Abstract
The author of Foraminifera and their Applications is Dr Robert Wynn Jones who, after graduating in 1982 from Aberystwyth University with a PhD in foraminifera, has worked in the oil industry as a micropalaeontologist and biostratigrapher until recently, when he retired. The book documents how the fossilised calcite tests of ancient protists (single-celled, ‘animal-like’ organisms), known as foraminifera, in the rock and sediment record can be used to inform us about the nature of oil and gas prospects for exploration, as well as on the Earth’s changing climate on millennial time-scales, or longer. It provides an introduction into the evolution of the discipline through exploration and discovery, from Brady and the Challenger Expedition to the present day, a background to the life strategies of foraminifera, an overview of research methods (see comments below), a key for identification to Family level (for benthic foraminifera), an overview of how foraminifera can be used in reconstructions of past environments and a comprehensive review of the use of foraminifera in the oil industry.
Within the preface of the book, Jones suggests that it aims to form a ‘vital resource for graduate students, academic micropalaeontologists, and professionals across all disciplines and industry settings’. However, the book assumes considerable prior knowledge and contains little explanation of key technical terms. Furthermore, it only indirectly refers to further literature (apart from Jones’ own previous works), therefore largely restricting its usefulness to semi-experienced post-graduates beginning in their industry-related careers who already have an idea of key concepts and previous research in the field. This is a pity, since most of these explanations could have been provided with simple, generic diagrams, therefore not disrupting the flow of the text. With regard to whether this book is suitable for the graduate working in the field of palaeoclimatology, I had difficulty in identifying how and why it would be a useful resource. In terms of providing a catalogue of benthic foraminiferal illustrations for identification purposes, the book is an up-to-date and well-executed exemplar. However, if readers are hoping to find any useful information on planktonic foraminifera (commonly used in Late Pleistocene–Holocene sea-surface reconstructions), then they will be bitterly disappointed, since the book does not address their classification beyond Order level. Information on geochemical reconstruction was extremely limited and the chapter on ‘Research Methods’ (Chapter 2) was entirely based upon foraminiferal extraction from the rock record, not soft sediment cores. Furthermore, I was astonished to note that in the ‘Further Reading’ section, at the end of Chapter 5 (Palaeobiology, palaeoecology (or palaeoenvironmental interpretation), which includes a sub-chapter on Cenozoic palaeoclimatology), there was no mention of significant works by Professor Maureen Raymo or Professor Jim Zachos, the lead authors on two seminal papers that resulted in fundamental paradigm shifts in palaeoceanography/climatology. These introductory chapters are by no means detailed or accurate enough to provide a postgraduate student with the background information on foraminifera that the preface of the book purports that it provides.
The overall structure of the book works well and, as previously mentioned, the figures are of a good quality. However, the text relating to the figures is typically separated from them, the book is littered with grammatical typos and there are numerous direct and indirect replications of text. This, combined with the writing style and short subsections that commonly refer to subsections in later chapters that build from them, makes it easy for the reader’s trains of thought to be lost. There is too much reference to further reading, when the further reading is categorised into alphabetised lists according to subchapter. As previously mentioned, the references cited within the main body of text are predominantly those of the author, which are not always the most relevant.
Despite these misgivings, there is one section of the book that kept me hooked all the way to the very end. This chapter was well written, with helpful citations for the novice provided within the main body of the text, and good quality diagrams that related to the text. It was clear that this is the portion of the book that the author was most enthused about, and it reflected the enormous wealth of knowledge that the author has in this field. This was Chapter 9, ‘Applications and Case Studies in Petroleum Geology’. This chapter provides a succinct overview of current and relevant developments in the field, alongside detailed discussion surrounding the practicalities of oil exploration in different places. This chapter is ‘must have’ reading for any new geoscience graduate entering the world of oil or gas exploration. In my opinion, this book would have been much improved if it had exclusively focused on applications in the oil and gas industry. As it is, the book is weakened by its other components, which, I believe, need significantly more detail and enhancement.
Overall, I find this book logically structured, with high quality reproduction of images providing a key for predominantly benthic foraminiferal identification and a striking account of the use of foraminifera in hydrocarbon exploration in different places around the world. Unfortunately, the book is let down by its much weaker component parts, omission of which may have enhanced the overall usefulness of the text.