422 REVIEWS
p. 32, “…tension gash philosophy…”; p. 36, “…the focal point
for fault movement”). The date of the reference to Taylor
(1998) is incorrectly given as 1988 in the References.
The author adopts a light-hearted tone in places by using
self-deprecatory language, exclamation marks, and jocular
references. Some readers might find this refreshing, but
others might find it inappropriate in a technical document.
The booklet continues the useful approach and high-quality
photographic content of the previous three volumes, and
would be appropriate for graduate students and exploration
geologists interested in ore-related breccias. However, before
a second edition is contemplated, it is recommended that this
volume be re-edited.
DOUGLAS R. MASON
MASON GEOSCIENCE PTY LTD
PO BOX 78, GLENSIDE SA 5065, AUSTRALIA
January 27, 2001
Environmental Mineralogy. DAVID J. VAUGHAN AND ROY
A. WOGELIUS, EDITORS. European Mineralogical Union
(EMU). Publisher: Eötvös University Press, Budapest,
Hungary, 2000. Price not supplied.
Having taught, since 1996, an upper level undergraduate
course entitled “Environmental Mineralogy,” which has a
lower level mineralogy course as a prerequisite, I am still
looking for an appropriate text for this environmental miner-
alogy offering. Over the years I have assigned Reviews in
Mineralogy, vol. 28, Health Effects of Mineral Dusts, 1993,
edited by George D. Guthrie Jr. and Brooke T. Mossman
(published by the Mineralogical Society of America), as a pri-
mary reference, with an additional journal reference list of
about 80 entries. This has worked reasonably well, but it
would be nice to have a comprehensive, introductory text. So
when I was asked by the editor of Economic Geology to re-
view a volume entitled Environmental Mineralogy, my first
thought was that this new volume might be just what I had
been looking for during the past several years. The front
cover has a great color SEAWIFS image of a Saharan dust
storm over the Atlantic Ocean; this is courtesy of NASA/God-
dard Space Flight Center and Orbital Imaging Corporation.
The foreword is very promising. It states, “Another aspect of
the writing and production of this volume concerns its poten-
tial role as a textbook for courses in environmental mineral-
ogy, a field that calls on both core mineralogical skills and in-
terdisciplinary understanding across chemical, biological and
geologic fields. It is an area ideally suited for the development
of advanced teaching that redefines the boundaries of miner-
alogy.” It continues, “Environmental Mineralogy is a new field,
and one of great international importance.” As such, the cover
image, the title, and the foreword are most encouraging.
And now to the contents. The main text begins (Chapter
2) with an exhaustive review of analytical techniques and
reactivity/behavior of minerals and their surfaces in an
aquatic environment. It is written by Roy A. Wogelius and
David J. Vaughan and is entitled “Analytical, experimental,
and computational methods in environmental mineralogy.”
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 422
This chapter is 80 pages long and as such comprises about 20
percent of the book. Subsequent chapters are as follows:
Chapter 3: Minerals and soil development, by Janet D.
Cotter-Howells and Ed Paterson (length, 30
pages);
Chapter 4: Mineralogy of modern sediments: A geochem-
ical framework, by Andrew C. Aplin (40
pages); and
Chapter 5: Microbial controls of the mineralogy of the en-
vironment, by Jillian F. Banfield and Susan A.
Welch (just short of 20 pages).
In the above three chapters, there is very little subject mat-
ter that, I think, relates to the title of the book, Environmen-
tal Mineralogy. Chapter 3, on soils, consists of about 25 pages
on general soil development with about four pages on poten-
tial toxic elements in soil, but provides no examples of case
studies. Chapter 4, on modern marine sediments, is a geo-
chemical treatise of low-temperature sedimentologic (diage-
netic) reactions, with no environmental case studies. Chapter
5 gives an overview of some of the many ways in which mi-
croorganisms affect the chemical and physical characteristics
of their surroundings. Two pages thereof address some as-
pects of the role of microorganisms in acid mine drainage.
The first five chapters comprise 197 pages or just about half
of the total book. None of this subject matter is particularly
relevant to my understanding of “environmental mineralogy,”
but more about that later.
