Journal of Petrology | Volume 43 | Number 10 | Pages 1985 | 2002
© Oxford University Press 2002
BOOK REVIEW |
Deformation Microstructures and Mechanisms in Minerals and Rocks, by Tom Blenkinsop. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht. ISBN 041273480X. £70, $114, euros 97.5. Hardback.
A new text on microstructures and deformation mechanisms in minerals and rocks is usually a welcome addition to the structural geology library and Deformation Microstructures and Mechanisms in Minerals and Rocks is no exception.This book is a competent and useful description of deformation microstructures and mechanisms in minerals and rocks as studied by optical microscopy. The author has considerable experience in these topics, not only in research but also in teaching. The book clearly reflects his interests and experience, with many of the individual examples from his own collection. The book is divided into nine chapters, all of which are well illustrated. In addition there is a colour plate section at the end—essential for a book based on optical microscopy techniques. There is also a useful index and reference list. Students will find the examples given recognizable and very useful as a basis for developing their expertise in mineral and rock deformation, particularly the chapters on magmatic–submagmatic deformation and shock microstructures, which are somewhat novel for this type of text. However, the subject matter on microstructural shear sense criteria can be found in other texts.
Given the major advances achieved in the last few years in the study of deformation mechanisms and microstructures by the use of non-optical techniques, this text is merely a primer for further and more advanced study. It could be claimed also that the book is basically a qualitative and descriptive approach to the subject rather than quantitative and integrated—no bad thing for an introductory text that is trying to generate interest in students. For example, the book tends to distinguish and separate main ‘classes’ of deformation mechanisms and microstructures (i.e. Chapter 2, ‘Cataclasis’; Chapter 3, ‘Diffusive mass transfer by solution’; Chapter 4, ‘Intracrystalline plasticity’), rather than to recognize their interrelationships and dependences. In this respect, the final chapter, ‘From microstructures to mountains: deformation microstructures, mechanisms and tectonics’, is perhaps somewhat anomalous in that it is significantly more quantitative and integrative and introduces the reader to how observations on the microscopic scale can be used to understand much larger-scale processes. As the latter is still frequently unappreciated by many geologists, this chapter provides a useful and valuable conclusion to the book and should prepare the reader for the prospect of further study using more sophisticated techniques and methods.
The book is clearly aimed at students for use in association with arguably the most generally available piece of microstructural equipment, namely the optical polarizing microscope. Unfortunately, although it contains many photomicrographs, including a section of colour plates, it has only 150 pages and at US$114 the book is much too expensive to be recommended for general purchase by students.
- Geoffrey E. Lloyd
- University of Leeds
- University of Leeds
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