2158 Book Reviews

for being among the most mafic and hottest of any erupted during the Cenozoic. J. Rhodes addresses subaerial olivine-rich lavas, the 1852 and 1868 pi&es. He feels that they are olivine accumulates crystallized from original 13 wt% MgO magmas. J. Rhodes teams with S. R. Hart to examine the isotopic and trace-element composi- tions for historical lavas and they identify two discrete parental magmas. They tie these differences into complex plume characteriza- tions-namely, particular conditions for plume compositional heter- ogeneity, location of melting within, and plume configuration within the upper mantle. Kurz et al. expand the evaluation of isotope com- positions by hitching their observations for long- and short-term temporal changes to plume dynamics and varying melting rates. Finally, in a very specialized assessment of trace-element abun- dances, namely, Th/U ratios determined by high-precision, Jochum and Hofmann demonstrate that Mauna Loan lavas represents a larger percentage of source melting than those of neighboring Kilauea volcano.

The volume concludes with a few sections about volcano hazards, such as the probability for a lava flow to occur in a particular target

zone (Kauahikaua et al.), and how over-development of Hawaii increases the dangers of lava flows infiltrating society (F. ,Trusdale) Luckily, there may be adequate time for readiness and planning because an eruption forecast probability study by R. Decker et al. suggests that the next event can be as distant as the year 2007.

The book’s depth of coverage, quality of informative articles, and modest price require that every volcano-affecianado have it on his/ her reference shelf. The contents represent leading, relevant topics in numerous disciplines that encompass a volcano theme, and the authorships identify experts in their respective fields. The research significance of this volume is especially poignant when considering that studies of Hawaiian volcanoes have long set many of the stan- dards for understanding volcanism for both academic and societal perspectives.

Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences

North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC 27695, USA

R. V. Fodor

Handbook of Environmental Isotope Geochemistry, Vol. 3. The Ma- rine Environment edited by P. Fritz and J. C. Fontes. Elsevier, 1989, 525p.. US $212 (Cloth: ISBN O-444-42764-3).

The collection of eleven review papers follows the lead of Vol. 1, The Terrestrial Environment, A, ( 1980) and Vol. 2, The Terrestrial Environment, B. (1986) and it will presumably be followed at a decorous interval, say 5 years (give or take a few) by Vol. 4, The Marine Environment, B, and by Vol. 5, The High Temperature Envi- ronment. “Volumes 3 and 4 are devoted to the modem and ancient marine environments, respectively.” The editors have attempted to subdivide the volumes into major subject areas, but have purposely shied from editing out overlap. At the present rate of publication the series will be complete about 2006 and will occupy 15 cm of library shelves, probably not your shelf, with a mean age of about 13 years at a cost of U.S. $1,070.

The review papers are authoritative: personally this mature geo- chemist knows or at least recognizes most of the list of authors. The level at which they treat their respective subjects is one that will be clear to a geochemist, and even to most of his colleagues in other specialities. You dip in here when you first encounter an unfamiliar geochemical system and probably before you tap the shower of journal reference available from GEOREF or the Internet. You have, for example: Siegentaller on 14C, Sackett on organic carbon, Land on carbonates, and Lawrence on porewater, as well as Catherine Pierre expanding on her thesis on sabkha evaporites. Separate chap- ters are devoted to the U-Th decay series (M. Bemat and T. M. Church) and ‘9Ar (H. H. Loosli)

The product is thus authoritative, but somewhat dated-if not when published, inevitably now after the passage of eight more years. An example of dated material is in Chapter 5, by Catherine

Pierre. Her discussion of the oxic-anoxic interface in the Black Sea is based on the results of an early survey (e.g., Deuser, 1970). The later (e.g., Murray et al., 1989) NSF Black Sea Oceanographic Expedition, 1988, gained more precise elemental profiles and a dif- fering interpretation.

One is tempted to ask, “What is to be the fate of encyclopedic authorship and editorship, as we careen onto the Information High- way?” Will they have new status as brokers of otherwise inaccessi- ble RAM? Will the authors become increasingly frustrated by the upward ratcheting of an imponderable succession of first, second, and third deadlines enforced or unenforced? You all know the drill: your friend X, rallied by editor Y and publisher Z, preens your ego while twisting your arm, all tempting you with a mostly unrefereed spot in a beautiful volume that is certain to be a best seller (read remaindered). Your typescript is at last completed in time for the third-stated deadline, whence it disappears as fast as you can say “Fed Ex” The year is silent-and you gradually come to realize that while you were late, many were either even late or didn’t show their face at all. Finally, after more months you get back the type- script scratched in red, along with a letter that is apologetic for the delayed schedule, but nevertheless asks you to fix the English while filling in two or three or even 5 years of “progress” in your comer of the science. Meanwhile, your own favorite paper, the one you wrote so eagerly, is once again shoved aside into the laboratory drawer. “Been there, done that.”

So will they disappear like his sliderule, and his typewriter, or will they retire with the yellowing stack of his own reprints-emeri- tus that were once the fan mail postcards of other years? Department of Geological Sciences William T. Holser University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403, USA

Chimie des Milieu Aquatiques. Chimie des Eaux Natwelles et des Interfaces a’ans I’Environnement, 2nd ed., by Laura Sigg, Werner Stumm, and Philippe Behra. Masson, 1994, viii + 391~. (ISBN 2-225-84498-4; in French).

as a professional in their discipline; they should, at least, be familiar with the fundamental principles which dictate the behavior and fate of contaminants in the hydrosphere. This book provides the essentials of aquatic chemistry from which environmental scientists can expand on as necessary.

Environmental problems are inherently multidimensional and their remediation requires an interdisciplinary approach which encom-

This is the second, corrected, edition of this book. Unfortunately, the first edition was not available to me and thus, I cannot comment

passes ethical, human, economic, and natural/physical sciences com- ponents. In all cases, solutions can only come from people who are

on additions or changes made to it. The first edition was reviewed

conversant in the general issues of concern and who can contribute by Prof. Yves Tardy in the April 1993 issue of this journal. The book

from their quantitative understanding of one or a few areas of special- is the French version of the original German Aquatische Chemie to

ization. Knowledge of the chemistry of aquatic systems is an essen- which a chapter on metal transport through groundwater was ap- pended and which serves to integrate the material presented in previ-

tial component of any environmental science program and should ous chapters. The original book was written as a textbook for a course be prescribed also to all chemistry students who may be called upon on the chemistry of aquatic systems given within an environmental during their career to take an informed stand on environmental issues science program in Switzerland. It was translated into very compre-