At a glance

Radioactive and Stable Isotope Geology

• H.-G. Attendorn &
• R. N. C. Bowen

Chapman and Hall: 1997. Pp.522£95, $174.95

Isotopic methods today crop up in every branch of modern Earth sciences and can elucidate countless processes that have shaped the Earth throughout its history, as well as making possible the dating of geological events. Here is a conscientious attempt to summarize the general principles of isotope geology as well as methods and techniques available for radioactive isotope dating, stable isotope abundance studies in the biosphere, and isotopic studies of terrestrial and planetary lithospheres.

The book is updated from an earlier version published in 1988. Because of the wide coverage, each section can provide only a basic introduction to principles and applications, and not all sections show the same critical insight. The reference list is not particularly exhaustive or up to date.

The descriptive density of the text and the overall paucity of illustrations may motivate prospective researchers to seek out more specialized textbooks and review articles.

The book is therefore recommended primarily for science libraries and laboratory reference shelves.

Paleontological Events: Stratigraphic, Ecological, and Evolutionary Implications

Edited by:

• Carlton E. Brett &
• Gordon C. Baird

Columbia University Press: 1997. Pp.M604. $65, £52

Over the past 150 years, many groups of fossils have been used to establish a detailed biostratigraphy for Phanerozoic time. Biozonal schemes can achieve temporal subdivisions as short as 0.5-1.0 million years for strata as old as the Silurian period (417-443 million years ago) using the extinct graptolites. But is this the best that can be achieved, given the nature of the fossil record?

This multiauthored volume shows that renewed understanding of short-term ‘catastrophic’ episodes has recently opened the way to the possibility of such geologically ‘instantaneous’ events being recognized by fossil biomarkers.

Storms, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions all produce particular effects on land, different ones on the continental shelf and yet others in deeper marine basins.

The essays show how an understanding of the processes and effects of short-term events in different depositional environments are helping to pinpoint such events in Lower Palaeozoic rocks in North America.

The Colours of Life: Introduction to the Chemistry of Porphyrins and Related Compounds

• Lionel R. Milgrom

Oxford University Press: 1997. Pp.249. £22.50, $95

“Porphyrins: molecules for all seasons” comes to mind as an alternative title for this book. The thesis that porphyrins permeate nature is sustained by seven chapters ranging from the origin of the Solar System and abiotic synthesis of porphyrins to their use in cancer therapy and possible application in molecular electronics. What other book would cover subjects as diverse as Kant-Laplace theory, anti-aromaticity and the Peierls transition?

The porphyrin-oxygen duet is the book's centrepiece. First we learn that the high oxidation potential available in PSII chlorophyll made possible the evolution of oxygen (a terrific pollutant which must have brought an end to much of early life).

Then we see how oxygen handling by haemoproteins made the full energy of reduced carbon compounds available so that aerobes could evolve. And, finally, we disco ver that the photophysics of singlet oxygen sensitization by porphyrins which nature struggled to suppress in photosynthesis is used, ironically, to our advantage in photomedicine.

The chemistry along the way is elaborate, engaging and presented with unusual insight.

What is the price for exploring porphyrin chemistry on geological to photophysical timescales in 249 pages? Not too high: certain details about photosynthesis are confused and the latest information in the final chapter on “Porphyrins for the future” is about four years old.

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