Economic Geology
Vol. 96, 2001, pp. 421–423
REVIEWS
Ore Textures Volume 4. Broken Rocks—Breccia 1. R.G.
TAYLOR. Economic Geology Research Unit, James Cook
University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia. 2000. 52 Pp.
Price not supplied.
Ore Textures Volume 4 is an A4-sized doubly stapled book-
let of 52 pages that is attractively presented, with glossy pho-
tographs on the cover and throughout the volume. As in the
previous three volumes, the author adopts a very useful ob-
servational approach to the study of rocks; in this volume, ob-
served structures of breccias and related interpretation are
keyed to high-quality photographs of outcrops or rock slabs.
However, lack of attention to editing and layout detracts from
the overall impression.
The previous three volumes in this series have covered the
textural aspects of infill (vol. 1), alteration (vol. 2) and over-
printing (vol. 3). The present volume, Breccia 1, describes
and interprets structural features of “break-up” breccias.
Numbered sections are as follows: 1. Introduction, 2. Obser-
vation of broken rock patterns, 3. Approach to understanding
broken rock patterns, 4. Arrangement of plates—design phi-
losophy, 5. Section I [sic]—General patterns of broken rocks
and problems involved with recognition, scale perception and
overprinting, 6. Section II—Systems/rocks with pronounced
shear (brittle-ductile, ductile) components, 7. Section III—
Systems/rocks with pronounced brittle components, and 8.
Section IV—Textures of related/miscellaneous interest. The
author indicates that the next volume will encompass milled
breccias. The transfer of emphasis from mineral textures
(vols. 1–3) to rock structures (vols. 4–?) means that the series
title (Ore Textures) no longer adequately reflects the
contents.
Sections 1–4 provide an introduction to the approach and
layout of the booklet, but are not coherently presented. Much
of section 3 is composed of specific instructions on observa-
tional procedures, which would have been better accommo-
dated in section 2. Although the author admits that the vol-
ume is not meant to be a textbook, the introduction to breccia
nomenclature is unsatisfying. A list of 26 terms in current use
for breccias and related rock structures is provided. No suc-
cinct definition of breccia is included, although a general de-
scription is given as, “Nearly all breccias involving once solid
rock which has become broken with obvious fragment rota-
tion, will pass outwards into zones of less fragmentation and
less rotation, and eventually terminate in a zone of frac-
tured/shattered rock with no obvious movement of blocks…”
No definitions are provided to clarify usage of the fundamen-
tal terms “structure,” “fabric,” “texture,” and “patterns,”
which are used throughout the work. Some newly con-
structed terms (p. 18, “larger scale broken-shear”) are left for
the reader to decipher. Despite the heavy emphasis on scale
throughout, no definitions or ranges are provided, with the
result that descriptions of scale become arbitrary (“larger
scale,” “normal scale,” “closer scale,” “broad scale,” “next scale
421
up,” “next scale down,” “very large (kilometre) scale”). A glos-
sary would have been very helpful to clarify terminology.
Sections 5–7 contain the bulk of the material in a consistent
layout of color photographs (51 in total) of rock outcrops or
sawn slabs on the right-hand page with associated structural
and mineralogical observations and interpretations on the
left-hand page. In section 5, features of brittle and brittle-
ductile systems are introduced and described, with attention
then focused on brittle-ductile systems in section 6, and brit-
tle systems in section 7. Examples used in a work such as this
necessarily reflect the experience of the author; in this book-
let most come from Australia, with a small number from
Chile, Indonesia, and Thailand. Breccias are canvassed in a
wide variety of ore types, including stratiform base metal sul-
fides, various tin environments, skarns, porphyry copper-gold
and Proterozoic copper-gold deposits, and saddle reef and
Archean lode-gold systems. Some examples usefully illustrate
and discuss the effects of weathering. The high quality of the
photographs is impressive, especially some of the rock slab
photographs printed at full or half A4 size (Plates 17A,
18A–B, 19, 20–21, 31, 32, 36); only one outcrop photograph
is slightly out of focus (Plate 3). Plates 1–19 are accompanied
in the text by subheadings “patterns” (list of observations) and
“problems” (list of problems that arise from the observations).
This provides a useful overview of each example. Observa-
tions and interpretations are intermingled in the text; it might
have been more helpful if basic observations (repeatable by
others) had been separated from the author’s interpretations.
In particular instances, the author’s interpretation can be
challenged by simple observations: e.g., on page 6, the author
attributes the larger cavities to spalling during slabbing, but
the presence of clay infill (as noted by the author) confirms
that dissolution and partial cavity filling had occurred prior to
slabbing; on page 30, arsenopyrite is described as occurring
“clearly associated with the dark siliceous alteration,” whereas
arsenopyrite crystals appear to be disseminated throughout
the field of view. For some examples a line diagram is pro-
vided to aid identification of specific structural components in
matching photographs, but there are no legends to distin-
guish the structural nature of different line styles when pre-
sent; and in some diagrams nonstructural features (pit floor,
ground surface; p. 14, 18) are shown in the same line style as
structures.
Poor editing is evident throughout. Headings are inconsis-
tent in different parts of the text, words are misspelled or
omitted, punctuation is missing, some statements end in a
question mark, inconsistent scales are given on Plates 33A
and 33B, and geological inaccuracies are present in places
(e.g., on p. 26, Mount Isa ores are described as “copper-lead-
zinc” when the copper ores and lead-zinc ores are distinctly
different in mineralogy and occurrence; on p. 42–43, “stock-
work” in Plate 31 is described as “multiple stockwork” in the
matching text). In many places in the text, poor expression
obscures the author’s meaning (e.g., p. 18, “Increasingly smaller
components have accommodated the strain by breaking”;
422 REVIEWS
p. 32, “…tension gash philosophy…”; p. 36, “…the focal point
for fault movement”). The date of the reference to Taylor
(1998) is incorrectly given as 1988 in the References.
