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Proterozoic Crustal Evolution
166
Book Reviews / Precambrian Research 70 (1994) 165-168
ing both dipping sutures and important variations in the thickness of mafic lower crust. E. Banda and N. Bailing cover neotectonics (seismicity, stress, volcanism and uplift); activity which is not related to Fennoscandian rebound or continuing Alpine uplift may represent reactivation of selected ancient sutures in a uniform present stress field. Next, a group of 10 authors review the phases of the geologic history to place the EGT section in its historical context. Finally, D. Blundell, St. Mueller and K. Mengel attempt to relate the inferred geodynamics to the driving forces of mantle convection: the emphasis is naturally on the stresses induced by the density anomalies in the lithosphere which were imaged by the EGT traverse. The paperback volume (21)<30 cm, 275 pp.) would be a valuable resource, for inspiration and for teaching, in the library of any Earth scientist. There are enough tutorial paragraphs that readings from it might be assigned to advanced undergraduates. (There are very few equations. ) Its 600 references present an entree into the massive European literature, and its 120 black-andwhite sections and small maps (all redrafted for this volume, and quite handsome) are destined to be reproduced many times in lectures and seminars. Those who wish to actually work with the data will want the boxed set, which adds 25 1:2,500,000 colored strip maps, a booklet on technical aspects of the studies, and a CD-ROM of all the original data. PETER BIRD (Los Angeles, Calif. ) SSDI 0301-9268 ( 9 3 ) E 0 0 8 8 - T
Proterozoic Crustal Evolution. K.C. Condie (Editor). Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1992, xiii+522 pp., US $175.00, ISBN 0-444-88782-2. The growing recognition, over the last ten years, of the importance of plate tectonic processes in the Precambrian crustal evolution, depends, paradoxically enough more on the weight of geochemical data than on geophysical and tectonic evidence. Therefore, a great many readers
interested in Proterozoic crustal evolution and acquainted with the meaning ofHIMO OIB, REE and HFSE, will probably find Volume 10 in EIsevier's series "Developments in Precambrian Geology" both interesting and rewarding reading. It is an advanced geochemical approach to the many aspects of the subject. As noted by the editor, K.C. Condie, the volume is the final product of the IGCP Project 217, which focused on "Proterozoic Geochemistry" (1984-1990), and its results are also relevant to other recent IGCP projects, such as IGCP 215 "Proterozoic Fold Belts", and IGCP 257 "Precambrian Dyke Swarms". You can not construct a big house merely by collecting and analysing the building materials. You need more than concrete, bricks and mortar, timber and tiles. You need an architectural drawing, explaining the tectonics of the construction. However, if you start to build your house without good knowledge about the materials, you risk that it will fall together as a card house. What a dilemma, in our time of specialisation! Nonetheless, the editor and authors of this volume have achieved to build a solid geochemical basement and ground floor level, divided into 13 chapters, which store a wealth of information and greatly improve our understanding of Proterozoic greenstone belts, ophiolites, rifting events, the origin of dolerite and norite dykes, layered igneous complexes, anorthosites and anorogenic granites, the significance o f P - T paths of granulites, the origin of lower crustal xenoliths, BIF's, orogens with and without reworked crust, the 1800-1200 Ma continental accretion of North America, and Sm-Nd constraints on continental growth rates. Personally, I feel much attracted by Chapter 1 l, and sense the importance of Chapter 13. Nobody mentioned by name, nobody forgotten. The volume is written by seventeen authors, all specialists in their fields. Of these, three reside in South Africa, three in the UK, and the remainder, eleven, in the U.S.A. or Canada. There are none from Australia, continental Europe, India or Asia. However, this choice has only slightly influenced the regional scope and cover-
Book Reviews / Precambrian Research 70 (1994) 165- I68
age; compare for example, the map of the Baltic shield on p. 107, with that on p.420. It can not be read from the comprehensive reference index. The advantage is that all authors speak the same language and belong to similar schools of thought. They all master English and the use of capitals and hyphens to perfection. I myself, I type I-type and A-type granites without hyphens, and I-wonder if A-melts stem from D-pleted granulite, or A melt-depleted granulite. The book is wholeheartedly recommended to all with geochemical insight. Had but a few pages been added, with concise explanations of the abbreviations and specialised vocabulary used by most of the authors, this heavy volume could also have served to bridge the gap between geochemists, tectonicians and geophysicists, who all, one way or the other, are deeply engaged in the study of the Precambrian lithosphere. ASGER BERTHELSEN (Copenhagen) SSDIO301-9268(93)EOO96-U
