Orogeny

167

expect

from

long-winded

these titles,

On the plus found

there

is a good deal of repetition,

which

leads

to some

discussions. side, those

long

discussions

the last section on Ocean History

know that I will refer to this part of Marine only regret is that Kennett

are generally

(chapters

leaves his readers

effort. I would have liked a brief concluding avenues for productive future research.

17-19)

written

Geology repeatedly

hanging

quite

particularly

clearly.

I

entertaining.

in the future.

1 My

at the end of his monumental

statement

on unsolved

problems

and

The text is a classy production. Figures are numerous and always legible (although I found that they were not adequately referenced in all instances). Finally, there were very few typographical errors. In summary, Marine Geology is not everything it could be, but it will occupy an easy-to-reach spot on my shelf. Get this text for your shelf, too. JAMES A. AUSTIN

Jr. (Austin.

Orogeny.

J.G. Dennis (Editor). Benchmark Papers in Geology 62. Hutchinson Publ. Cy, Stroudsburg, Pa., 1982, XV + 379 pp., US $ 46.00, hardcover.

Geosynclines-Concept

and

Place

within Plate

Tectonics.

Benchmark Papers in Geology 64. Hutchinson 1982, XV + 411 pp., US $ 52.00, hardcover.

F.L.

Schwab

Tex.)

Ross

(Editor).

Ross Publ. Cy, Stroudsburg.

Pa.,

Benchmark Papers in Geology, of which volumes 62 and 64 are here under review, aim to bring together in separate handy volumes the evolution of the state of knowledge presentation

on a number of specific geological topics. They do this through the and annotation of a selected number of historically important papers

that led to that knowledge. For each topic a special editor collects and selects key papers, brings them together in some logical sequence, and comments on the significance of the contribution in view of the prevailing insights and fashion at the time of their publication. Apart from reprinting include listings of other

selected papers (or significant parts thereof) the books relevant references and suggestions for further reading.

Translations and summary-translations to the value of the volumes, although

of a number only “western”

of “foreign” contributions add literature appears to have been

made accessible that way (at least for the volumes 62 and 64). The value of a particular Benchmark volume depends largely on the editor, on the balance or bias of his selection, on his comments, and on the running text that binds the papers together. The reason for discussing “Orogeny” and “Geosynclines” here together is that they are unavoidably complementary books. Geosynclines, or their modern equivalents continental margins, are recognized as the sites where sediments collect which,

168

through

tectogenesis,

however,

eventually

in his introduction

statement).

are warped

and

to “Orogeny”,

The complementary

nature

sculpted

into

orogens

does not seem to fully

of the two books is apparent

(Dennis,

support

this

for instance

in

the duplication in references, but also in the duplication of parts of papers or different versions of such papers in other journals. If, on the other hand, each volume

was expressly

meant

to cover each subject

own), one may ask why in “Orogeny” whereas in “Geosynclires” it virtually difference

perhaps

follow

“(Geosynclines)-Concept

from and

(for it to stand on its

plate tectonics is dealt with so sparingly. fills two thirds of the volume. Does the

the explicit

Place

adequately

extension

within

Plate

of the title of Volume

Tectonics”?

Certainly

orogenies

have something to do with plate tectonics.. or have they? In his introduction Schwab mentions that until 1960 the geosynclinal produced

almost

as much confusion

and strife, I ask why so few pre-plate clines”.

as clarity. tectonic

64

concept

Since science flowers on controversy era papers

are included

in “Geosyn-

Orogeny

The volume starts with a chapter (part) on early theories, surprisingly with only one original contribution, and a translation of the title page of De Beaumont’s “Systemes

de Montagnes”;

few other early ideas and concepts

are mentioned

in the

editorial comments. Part II deals with the contraction theory (no longer an early theory?) with Dana’s and Suess’ contributions of 1873 and 1875 respectively. Part III focusses on rock sequences in erogenic belts with contributions by Bertrand (1888) and Steinmann, the father of ophiolites (1906). Isostasy (Part IV) with contributions by Dutton, Willis and Vening Meinesz, brings us well into the 20th Century. Continental Drift (Part V) gives credit to Taylor and Daly with their 1910 and 1925 papers. Wegener’s contribution is mentioned in the editorial comments (can a book be a benchmark Wandering

paper?),

Continents”

but

no

mention

and that I consider

is made

of Du

(1906)

Schwinner

1937

“Our

a serious omission.

Next follows a section (Part VI) on deep flow and convection by Ampferer

Toit’s

(1920) and Griggs (1939). Under

with contributions “Bicausal

models”

(Part VII) we find Haarmann’s (1930) oscillation theory and its sequel, Van Bemmelen’s (1933) undation theory. The contribution by Beloussov and his Russian school is acknowledged, unfortunately in an all too brief excerpt. Surely Beloussov’s 1962 “Basic Problems in Geotectonics” and his 1980 “Geotectonics” have made the Russian contribution accessible. I fail to understand why Wegmann’s (1935), Bucher’s (1933) and Stille’s (1940) publications are collected under “Models derived mainly from comparative studies” (Part VIII), but perhaps we should be happy that they are included in the book. Part IX brings theoretical and experimental studies of Wilson (1950) Ramberg (1967) and Ramsay (1969) together, but Wilson’s work of that time could just as well have been placed in Part II (Contraction theory). The last chapter,

as mentioned and

all too briefly,

Bird (1970)

expansionist

and

ties “Orogeny”

Matsuda

view displayed

to plate tectonics

and Uyeda

(Carey,

(1971).

