Permo-Carboniferous Carbonate Platforms and Reefs: SEPM Special Publication No. 78

Wayne M. Ahr, Paul M. (Mitch) Harris, William A. Morgan, and Ian D. Somerville, Editors, 2003, SEPM, Tulsa, 414 p. (Hardcover, SEPM members; US$115.00; SEPM student members; US$79.00, non-members; US$159.00) ISBN: 1-56576-087-5. I assume most of you are reading this review because you want to know if you should spend your hard-earned cash or limited library budget on this book. If you are a paleontologist, carbonate sedimentologist, sequence stratigrapher, or petroleum geologist, the answer is a resounding “yes”! I should qualify that, however, by stating that I am clearly the “targeted demographic” (or perhaps the geo-demographic) for this volume. I leapt at the excuse to sit down and read the whole book because I have been alternately fascinated and confounded by Permo-Carboniferous buildups since first learning about them as a graduate student nearly 20 years ago. I learned much from the papers in this volume, but I am left with more questions than ever before. The difference is that now I have better questions. The introduction to the book provides a valuable overview of the content of the volume. It sets the stage by describing the Permo-Carboniferous as a time when the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere were all in flux and the biosphere was forced to respond. This leaves sedimentologists with a complex and diverse rock record to interpret. The introduction also presents the great challenge that this book must live up to—documenting this complexity and diversity across the globe. Indeed, the recurring theme of this volume seems to be diversity. Beginning in the introduction and continuing throughout the book, I gained a greater appreciation for the complexity of these buildups and their differences through time and across space. The book is divided into three subject areas: (1) Platform Architecture and Sequence Stratigraphy (five papers); (2) Reefs, Mounds and Paleoenvironments …