Our Bookshelf.: Geology

Abstract

CLARKE'S invaluable “Data of Geochemistry” is justly so highly esteemed, especially in English-speaking countries, that there has been a natural tendency to regard it not only as an indispensable compilation of data but also as a standard ex position of geochemistry itself. Only recently has this tendency been checked by growing acquaintance with the brilliant work of Fersman, Vernadsky, and Goldschmidt. A most useful and illuminating little book was published in French by Vernadsky in 1924 under the title “La Géochimie”. In 1927 a revised translation appeared in Russian, and now a third and greatly enlarged edition has become available, this time in German. After an historical introduction, the mode of occurrence of the chemical elements in the earth?s crust is passed in review, with special reference to their concentrated or dispersed distribution in the successive earth-shells, including that of the biosphere. The succeeding chapters deal in great detail with the geochemistry of manganese? with silicon and silicate minerals, including the parts played by compounds of aluminium and iron and the significance of the colloidal state? with the carbon cycle and the geochemical activities of living organisms? and finally with the distribution of the radioactive elements and their relation to lead and helium and the earth?s thermal history. The book concludes with an excellent annotated bibliography and indexes of authors and subjects.

Geochemie in ausgewählten Kapiteln.

W. J. Vernadsky. Autorisierte Übersetzung aus dem Russischen von Dr. E. Kordes. Pp. xii + 370. (Leipzig: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H., 1930.) 25 gold marks.