Nowhere

with papers by Dewey in the volume

is the

King, Owen).

Geosynclines In the first chapter Hall and Dana are acknowledged as innovators presenting to explaining the the world, in 1858 and 1873 respectively, “... a novel mechanism origin of ~ou~r~jn systems” (i.e. orogenies!). Part II stresses the European bias to the geosynclinal sedimentation

concept with their emphasis on the deep-water nature of geosynclinal (Bertrand, 1887; Haug, 1900; Stille, 1924). In the next chapter the

geosynclinal cycle gives Bertrand’s 1897 paper and no less than four excerpts of papers by Krynine (1941), who rather late carried Bertrand’s ideas across the Atlantic,

Where, in this chapter

tion and nomenclature

is Umbgrove’s

are epitomized

Kay, Mr. North American Geosynclines, In the following two chapters, part

1947 “Pulse

in two papers

of the Earth”?

Classifica-

(1942 and 1951) by Marshall

par excellence. V, “Old global

tectonics”

and

part

VI,

“Unanswered questions”, the scene is set for sea-floor spreading and plate tectonics. These topics fill the remaining two thirds of the book, subdivided over four chapters: VII “Early formulations”, VIII “Mechanisms”, IX “Analytical keys for recognizing geosynclines ( . . . produced by plate tectonic mechanisms”, as an afterthought, as if there were other mechanisms today?), and X (a bit of philosophy?) “Geosynclines and plate tectonics: the scientific revolution”. Conspicuously, not one of the papers in these four chapters was published in the journals of the American Geophysical Union. already A.G.U.

One may wonder whether that was done deliberately. There are after all two editions of “Plate Tectonics”, binding papers together published by the (Benchmark-papers of the A.G.U.?). Needless to say that “Geosynclines”

and A.G.U.‘s

“Plate

Tectonics”

have a lot in common,

authors

and subjects

alike.

“Orogeny” as a collection of historically important contributions has more to offer than “Geosynclines”. Both volumes suffer from including too few foreign (notably Russian) contributions. “Geosynclines” is almost exclusively a North American affair. That, however, is perhaps easily explained when we read in the editor’s introduction to part I. “The geosynclinal concept is at least arguably an American innovation, . . .” All said and done, Benchmark Papers in Geology certainly are wonderful books for busy and lazy people, students and teachers, who want to be introduced quickly into a particular subject to acquire an (historical) overview of the state of the art, without having to search (old) libraries. This statement applies at least to volumes 62 and 64. I did enjoy reading the “old” papers in the volumes. They did help remind me of the talent and skill, the knowledge and intuition of eminent scientists who laid the foundations of geology. Recognition of that is all the more appropriate when one realises that they had no access to the advanced tools for observation and explora-

170

tion available of giants.

to us. Truly, we can only see so far because

The volumes currencies

are expensive,

especially

other than US dollars.

the editor’s binding (would

we stand on the shoulders

In this respect these books bring history back in geology in a double

recycled

these days for people who have to pay in

Since technical

editing

text and its place in the volumes.

paper be appropriate

for Benchmark

fail to see that these books could not be published WILLEM

sense.

and lay out is restricted

to

and since cheap paper is used Papers, i.e. recycled papers?)

at a considerably

J.M. VAN DER LINDEN

Seismic Migration. Imaging of Acoustic Energy by Theoretical Aspects. A.J. Berkhout. Developments 14A. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1982, 2nd revised.

(Utrecht.

Wavefield in Solid

I

lower price, The Netherlands)

Extrapolation. A: Earth Geophysics,

Most of us geophysicists have, at some point in our scientific life, been sentenced to eternal uncertainty. For practical reasons we are forced to put up with incomplete, inaccurate

and often disconcertingly

hand, we try to infer physical able to reach and measure nothing

better

properties

inconsistent

data sets. With this mess in

of the Earth at depths that we shall never be

in situ. Having

performed

our “inversion”,

there is often

to do than to wait and see if future data will resolve, or add to, the

inconsistencies. But we’re never sure that deep down there, the Earth is really what we think it is. The situation is a little different for today’s exploration geophysicist with 1024 geophone channels at his disposal, sometimes in 3-D spreads, together with boreholes to locally control his results. To convert the time-distance displays to a true image of the subsurface, seismic migration methods have been in use in the industry for at least 40 years. With deep seismic reflection experiments such as COCORP becoming more and more successful in tackling tectonic problems, many geophysicists outside

the industrial

community

of modern imaging principles. Notably in the last decade methods. Berkhout’s book methods in one perspective.

will feel the need for a deeper understanding

there has been a considerable

is an admirable The first edition

interest

in migration

attempt to put the modern migration of this book was published in 1980. The

fact that a (revised) second edition follows up so closely reflects the effort that the author makes to keep his material up to date. The book starts with a few chapters covering some basic mathematical physics: vector calculus, spectral analysis and the theory of (scalar) wave propagation. This set-up makes the book self-contained, and useful as a textbook. In chapters 6 and 7 the theory of wavefield extrapolation is treated, and here the author develops the notation that is the spine of his book: the wavefield at some depth is constructed from the field just below or above it, by multiplication with a propagator matrix.