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Condie, Kent C. Mantle Plumes and their Record in Earth History.

Cambridge, New York (Cambridge University Press), 2001. xiii + 306 pp. £27.95 ($39.95). ISBN 0 521 01472 7 (paperback).£75.00 ($110.00). ISBN 0 521 80604 6 (hardback).

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

This timely book by Kent Condie seeks to review and synthesize the vast abundance of literature on mantle plumes which has been published, particularly over the last 10–15 years. The book is enjoyably multidisciplinary, with ‘something for everyone’: geochemists, petrologists, geologists, geophysicists, even palaeontologists. Furthermore, the many outstanding controversies are highlighted and reviewed in an even-handed manner.

This book successfully highlights the fundamental role played by mantle plumes throughout geological history, not only through the formation of Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), but also in continental growth and break-up and even in the development of life.

The book starts with an introductory chapter which describes the general features of mantle plumes in relation to the internal structure of the Earth. This is followed by a brief introduction to how plumes are believed to he generated in, and rise through, the convecting asthenosphere. Chapter Two reviews, with the use of well-chosen examples, the physical nature of hotspots and hotspot tracks and . . . [Full Text of this Article]