BOOK REVIEWS
RICHARD H. FLUEGEMAN has been long overdue, and the authors are to be commended for repro-
Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana 47306-0475, USA
Published online 17 January 2013 in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com)
DOI: 10.1002/gj.2488
THE FIELD DESCRIPTION OF IGNEOUS ROCKS (2nd edition)
by Dougal Jerram and Nick Petford. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester,
2011, No. of pages: xvi+238. Price: £22.50. ISBN 978-00470-02236-8
(paperback).
When I was asked to review this book I immediately pulled out my
copy of the first edition, published by Thorpe and Brown in 1985,
for comparison. The differences in content are representative of the
advances that have taken place in igneous petrology in 26 years.
The inclusion of eye-pleasing colour photographs and figures throughout
the book also signifies the changes that have occurred in book publica-
tions over the years and is a pleasant departure from the black and white
photographs of the first edition. Maybe the most noticeable and useful
feature that has been retained is its pocket-size, which enables the user
to carry the book into the field, the purpose for which the first edition
and the entire field guide series were designed.
The book is divided into ten chapters, two less than the first edition,
yet composed of more pages (238 vs 154). The sequencing of the chap-
ters follows a logical approach with the exception of Chapter 10, the last,
which, while useful, seems to be somewhat of an afterthought. The
opening or introductory chapter provides an outline of subject mate-
rial to be covered, in greater detail, in the succeeding chapters. Chap-
ters 2 and 3 emphasize the importance of field observations. Chapter 2
highlights fieldwork skills that should be applied when working with
igneous outcrops, stressing the importance in obtaining good field
notes, while Chapter 3 provides a guide for the proper description
and classification of igneous rocks in hand specimens collected at
outcrop sites. Chapters 4 to 8 concentrate on the mode of occurrence
of igneous rocks, with Chapters 4 and 5 covering lava flows and
pyroclastic rocks, respectively. Unlike the first edition, where lava
flows and pyroclastic rocks were confined to one chapter, these two
important topics have been expanded. Shallow level intrusions are
covered in Chapter 6, while deeper seated complexes such as granitic
intrusions and mafic and ultramafic bodies are described in Chapters 7
and 8, respectively. A major departure from the first edition is the last
two chapters, on magma mixing and mingling, and mineralization
and geotechnical properties. In Chapter 9 the emphasis is mostly on
magma mingling, and the field features and textures associated with
such a phenomenon. Chapter 10 is devoted to the types of mineraliza-
tion that occur in igneous rocks of different composition and the geo-
technical properties associated with igneous rocks.
The book is well written and structured, and is easy to read even for
the amateur geologist. The photos and diagrams are clear, and represent
well chosen examples. At the end of most chapters the authors provide
a very useful summary section accompanied either by tables or an array
of colour photos that are relevant to the chapter. The only detraction is
the several typographical errors that occur throughout the text. Despite
this blemish, the book is an essential text for all undergraduate students
of geology. A second edition of The Field Description of Igneous Rocks
Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
219
ducing an excellent and comprehensively revised version.
TREVOR A. JACKSON
Seismic Research Centre, University of the West Indies,
St. Augustine, Trinidad
Published online 17 January 2013 in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com)
DOI: 10.1002/gj.2489
AUSTRALIA’S FOSSIL HERITAGE: A CATALOGUE OF
IMPORTANT AUSTRALIAN FOSSIL SITES, edited by The
Australian Heritage Council. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood,
Victoria, 2012. No. of pages: xi+188. Price: $AU59.95. ISBN
978-0-64310-177-7 (paperback).
Australia’s Fossil Heritage is a beautifully produced lexicon of the
most scientifically important fossiliferous localities on that great south-
ern continent. As such, it forms part of a lineage of similar guides that
stretches back to the Directory of British Fossiliferous Localities (Arkell
et al. 1954) and before. Unlike that earlier volume, written for collectors
(it was a ready source of data on sites for my PhD fieldwork in the early
1980s), Australia’s Fossil Heritage carries the alternate message of
look, don’t touch.
This book is beautifully printed on high-quality paper. Chapters
are divided between the seven Australian states; most consider about
10 sites. Illustrations are reproduced mainly at full page width; artistic
representations of some sites restored to ‘life’ are breathtaking and
extend over two pages. If I have one complaint with the illustrations,
then it is an important one; the captions are only minimally
informative. Most cry out for more data. The cover is also highly
decorative, with a progression of animal life from stromatolites and
Dickinsonia to the Pleistocene megafauna, but why is a Jurassic cri-
noid shown in the Early Palaeozoic?
The main problem of Australia’s Fossil Heritage is that the editing
has been weak. A book of this sort needs a consistent style that is infor-
mative and readable. Instead, styles vary between chapters (=authors),
although they are all squeezed into the same structure. This difference
in styles is also apparent in the illustrations, too. In the chapter on
Tasmania, no fossils are shown, apart from a reconstruction, but some
localities are illustrated; other chapters provide a happier mixture of
fossils and sites. The rigid structure of the text has authors repeating
details as they have attempted to make each subheading comprehen-
sive, which was not necessary. Thus, ‘The Bacchus Marsh assemblage
appears to be the result of mass dying of a mob of female Diprotodon
at the end of a prolonged drought’ (p. 96) is then needlessly repeated
two paragraphs later (p. 97), ‘The accumulation of Diprotodon
material at Bacchus Marsh appears to be the result of a mob of females
dying en masse at the end of a drought’. Other hiccups include spelling
(e.g. Palaeogene) and the use of ‘sediment’ when the author means
‘sedimentary rock’ (12 times on pp. 80–81!). And how could Permian
rocks be ‘affected by Devonian thrust faulting’ (p. 81)?
The text is supported by various appendices, including a geological
timescale (which, however, fails to detail the various stages mentioned
in the text), detailed glossary and reference list, and adequate index. But
the geological aspects could have been further supported and
Geol. J. 49: 213–220 (2014)