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Palaeocurrents and basin analysis
330 distribution of macrofauna and pollen, yielded evidence for a more detailed division of the sections and a more detailed correlation. A. Tollmann, in the first contribution, discusses the definition of the Rhaetian stage and its relation to the Norian Stage. The second contribution is devoted to Peri-Adriatic Lineament on which the author demonstrates a dextral shift for a distance of 150 km; he also characterized the development of this line after the Upper Eocene. H.M. Kapoor studied the Triassic of the Himalayas, particularly, the Lower Triassic of Kashmir. He has described the Permian/Triassic boundary beds in Guryul Ravine, and compared this section with other similar ones. He also called attention to the problems arising separating the Lower from the Middle Triassic and the Norian from the Rhaetian. He suggested a new stratigraphic division of the Triassic in India. H.-L. Holzer published a sumarizing table of Malm deposits of Austria in the individual tectonics zones, and their biostratigraphic assignment. His study is supplemented by a bibliography and further notes. The Collected Papers under consideration contain valuable contributions dealing with the stratigraphy of the Tethyan Triassic and Malm, which will attract attention not only of biostratigraphy-specialists but also of geologists treating widely focused topics, who are interested in general problems of stratigraphy, especially the problem of the Permian/Triassic boundary, and in biostratigraphic correlating of the Triassic on a large scale. MOJMIR ELIfi.S (Prague)
Palaeocurrents and Basin Analysis. P.E. Potter and F.J. Pettijohn. Springer, Berlin, 1977, 2nd corrected and updated edition, 460 pp., DM 55.70 or U.S. $ 27.90. In the preface the authors mention that thirteen years after the first edition of this book, they should have rewritten it for organisational reasons. However, they have chosen not to do so but failed to explain why. They now leave us with a book which is a reprint of the 1963 edition with an addendum to each chapter, discussing new developments since 1963 in the topic under discussion. The result is an inefficient lay-out. One has to read through a specific topic until 1963 and then has to go on with new developments (since 1963). In some cases (e.g. basin analysis and the sedimentation model, which has been reviewed in Chapter 9/II in the light of plate tectonics) such new developments often partly invalidate or make obsolete the topics dealt with until 1963. In this book (with the exception of the introduction, all chapters are now split into I - p r e - 1 9 6 3 - and I I - post-1963) the following topics are discussed. An introduction sets the objective of this book: (1) collecting, reviewing and synthesising knowledge in directional properties of sedi-
331
mentary rocks, and (2) analysis and understanding of sedimentary basins. Here, too, the history of paleocurrent investigation is discussed. Fabrics and geophysical properties are discussed next, followed by a treatise on cross-bedding and ripple marks. Linear structures fill one chapter; deformational structures another. The first six chapters cover the individual, smaller-scale features, which are next synthesised in Chapters 7--9, in which 'internal directional structures and shapes of sediment bodies', 'dispersal and current systems' and 'basin analysis and the sedimentary model' are explained. Chapter 10, finally treats methods of study. Palaeocurrents and Basin Analysis was and remains a useful book which collects, reviews and synthesises a tremendous a m o u n t of literature (approximately 1400 authors are cited; a few hundred literature references since 1963 are annotated). It is amazing to realise that all these references could be made within 400 pages. As a consequence, however, conclusions of many important works have been reduced to a sentence or a brief statement. The new developments which formed the reason for the second edition are manifold. Some chapters really deserve rewriting; others less so. Amongst the most significant new developments one could mention (Chapter 4/II) measurements of cross-bedding in carbonate sediments and volcanoclastics, and derivation of the palaeohydraulic and environmental significance o f cross-bedding and ripple marks in sandstone. Chapter 6/II contains new thoughts on the interpretation of de-watering structures. In Chapter 9/II the new ideas with respect to plate tectonics are discussed. Here, perhaps, is a chapter in which, as a result of the organisation chosen (Chapter 9/I: pre-1963; Chapter 9/II: post-1963), the dramatic impact of plate tectonics on sedimentological problem-solving, i s - although unintentionally -- well