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    Morphology of The Earth: Book Reviews

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    Gaurav kumar
    This book review summarizes a book on the principles of geochemistry: - The book is the third edition of a standard student text on geochemistry. The new edition contains only minor updates to content from the previous edition. - Some chapters received small modifications, while others like the chapters on the earth's structure and the atmosphere remained essentially unchanged. - The price increased disproportionately compared to the limited changes in content. The review argues this was likely due to increased publishing costs.

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    Morphology of The Earth: Book Reviews

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    Gaurav kumar
    51 views2 pages
    This book review summarizes a book on the principles of geochemistry: - The book is the third edition of a standard student text on geochemistry. The new edition contains only minor updates to content from the previous edition. - Some chapters received small modifications, while others like the chapters on the earth's structure and the atmosphere remained essentially unchanged. - The price increased disproportionately compared to the limited changes in content. The review argues this was likely due to increased publishing costs.

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    This book review summarizes a book on the principles of geochemistry: - The book is the third edition of a standard student text on geochemistry. The new edition contains only minor updates to content from the previous edition. - Some chapters received small modifications, while others like the chapters on the earth's structure and the atmosphere remained essentially unchanged. - The price increased disproportionately compared to the limited changes in content. The review argues this was likely due to increased publishing costs.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    51 views2 pages

    Morphology of The Earth: Book Reviews

    Uploaded by

    Gaurav kumar
    This book review summarizes a book on the principles of geochemistry: - The book is the third edition of a standard student text on geochemistry. The new edition contains only minor updates to content from the previous edition. - Some chapters received small modifications, while others like the chapters on the earth's structure and the atmosphere remained essentially unchanged. - The price increased disproportionately compared to the limited changes in content. The review argues this was likely due to increased publishing costs.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 2

    462 BOOK R E V I E W S

    number of figures remains exactly the same. Unfortunately, the popular


    morphology maps of the ocean basins have not been brought fully up
    to date and appear sparse of information when compared with Heezen
    and Tharp's and Menard's recent physiographic diagrams.
    FiYe years, it seems, have not altered Professor King's ideas on
    geotectonics. His well-known views on a low-density upper mantle
    zone rich in volatiles as the cause of 'cymatogeny' and orogeny are
    restated in the new edition. As before, in using gravity data to support
    his ideas King fails to make a clear distinction between Bouguer and
    isostatic anomalies. His explanation of the cause of large negative
    anomalies in terms of low-density mantle is unconvincing, and the
    numerous recent seismic studies relevant to this interpretation are not
    discussed. The chapter on 'mobile welts', hardly modified, appears
    inadequate now that Aubonin's authoritative discourse on geosynclines
    has entered the literature.
    Professor King is more convincing when discussing landscapes than
    when reinterpreting geophysical results. And the major part of his
    book remains a masterly account of the nature and evolution of con-
    tinental scenery with a detailed, yet worldwide coverage. Perhaps the
    most important single aspect of Morphology of the earth is that it reveals
    geomorphology as a vital branch of geology, equal in status to other
    intrinsic branches of the science.
    It may be argued that the close similarity of the first and second
    editions merely reflects the excellence of the first edition. The pub-
    lishers, in their notes on the dust-cover, should have taken this line
    rather than claim a degree of revision and up-dating that has not
    occurred. M. BROOKS

    MASON (BRIAN). Principles of geochemistry (3rd edition). New York,


    London (Wiley), vii§ pp. Price: 75s.
    This is the third edition of a book that has probably become a standard
    students' text on geochemistry. The present edition differs very little
    in size and content from the second edition of 1958. Although the price
    increase from 64s. to 75s. is rather disproportional to the change in
    subject matter, it is presumably justifiable on the grounds of increased
    costs. The format, order of treatment of topics, and sometimes page-
    numbers are the same as the previous edition. Chapters 1 and 2 (Intro-
    duction and The Earth in Relation to the Universe) remain essentially
    unaltered but Chapter 3 (Structure and Composition of the Earth) has
    ]~OOK REVIEWS 463

    been updated to include the results of laboratory investigations at


    higher pressures and revised earth-models based upon such work.
    Chapters 4=and 5 (Thermodynamics and Crystal Chemistry ; Magmatism
    and Igneous Rocks) contain minor modifications. Chapter 6 on sedi-
    mentary geochemistry commences with a brief new section on soil
    geochemistry ; there are some slight changes in the section on oxidation-
    reduction potentials (including a revised SiO 2 solubility diagram), and
    an additional table of major and minor element abundances in sedi-
    ments. A new table of element abundances in sea-water, their principal
    species, and residence times has been added to the chapter on the
    Hydrosphere (Chapter 7). At the same time, however, a useful table on
    the geochemical balance of the elements in the oceans has, unfortunately,
    been omitted in this edition. Chapter 8 on the Atmosphere is little
    altered; Chapter 9 on the Biosphere contains a new section on the
    concentration of the rarer elements in biogenie deposits and a slightly
    enlarged section on the geochemical cycle of carbon. Chapter 10 dealing
    with Metamorphism and Metamorphic Cycles is virtually unchanged
    and Chapter 11 on the Geochemical Cycle contains a section on isotopic
    fractionation expanded to include sulphur isotopes. The Appendix
    consists of tables of atomic weights and ionic radii; a Geological Time
    Scale ; a table of estimated annual world consumption of the elements
    and the price of the latter in U.S. dollars per ton ; and some questions
    and problems. T.W.B.

    ALBERTUS MAGNUS.Book of Minerals, translated by DOROTHYWYKOFF.


    Oxford (Clarendon), 1967, xlii+309 pp. and 2 plates. Price 84s.
    Albertus Magnus, patron saint of scientists, published a series of
    commentaries on the works of Aristotle, mainly those concerning
    natural science. Albert could find no Aristotelian treatise on minerals
    and filled this gap by his own researches, basing the work on Aristotle's
    principles. The date of this particular work is uncertain and the trans-
    lator suggests that it was probably completed by 1263. She has pro-
    vided a lengthy introduction covering the life of Albert, his writings in
    general and the Book of Minerals in particular.
    Those mineralogists who have an interest in the origins of their
    science will find much to intrigue them here. Each chapter has been
    given an explanatory introduction by the translator, for without this
    much of the direct translation would be difficult to follow. Copious
    footnotes are also provided to aid the reader. There are also five

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