Subsequent chapters (6 through 9) address environmental
aspects. Their titles and authors are as follows:
Chapter 6: Aerosol particles in the troposphere: A miner-
alogical introduction, by Mihály Pósfai and
Ánges Molnár (over 50 pages);
Chapter 7: Mineralogy of mine wastes and strategies for
remediation, by John L. Jambor, David W.
Blowes, and Carol J. Ptacek (about 30 pages);
Chapter 8: Stability of minerals for controlled landfill and
containment, by Rita Hermanns Stengele and
Michael Plötze (about 40 pages); and
Chapter 9: Mineralogy in long-term nuclear waste man-
agement, by Charles D. Curtis (just short of 20
pages in length).
The above four chapters address issues that relate the envi-
ronment to mineralogy (and vice versa), and all together they
make up 152 pages of the total book, which is 412 pages in
length (not counting various indexes). Chapter 5 is an
overview of the behavior, production, and types of dust in the
troposphere, its transport, and possible effects on climate.
Chapter 6, on mine waste and remediation, deals with acid
rock drainage (ARD), oxidation, and its mineral products in
sulfide-rich tailings, and the collection, treatment, and con-
tainment of acid waste-water plumes. It addresses not only
the chemical aspects and reactions in plumes of tailings-de-
rived water but also reviews the effectiveness of passive down
stream treatment using constructed wetlands or porous reac-
tive walls. This chapter incorporates aspects of important
mining/tailings case studies. Chapter 7 is a comprehensive
overview of and introduction to the containment practices for
controlled landfills. It addresses geological barriers, technical
 REVIEWS
barriers, types of landfill, the use of phyllosilicate materials
(various types of clay, mainly) as liners in barrier design. In its
discussion of reactive walls for groundwater remediation, it
complements aspects of Chapter 6. Chapter 7 gives a very
readable, broad-brush overview of many aspects of nuclear
waste management and containment. However, its reference
list appears much too limited and considerably outdated. Many
modern or recent research papers by researchers all over the
world are not mentioned, and the first active nuclear waste
deposit site in the United States, the Waste Isolation Pilot
Project (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico, is not mentioned.
The last two chapters are as follows: Chapter 10, Mineral-
ogy and cultural heritage, by Giacomo Chiari (30 pages) and
Chapter 11, Minerals and human health, by H. Catherine W.
Skinner (about 30 pages, also). Chapter 10 concerns itself
with “non-defacing” sample size and analytical techniques for
materials taken from historic monuments (cultural objects) in
the study of their rock and mortar and pigment compositions.
It is an interesting read but it really is part of the “new arche-
ology,” not a volume entitled Environmental Mineralogy.
Chapter 11 covers an introduction to the biomineralization in
humans and the techniques used in the identification of min-
erals found within the human body. It deals extensively with
the phosphate (apatite) make-up of bones and teeth and also
discusses kidney and pancreatic stones. Much of the informa-
tion in this chapter was assembled from the medical and den-
tal literature.
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423
Now having come to the end of my brief reviews of each of
the chapters, let me come back to an earlier posed question
about the definition of “environmental mineralogy.” To my
mind, environmental mineralogy is concerned with the inter-
action of minerals (i.e., dust and its surfaces, its fracture pat-
terns, and its particle size) and/or of chemical species (in sus-
pension in the air or in solution in the hydrosphere) with
biological systems (especially humans). Intertwined with this
are assessments of the risks to human life and their possible
economic impact (an example is the role of natural and an-
thropogenic mineral dust and the occurrence of pulmonary
diseases). The definition also includes the interaction of an-
thropogenic agents, such as acid mine waste waters, and the
effect of nuclear waste upon human habitat. If this definition
is indeed reasonable, then only about one-third of this vol-
ume, Environmental Mineralogy, addresses subjects that re-
late to the field. As such, I can’t see that this specific volume
will or can be used as a text for possible courses in environ-
mental mineralogy. Nevertheless, as mentioned above, sev-
eral papers in the volume make good environmental miner-
alogic contributions.
CORNELIS KLEIN
DEPARTMENT OF EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES
UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO 87131
March 2, 2001