BOOK REVIEWS
tion in NW Europe’. The main aim of both the
conference and the book is to place the detailed work
carried out on the Silesian of h’W Europe into a broader
palaeogeographical climatic, and tectonic context.
The volume is structured around the palaeogeo-
graphical settings of the basins relative to the Variscan
Front, dealing with internal (allochthonous), peripheral
(orogenic foreland), and external (distal foreland) basins.
The volume opens with an introductory chapter by B.
M. Besly which presents a brief appraisal of recent work,
and puts the ensuing chapters of the book into context.
Internal basins are considered from Devonian and
basal Carboniferous flysch settings in nappes of the
Rhenohercynian zone (Franke and Engel), and peri-
pheral basins from S W England (Selwood and Thomas;
Th o mas).
External basins form the bulk of the volume, with
attention given to the current conflicts on the relative
importance of strike-slip (Read), N-S extension (Leeder
and McMahon) and E-W extension (Haszeldine;
Stedman) in controlling basin evolution.
Basin configuration of Central and Northern England
is considered using gravity data (Lee), and a review of the
controls on the Namurian sedimentation presented
(Collinson). Controls on sedimentation in the Pennine
Basin are discussed in several papers (Bristow; Guion and
Fielding; Fulton and Williams) and in a post orogenic
THE MAPPING O F GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURES
by Ken McClay, Open University Press, 1988. No of
pages: 168. Price: f7.95 (paperback).
This book is one of the excellent Handbook Series,
produced by the Geological Society of London, a series
of practical guides to field geology. Its title is, in fact,
somewhat misleading, as it is concerned at least as much
with the description and interpretation of structures as it
is with their mapping. Elementary structural mapping is
comprehensively covered (although I express some minor
reservations below), but the book also gives as good an
account of folds, faults, and other deformation structures
as you will find in many an introductory texts. Indeed, it
strays further into theory than might be thought appro-
priate for such a book, e.g. strain models for folds, Reidal
(sic) fractures and the strain ellipse, origin of sigmoidal
vein arrays, etc. There is a danger that students might lose
sight of objectivity in the collection of data in pursuit of
such models. I would certainly have liked it made clear
that not all cleavage is axial-planar (p. 67), not all
stretching lineations are parallel or at a high angle to fold
hinges (p. 77), and that not all dip-slip faults have listric
235
basin from the Massif Central (Courel). Subsurface data
from the Gainsborough Trough has been used to infer
larger deltaic systems beneath the North Sea (Steele).
Cyclicity of the Millstone Grits is reexamined (Holds-
worth and Collinson), and recognition of small-scale
(seasonal/ tidal) cyclicity in the Westphalian discussed
(Broardhurst). Carboniferous redbeds from central Eng-
land are examined, and their inferences for palaeo-
climate/ palaeogeography considered (Besly).
The volume is well structured and presented on an easy
to read A4 format. It highlights the main models for the
structural evolution of the Carboniferous basins, and
controls on sedimentation. The volume brings together
much of the representative data available in the wide
array of literature on the subject. It points out the main
conflicts between models and succeeds in its aims to place
the basins and their evolution into a broader, palaeogeo-
graphical context.
This book is an invaluable source of reference for any
geologists working on the Carboniferous, or looking at
sedimentary basin evolution. It would have been nice to
see a greater percentage of papers from outside Britain,
but this probably reflects the geographical concentration
of work done on the Silesian.
A. MATHER
or ramp-flat geometries. Broadly, however, I think the
author has struck the right balance, providing the student
with a kinematic as well as geometrical framework for the
mapped data.
Chapters deal in turn with technqiues, folds, linear
structures, faults and shear zones, joints veins and
stylolites, polyphase deformation, interpretation, and
analysis. There is regrettably no index. It is well
illustrated by many useful half-tones (very few located),
excellent line diagrams, tables, extracts from field note-
books and maps. As I have implied above, each chapter is
largely concerned with the description of the structures,
their significance and origin. but each concluded with
good advice about their mapping. I spotted very few text
errors; figure 6.19 spells Riedal correctly but shows the
wrong sense of displacement on the R2 shears.
