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The Geology of Switzerland: An Introduction to Tectonic Facies. Kenneth J. Hsu. 250 pp. Princeton University Press, 1995. $55.00.
The notion of facies in geology arose from the need to provide some level of generalization in a science that often seems hopelessly variable and complex. Although an outcrop of marble appears very different from an outcrop of schist, they are both metamorphic rocks and could have experienced the same pressure and temperature during metamorphism. We say rocks that experienced similar metamorphic conditions are from the same metamorphic facies. In this book, Kenneth Hsu extends the facies idea to the architecture of entire mountain belts. Although the rugged Alps may not seem to have much (ILLUSTRATION OMITTED) in common with the gentle Appalachians, Hsu explains that these belts have many similar features that also occur in many of the world's great collisional mountain belts. These "tectonic" facies, Hsu argues, are found in mountains from North and...