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Himalayan Geology, Vol. 31
(1), 2010, pp. 79, Printed in India
Book Review:
D. Rameshwar Rao
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun
It is quite proper to attempt to write a book that provides a comprehensive
and well organized description of Minerals, Rocks and Ores. One is impressed
at the breadth of the canvas that Prof. Pramod O. Alexander has chosen to
paint in this attractively produced book “A Handbook of Minerals, Crystals,
Rocks and Ores”. It is vital to see that a balance is maintained to various
topic chosen that is rarely found in any comparable general text books aimed
at students reading Petrology. To add to the value of its contents, the book
is well produced, with some good coloured photographs and a useful index.
The author is to be congratulated for his book.
The book is broadly divided into four major sections with each section
preceded by an Executive Summary, and the subject matter is lucidly
presented in simple language that spread under various chapters. The book
begins with an analysis of ‘Minerals’ in Section-A their crystal chemistry,
physical and optical properties, articulating and discussing the technical
principles required to identify minerals, and classification and occurrences
of minerals. The section covers various silicate and non-silicate minerals,
and also to the different uses of minerals is put to. This is followed by
Section-B dealing with ‘Crystals’ their crystallographic elements and
crystal systems, along with a brief account of the historical development in
the field of crystals. The section ends with a preliminary idea about
stereographic projection and X-ray crystallography. The Section-C on ‘Rocks’
introduces the theme of petrology, petrography and petrogenesis followed by
three chapters devoted to the three groups of rocks, the igneous,
sedimentary and metamorphic, with a section at the end giving a birds eye
view of the rock cycle connecting the geo-processes involved in the
formation of these rock types. The author finally evaluates the ‘Ores’ in
Section-D. In this section he dwells on the theme of metallic and
non-metallic ore deposits, internal and surface processes of ore genesis and
discusses the location of mineral deposits in the context of global
tectonics. A short chapter exclusively describes the Indian Mineral
Industry: some facts and figures.
The other good point of this book is its Tables; the Tables in general
provide valuable and important information in a crisp and lucid form. Table
Aa.2.1: Naming of Minerals, few examples on page 9 provides some rare and
interesting information to the readers. A correction is however required in
this table, Rhodonite is referred to as Mg silicate instead of Mn silicate.
The book is very readable and useful contribution to students of fundamental
concerns of Petrology. Its value is two fold, first it is a very useful text
book for graduate and post-graduate students, and secondly this book will
serve as a most valuable source of information to students appearing for
various competitive exams. As an example, the Section on ‘Ore’ covering
nearly 230 pages, covers various types of ores and ore minerals, their ore
genesis and its relation to global tectonics, and with a chapter running for
100 pages dealing with the detail account of various mineral deposits giving
their description, geography and economic potential through well illustrated
Indian examples. To write a crisp and meaningful account on the Mineral
Resources of India is by no means an easy task as it involves culling and
synthesizing a vast amount of data from several sources. The effort in this
direction, of the author is, therefore, commendable. The section on Ores
also provides a chapter exclusively dealing with facts and figures of the
Indian Mineral Industry presenting recent available data of resources,
production, import and export and future prospects. Apart from this a detail
account of mineral uses is dealt in Section A under Chapter 9.
In terms of subject matter and content, the book meets almost all desirable
criteria of a text-book. The book is worthwhile and useful to train graduate
students in petrology and ore geology. If a criticism is to be made, there
are many errors in the text and none that are obtrusive, but could be
avoided. Hope they will be taken care in coming editions of this volume. The
only serious reservation I have is that the section on ‘Important
Terminology in Economic Geology’ given on pages 410-420 must have appeared
separately as Appendix, otherwise the useful information may get lost in the
running text of the book. Overall this is an excellent contribution from the
author Prof. A.O. Alexander and the effort by the author is laudable who has
succeeded in addressing the need of students. Despite the criticisms made
above, I did enjoy reading the book and hope that the degree and
post-graduate students would read it and get benefited from it. A lot of
effort must have gone into writing and providing illustrations for the book.
Perhaps the next version would take care of some of the shortcomings and
become a must-read book for students of Petrology. I once again congratulate
the author for commendable work and recommend this well written and easily
readable volume strongly to all students of Petrology.
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