Pemberton, S. George

English

University of New Brunswick: Centre for Digital Scholarship Journals

46interested in one workable practicalapplication of a “quick-and-dirty”methods approach, utilizing realexamples from the real world, I wouldrecommend Embry and Catuneanu(2002). However, I repeat my previouscaveat, that taking the classroom shortcourse itself likely provided much more“hands-on” experience.Not surprising in a set of ShortCourse Notes, there are a number ofminor spelling/grammatical/editingerrors (eg. “Walter’s Law” appearsseveral times instead of Walther’s Law),which will likely be rectified in latereditions. Although the volume is well-illustrated and the photographs are ofhigh quality, there is a preponderance ofsedimentological photos that don’teffectively demonstrate the principles ofsequence stratigraphy, and of model-driven line drawings. The spiral-bound,soft-cover format is convenient, low-cost and appropriate for a publicationthat could receive daily use for a fewyears (particularly by students), later tobe replaced by updated versions (alreadyplanned) as the content evolves.The author states in his Preface“This volume should therefore be seenas work in progress, and commentsfrom the readership will be mostwelcome”. I encourage professionalsand students alike to read carefully, sift,absorb, and analyse the contents, thentake the author up on his offer forcomments. Not only this book, but alsosequence stratigraphy itself, is still awork in progress.Barrell, J. 1917. Rhythms and themeasurements of geological time. GeologicalSociety of America Bulletin, v. 28, p. 745-904.Embry, A.F. and Catuneanu, O. 2002. PracticalSequence Stratigraphy: Concepts andApplications. Canadian Society of PetroleumGeologists, Short Course Notes, 147p.by C.L.E. Lewis and S.J. Knell(Editors)Geological Society Publishing HouseUnit 7, Brassmill LaneBath, BA1 3JN, United KingdomGeological Society Special PublicationNo. 190, 2001, 288 p. Hardcover $US117.00, GSL Members $US58.00,AAPG Members $US70.00Reviewed by S. George PembertonDepartment of Earth and AtmosphericSciencesUniversity of Alberta,Edmonton, AB T6G 2E3george.pemberton@ualberta.caThis volume resulted from theGeological Society’s William SmithMillennium Meeting, convened on 28-29 June 2000 at Burlington House onbehalf of the History of Geology Group.The book is dedicated to the memoryof John Thackray, archivist at theNatural History Museum and theGeological Society who passed away in1999.A debate about the Age of theEarth has raged for centuries andabsolute dates have been postulated andrevised countless numbers of times. Thediscovery of the concept of deepgeologic time was the cornerstone to thedevelopment of the modern concepts ofgeology and biology. It provided Huttonand Lyell with the mechanism to explainthe history of the Earth and toformulate the modern principles ofgeology and Darwin with the timerequired to explain the transmutation ofspecies. With apologies to platetectonics it probably represents themost important concept to come out ofgeology. The volume contains 19contributions from some of the best-known historians of geology anddocuments the development of theconcept of determining the Age of theEarth over a span of some 350 yearsfrom 1650 to 2002. It provides valuableinsights both on the techniques and thescientists involved in this enquiry.Although the author list is a bit topThe Age of the Earth:from 4004 BC to AD2002heavy with contributors from GreatBritain (11 of the 21 contributors), theeditors have tried to make itcosmopolitan with authors from Italy,the United States, Canada, Ireland,Australia, Sweden and Germany. Thisprovides a more even handed treatmentof the subject from a number of pointsof view.The book opens with anintroductory essay on “Celebrating theage of the Earth” by the editors SimonKnell and Cherry Lewis where theysummarize the key developments for thequest of determining the Age of theEarth. The remaining 18 contributionsare arranged in more or lesschronological order, beginning with thework on biblical chronology in the1660’s and ending with the radiometricdating chronologies of the present day.Specific contributions on the role offossils as geological clocks, time andlife, dating humans, and the abstractionof cosmic time are also included. I particularly enjoyed thecontributions by Ken Taylor (on Buffonand Desmarest), Martin Rudwick (onJean-André de Luc), Hugh Torrens (onWilliam Smith), Patrick Wyse Jackson(on John Joly), and Cherry Lewis (onArthur Holmes). The Torrens essay wasbrilliant and in spite of all of the recentwork on Smith managed to cover newground. On the other hand, I wasdisappointed with the essay by JohnFuller on the early biblical chronologiesespecially the lack of discussion on theimpact of the work by James Ussherand John Lightfoot. This is especiallyodd given that the title specificallymentions the 4004 BC date. This datebecame the rallying point from whichgeology began its dramatic separationfrom religious orthodoxy andestablished itself as a viable science. Thecontribution on the Americanperspective by Ellis Yochelson andCherry Lewis was also disappointing asit was superficial. It could have usedsome of the verve given by Ezio Vaccarion his excellent treatment on theEuropean views on the subject asexemplified by Descartes, Leibniz,Kirchner, Steno, Swedenborg, DeMaillet and Scheuuchzer among others.One