Principles of Sedimentology

184 a pity that a review paper was not included, Kent's coming closest. The final section, covering Cratonic Basins is well represented by nine papers (Sweeney, Burke, Steel, Kallasam, Nalivkin, Kravchenko et al., Rudkevich, Bazanov et al. and Drewry). Four of these deal with various aspects of cratonic basins in Russia which range in age from Precambrian to Cainozoic and these are valuable summaries for English language readers. Overall, papers in the book are of a high quality and there is a good selection, no doubt reflecting in large measure Professor Bott's organization of the original symposium and his editing. Inevitably, the question of continuity, and the reconciliation of the numerous hypotheses arises in a book of this nature. Professor Bott's Introduction does this to some extent, but the reader is in the end left on his own to pay hi~ m o n e y and make his choice. This may not be a bad t h i n g - after all the book is written for practising scientists who should be able to pick the bones out of such a collection, and formulate their own opinions. In this regard, the short paper by Kent is significant. His views on the timing of post-Hercynian taphrogenic and intercratonic downwarping along Atlantic type continental margins have been expressed before and pose profound problems for the 'classical' plate tectonist. Sombody soon will have to respond to this voice in the wilderness. The book is to be r e c o m m e n d e d - - b u t of course not to subscribers to

Tectonophysics! R.V. DINGLE (Rondebosch, Cape, S. Africa)

Principles of Sedimentology. G.M. Friedman and J.E. Sanders. Wiley, New York, N.Y., U.S.$ 21.95. This outstanding and unique book is the only one available that synthesizes the total broad field of sedimentology, from the surface to the subsurface and from the submicroscopic to litospheric plates. In this synthesis, material has been used not only from the fields of stratigraphy and sedimentology, but also from physics, chemistry, geophysics, geochemistry, organic geochemistry, oceanography, biology (physiology of skeletal secretion and microbiology), engineering, environmental geology, tectonics, paleoecology, petroleum geology, log analysis, economic geology, statistics, and mathematics. The book progresses from emphasis on individual particles in modern sediments, and in the rock record, to how particles form, accumulate, and are modified as a result of physical, chemical, and biological processes, both on the surface and in the subsurface. The problems and techniques of studying subsurface strata are repeatedly emphasized and related to exploration for oil, gas, water, and mineral deposits. Outstanding features that make this classical text unique are as follows: (1) Organization - - t h e format takes the readers down to fundamental pro-

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cesses in which the lithologies are included, rather than organizing chapters empirically by lithology. (2) Illustrations - - p h o t o g r a p h s range from scanning electron micrographs to satellite images, including particular aerial photographs, photomicrographs, and continuous seismic profiles as well as the usual photographs of sedimentary structures. (3) Line d r a w i n g s - about 500 line drawings of sketches, maps, profiles, sections, log diagrams, and geophysical logs of borings are included. (4) G l o s s a r y - - a comprehensive glossary that covers the entire field of sedimentology is presented. Other very attractive features of this book include: (a) attractive appearance; (b) low price; (c) high quality of paper and of reproductions; (d) good organization of material; with logical progression from individual particles upward to regional basins; (e) excellent historical review of naming and classifying rocks; (f) full explanations where mathematical expressions are used, including worked-out examples; (g) excellent summary, based on David Frazier, of Mississippi Delta history, including a series of new drawings showing the development during the later Holocene time; (h) thorough discussion of sedimentary processes and their relationship to sedimentary features such as primary sedimentary structures and successions of strata; and (i) integration of data from the surface and subsurface. It is encouraging to see that these two outstanding scientists found the time to write a t e x t b o o k which, in the opinion of the reviewer, should be translated into Russian, Persian, Arabic, Chinese, and other foreign languages. Writing books, symposia, and periodic reviews in a particular area constitutes just as great a contribution to science as doing and publishing original research work. In conclusion one can state that this book, which can be used either as a t e x t b o o k or a reference book, belongs on the bookshelf of every sedimentol_ogist, petroleum geologist, and, possibly, petroleum engineer. Petroleum engineers are beginning to realize an absolute necessity to cooperate with geologists. GEORGE V. CHILINGAR (Los Angeles, Calif.}

Computational Methods of Multivariate Analysis in Physical Geography. P.M. Mather. Wiley, London, 1976, 532 pp., £ 13.75 or U.S.$ 26.15. Paul Mather's book has an unwieldy title, but one which is necessary to describe exactly what the book is about. It is n o t a quantitative geography book, nor even a book on quantitative physical geography. It is not a statistics book, although most of the methodologies described are statistical in nature. Neither is it a b o o k on computational methods, even though it strongly emphasizes methodology. Perhaps it could best be described by a