Continental Crust of South India. B.P. Radhakrishna (Editor). Proceedings of the Group Discussion held at Bangalore on 26th and 27th July 1991, under DST Programme of Deep Continental Studies. Memoir 25, Geological Society of India, Bangalore, 1993, Hardcover, x+379 pp., US $50.00, ISBN 81-85867-03-8. This book is a compilation of extended abstracts and review papers that were presented at a meeting in 1991 which was held under the auspices of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, as part of a multidisciplinary investigation into the deep continental crust of southern India. The book also includes papers and extended abstracts previously published elsewhere. The editor, B.P. Radhakrishna, justifies the inclusion of this additional material on the grounds of bringing together all the pertinent data on the theme of the book so that the whole will serve as a reference for future investigations. The book is divided into two parts. The
167
first is concerned with reviews of the geology, structure and metamorphism of the southern Indian Shield, and the second part is centred on geophysical data and their bearing on the structure of the deep crust. Geochemical aspects, including isotopic ages, are subordinate, but important, components. The first part of the book begins with a comprehensive review by T.M. Mahadevan of international approaches to imaging of the structure of the deep lithosphere based on the concept of Global Geoscience Transects. This paper is followed by a concise, informative review by M. Ramakrishnan of the granulite facies terrains of southern India. An update of the interpretation of the geology along the Udipi-Kavali transect is provided by T. Radhakrishna and M. Ramakrishnan. The original deep seismic sounding profile in the transect was obtained in the 1970s by K.L. Kaila and his colleagues at the National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, and their Russian co-workers. This profile has proved to be of outstanding importance, particularly in terms of the stimulus it gave to detailed mapping and interpretation of the Archaean gneisses and supracrustal rocks in the western part of southern India and the Proterozoic Cuddapah basin in the eastern part. The paper by Radhakrishna and Ramakrishnan is accompanied by large colour plates which summarise the gravity and geological data and include an interpretative section along the transect. The remainder of the first part of the book is devoted to more particular issues. Amongst these, there is a useful discussion of the charnockites in the Nilgiri Hills by C. Srikantappa, a carefully argued review of the possible causes and mechanisms of recycling of Archaean continental crust by M. Jayananda, H. Martin and B. Mahabaleshwar, and descriptions of the charnockitic rocks of the Tinnevelly District, Madras, by S. Narayanswamy and Puma Lakshmi, and the khondalites of Kerala by G.R. Ravindra Kumar and his co-workers. The second part of the book opens with a lengthy, but concise, review by N. Krishna Brahman of gravity data, palaeo-sutures and seismicity. His paper is geared especially to planning of new deep seismic sounding profiles which will be
Book Reviews / Precambrian Research 70 (1994) 165-168
ing both dipping sutures and important variations in the thickness of mafic lower crust. E. Banda and N. Bailing cover neotectonics (seismicity, stress, volcanism and uplift); activity which is not related to Fennoscandian rebound or continuing Alpine uplift may represent reactivation of selected ancient sutures in a uniform present stress field. Next, a group of 10 authors review the phases of the geologic history to place the EGT section in its historical context. Finally, D. Blundell, St. Mueller and K. Mengel attempt to relate the inferred geodynamics to the driving forces of mantle convection: the emphasis is naturally on the stresses induced by the density anomalies in the lithosphere which were imaged by the EGT traverse. The paperback volume (21)<30 cm, 275 pp.) would be a valuable resource, for inspiration and for teaching, in the library of any Earth scientist. There are enough tutorial paragraphs that readings from it might be assigned to advanced undergraduates. (There are very few equations. ) Its 600 references present an entree into the massive European literature, and its 120 black-andwhite sections and small maps (all redrafted for this volume, and quite handsome) are destined to be reproduced many times in lectures and seminars. Those who wish to actually work with the data will want the boxed set, which adds 25 1:2,500,000 colored strip maps, a booklet on technical aspects of the studies, and a CD-ROM of all the original data. PETER BIRD (Los Angeles, Calif. ) SSDI 0301-9268 ( 9 3 ) E 0 0 8 8 - T
Proterozoic Crustal Evolution. K.C. Condie (Editor). Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1992, xiii+522 pp., US $175.00, ISBN 0-444-88782-2. The growing recognition, over the last ten years, of the importance of plate tectonic processes in the Precambrian crustal evolution, depends, paradoxically enough more on the weight of geochemical data than on geophysical and tectonic evidence. Therefore, a great many readers
