(1) Earth Flexures; their Geometry and their Representation and Analysis in Geological Section, with special reference to the Problem of Oil Finding (2) The Geology of Petroleum and Natural Gas (3) Analytical Principles of the Production of Oil, Gas and Water from Wells: a Treatise based upon a System of Fluid Mechanics particularly adapted to the Study of the Performance of Natural Reservoirs

Abstract

(1) IF it be a geological axiom that outcrop evidence is not necessarily indicative of subsurface structure, which is admittedly true in many cases, that where comparatively soft rocks are involved the divorce between the two may be so great as to render one an unreliable guide to the other, then it is easy to find many flaws in Mr. Busk's thesis. We cannot help feeling that rather special cases have been chosen as the basis of the hypotheses, constructions, and proofs composing this geometrical geology; that were the methods faithfully applied to the rocks of Trinidad, Venezuela, or southern California, for example, where surface data are often misleading or scanty, in contrast to the almost overwhelming evidence of the naked rocks of Burma, Egypt, and Persia chosen as the basis of discussion, some grotesque interpretations of underground conditions could result; certainly the limits of error in locating oil-pools involved could scarcely be said to be narrowed in such circumstances. On the other hand, there is something to be said for the purely geometrical treatment of folding, especially for those to whom the third dimension is elusive, even if it only teaches precision in thought and expression. In these matters geology has need of all the mathematics it can legitimately absorb, though we may be devoutly thankful that the science can never be reduced to a string of uninspiring formulæ: even inexactitude is a blessing sometimes.

(1) Earth Flexures; their Geometry and their Representation and Analysis in Geological Section, with special reference to the Problem of Oil Finding.

By H. G. Busk. (Cambridge Geological Series.)Pp. vii + 106. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1929.) 12s. 6d. net.

(2) The Geology of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

By Prof. E. R. Lilley. Pp. x + 524. (London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1928.) 30s. net.

(3) Analytical Principles of the Production of Oil, Gas and Water from Wells: a Treatise based upon a System of Fluid Mechanics particularly adapted to the Study of the Performance of Natural Reservoirs.

By Dr. Stanley C. Herold. With a Foreword by Cyrus F. Tolman and a Final Summary by Ernest K. Parks. Pp. xi + 659. (Stanford University, Calif.: Stanford University Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1928.) 35s. net.