- Email: [email protected]
Tectonic geology of the Himalaya
371
to post-Pleistocene sea-level changes or postPalaeozoic movements of land masses pp. 16-31. Chapter IV is called: Concepts and methods of Palaeogeography. This is again well-known subject matter for the geologist, however it is well presented. Some items discussed are palaeomagnetism, the meaning of loess, coal, flysch, molasse, biohermal limestone, evaporites and ophiolites as environmental indicators, pp. 32-73. Chapter V, “Continuity of Oceans or Continental Drift”, presents the results of palaeomagnetic research in broad outline, the concept of seafloor spreading, plate tectonics etc.; VI discusses the history of the oceans since disappearance of Gondwana; VII presents the picture of the palaeogeography of the Palaeozoic world; VIII does the same for the Tertiary, examples are taken from Europe, U.S.A. and the African rift valley, among others. These chapters again contain well-known subjects for the geologist; they cover pages 96-138. Chapter IX and Chapter X discuss Ice ages and their supposed causes and mountain building, respectively; pp. 139-158. The final Chapter XI on “Flora and Fauna provinces in the past and present” has caught my attention the most, but alas I am a geologist! A few critical remarks may be added, a book like this draws its information from a large field of publications on widely diverse subjects, the author can only use earlier authoritative published material. The result is often a mixture of correct proven material and partly correct material and outdated interpretation; e.g. certain notions on tillites, Talchir beds in North and Central India. Certain terms, such as Flysch, are used in a somewhat confusing way, some definitions are outright strange: “Dolerite-gangformiges Ergussgestein”, or simple: “Orogenese-Gebirgsbildung”. I missed more precise climatological information. Resuming: I spent half a day reading mostly known material, but against the background of the series being intended for a broader public interested in the Earth Sciences, it is a nice contribution. J. RUPKE
Tectonic Geology of the Himalaya. P.S. Tomorrow, New Delhi, 1978,350 pp.
Saklani
(Editor).
(Amsterdam)
Today
and
It is now some hundred years since the first geological reports by Stolizcka and Oldham concerning Himalayan geology were published. Since then many concepts were conceived in geology in general and applied to Himalayan geology in particular. It may be noted that the Himalayan chain represents a far longer and wider belt than that other relatively well-understood mountain chain, the Alps. The amount of work invested in the Himalaya is insignificant compared to that devoted to the Alps. Nevertheless, geologists
372
necessarily are fascinated by this the highest and longest young mounts chain; here most of the resemblance with the Alps ends in my opinion; we simply know too little to make useful comparisons. The progress in India and Nepal Himalaya is slow; many reasons can be given and there is no need for pessimism, but we must be modest in our belief that the structure and genesis of this moutain chain are almost understood after a hundred years. The present book unites contributions from 15 different authors or teams of authors under the editorship of P.S. Saklani of Delhi University. The (poor) status of our knowledge of Himalayan geology is well demonstrated when we compare the results and interpretations of the various contributors on some important themes. An example may be drawn from the present series of articles: number and contents of thrust sheets - in the relatively well-known West Himalaya’s - K.S. Valdiya recognizes at present three thrust sheets that can be followed throughout the area. B.N. Raina presents in descending order six structural units in Himachal Pradesh and five in Uttar Pradesh, all being nappe sheets beside a Deoban basement. J.M. Remy recognizes three main units in West Nepal which all have moved towards the West and southwest, but only his Nepal nappe series are interpreted as nappe rocks. B.S. Jangpangi, reporting from Bhutan, shows two ‘thrust sheets of different displacement. S.K. Acharyya produces Central Tibet as the homeland for essentially two thrusted series comprising all rocks between the Tethyan and Siwalik domains in the Eastern Himalaya. S.V. Srikantia and O.N. Bhargava, after investigation in the field, state that the Indus Suture zone lacks in properties of a plate boundary; Biq-Ching Chang readily compares the Indus Suture with the Alpine Suture as he states that each is trademarked with a nappe forming(?) ophiolitic melange. I ,could continue drawing more examples illustrating the present confusion. Personally I much prefer such factual contributions reported as there are: Deformation and tectonism of Mukhem area, Lesser Himalaya by P.S. Saklani, though his style of writing is difficult. V.J. Gupta and N.S. Virdi give a useful survey of fossil data known from the Lesser Himalaya. D. K~mmenacher et al. report on K/Ar determ~ations in East Nepal though I doubt whether the necessary detailed mapping is available to make exact interpretations vis a vis the field geology - still it is the necessary work. J. Jaros and J. Kalvoda have again presented a convincing model for relief thrusting in East Nepal. Resuming the situation as presented again in this compilation, we can recognize, as is so often the case, that inadequacies of understanding lead to structural explanations while the basic stratigraphic footwork is not known. Measured sections, unde~t~d~g of facies development and thorough correlations based on these do not exist for the Lesser and Central Himalayas. The amount of work to be done before we can really compare the Alps and the Himalaya is vast. As long as economic interest in Himalayan geology is restricted, and it will remain so, progress can only be expected from either Geological Survey
373
org~~ations or from academic quarters. If we compare with other major geological problem zones (Alpine geology - Svecofennian shield - Betic Cordillera), we see that contributions by Geological Survey organisations have elsewhere been limited, and most of our present understanding of mountain building was due to academic research. To bear fruit academic research in Himalaya Indian Universities must be equipped with funds, maps, aerial photographs and foreign co-operation and competition. P.S. Saklani’s book has made this quite clear. J.