disappointing aspect of thevolume is the lack of illustrative  GEOSCIENCE CANADA Volume 31   Number 1 March 2004 47materials. In total the 19 contributionshave only 63 figures and 26 of them aregraphic in nature. Geology is a visualscience and I would have liked moreillustrations. The history comes alivewhen it is depicted visually. Althoughthe individual contributions stand alone,the editors have provided a commonindex that I found to be useful. As abibliophile I enjoy perusing thebibliographies (references in the 19contributions total 1,245) and I mustsay that this volume provides the readerwith a concise over view of theliterature on the subject.On the whole I found thevolume to be well written and tightlyedited. Most of the contributions wereinformative and provided valuableinsights on the techniques involved indetermining the Age of the Earth. Thisbook would serve well as a textbook fora graduate student seminar coursebecause of its broad coverage of thetopic. I think that this volume should beon the shelf of most geologists as it isonly through a good understanding ofthe history of development of a conceptthat we truly understand it. I am surethat the final page on the quest fordetermining the age of the earth has notas yet been written and newmethodologies will refine ourunderstanding. The concept of deepgeologic time will continue to excitefuture geologists and the quest todetermine the Age of the Earth willcontinue.Edited by Matthew J. Kohn, JohnRakovan, and John M. HughesMineralogical Society of America andGeochemical SocietyReviews in Mineralogy andGeochemistry, volume 482002; paperback, 742 p.; ISBN 0-939950-60-XReviewed by Gerry RossKupa’a FarmBox 458Kula HI 96790U.S.A.The Mineralogical Society of Americahas been publishing this series ofreviews for nearly 30 years beginningwith the initial volume in 1974 onsulfide minerals. They began publishingthese reviews in conjunction with theGeochemical Society in 2001 and theseries is now up to volume 53. The“phosphates” book was the text for a 2-day short course offered at the annualmeeting of Geological Society ofAmerica in Denver 2002. The MSA/GShas set high standards with thepublication of this series as theyinvariably offer an excellent snap shot ofstate-of-the-science in a particular area.This review is no different and offers anincredibly diverse and detailed overviewof phosphate minerals.The phosphates are an importantgroup of minerals in that they have thegreatest crossover between areas oftraditional geology and mineralogy andnontraditional geoscience areas in suchas medical science, materials research,and nuclear waste disposal. Thephosphates are considered distinct inthat they are able to incorporate morethan half of the elements of the periodictable into their atomic structures.Enchanted by this and a myriad ofinteresting trivia encountered whilereading this book, I anxiously await theday when Alex Trebeck (a goodCanadian boy who has become “a trueAmerican icon” according to theJeopardy website) and Jeopardy havePhosphates: Geochem-ical, Geobiological andMaterials Importance“GEOLOGY” as a theme and I can say“I’ll take Mineral Facts for $200”.The book is divided into 5different sections: mineralogy andcrystal chemistry, petrology,biomineralization, geochronology, andmaterials application. The first fewchapters begin with the nuts and boltsof phosphate minerals chiefly thestructure (Hughes and Rakovan) andcomposition (Pan and Fleet). Rakovanthen provides a detailed look at thegrowth and surface properties of apatitefollowed by a chapter on synthesis byBoatner, who was one of the earlyresearchers into the synthesis ofphosphates as a means of usingcrystalline substances for radioactivewaste disposal. Here I learned of amineral detail for my day on Jeopardy,that being that the scandium phosphatemineral, pretulite is only the sixthmineral known to contain the elementscandium as a principal component. Ialso learned that the mineral monazite,a personal favorite, is derived from theGreek monazein meaning “to besolitary”…I am unsure if there is adeeper psychological message here butgeochronologists may want to take note.The nuts and bolts section of the bookconcludes with an exhaustive chapter byHuminicki and Hawthorne on thecrystal chemistry of the phosphateminerals.The section on petrologyincludes a diverse suite of articles thatcover apatite in igneous systems (Piccoliand Candela), apatite, monazite, andxenotime in metamorphic systems(Spear and Pyle), electron microprobeanalysis of the aforementioned (Pyle,Spear, Wark), and sedimentaryphosphates (Knudesen and Gunter). Thefinal chapter in this section covers theglobal phosphorous cycle (Filipelli),which I found to be particularly relevantto my current career as a farmer. Thesection on biomineralization included achapter by Elliott on calcium phosphatebiominerals. Elliot is from theDepartment of Dental Biophysics atUniversity of London, a new (to me) butvery interesting subdiscipline. Hischapter is filled with lots of grist toenable you to become much moreengaged at a technical level with your

The Age of the Earth: from 4004 BC to AD 2002

https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/GC/article/download/2745/3199

The Age of the Earth: from 4004 BC to AD 2002

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

University of New Brunswick: Centre for Digital Scholarship Journals