Customer Reviews

The Geology of Ore Deposits

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book, by Guilbert and Park, is the "Bible" for any economic geologist on ore deposits. As a graduate student in geology, I am constantly using it as a reference and use it more frequently than any other book I have. We used another textbook for my economic geology course, but all of us referred to "The Geology of Ore Deposits" when some info was needed. It is also on several professers shelves as well. Well organized and easy to find specific info.

More than 20 years after its publication, this book is still (and deservedly) probably the most widely used text on the origin, description and classification of ore deposits. It is written in an entertaining style and provides enjoyment to the reader on a subject that could easily become dry. In 1986, when this book first appeared, many processes of ore formation were suspected but not scientifically proven. Most have since been proven, and Guilbert and Park have been proven correct in their assumptions. The book is in general very comprehensive, although it lacks any description of iron-oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposits, the first of which (Olympic Dam in South Australia) was discovered in 1976. For an up-to-date text, the reader can consult the "recent classic" by Robb Introduction to Ore-Forming Processes. The community of geologists has been extraordinarily industrious over the period between the publication of these two books.

This is a book on the geology of ore deposits. It is not a book on exploration techniques. Although most of the geology described in this book is on land, there is also discussion of submarine volcanics and oceanic manganese nodules.

Carbonatites are mentioned as bearers of various metals, notably the REEs (rare earths). The authors treat carbonatites as strictly igneous rocks, comparable to kimberlites. The REE-rich Mountain Pass carbonatite of California is mentioned, but not the larger one at Bayan Obo, Inner Mongolia.

Pegmatites are featured as important carriers of precious metals. These include common metals, as well as exotic ones such as niobium, tantalum, rare earths, and many more. REEs are often found concentrated in the contact-metamorphic aureoles of pegmatites (p. 198). Most pegmatites are late-stage magmatic products, enriched in volatiles as well as elements that don't "fit" the matrices of the common granitic minerals.

Many economic deposits are the result of concentration by alteration processes. Apropos to this, a helpful table of the relative mobility of ions is included (p. 780). Attention is also devoted to skarn deposits.

Details are given about such things as porphyry copper deposits, various hydrothermal deposits, massive sulphide deposits, BIFs (banded iron formations) Mississippi-Valley type deposits, uranium deposits, bauxite, and much more. The chapter on placer deposits includes sketches of important auriferous placers.

There are several schematic sketches in this book. These include such things as the zonal distribution of metal deposits in a lithologic sequence.

This is the classic text of economic geology. Although each deposit is unique this book links much empirical data together in a way that aids understanding, eventually allowing the diligent reader to be a savvy prospector anywhere in the world. An excellent geological guide for geophysicists and indispensible for prospectors and explorationists in mining. Does not require any geology knowledge if you have a good minerology or geochemistry reference and are willing to hustle and learn some minerology as you go.

The content of this book is great. As a practising geologist, I still find it a useful overview and for junior staff, I recommend it as the first point of reference. I strongly suggest this as a book to get if you haven't.
Having said that, this is not a new 2007 Edition; the content page describes this as a 2007 Reissue by Waveland Press of the 1986 Publication. I compared it directly to a 1986 version we also have in the office, and its the same, except that the 2007 reissue is printed (digital?)copy of the original. I've seen this in another revised edition (Applied Geophysics, Telford). Its OK for B&W line drawings but like any scan or photocopy, photos come out all contrasty and photos of fine rock textures lose much of their detail. The hardback cover is good quality, the paper is OK, but I would much rather have bought a second hand copy of the 1986 hardback
A for content, C for effort, B overall.

This book is interesting. It is quite dense in places and gets hard to read, but overall it is very useful. It is the main book in my economic geology class and is supplemented by several others that focus more specifically on other topics.

This is an excellent book, absolutely necessary for any geologist or geology student. What more can I say? Maybe: Amazing!!!

This a very good clasic ore deposit book that must have all economic geologist. I recommend the ore textures chapter.