None of the following criticisms detract from the
excellence of the book, some are very personal prefer-
ences. There were a number of points about the recording
of measurements that I found irritating: both methods of
recording planar structures, strikeldiplqua-
drant and dip/dip direction are introduced but not the
commonly used ‘right-hand rule’ advocated by Barnes
236 BOOK REVIEWS
(1981) in the Geological Mapping handbook; strikes of
040 and 220 appear as alternatives on pp. 20-22; the
oblique stroke convention used by most geologists
(040°/450SE or 45"/130") is not mentioned; the
-
preferred method is 45" 130°, the same as that used for
lineations, which is surely likely to cause confusion?
I think it was a mistake to treat all lineations under one
chapter heading. More importantly boudins deserve
more than eleven lines in this chapter, particularly how to
measure them and their significance when developed in
veins and dykes.
Finally, I was rather disappointed in the treatment of
vergence, both cleavage and fold related. Surprisingly,
there is not a map illustrating the use of the much-
favoured S and Z symbols; personally I d o not like this
PROCEEDINGS OF T H E 18TH LUNAR AND
PLANETARY SCIENCE CONFERENCE, Cambridge
University Press and The Lunar and Planetary Institute,
1988. No of pages: 753. Price f60.00 (hardback).
The Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC)
is recognized as the leading international conference for
the presentation of new results in planetary science,
bringing together individuals and teams of specialists in
the fields of petrology, geochemistry, geophysics,
geology, and astronomy. The 18th of these annual
gettogethers was hosted by NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson
Space Centre (JSC) in Houston between March 16 and
20, 1987. Sponsors included the Lunar and Planetary
Institute (LIP) and JSC, the American Geophysical
Union, The Division of Planetary Sciences of the
American Astronomical Society, the Geological Society
of America, the International Union of Geological
Sciences, and the Meteoritical Society.
The 18th LPSC attracted 680 participating scientists
from 18 countries who between them submitted 595
abstracts. Such was the level of interest that the staff of
five LPI departments had to work fiat-out for two weeks
just to prepare the conference abstracts. During. the five-
day event recent research findings were reported either
orally, or as poster displays within a series of half-day-
long sessions, three of which ran concurrently. Each oral
presentation was limited strictly to eight minutes, in order
that the immense number of presentations could be
accommodated in the available time. Within the
conference schedule a number of special sessions also
were organized: thus one was entitled 'Lunar Science and
shorthand because (the author does make this point) of
the likelihood of confusion when subhorizontal folds
change their plunge or are viewed on opposite facing
outcrops. Telling the studient always to look down
plunge, as the author does here, does not solve the
problem and telling them always to look in one direction,
regardless of plunge. is not very practical. Much better, I
think, to think about whether vergence is. say, N E or SW
and incorporate appropriate directional symbols on the
fold plunge arrows.
I repeat, none of the above should dissuade you or
your students from buying this excellent book, bursting
with advice and information. at a very good price.
JACKTREAGUS
Future Exploration', another 'Onset of Accretion' and a
third 'Future Exploration of Mars'.
The individual ordinary sessions covered such import-
ant topics as Venus tectonics, carbonaceous chondrites,
impact phenomena, space utilization, Halley's Comet,
Mars geology and geomorphology, lunar mare bastals,
nucleosynthesis and isotopic anomalies, the outer Solar
System, planetary differentiation and crustal genesis,
cosmic dust, the channels and volatiles of Mars, eucrites,
extinct-nuclide chronology, SNC meteorites, the lunar
highlands, asteroids and comets. cosmic rays, ureilites
and iron meteorites, planetary geological processes, and
planetary geophysics. It is doubtful that a wider sample
of current interest could be found anywhere at a single
conference. This has always been the hallmark of this
annual event.
It is thus with some disappointment that I greet the
Proceedings of the 18th LPSC, for out of those original
595 abstracts, which it has to be said, covered an
extremely wide spectrum of interest, fewer than seventy
papers are published in this present volume. Of these, 28
deal with the Moon and 29 cover various aspects of
meteoritics, impact cratenng, and extraterrestrial grains.
This leaves space for only five papers on Mars, a paper
entitled 'Venus Lives' and one called 'A Model of the
Porous Structure of Icy Satellites'. While in no way
wishing to devalue the importance of these well-prepared
and valuable contributions, the inevitable question which
has to be asked is whether or not this volume is in any
way truly representative of the flavour of planetary
science in 1987? The only possible response has to be a
negative one.