Eos, Vol. 79, No.
22, June 2, 1998
there is still much information to be squeezed
out of rocks.
"Nevertheless, 1993 was a milestone in my
life, for it was then that I published my mono­
graph, which Simon referred to as the "big
blue book". I suppose this is my own interpre­
tation of Bowen's "physico-chemical view."
People have asked me how I ever found the
time or the motivation to write it and I want
to set the record straight right now: I would
never have started out writing that book had I
known what I was getting myself into! The
BOOK REVIEW
Structural Geology and
Map Interpretation
PAGE 261
Ruud Weijermars, Alboran S c i e n c e Publishing,
Amsterdam, ix + 3 7 8 pp, ISBN 90-5674-001-6,
1997, $ 2 4 . 9 5 .
Geological maps lay flat the three-dimen­
sional architecture of a region's rock record.
In doing so, they reveal and document geo­
metrical relationships and geological histo­
ries that would otherwise be difficult, if not
impossible, to visualize. They are a primary
data source for a wide range of practical ap­
plications, from civil engineering, mining,
and energy resource exploration to urban
planning and geologic hazard mitigation,
and are literally the "ground truth" for under­
standing environments and processes of the
Earth's past. Their utility resides not only in a
plan-view portrayal of surface geology, but in
the geometrical information they contain
that allows projection of surface geology to
the subsurface, or into regions where surface
control is lacking. Understanding this predic­
tive capacity and being able to read and truly
appreciate a geological map's three-dimen­
sional character are among the most unique
and important skills a geologist masters.
These same skills are unfortunately among
the most difficult for students to learn.
Teaching geometrical map interpretation
skills is commonly done through laboratory
exercises in structural geology courses,
though aspects may equally well be taught in
classes in physical geology, geological map­
ping, or stratigraphy. Instruction has tradi­
tionally relied on extensive manual practice
book just grew and grew and grew over a pe­
riod of 10 years. Clearly, the book is not all
my own original ideas but builds on things I
have learned from many others. If credit is to
be given, I want to share it with all of these
people. I think what I was really trying to do
was to write a book for students that would
save them all the trouble I had learning what
I wanted and needed to know in order to do
metamorphic petrology. So that's it: every­
thing I knew in 1993 in 799 pages and for only
$34.95!
with maps, cross sections, and block dia­
grams. Computer graphic applications are
only just beginning to make significant contri­
butions to teaching in this area. Although
computers are clearly the future, teachers of
these skills continue to rely on pencil and paper
exercises with synthetic and real maps, building
from simple to more complex examples.
Ruud Wiejermars' new textbook, Structural
Geology and Map Interpretation, is designed
with just this purpose in mind. It is one of four
texts on structural geology and rock deforma­
tion to be published as part of Alboran's Lec­
tures in Geoscience series. Another of the
series, Principles of Rock Mechanics (also by
Wiejermars), has recently been published,
with books on geological mapping and model­
ing of rock deformation due in 1999.
As it should be, the strength of this book is
its illustrations and maps. In slightly under 300,
approximately 8 x 10 in. pages (an additional
80 pages are devoted to appendices and indi­
ces), there are nearly 400 black and white fig­
ures, maps, and photographs. Over 80% of
these are taken without modification from pub­
lished sources, with fully half of these from
other textbooks on geological maps and map
interpretation, making this one of the best com­
pilations available. All of the illustrations are
clearly and cleanly reproduced in sizes large
enough for easy use in exercises.
The illustrations and maps provide the
framework for 17 relatively short, well-organ­
ized chapters and over 100 exercises. After
brief introductions to structural geology and
topographic maps, separate chapters include
coverage of strike, dip, thickness calcula­
tions, map notation, cross sections, structure
contours, form lines, three point problems,
fold and fault nomenclature, maps of folds,
This page may be freely copied.
"Finally, I don't want to leave the podium
without expressing my deepest and sincerest
thanks to my family, who have always been
tremendously supportive. I especially want
to mention my two sons, Jeff and Will, for
constantly reminding me that there is more
to life than science, and that dinosaurs, base­
ball, and computer games can be a lot more
fun than working. Thank you all very, very
much."—Frank Spear, Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, Troy, N. Y.,USA
faults, faulted folds and unconformities, and
isopach maps. Having cobbled together
much of the same information and figures for
laboratory exercises myself, I found these
chapters thorough, well planned, simply writ­
ten, and very well illustrated. Accompanying
exercises, which are interspersed with the
text, are short and focussed, isolating and em­
phasizing important skills and concepts.
Most exercises rely heavily on synthetic maps
and diagrams rather than real geological
maps, though a bit more balance is achieved
in later chapters that deal with map patterns
of intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks and
exogenic structures. Chapters on perspec­
tive diagrams and remote sensing data, and a
concluding chapter that takes a cursory
glance at computerized map analysis, com­
plete the subject material. A glossary, solu­
tions to the exercises, a list of further
reading, and illustration credits are con­
tained in four appendices. There are also
both a subject index and a geographic in­
dex—nice features in a book containing so
many maps and illustrations.
The material here is specifically designed
for a one-semester undergraduate course.
Few U.S. programs devote a full semester to
this topic, however, including it instead with
other aspects of structural geology, stratigra­
phy, or geological mapping. This is neverthe­
less a very fine, inexpensive resource and
certainly among the best currently available
for teaching this topic. Chapters and exer­
cises are relatively self-contained, making it
possible to adopt portions of the book for
use; an option made even more attractive by
a very reasonable price. The workbook for­
mat also makes it ideal for self-paced study.
This book should find a wide audience with
students wishing to hone their map skills and
with teachers looking for a simple yet com­
plete textbook on geological map interpreta­
tion.—Mark A. Helper, Department of
Geological Sciences, University of Texas at
Austin, USA