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ter detailed study of mineral textures in a ma jor vein system in an accretionary complex. Mineral textures in veins coupled with knowl edge of their spatial distribution can be used to unravel the details of the relationships be tween fluid flow and fracturing in a rock suite. Vein growth appears to occur via a posi tive feedback process in which larger veins grow faster than smaller ones. In the extreme case, this positive feedback process may lead to fault nucleation. The broad categories of the meeting served to unite various lithological themes. It became apparent, however, that many of the sessions had strong process-oriented com mon themes that should be exploited for fur ther progress in this field. A good example of this is our limited understanding of the mechanisms of permeability enhancement during ductile deformation of crustal materi als, which could be significantly improved via the experimental approach used to under stand the permeability of partially molten mantle. Other areas in which it became clear that further work is needed include that of po rosity-permeability relationships in Earth ma terials (both static and deforming), and the transition region in which flow changes from being pervasive to being channeled in frac tures. The link between these two regimes is not understood, although a possible ontoge netic relationship may exist between porosity waves emanating from deep-seated metamor phic reactions and the repeated crack-seal cycles of higher-level vein systems. There is also a clear need to further integrate the re sults of experimental studies of deformationenhanced fluid flow with theoretical modeling. The meeting was sponsored by the Mineralogical Society, and selected articles aris ing from this meeting will be published in a special issue of the Society's journal. A lim ited number of abstract volumes are avail able (e-mail: mholness@glg.ed.ac.uk). Marian Holness, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

FORUM
Comment
PAGE 143 The points made in "Science in the Politi cal Arena: Taking Fire From the Right and the Left" [Eos, Nov. 21,1995, p. 480] are well taken. However, I disagree strongly with the implication that assaults on science from the right and left are of equal gravity. While the assault from the left disrupts certain scientific projects, the assault from the right, I believe, risks America's preeminence in science and the development of significant benefits to so ciety. Although environmentalists and ani mal-rights activists have certainly impeded research in some cases, their activism has also spurred many other fields of research in cluding global change and biodiversity, and encouraged the development of fresh water supplies and alternative fuel sources. There is an unfortunate tendency for edi torialists to temper their points and bend over backwards to appear even-handed. In the sciences, almost every editorial closes by suggesting that scientists have traditionally done a poor job communicating the impor tance of what they do to the general public and that better communication would ame liorate funding problems. I cannot argue with that. However, my advice is more pointed: be come politically active. Communicate di rectly with your political representatives about science issues via phone calls, letters, e-mail, contributions (money or time), and ul timately, through your vote. Although w e have many common con cerns, there is no scientist/engineer voting block, and w e rarely hear of lobbying efforts on behalf of research or read a politically forceful editorial in a scientific journal. Poli tics is considered to be beneath the objectiv ity treasured by scientists. That is too bad, because as a community that includes family and friends, w e could wield more political power than we do and ensure a more stable

place for science in our society. Mike Darzi, SAIC/General Sciences Corp., Laurel, Md.

Reply
I tend to agree with Michael Darzi that the budgetary attacks being brought to bear by Congress are the greater problem for science, but it was the growing rift with the environ mental community that most surprised me during my year on Capitol Hill. As a card-car rying member of several environmental groups, I was disturbed that a movement that had, as Darzi rightly points out, spurred many crucial areas of scientific research, was adopting a know-nothing approach even when common interests exist. As to the solution, I could not agree more with Darzi that better communication is only one step toward greater activism, particularly at the grassroots level. I took my present job in government affairs because I believe that the time is ripe for a motivated geoscience community to identify itself as the important constituency that it isnot a parochial con stituency, as most are, but one that can ele vate the notion of science as a public good. DavidApplegate, American Geologi cal Institute, Alexandria, Va.

BOOK REVIEW
Modern Glacial Environments: Processes, Dynamics and Sediments
PAGE 142 John Menzies (Ed.), Butterworth-Heinemann,
Boston, xxvi + 621 pp., 1995, $69.95

Modern Glacial Environments: Processes, Dynamics and Sediments focuses on the proc esses involved in forming the glacial landscape. Approximately 30% of the Earth's land surface was covered by ice during the

Pleistocene. The landscape formed by the great ice sheets still intrigues the scientific world. Today present-day ice sheets are used to investigate the processes that created the glacial landscape and the landscape, in turn, is used to deduce the behavior of former ice sheets. This view is a simplification but essen tially true; glaciologists and glacial geologists are studying the same process-morphologi

cal system to achieve different goals. Modern Glacial Environments: Processes, Dynamics and Sediments, edited by John Menzies, aims to bridge the gap created by this division, a feat never before attempted in a single vol ume. This book is likely to be an important re source in the field of glacial geology. It up dates the literature on glacial environments; it addresses several fields that are underrepresented in the literature; and it successfully bridges the fields of glaciology and glacial ge ology. A book written by many authors is never as cohesive as a volume written by a single one, but Menzies and the authors have succeeded in producing a comprehensive book that contains up-to-date-material in all subfields of glaciology. On the negative side is the sometimes uncritical treatment of glaci-

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Eos, Vol. 77, No. 15, April 9, 1996

ological theory. This part of the book, per haps, should have been written by specialists in the field. This reasonably priced softcover book is well organized and contains a detailed table of contents and an up-to-date reference sec tion that is a gold mine for students. It con sists of 15 chapters authored by 14 distinguished scientists, most of whom are specialists in their fields. Only two other books cover the glacial environment, namely Sugden and John's Glaciers and Landscapes (1976) and Drewry's Glacial Geologic Proc esses (1986). An updated view of the field has been in demand for quite some time. The text begins with a broad background on the significance of glaciers on human systems, the history of glacial theory, and the basis for glaciations and their temporal and spatial variations. A series of chapters dealing with the glaciological part of the glacial system fol lows. These chapters provide the necessary background for understanding the glacier sys tem. The remainder of the b o o k addresses problems of erosion, transport, and depo sition by glaciers in the terrestrial, lacus trine, and marine environments. For the first time in any textbook a chapter on glaciotectonism is included. This compre hensive look is very refreshing and useful. The information presented in the book is in depth, yet it can be read by professionals and students alike. Despite the book's nice binding, the text is tightly typeset in two-column format and hyphens are used too infrequently, produc ing awkwardly large spaces in the text that disturb reading. The dense typesetting is bal anced by well-chosen illustrations, including many classical as well as new figures, photo graphic plates, and several color photo graphs. It is unfortunate that the colored illustrations are so few. After all, glaciers and glacial environments are beautiful. Unfortu nately, a number of the figures are poorly re produced. It is possible that this is part of an attempt to keep printing costs down. Redraw ing of certain figures and better scrutiny of the proofs could have eliminated such blem ishes. Modern Glacial Environments: Processes, Dynamics and Sediments provides the best synthesis of glaciology and glacial geologic processes to date and is an excellent refer ence for the professional as well as graduate and upper-level students. Its reasonable price makes it accessible to most students. This book is the first of two volumes. The sec ond volume deals with the morphological as pects and the methodology of glacial geology. Peter Jansson, Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, Sweden

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