- Email: [email protected]
Sedimentation in the world oceans
140 Sedimentation & the World Oceans. Alexander P. Lisitzin, (English edition edited by
Kelvin S. Rodolfo.) Special Publication 17, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Tulsa, Okla., 218 pp., 181 fig., U.S. $ I 0.00. Tile irregular pace of scientific advancement is a curious phenomenon. Tile field of deep-sea sedimentation makes an excellent example:in 1891 Murray and Renard published their comprehensive report on the sediments collected during the Challenger Expedition; not until Lisitzin's work of the 1960's was there another comparable synthesis of oceanic sedimentation on a global scale; right now the "Glomar Challenger" is collecting the raw material for a third-generation study of the many subtle problems of this field. Academician Lisitzin, based upon his own extensive field and laboratory experience and his impressive and discriminatory familiarity with the in ternational literature, has produced a remarkable and most useful review volume. The Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists and their talented editor, K. S. Rodolfo, have now made this available in a revised, well-illustrated and well-printed, relatively inexpensive English edition. Sedimentation in the World Oceans satisfies its rather broad title. The work is structured about Lisitzin's originai conception of the dominance of physical transport of fine suspended sediment as the common denominator of all deep-sea sedimentation, with significant but localized influence of authigenesis and biogenesis. Shallow-water sedimentary processes are not emphasized. To generations of geologists and oceanographers raised on re-workings and reinterpretations of the scattered pre-lGY deep-sea materials, and particular those petroleum-oriented scientists whose experience is restricted to relatively nearshore (continental shelf and slope) environments, the importance of suspensions in the sedimentary budget of the deep-sea will come as a revelation. Turbidity currents and their close kin high velocity, high competence, but restricted range - phenomena are familiar, but not the more subtle suspension transport processes of the ocean basins far from terrestriai influences. Arrhenius and a few others publishing in English have pursued this facet of sedimentation, but (partly as a consequence of the small size and restricted range of most western oceanographic efforts) truly deep-sea geologic and geochemical studies have been quite limited in scope, and the approach circumscribed. Lisitzin, drawing upon the remarkable body of Russian deep-sea experience gained largely during and since the IGY, has integrated both the specialized and the generalized data available. Inevitably, Russian research and sources are strongly emphasized. On a rapid reading, one might get the idea that Moscovites invented oceanography about 1950, but this superficial impression is quickly dispelled by a study of Lisitzin's bibliography: approximately 60% of the references are non.Russian, a fair proportion considering the relative unimportance of deep-sea sedimentary studies outside the Soviet Union. Some aspects of the bibliography are irritating: journal references are given by date and w)lume, but not issue number or pagination. As well, the familiar information transfer lag-time appears: Russian citations are comprehensive through 1971, but there are relatively few
141
post-1966 Western contributions listed. Another Russian characteristic has been minimized: the suicidal impulse to put all the data on a single figure. Some gloriously cluttered figures still remain, such as figure 97, a mercator projection of the entire earth surface at 10 × 14 cm with seven different patterns of contact overlay and six other categories of information on a single map. In general, however, the figures are clear and have not been reduced (quite) to the level of illegibility. Typography, printing, and editing are the usual high AAPG-SEPM standard. Where Murray and Renard developed rather passive concepts of deep-sea sedimentation in situ, Lisitzin has explored the active transport and deposition aspects of the problem. Developing right now, thanks to the deep-sea drilling project of JOIDES, is the information to add still another dimension - geologic time - to our understanding of deep-sea sedimentation. Lisitzin's synthesis, however, is not likely soon to become obsolescent. It is comprehensive and well-balanced and will undoubtedly serve as a standard reference and text in advanced seminars for many years. It is very good to have this material readily accessible in a western language. F. F. WRIGHT (Anchorage, Alaska)