RUPKE
(Amsterdam)
Geology of Poland, Volume IV: Tectonics. W. Po$ryski (Editor). Geological Publishing House, Geological Institute, Warsaw, 1978, 718 pp., enclosure: Tectonic Map of Poland at scale 1 : 1,500,OOO published in 1974.
This bulky publication is part of the monumental “Geology of Poland”. The updated English edition of the tectonics volume is based on the threepart Polish version and has been written by Professors M. Ksiaikiewicz, J. Oberc and W. Poiaryski. In a book so obviously aimed at the international geological community, perhaps more care should have been devoted to the language. The structure of the sentences indicates that this work is a rather direct translation of the Polish text, so that some sections are difficult to follow. Notwiths~d~g this shortcoming, the present volume is “a must” for any serious student of the geology of Poland and the regional geology of Europe. This monograph can be considered as explanatory notes to the enclosed Tectonic Map of Poland, which was compiled and published by the same authors in 1974. The map is an improvement on previous published tectonic maps, but it is not a stratotectonic map. Few units depicted have stratotectonic meaning. The map shows the dist~bution of structures and the time of their formation. It presents a large amount of data and interpretation . In the “Explanation” (the Reference) on the map the Pre-Baikalian basement b) “nearly not defined” should probably read “not defined precisely”. The line of heavy black dots on the map not explained in the “Explanations” represents the extent of molasse sediments in the Carpathian foredeep.Good use of this map can be made in conjunction with a geological map. The book has three chapters of an introductory character: “History of views on the tectonics of Poland”, “ Poland in the context of Europe” and “The Tectonic units of Poland”. One had to keep in mind that most of Poland is concealed under cover rocks and the bulk of this book is based on information from thousands of boreholes and on geophysical data. This
to post-Pleistocene sea-level changes or postPalaeozoic movements of land masses pp. 16-31. Chapter IV is called: Concepts and methods of Palaeogeography. This is again well-known subject matter for the geologist, however it is well presented. Some items discussed are palaeomagnetism, the meaning of loess, coal, flysch, molasse, biohermal limestone, evaporites and ophiolites as environmental indicators, pp. 32-73. Chapter V, “Continuity of Oceans or Continental Drift”, presents the results of palaeomagnetic research in broad outline, the concept of seafloor spreading, plate tectonics etc.; VI discusses the history of the oceans since disappearance of Gondwana; VII presents the picture of the palaeogeography of the Palaeozoic world; VIII does the same for the Tertiary, examples are taken from Europe, U.S.A. and the African rift valley, among others. These chapters again contain well-known subjects for the geologist; they cover pages 96-138. Chapter IX and Chapter X discuss Ice ages and their supposed causes and mountain building, respectively; pp. 139-158. The final Chapter XI on “Flora and Fauna provinces in the past and present” has caught my attention the most, but alas I am a geologist! A few critical remarks may be added, a book like this draws its information from a large field of publications on widely diverse subjects, the author can only use earlier authoritative published material. The result is often a mixture of correct proven material and partly correct material and outdated interpretation; e.g. certain notions on tillites, Talchir beds in North and Central India. Certain terms, such as Flysch, are used in a somewhat confusing way, some definitions are outright strange: “Dolerite-gangformiges Ergussgestein”, or simple: “Orogenese-Gebirgsbildung”. I missed more precise climatological information. Resuming: I spent half a day reading mostly known material, but against the background of the series being intended for a broader public interested in the Earth Sciences, it is a nice contribution. J. RUPKE
Tectonic Geology of the Himalaya. P.S. Tomorrow, New Delhi, 1978,350 pp.
Saklani
(Editor).
