REVIEWS 585 



materials. Both scientific and non-scientific readers will find much to 

 interest them in it. The illustrations, of which the book contains 143, are 

 noteworthy. H. H. 



Contributions to the Geology of the Falkland Islands. By J. G. Anders- 

 son. With 9 plates, and maps. Wissenschaftiche Ergebnisse 

 der schwedischen Siidpolar-Expedition, 1901-03, Band III, 

 Lieferung 2. London: Dulau & Co. 

 In their deeply indented coast lines with numerous drowned valleys, 

 the Falklands show a recent submergence of about 100 meters. During 

 the ice age they stood at about their present height above the sea, while in 

 pre-Glacial times they were somewhat higher and carried considerable 

 rivers. A striking feature on East Falkland is the so-called "stone-rivers," 

 which are level sheets of huge, angular bowlders streaming down the hill- 

 sides and reaching far out on almost level surfaces. This phenomenon is 

 the product of solifluction, i. e., of gradual creep down the slopes of masses 

 of waste saturated with water. Glacial action has not been the direct agent; 

 for the islands seem never to have possessed a large ice cap. Thick peat 

 deposits in this region furnish yet another instance of notable accumula- 

 tions of vegetation in cool, moist climates. Devonian sandstone is found 

 in the islands, resting on an Archean basement, while younger Paleozoic 

 rocks are also present. H. H. 



The Meteor Crater of Canyon Diablo, Arizona; Its History, Origin, 

 and Associated Meteoric Irons. By George P. Merrill. Re- 

 printed from Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections (Quarterly 

 Issue), Vol. L, Part 4, pp. 461-98, pis. LXI-LXXV, figs. 124-29. 

 Washington, January 27, 1908. 

 The author inclines strongly to the view that the peculiar topographic 

 feature commonly known as Coon Butte owes its origin to the impact of a 

 meteorite of unprecedented size. The crater, which is 4,000 feet in diam- 

 eter and 500 feet deep, lies in a region of undisturbed sedimentary rocks 

 which are horizontally bedded except in the immediate vicinity of the crater 

 itself, where they show a strong quaquaversal dip. Extensive development 

 work, now being carried on by a mining company in the field, fails to sub- 

 stantiate the theory that volcanic action has been the factor involved, but 

 shows that the disturbance was essentially superficial. Microscopic and 

 megascopic studies of the fragmental materials in and about the crater indi- 



