Continental Tectonics and Mountain Building: The Legacy of Peach and Horne - Special Publication 335 (Geological Society Special Publication)

The 32 papers in this volume mark the hundredth anniversary of Peach and Horne's groundbreaking study of the structure of Scotland's northwest Highlands, a major milestone in geologists' efforts to understand the processes that shape the Earth. Researchers place the original 1907 findings in historical and modern contexts, comparing them to current studies of crust deformation in both the Highlands and other of the world's mountain belts. Distributed in the U.S. by The Geological Society. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

From the front cover illustration through the ensuing 846 pages of text this Special Publication is a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the publication of the 1907 Survey Memoir on The Geological Structure of the NW Highlands of Scotland by Peach and others. Weighing at 1.9 kg, it makes a hefty statement on your bookshelf (or in the future, megabytes of pdf download), comprising some 32 research and historical review papers written by 74 geoscientists who collectively acknowledge the tremendous contribution of the late nineteenth-century geological pioneers, Ben Peach and John Horne and co-workers.

This is a volume aimed at the academic reader and, for many, will be something to dip in and out of.......

The compilers are to be congratulated. Co-ordinating the paper production and 48 referees involved must have been a labour of dedication and patience. For a text that celebrates the importance of field observation, the illustrations are a key element and with one or two minor disappointments for example, in a paper by S. White - the field shots and diagrams are first rate (e.g. Alsop et al.; Viola & Henderson). However, the inconsistent use of colour in the photomicrographs is frustrating at times.

Picking up this book may look and feel like a daunting challenge, but for any geologist interested in understanding the evolution of mountain belts it is an invaluable reference work delivering deeper insights with each visit. --Martin Smith British Geological Survey, Edinburgh
Review featured in Scottish Journal of Geology V48 2012