Biological Oceanographic Processes. T. R. Parsons and M. Takahashi. P e r g a m o n Press, O x f o r d , 1973, 186 pp., £ 4 . 0 0 T h e a u t h o r s o f this b o o k have i n t e n d e d t o write an i n t r o d u c t i o n to those biological o c e a n o g r a p h i c processes t h a t can generally be e x p l a i n e d in terms o f empirical e q u a t i o n s or t h r o u g h the use o f definite biological or chemical descriptions. In a c c o r d a n c e w i t h t h e emphasis p u t o n the biological aspects o f o c e a n o g r a p h y the t e x t starts w i t h a d e s c r i p t i o n o f the p l a n k t o n c o m m u n i t y in t e r m s o f its c o m p o s i t i o n and d i s t r i b u t i o n o f organisms. Chapter 1 covers v e r y s h o r t l y the variety o f species o f p h y t o p l a n k t o n and z o o p l a n k t o n , and gives some m o r e a t t e n t i o n t o spatial distributions, and p h e n o m e n a such as patchiness. T h e following c h a p t e r o n the chemical c o m p o s i t i o n encompasses b o t h t h a t o f sea water, the p h y t o - and z o o p l a n k t o n as well as detritus, and contains a w e a l t h o f i n f o r m a t i o n and references. A l t h o u g h it is m e n t i o n e d at various places in the t e x t t h a t the chemical c o m p o s i t i o n o f the organisms m a y vary c o n s i d e r a b l y in response to changing e n v i r o n m e n t a l conditions, all the impressive tables o n chemical m a k e u p o f p l a n k t o n m a y give the misleading impression t h a t we have a r a t h e r c o m p l e t e coverage in this field. The d y n a m i c s o f p l a n k t o n g r o w t h is t r e a t e d in the t h r e e following chapters which m a k e u p the m a j o r part o f the b o o k . F o l l o w i n g a few words on p h o t o synthesis in general, the a u t h o r s t r e a t in an extensive way the i n f l u e n c e o f light i n t e n s i t y and c o m p o s i t i o n on the p h o t o s y n t h e t i c process, and the influence o f n u t r i e n t s and t e m p e r a t u r e . T h e p h o t o s y n t h e s i s and g r o w t h o f
Kelvin S. Rodolfo.) Special Publication 17, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Tulsa, Okla., 218 pp., 181 fig., U.S. $ I 0.00. Tile irregular pace of scientific advancement is a curious phenomenon. Tile field of deep-sea sedimentation makes an excellent example:in 1891 Murray and Renard published their comprehensive report on the sediments collected during the Challenger Expedition; not until Lisitzin's work of the 1960's was there another comparable synthesis of oceanic sedimentation on a global scale; right now the "Glomar Challenger" is collecting the raw material for a third-generation study of the many subtle problems of this field. Academician Lisitzin, based upon his own extensive field and laboratory experience and his impressive and discriminatory familiarity with the in ternational literature, has produced a remarkable and most useful review volume. The Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists and their talented editor, K. S. Rodolfo, have now made this available in a revised, well-illustrated and well-printed, relatively inexpensive English edition. Sedimentation in the World Oceans satisfies its rather broad title. The work is structured about Lisitzin's originai conception of the dominance of physical transport of fine suspended sediment as the common denominator of all deep-sea sedimentation, with significant but localized influence of authigenesis and biogenesis. Shallow-water sedimentary processes are not emphasized. To generations of geologists and oceanographers raised on re-workings and reinterpretations of the scattered pre-lGY deep-sea materials, and particular those petroleum-oriented scientists whose experience is restricted to relatively nearshore (continental shelf and slope) environments, the importance of suspensions in the sedimentary budget of the deep-sea will come as a revelation. Turbidity currents and their close kin high velocity, high competence, but restricted range - phenomena are familiar, but not the more subtle suspension transport processes of the ocean basins far from terrestriai influences. Arrhenius and a few others publishing in English have pursued this facet