The author adopts a light-hearted tone in places by using
self-deprecatory language, exclamation marks, and jocular
references. Some readers might find this refreshing, but
others might find it inappropriate in a technical document.
The booklet continues the useful approach and high-quality
photographic content of the previous three volumes, and
would be appropriate for graduate students and exploration
geologists interested in ore-related breccias. However, before
a second edition is contemplated, it is recommended that this
volume be re-edited.
DOUGLAS R. MASON
MASON GEOSCIENCE PTY LTD
PO BOX 78, GLENSIDE SA 5065, AUSTRALIA
January 27, 2001
Environmental Mineralogy. DAVID J. VAUGHAN AND ROY
A. WOGELIUS, EDITORS. European Mineralogical Union
(EMU). Publisher: Eötvös University Press, Budapest,
Hungary, 2000. Price not supplied.
Having taught, since 1996, an upper level undergraduate
course entitled “Environmental Mineralogy,” which has a
lower level mineralogy course as a prerequisite, I am still
looking for an appropriate text for this environmental miner-
alogy offering. Over the years I have assigned Reviews in
Mineralogy, vol. 28, Health Effects of Mineral Dusts, 1993,
edited by George D. Guthrie Jr. and Brooke T. Mossman
(published by the Mineralogical Society of America), as a pri-
mary reference, with an additional journal reference list of
about 80 entries. This has worked reasonably well, but it
would be nice to have a comprehensive, introductory text. So
when I was asked by the editor of Economic Geology to re-
view a volume entitled Environmental Mineralogy, my first
thought was that this new volume might be just what I had
been looking for during the past several years. The front
cover has a great color SEAWIFS image of a Saharan dust
storm over the Atlantic Ocean; this is courtesy of NASA/God-
dard Space Flight Center and Orbital Imaging Corporation.
The foreword is very promising. It states, “Another aspect of
the writing and production of this volume concerns its poten-
tial role as a textbook for courses in environmental mineral-
ogy, a field that calls on both core mineralogical skills and in-
terdisciplinary understanding across chemical, biological and
geologic fields. It is an area ideally suited for the development
of advanced teaching that redefines the boundaries of miner-
alogy.” It continues, “Environmental Mineralogy is a new field,
and one of great international importance.” As such, the cover
image, the title, and the foreword are most encouraging.
And now to the contents. The main text begins (Chapter
2) with an exhaustive review of analytical techniques and
reactivity/behavior of minerals and their surfaces in an
aquatic environment. It is written by Roy A. Wogelius and
David J. Vaughan and is entitled “Analytical, experimental,
and computational methods in environmental mineralogy.”
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 422
This chapter is 80 pages long and as such comprises about 20
percent of the book. Subsequent chapters are as follows:
Chapter 3: Minerals and soil development, by Janet D.
Cotter-Howells and Ed Paterson (length, 30
pages);
Chapter 4: Mineralogy of modern sediments: A geochem-
ical framework, by Andrew C. Aplin (40
pages); and
Chapter 5: Microbial controls of the mineralogy of the en-
vironment, by Jillian F. Banfield and Susan A.
Welch (just short of 20 pages).
In the above three chapters, there is very little subject mat-
ter that, I think, relates to the title of the book, Environmen-
tal Mineralogy. Chapter 3, on soils, consists of about 25 pages
on general soil development with about four pages on poten-
tial toxic elements in soil, but provides no examples of case
studies. Chapter 4, on modern marine sediments, is a geo-
chemical treatise of low-temperature sedimentologic (diage-
netic) reactions, with no environmental case studies. Chapter
5 gives an overview of some of the many ways in which mi-
croorganisms affect the chemical and physical characteristics
of their surroundings. Two pages thereof address some as-
pects of the role of microorganisms in acid mine drainage.
The first five chapters comprise 197 pages or just about half
of the total book. None of this subject matter is particularly
relevant to my understanding of “environmental mineralogy,”
but more about that later.
Subsequent chapters (6 through 9) address environmental
aspects. Their titles and authors are as follows:
Chapter 6: Aerosol particles in the troposphere: A miner-
alogical introduction, by Mihály Pósfai and
Ánges Molnár (over 50 pages);
Chapter 7: Mineralogy of mine wastes and strategies for
remediation, by John L. Jambor, David W.
Blowes, and Carol J. Ptacek (about 30 pages);
Chapter 8: Stability of minerals for controlled landfill and
containment, by Rita Hermanns Stengele and
Michael Plötze (about 40 pages); and
Chapter 9: Mineralogy in long-term nuclear waste man-
agement, by Charles D. Curtis (just short of 20
pages in length).
The above four chapters address issues that relate the envi-
ronment to mineralogy (and vice versa), and all together they
make up 152 pages of the total book, which is 412 pages in
length (not counting various indexes). Chapter 5 is an
overview of the behavior, production, and types of dust in the
troposphere, its transport, and possible effects on climate.
Chapter 6, on mine waste and remediation, deals with acid
rock drainage (ARD), oxidation, and its mineral products in
sulfide-rich tailings, and the collection, treatment, and con-
tainment of acid waste-water plumes. It addresses not only
the chemical aspects and reactions in plumes of tailings-de-
rived water but also reviews the effectiveness of passive down
stream treatment using constructed wetlands or porous reac-
tive walls. This chapter incorporates aspects of important
mining/tailings case studies. Chapter 7 is a comprehensive
overview of and introduction to the containment practices for
controlled landfills. It addresses geological barriers, technical