less than the reviewer would have expected. The most impressive aspect of the work is the very great volume of factual information and ideas that has been obtained from such a small amount of lunar sample. One wonders how much faster terrestrial geology might have advanced, given the same attention to refinement of
techniques and the extraction of maximum information. Amongst the more interesting facets of the petrology is the demonstration that at a late stage in the magmatic crystallization of lunar melts, the residual liquid splits into two immiscible liquid phases. Similar phenomena were discovered subsequently in terrestrial rocks. Also of particular interest are the effects of very low oxygen fugacity in controlling the appearance of unique minerals and the course of crystallization, the very detailed work on the composition of lunar pyroxenes and their petrogenetic effects, and the suggestion that fractionation processes are more effective in lunar rocks than in terrestrial ones at least for zirconium and perhaps uranium. Inevitably, so many data for such a small rangc of samples permit several interpretations of the same observation, e.g., are the sodium-poor lunar basalts the result of formation under vacuum conditions or of fractional crystallization at depth in the Moon ? Although the sampling sites are so few, the lunar soil and regolith provide microsamples from a far wider geographic spread. For example it is suggested that anorthosite fragments may represent material from the
BOOK REVIEWS
classical physics rather than solid state physics has conditioned their thinking. S. K. RUNCORN
Handbuch der Physik, Geophysics 111 (Springer, Berlin, 1971) 536 pp., $57.20. This volume completes the scheme of volumes (47-49) of the Handbuch der Physik devoted to geophysics planned by Professor J. Bartels. Volume 49 expanded in scope and the final part 3 has been edited by R. Rawer. The manuscripts unfortunately were delivered some years ago but this final volume of the series was only published last year. The original manuscript of one was delivered in 1955 and another in 1956, which are doubtless records. The volume covers magnetic
storms and the magnetosphere on the one hand and the technique of measurements on the surface and in the air of the magnetic field. The articles are thorough treatments of the topics but necessarily somewhat lacking in topicality: there is no discussion of the use of magnetometers in space. On one matter, however, the editor seeks to drag geonlagneticians, doubtless protesting, into the twentieth century: the S.I. system of units is used. However, in deference to the traditionally minded, all the formula are written so that they can be transposed into either the S.I. or c.g.s, systems and rationalized or non-rationalized. This seems to me to be a mistake as it simply makes the equations unfamiliar and unmemorable to everyone. The editor is to be congratulated on completing this valuable geophysical encyclopedia. S. K. RUNCORN
Proceedings of the Second Lunar Science Conference (Houston, Texas, January 11-14, 1971), Vols. 1, 2, 3, A. A. Levinson, ed., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta Suppl. 2 (M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1971) Vol. 1,986 pp; Vol. 2, 966 pp.; Vol. 3; $25.00 per volume, $70.00 per 3 volume set.
Vol. 1. Mineralogy and petrology The Second Lunar Science Conference was held by NASA in Houston in January 1971 to present the resuits of investigations on lunar samples from Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions. The scientific papers read at the conference have now appeared in three volumes, namely Vol. 1. Mineralogy and petrology. Vol. 2. Chemical and isotope analyses. Vol. 3. Physical properties; Surveyor 3. Volume 1 contains 68 papers from 205 authors. The majority of the papers describe the detailed mineralogy and petrology of individual specimens of the crystalline rocks, breccias and soil from the lunar surface. Inevitably much of this is descriptive and with some element of sameness in the work of different laboratories. However, the overlap and repetition between papers is less than the reviewer would have expected. The most impressive aspect of the work is the very great volume of factual information and ideas that has been obtained from such a small amount of lunar sample. One wonders how much faster terrestrial geology might have advanced, given the same attention to refinement of
techniques and the extraction of maximum information. Amongst the more interesting facets of the petrology is the demonstration that at a late stage in the magmatic crystallization of lunar melts, the residual liquid splits into two immiscible liquid phases. Similar phenomena were discovered subsequently in terrestrial rocks. Also of particular interest are the effects of very low oxygen fugacity in controlling the appearance of unique minerals and the course of crystallization, the very detailed work on the composition of lunar pyroxenes and their petrogenetic effects, and the suggestion that fractionation processes are more effective in lunar rocks than in terrestrial ones at least for zirconium and perhaps uranium. Inevitably, so many data for such a small rangc of samples permit several interpretations of the same observation, e.g., are the sodium-poor lunar basalts the result of formation under vacuum conditions or of fractional crystallization at depth in the Moon ? Although the sampling sites are so few, the lunar soil and regolith provide microsamples from a far wider geographic spread. For example it is suggested that anorthosite fragments may represent material from the