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Submarine canyons and Deep-Sea Fans
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BOOK REVIEWS Submarine Canyons and Deep-Sea Fans. J. H. McD. Whitaker. Editor. Benchmark Papers in Geology, Vol. 24, 1976, Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Stroudsburg, Pa., 460 pp.
This book is yet another volume in the series “Benchmark Papers in Geology”; that is, it is a collection of facsimile copies of original papers. in this volume dealing with Modern Submarine Canyons, Modern Deep-Sea Fans, Ancient Submarine Canyons, and Ancient Deep-Sea Fans. For the Quaternary geologist, however, the Ancient features are too ancient-pre-Quatemary, and can be dismissed on that note. As stated in its preface, the Benchmark Series is “now making a concerted effort to gather into single volumes the critical material needed to reconstruct the background of any and every major topic of our [geology] discipline.” It is against this goal that a book in the series should be reviewed, assuming that one knows what “to reconstruct the background” means. I don’t. It certainly does not mean providing the reader with the papers and comments that would permit him to follow the changes in thought, the advances in understanding, or the formulation of a paradigm in the study of canyons and fans, as has been so well done for him in another format by Walker (1973) with the related topic of turbidity currents. The book does provide a thorough bibliography on modern submarine canyons and deep-
sea fans, with guides to an even more extensive literature. And therein lies part of the problem. particularly for submarine canyons: The literature iu vast. How useful are eight papers on submarine canyons and five on deep-sea fans, even with brief editorial comments, in atlempting “to reconstruct the background’ ’ of these lines of study? The goal is difficult, and possibly the second half of the book, on the ancient features, is successful. For the modern features the reader is given some examples of good studies and others, some curious early studies. and some studies that are included because the canyon or fan is large. Yet, according to the preface again, “these benchmarks are the bricks of our scientific edifice.” Regardless of whether we here have a brick or a brickbat, the bibliography appears complete through 1974 and into 1975.
REFERENCE Walker, R. G. (1973). Mopping up the turbidite mess. In “Evolving Concepts in Sedimentology” (R. N. Ginsburg, Ed.). Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, Md. DEAN A. MCMANUS Department of Oceanography University of Wushingtorz Seattle. Washington 98195
BOOK REVIEWS Submarine Canyons and Deep-Sea Fans. J. H. McD. Whitaker. Editor. Benchmark Papers in Geology, Vol. 24, 1976, Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Stroudsburg, Pa., 460 pp.
This book is yet another volume in the series “Benchmark Papers in Geology”; that is, it is a collection of facsimile copies of original papers. in this volume dealing with Modern Submarine Canyons, Modern Deep-Sea Fans, Ancient Submarine Canyons, and Ancient Deep-Sea Fans. For the Quaternary geologist, however, the Ancient features are too ancient-pre-Quatemary, and can be dismissed on that note. As stated in its preface, the Benchmark Series is “now making a concerted effort to gather into single volumes the critical material needed to reconstruct the background of any and every major topic of our [geology] discipline.” It is against this goal that a book in the series should be reviewed, assuming that one knows what “to reconstruct the background” means. I don’t. It certainly does not mean providing the reader with the papers and comments that would permit him to follow the changes in thought, the advances in understanding, or the formulation of a paradigm in the study of canyons and fans, as has been so well done for him in another format by Walker (1973) with the related topic of turbidity currents. The book does provide a thorough bibliography on modern submarine canyons and deep-
sea fans, with guides to an even more extensive literature. And therein lies part of the problem. particularly for submarine canyons: The literature iu vast. How useful are eight papers on submarine canyons and five on deep-sea fans, even with brief editorial comments, in atlempting “to reconstruct the background’ ’ of these lines of study? The goal is difficult, and possibly the second half of the book, on the ancient features, is successful. For the modern features the reader is given some examples of good studies and others, some curious early studies. and some studies that are included because the canyon or fan is large. Yet, according to the preface again, “these benchmarks are the bricks of our scientific edifice.” Regardless of whether we here have a brick or a brickbat, the bibliography appears complete through 1974 and into 1975.
REFERENCE Walker, R. G. (1973). Mopping up the turbidite mess. In “Evolving Concepts in Sedimentology” (R. N. Ginsburg, Ed.). Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, Md. DEAN A. MCMANUS Department of Oceanography University of Wushingtorz Seattle. Washington 98195