of sedimentation, but (partly as a consequence of the small size and restricted range of most western oceanographic efforts) truly deep-sea geologic and geochemical studies have been quite limited in scope, and the approach circumscribed. Lisitzin, drawing upon the remarkable body of Russian deep-sea experience gained largely during and since the IGY, has integrated both the specialized and the generalized data available. Inevitably, Russian research and sources are strongly emphasized. On a rapid reading, one might get the idea that Moscovites invented oceanography about 1950, but this superficial impression is quickly dispelled by a study of Lisitzin's bibliography: approximately 60% of the references are non.Russian, a fair proportion considering the relative unimportance of deep-sea sedimentary studies outside the Soviet Union. Some aspects of the bibliography are irritating: journal references are given by date and w)lume, but not issue number or pagination. As well, the familiar information transfer lag-time appears: Russian citations are comprehensive through 1971, but there are relatively few
141
post-1966 Western contributions listed. Another Russian characteristic has been minimized: the suicidal impulse to put all the data on a single figure. Some gloriously cluttered figures still remain, such as figure 97, a mercator projection of the entire earth surface at 10 × 14 cm with seven different patterns of contact overlay and six other categories of information on a single map. In general, however, the figures are clear and have not been reduced (quite) to the level of illegibility. Typography, printing, and editing are the usual high AAPG-SEPM standard. Where Murray and Renard developed rather passive concepts of deep-sea sedimentation in situ, Lisitzin has explored the active transport and deposition aspects of the problem. Developing right now, thanks to the deep-sea drilling project of JOIDES, is the information to add still another dimension - geologic time - to our understanding of deep-sea sedimentation. Lisitzin's synthesis, however, is not likely soon to become obsolescent. It is comprehensive and well-balanced and will undoubtedly serve as a standard reference and text in advanced seminars for many years. It is very good to have this material readily accessible in a western language. F. F. WRIGHT (Anchorage, Alaska)
Biological Oceanographic Processes. T. R. Parsons and M. Takahashi. P e r g a m o n Press, O x f o r d , 1973, 186 pp., £ 4 . 0 0 T h e a u t h o r s o f this b o o k have i n t e n d e d t o write an i n t r o d u c t i o n to those biological o c e a n o g r a p h i c processes t h a t can generally be e x p l a i n e d in terms o f empirical e q u a t i o n s or t h r o u g h the use o f definite biological or chemical descriptions. In a c c o r d a n c e w i t h t h e emphasis p u t o n the biological aspects o f o c e a n o g r a p h y the t e x t starts w i t h a d e s c r i p t i o n o f the p l a n k t o n c o m m u n i t y in t e r m s o f its c o m p o s i t i o n and d i s t r i b u t i o n o f organisms. Chapter 1 covers v e r y s h o r t l y the variety o f species o f p h y t o p l a n k t o n and z o o p l a n k t o n , and gives some m o r e a t t e n t i o n t o spatial distributions, and p h e n o m e n a such as patchiness. T h e following c h a p t e r o n the chemical c o m p o s i t i o n encompasses b o t h t h a t o f sea water, the p h y t o - and z o o p l a n k t o n as well as detritus, and contains a w e a l t h o f i n f o r m a t i o n and references. A l t h o u g h it is m e n t i o n e d at various places in the t e x t t h a t the chemical c o m p o s i t i o n o f the organisms m a y vary c o n s i d e r a b l y in response to changing e n v i r o n m e n t a l conditions, all the impressive tables o n chemical m a k e u p o f p l a n k t o n m a y give the misleading impression t h a t we have a r a t h e r c o m p l e t e coverage in this field. The d y n a m i c s o f p l a n k t o n g r o w t h is t r e a t e d in the t h r e e following chapters which m a k e u p the m a j o r part o f the b o o k . F o l l o w i n g a few words on p h o t o synthesis in general, the a u t h o r s t r e a t in an extensive way the i n f l u e n c e o f light i n t e n s i t y and c o m p o s i t i o n on the p h o t o s y n t h e t i c process, and the influence o f n u t r i e n t s and t e m p e r a t u r e . T h e p h o t o s y n t h e s i s and g r o w t h o f