interested in Proterozoic crustal evolution and acquainted with the meaning ofHIMO OIB, REE and HFSE, will probably find Volume 10 in EIsevier's series "Developments in Precambrian Geology" both interesting and rewarding reading. It is an advanced geochemical approach to the many aspects of the subject. As noted by the editor, K.C. Condie, the volume is the final product of the IGCP Project 217, which focused on "Proterozoic Geochemistry" (1984-1990), and its results are also relevant to other recent IGCP projects, such as IGCP 215 "Proterozoic Fold Belts", and IGCP 257 "Precambrian Dyke Swarms". You can not construct a big house merely by collecting and analysing the building materials. You need more than concrete, bricks and mortar, timber and tiles. You need an architectural drawing, explaining the tectonics of the construction. However, if you start to build your house without good knowledge about the materials, you risk that it will fall together as a card house. What a dilemma, in our time of specialisation! Nonetheless, the editor and authors of this volume have achieved to build a solid geochemical basement and ground floor level, divided into 13 chapters, which store a wealth of information and greatly improve our understanding of Proterozoic greenstone belts, ophiolites, rifting events, the origin of dolerite and norite dykes, layered igneous complexes, anorthosites and anorogenic granites, the significance o f P - T paths of granulites, the origin of lower crustal xenoliths, BIF's, orogens with and without reworked crust, the 1800-1200 Ma continental accretion of North America, and Sm-Nd constraints on continental growth rates. Personally, I feel much attracted by Chapter 1 l, and sense the importance of Chapter 13. Nobody mentioned by name, nobody forgotten. The volume is written by seventeen authors, all specialists in their fields. Of these, three reside in South Africa, three in the UK, and the remainder, eleven, in the U.S.A. or Canada. There are none from Australia, continental Europe, India or Asia. However, this choice has only slightly influenced the regional scope and cover-
Book Reviews / Precambrian Research 70 (1994) 165- I68
age; compare for example, the map of the Baltic shield on p. 107, with that on p.420. It can not be read from the comprehensive reference index. The advantage is that all authors speak the same language and belong to similar schools of thought. They all master English and the use of capitals and hyphens to perfection. I myself, I type I-type and A-type granites without hyphens, and I-wonder if A-melts stem from D-pleted granulite, or A melt-depleted granulite. The book is wholeheartedly recommended to all with geochemical insight. Had but a few pages been added, with concise explanations of the abbreviations and specialised vocabulary used by most of the authors, this heavy volume could also have served to bridge the gap between geochemists, tectonicians and geophysicists, who all, one way or the other, are deeply engaged in the study of the Precambrian lithosphere. ASGER BERTHELSEN (Copenhagen) SSDIO301-9268(93)EOO96-U
Continental Crust of South India. B.P. Radhakrishna (Editor). Proceedings of the Group Discussion held at Bangalore on 26th and 27th July 1991, under DST Programme of Deep Continental Studies. Memoir 25, Geological Society of India, Bangalore, 1993, Hardcover, x+379 pp., US $50.00, ISBN 81-85867-03-8. This book is a compilation of extended abstracts and review papers that were presented at a meeting in 1991 which was held under the auspices of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, as part of a multidisciplinary investigation into the deep continental crust of southern India. The book also includes papers and extended abstracts previously published elsewhere. The editor, B.P. Radhakrishna, justifies the inclusion of this additional material on the grounds of bringing together all the pertinent data on the theme of the book so that the whole will serve as a reference for future investigations. The book is divided into two parts. The
167
first is concerned with reviews of the geology, structure and metamorphism of the southern Indian Shield, and the second part is centred on geophysical data and their bearing on the structure of the deep crust. Geochemical aspects, including isotopic ages, are subordinate, but important, components. The first part of the book begins with a comprehensive review by T.M. Mahadevan of international approaches to imaging of the structure of the deep lithosphere based on the concept of Global Geoscience Transects. This paper is followed by a concise, informative review by M. Ramakrishnan of the granulite facies terrains of southern India. An update of the interpretation of the geology along the Udipi-Kavali transect is provided by T. Radhakrishna and M. Ramakrishnan. The original deep seismic sounding profile in the transect was obtained in the 1970s by K.L. Kaila and his colleagues at the National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, and their Russian co-workers. This profile has proved to be of outstanding importance, particularly in terms of the stimulus it gave to detailed mapping and interpretation of the Archaean gneisses and supracrustal rocks in the western part of southern India and the Proterozoic Cuddapah basin in the eastern part. The paper by Radhakrishna and Ramakrishnan is accompanied by large colour plates which summarise the gravity and geological data and include an interpretative section along the transect. The remainder of the first part of the book is devoted to more particular issues. Amongst these, there is a useful discussion of the charnockites in the Nilgiri Hills by C. Srikantappa, a carefully argued review of the possible causes and mechanisms of recycling of Archaean continental crust by M. Jayananda, H. Martin and B. Mahabaleshwar, and descriptions of the charnockitic rocks of the Tinnevelly District, Madras, by S. Narayanswamy and Puma Lakshmi, and the khondalites of Kerala by G.R. Ravindra Kumar and his co-workers. The second part of the book opens with a lengthy, but concise, review by N. Krishna Brahman of gravity data, palaeo-sutures and seismicity. His paper is geared especially to planning of new deep seismic sounding profiles which will be