(Amsterdam)
Today
and
It is now some hundred years since the first geological reports by Stolizcka and Oldham concerning Himalayan geology were published. Since then many concepts were conceived in geology in general and applied to Himalayan geology in particular. It may be noted that the Himalayan chain represents a far longer and wider belt than that other relatively well-understood mountain chain, the Alps. The amount of work invested in the Himalaya is insignificant compared to that devoted to the Alps. Nevertheless, geologists
372
necessarily are fascinated by this the highest and longest young mounts chain; here most of the resemblance with the Alps ends in my opinion; we simply know too little to make useful comparisons. The progress in India and Nepal Himalaya is slow; many reasons can be given and there is no need for pessimism, but we must be modest in our belief that the structure and genesis of this moutain chain are almost understood after a hundred years. The present book unites contributions from 15 different authors or teams of authors under the editorship of P.S. Saklani of Delhi University. The (poor) status of our knowledge of Himalayan geology is well demonstrated when we compare the results and interpretations of the various contributors on some important themes. An example may be drawn from the present series of articles: number and contents of thrust sheets - in the relatively well-known West Himalaya’s - K.S. Valdiya recognizes at present three thrust sheets that can be followed throughout the area. B.N. Raina presents in descending order six structural units in Himachal Pradesh and five in Uttar Pradesh, all being nappe sheets beside a Deoban basement. J.M. Remy recognizes three main units in West Nepal which all have moved towards the West and southwest, but only his Nepal nappe series are interpreted as nappe rocks. B.S. Jangpangi, reporting from Bhutan, shows two ‘thrust sheets of different displacement. S.K. Acharyya produces Central Tibet as the homeland for essentially two thrusted series comprising all rocks between the Tethyan and Siwalik domains in the Eastern Himalaya. S.V. Srikantia and O.N. Bhargava, after investigation in the field, state that the Indus Suture zone lacks in properties of a plate boundary; Biq-Ching Chang readily compares the Indus Suture with the Alpine Suture as he states that each is trademarked with a nappe forming(?) ophiolitic melange. I ,could continue drawing more examples illustrating the present confusion. Personally I much prefer such factual contributions reported as there are: Deformation and tectonism of Mukhem area, Lesser Himalaya by P.S. Saklani, though his style of writing is difficult. V.J. Gupta and N.S. Virdi give a useful survey of fossil data known from the Lesser Himalaya. D. K~mmenacher et al. report on K/Ar determ~ations in East Nepal though I doubt whether the necessary detailed mapping is available to make exact interpretations vis a vis the field geology - still it is the necessary work. J. Jaros and J. Kalvoda have again presented a convincing model for relief thrusting in East Nepal. Resuming the situation as presented again in this compilation, we can recognize, as is so often the case, that inadequacies of understanding lead to structural explanations while the basic stratigraphic footwork is not known. Measured sections, unde~t~d~g of facies development and thorough correlations based on these do not exist for the Lesser and Central Himalayas. The amount of work to be done before we can really compare the Alps and the Himalaya is vast. As long as economic interest in Himalayan geology is restricted, and it will remain so, progress can only be expected from either Geological Survey
373
org~~ations or from academic quarters. If we compare with other major geological problem zones (Alpine geology - Svecofennian shield - Betic Cordillera), we see that contributions by Geological Survey organisations have elsewhere been limited, and most of our present understanding of mountain building was due to academic research. To bear fruit academic research in Himalaya Indian Universities must be equipped with funds, maps, aerial photographs and foreign co-operation and competition. P.S. Saklani’s book has made this quite clear. J.
RUPKE
(Amsterdam)
Geology of Poland, Volume IV: Tectonics. W. Po$ryski (Editor). Geological Publishing House, Geological Institute, Warsaw, 1978, 718 pp., enclosure: Tectonic Map of Poland at scale 1 : 1,500,OOO published in 1974.
This bulky publication is part of the monumental “Geology of Poland”. The updated English edition of the tectonics volume is based on the threepart Polish version and has been written by Professors M. Ksiaikiewicz, J. Oberc and W. Poiaryski. In a book so obviously aimed at the international geological community, perhaps more care should have been devoted to the language. The structure of the sentences indicates that this work is a rather direct translation of the Polish text, so that some sections are difficult to follow. Notwiths~d~g this shortcoming, the present volume is “a must” for any serious student of the geology of Poland and the regional geology of Europe. This monograph can be considered as explanatory notes to the enclosed Tectonic Map of Poland, which was compiled and published by the same authors in 1974. The map is an improvement on previous published tectonic maps, but it is not a stratotectonic map. Few units depicted have stratotectonic meaning. The map shows the dist~bution of structures and the time of their formation. It presents a large amount of data and interpretation . In the “Explanation” (the Reference) on the map the Pre-Baikalian basement b) “nearly not defined” should probably read “not defined precisely”. The line of heavy black dots on the map not explained in the “Explanations” represents the extent of molasse sediments in the Carpathian foredeep.Good use of this map can be made in conjunction with a geological map. The book has three chapters of an introductory character: “History of views on the tectonics of Poland”, “ Poland in the context of Europe” and “The Tectonic units of Poland”. One had to keep in mind that most of Poland is concealed under cover rocks and the bulk of this book is based on information from thousands of boreholes and on geophysical data. This