demonstrated. In a few cases in the additions to the old chapters, problems are delineated that still need some attention. This is, for instance, the case in Chapter 7/II, in which it appears that the large a m o u n t of studies on palaeoenvironments and shape of siliciclastic and carbonate bodies have only in very few cases led to reliable data on shape and palaeocurrent relations of siliciclastic bodies, and hardly ever to such data in carbonates. A whole area of investigation is thus placed in the limelight. Apart from the organisation of this work, it is felt that the second edition of Palaeocurrents and Basins Analysis remains a useful b o o k -- well printed and with good i l l u s t r a t i o n s - which should be on the bookshelf of all sedimentologists dealing with basin analysis. T.J.A. REIJERS (Rijswijk)
Palaeocurrents and Basin Analysis. P.E. Potter and F.J. Pettijohn. Springer, Berlin, 1977, 2nd corrected and updated edition, 460 pp., DM 55.70 or U.S. $ 27.90. In the preface the authors mention that thirteen years after the first edition of this book, they should have rewritten it for organisational reasons. However, they have chosen not to do so but failed to explain why. They now leave us with a book which is a reprint of the 1963 edition with an addendum to each chapter, discussing new developments since 1963 in the topic under discussion. The result is an inefficient lay-out. One has to read through a specific topic until 1963 and then has to go on with new developments (since 1963). In some cases (e.g. basin analysis and the sedimentation model, which has been reviewed in Chapter 9/II in the light of plate tectonics) such new developments often partly invalidate or make obsolete the topics dealt with until 1963. In this book (with the exception of the introduction, all chapters are now split into I - p r e - 1 9 6 3 - and I I - post-1963) the following topics are discussed. An introduction sets the objective of this book: (1) collecting, reviewing and synthesising knowledge in directional properties of sedi-
331
mentary rocks, and (2) analysis and understanding of sedimentary basins. Here, too, the history of paleocurrent investigation is discussed. Fabrics and geophysical properties are discussed next, followed by a treatise on cross-bedding and ripple marks. Linear structures fill one chapter; deformational structures another. The first six chapters cover the individual, smaller-scale features, which are next synthesised in Chapters 7--9, in which 'internal directional structures and shapes of sediment bodies', 'dispersal and current systems' and 'basin analysis and the sedimentary model' are explained. Chapter 10, finally treats methods of study. Palaeocurrents and Basin Analysis was and remains a useful book which collects, reviews and synthesises a tremendous a m o u n t of literature (approximately 1400 authors are cited; a few hundred literature references since 1963 are annotated). It is amazing to realise that all these references could be made within 400 pages. As a consequence, however, conclusions of many important works have been reduced to a sentence or a brief statement. The new developments which formed the reason for the second edition are manifold. Some chapters really deserve rewriting; others less so. Amongst the most significant new developments one could mention (Chapter 4/II) measurements of cross-bedding in carbonate sediments and volcanoclastics, and derivation of the palaeohydraulic and environmental significance o f cross-bedding and ripple marks in sandstone. Chapter 6/II contains new thoughts on the interpretation of de-watering structures. In Chapter 9/II the new ideas with respect to plate tectonics are discussed. Here, perhaps, is a chapter in which, as a result of the organisation chosen (Chapter 9/I: pre-1963; Chapter 9/II: post-1963), the dramatic impact of plate tectonics on sedimentological problem-solving, i s - although unintentionally -- well demonstrated. In a few cases in the additions to the old chapters, problems are delineated that still need some attention. This is, for instance, the case in Chapter 7/II, in which it appears that the large a m o u n t of studies on palaeoenvironments and shape of siliciclastic and carbonate bodies have only in very few cases led to reliable data on shape and palaeocurrent relations of siliciclastic bodies, and hardly ever to such data in carbonates. A whole area of investigation is thus placed in the limelight. Apart from the organisation of this work, it is felt that the second edition of Palaeocurrents and Basins Analysis remains a useful b o o k -- well printed and with good i l l u s t r a t i o n s - which should be on the bookshelf of all sedimentologists dealing with basin analysis. T.J.A. REIJERS (Rijswijk)