Geoscientist Online

An Introduction to Our Dynamic Planet

Nick Rogers (ed)
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Publication date: 2008
ISBN: 9780-5217-2954-3 (pbk); 9780-5214-9424-3 (hbk)
List price: £30.00 (pbk); £70.00 (hbk)
390 pp

www.cambridge.org

‘Do budding geologists really need another book explaining the theory of plate tectonics?’ I thought to myself after picking up this book. Well, after reading it, my answer can only be a resounding ‘yes’. Turning the pages of the book, I quickly realised how far our understanding of the inner, complex workings of this planet has progressed since I first studied this subject matter only 11 years ago.

This is not a standard work on plate tectonics - if you are looking for a manual on how to construct your own dynamic planet, this is it. This book is a well-structured, detailed and up-to-date account of our planet. It not only describes what most people already know about a continental collision, constructive or destructive plate boundary, but also delves deep into the geophysical and geochemical hows and whys. I was fascinated to read that there may be as much water in the mantle as there is in the world’s oceans. This is a most unconventional (to most hydrologists/hydrogeologists , anyway) perspective on the hydrological cycle, and perhaps warrants a revision of common depictions of the cycle. Without water in the mantle, we wouldn’t have plate tectonics.

The book clearly demonstrates the profound degree of interplay between the many processes and components of our unique planet. A good example of this, as presented in the book, is the opening of the Drake Passage between Antarctica and the South American landmass between 50Ma and 20Ma ago. The opening resulted in the continent of Antarctica being encircled by the ocean’s Antarctic Circumpolar Current which effectively thermally isolates Antarctica from the rest of the planet; hence why the planet is in an ‘ice house’ stage. A fact that many seem to forget - ‘plate tectonics influences the climate’.

The text is backed up with copious diagrams, tables and graphics that are clearly presented and consistent in appearance. The tomographic images of sections of Earth, reaching as far down as the mantle–core boundary, are particularly impressive. These images present fast and slow seismic velocity anomalies that are interpreted as being cold subducting slabs/pockets of near solid mantle and magmatic melt respectively. In addition, the reader is prompted every two or so paragraphs to ponder and digest what has been read through short, thought-provoking questions followed by short answers. There are also recap questions within the text with solutions presented in an appendix. Should the reader wish to read a little deeper into a subject there are three or four separate text boxes per chapter that concisely and effectively explain in more detail some of the aspects or examples referred to in the text. A useful half-page summary is provided at the end of each chapter together with a section entitled ‘Learning Outcomes’ that lists key things that the reader should understand after reading the chapter.

If I may criticise any aspect of this book, it is the fact that there are very few references provided within the text. Instead, references for further reading, separated under chapter headings, are given at the back of the book. Another shortfall of the book is that the online resources that support it, including figures, further exercises and solutions, are only accessible to those in the teaching profession. I was a little disappointed with this and would feel short-changed buying this book and not being able to access this information. I think some electronic/PC/DVD resources would have given the book a real edge.

Nonetheless, I would describe this as a very useful reference book, perhaps even a must for any geology undergraduate – especially the paperback edition that is less than half the price of the hardback edition.

Jamie Blackwell

The American West at Risk: Science, Myths, and Politics of Land Abuse and Recovery

Howard G Wilshire, Jane E Nielson and Richard W Hazlett
Published by Oxford University Press, New York
Publication date: 2008
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-514205-1
List price: £18.99
619 pp

www.oup.co.uk

The western United States has been explored, exploited and settled by non-indigenous people, mostly within the last two centuries. Thousands of motion pictures, novels and political spiels have integrated mythic versions of that brief history with the magnificent landscapes. This book examines the real legacy - degradation, pollution, exhaustion of resources - of profligate development, and the wrenching changes looming as present lifestyles become unsustainable. The viewpoint is primarily that of geoscience, but discussions also probe biology, economics, politics and long-term effects. Topics given multidisciplinary treatment include deforestation, agriculture (soil, water projects, irrigation), grazing and range mismanagement, mining, roadbuilding, military exercises, waste disposal (domestic, industrial, radioactive), surface and ground water, climate change, resource exhaustion, the end of cheap energy (addressing the quantitative inadequacy of substitutes, including the dangerous nukes), and the hard choices that must soon be made as the problems go critical. Sample: many Western communities and much agriculture are dependent upon fossil groundwater that is being rapidly drawn down; then what? (Most Arab lands are among the many other regions facing this problem.)

Development has been guided by expediency, maximization of short-term private profit, indifference to consequences, and outright chicanery. Immediate costs that enable widespread degradation have been heavily subsidized by public funds, and some of the worst of that degradation is due to direct government actions. Long-term costs are charged to our grandchildren. We in the States suffered a barrage of presidential election disinformation from demagogues asserting that all we need do to reverse high fuel prices is to abolish the already-weak environmental constraints on polluting and extraction industries, and many voters with large automobiles and commutes from distant suburbs are swayed by this.

The three authors are distinguished geoscientists. Wilshire and Nielson are retired USGS research geologists, and Wilshire is Chairman of the Board of the activist organization, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Geologist Hazlett holds an endowed environmental-studies chair at Pomona College. They write authoritatively and clearly. Documentation is meticulous (150 pages of end notes and references follow the text), outrage is severely understated, and the tone is never shrill. Photographs, graphs, and tables are well chosen.

The book will be used as a textbook for multidisciplinary undergraduate environmental-studies classes, but professional scientists will find much that is new and of keen interest here. I learned a great deal from it, even though I have worked throughout the region during my long career. Politicians and lay audiences need the book’s message but likely most will opt to maintain complacent ignorance.

Warren Hamilton, Golden, Colorado, USA