Magnetic stratigraphy of sediments

40:

and pyroxenes; basalt magma norms

high-pressure effects; volatiles at high pressure: and applications to genesis. Apendices present the procedures for calculating CIPW

and cation

and oxygen

the system MgO-Fe<>-SiO, tory notes. I found

Morse’s treatment

ated his wry insertions

units;

an abridged

version

of the landmark

by Bowen and Schairer is also reproduced exhaustive

and very illuminating.

and colloquialisms;

these are generally

study of

with explana-

1 also much appreciremoved

by a zealous

but humorless copy editor. but evidently the fun-loving group employed Springer enjoys their little joke just as much as Morse does.

by Konrad

The phase rule, thermodynamic analyses, Schreinemakers’ treatment of invariant points and G-X diagrams are also utilized to help explain the phase relations, as is certainly sented

appropriate.

Quantitative

for the first time. Although

treatment

of the fractional

the Schreinemakers’

analysis

processes is presented

are preexten-

sively and quite clearly, attempts at thermodynamic treatment in general have not been deduced from first principles, hence may not be meaningful for some students; furthermore, if the reader does not understand unlikely to obtain a comprehensive appreciation are very minor criticisms, however, inasmuch

the phase rule to begin with. he is from Morse’s presentation. These as the quantitative chemographic

descriptions of phase diagrams are the predominant thrust of the book. The text is clear and remarkably free from misprints and errors. It is extensively and effectively illustrated (241 figs.). It is also priced attractively at about $36. Written

for advanced

hits the mark igneous

nicely.

petrologists,

undergraduates I reconlmend both students

and first + second “Basalts

and Phase

and professionals.

year graduate Diagrams”

students,

I wish I’d written

W.G. ERNST

it

for all serious it!

(Los Angeles,

Calif.. U.S.A.)

Magnetic ~t~~tjg~uF~y of Sediments. James P. Kennett, (Editor}. Benchmark Papers in Geology, Voi. 54. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Stroudsberg, Penn., 1980, XIX + 438 pp., U.S. $ 39.50 (hardcover). This is a book

dedicated

as a memorial

to Norman

D. Watkins

(1934- 1977).

Watkins was one of the very lively spirits in national and international earth sciences during the 1970s. Although he made an impact on a broad range of problems in earth sciences, he is perhaps best known for his interest and work in paleomagnetism and ma~etostratigraphy. He was Chairman of the first IUGS Sub-Commission on the Magnetic Polarity Time Scale. This book therefore represents a most fitting volume to his memory. The book is a collection of papers from the literature set out so as to cover the widest possible scope of the subject of magnetic stratigraphy of sediments. The papers selected are ail key papers on the various aspects chosen. Naturally there is a

403

bias

towards

varied

topics,

and generally

obvious

anyway.

papers

and interests

of Norman

so much at the forefront

The book is divided

Watkins,

that their selection

into eight parts,

but these were SO would have been

each representing

a specific

topic and each prefaced by extensive comments from the editor. Part 1 reprints three papers relating to the development of the Time naturally grand

commencing

project

with Cox’s paper from Science in 1969. Watkins

in Iceland

assisted

by McDougall

and three Icelandic

Scale,

organ&d researchers

the in

which an attempt was made to extend the time scale back to 6.5 m. y. The key paper relating to this work is fittingly reproduced here. Part 2 discusses the extension of the polarity scale to deep-sea sediments. Ten papers cover this aspect, naturally heavily biassed towards the work of Opdyke and his associates at the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory. Parts 3 and 4 discuss the extension of the scale to classical geological regions, first in uplifted marine sections and then to nonmarine sediments. In the former some significant

contributions

by Watkins

are represented.

Parts 5 and

6 are about dating using magnetostratigraphy, first the climatic record in particular and then to other processes recorded in oceanic sediments. Again the wide diversity of interests

of Norman

stratigraphy speculations; contributions

Watkins

comes to the forefront

and the power of magneto-

as a dating tool is very well illustrated. Part 7 contains papers on are polarity changes linked to other phenomena? Finally in Part 8, two by Norman Watkins relate to his work as Chairman of the IUGS

Sub-Commission The editorial

and discuss the nomenclature of magnetostratigraphy. discussions that precede each part are particularly thoughtful

and

helpful to the non-specialist. They set out some historical background and perspectives and the editor must be congratulated on an excellent piece of work. This is a book that every stratigrapher should have on his bookshelf. It instantly summarises the whole subject and reproduces key papers. It serves as a most fitting memorial to Norman Watkins, a man of action in an action packed subject. M.W. McELHINNY (Camberra, ACT., Australia)

The Evoking Earth. L.R.M. Cocks (Editor) Brit. Museum Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1981, VII + 264 pp., btg 30.~

(Nat. Hist.). Cambridge (Hardcover), Estg. 10.50

(softcover). 1981 is the centenary year of the British Museum of Natural History, London. On account of this jubilee the scientific staff of the museum, together with some other contributors, published two volumes entitled: “The Evolving Earth”, and “The Evolving biosphere”. The first one (reviewed here) “describes the environments which have supported living organisms, and shaped their adaption and diversity during the last 3.5 thousand million years. The revolutionary changes in cosmological and geological thought during this century are reflected in the sections on the