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JOURNAL OF PETROLOGY
VOLUME 38
NUMBER 10
PAGE 1459
1997
Book Review
Radioactive and Stable Isotope Geology, by
H.-G. Attendorn and R. N. C. Bowen.
Chapman & Hall, London, 1997. ISBN 0 412
75280 8. 519 pp. Hardback. £95.
Isotopes are used ever more widely across most branches
of the Earth Sciences. They are an integral part of the
shift in emphasis to the study of natural processes, to
what forms rocks rather than the rocks themselves. Moreover, the development of more physically realistic models
in part relies on more precise information on the rates
of natural processes. In recent years increasing use has
been made of the Lu–Hf and Re–Os isotope systems,
and the development of mass spectrometric techniques
for the measurement of short-lived U-series isotopes
has resulted in significant advances in the study of the
timescales of magmatic processes, and in the chronology
of climate change over the last 200 000 years. The subject
of radioactive and stable isotope geology has expanded
considerably, and this book represents a complete revision
of Isotopes in the Earth Sciences published in 1988, and most
of the references are post-1988. It provides an up-to-date
and thorough treatment of the theory and practice of
isotope geology, but there are relatively few diagrams,
which may make some aspects a little less accessible to
students. Also, there are no student exercises or worked
examples.
The book is divided into four parts: an introduction
to isotope chemistry and mass spectrometric methods,
radiometric dating, the use of isotopes in climate and
environmental studies, and a final part that considers
extra-terrestrial matter, geothermometry and the stable
isotope geochemistry of the Earth’s lithosphere. The first
part includes a description of the principles of mass
spectrometry, isotope fractionation, nucleosynthesis and
the origins of the elements, and more practical aspects
of mass spectrometry. The first chapter in the section on
radiometric dating is on uranium, thorium and lead: it
reads well, but Pb isotope systematics are more complicated than Rb–Sr or Sm–Nd, and it is probably more
usual to start with a simpler system. The writing style is
clear and easy to read, but a lot of information is included
and there are curious anomalies, such as when the Th
isotope composition of island arc rocks is discussed in
the chapter before uranium series disequilibrium is introduced. A short chapter on U–Xe and U–Kr dating is
followed by chapters on Rb–Sr, K–Ar and Ar–Ar, 14C
and a number of other methods including I–Xe, La–Ce,
Lu–Hf, Po–Pb, K–Ca, Re–Os and Sm–Nd. There are
useful discussions of radiation damage dating methods
(fission tracks, electron spin resonance and thermoluminescence) and those involving cosmogenic nuclides,
but throughout the emphasis is on geochronology and
there is little discussion of the application of radiogenic nuclides as tracers in geologic processes. Parts 3
and 4 are primarily concerned with the application of
stable isotopes to studies of the biosphere and the crust.
There are sections on the isotopes of oxygen, nitrogen,
carbon, sulphur, chlorine, silicon and noble gases, and
their uses are applied in areas such as palaeoclimatology
and palaeoecology, fossil fuels and stratigraphy. The last
three chapters then consider stable isotopes in meteorites
and lunar rocks, in the common rocks of the Earth’s
crust, and as geothermometers.
In summary, this is a book that is full of much useful
information, and is written in a clear and pleasing style.
However, it may be most used by those who already
know a little about isotope geology, and who therefore
know what they are looking for. The striking shortage of
easily accessible diagrams does not make it easy for
students starting in this field, and so Radioactive and
Stable Isotope Geology may be better regarded as a
useful reference volume, rather than the core text of a
course in isotope geology.
C. J. Hawkesworth
 Oxford University Press 1997