The Flow of Homogeneous Fluids through Porous Media by M.

Muskat
Review by: W. C. Krumbein
The Journal of Geology, Vol. 46, No. 6 (Aug. - Sep., 1938), pp. 902-903
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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902 REVIEWS

Whether the subject of ground water remains as a branch of geology or

establishes itself as a sister science, it goes without saying that this volume
deserves the careful consideration of all geologists interested in ground-
water phenomena. In conjunction with Muskat's Flow of Homogeneous
Fluids through Porous Media' Tolman's book rightly marks an im-
portant advance in our understanding of ground-water problems.
W. C. KRUMBEIN

The Flow of Homogeneous Fluids through Porous Media. By M. MUSKAT.

New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1937. Pp. xix+763; figs. 284.
$8.00.
Dr. Muskat's volume is presented as an analytical study of the flow
of fluids through porous media, and as such is probably to be classified as
a volume on physics. However, as an application of quantitative methods
to the flow of water and oil through rocks the book is a significant con-
tribution to geological science. The mathematical treatment is not simple,
as such things are considered by geologists; neither is it unduly complex,
considered as mathematical physics. Fortunately, the author summarizes
each chapter in essentially non-mathematical terms, so that the implica-
tions of the reasoning are placed at the disposal of non-mathematical
readers.
As the author points out (p. 8), there are many variables involved in
natural situations, but, by assuming an ideal case, it is possible to eluci-
date the underlying principles in an analytical manner. Geologists as a
group have been hesitant about simplifying natural phenomena, but
Muskat's 750 pages of analysis are evidence that an analytical attack
yields amply justified results.
The author presents his material in four parts. The first, comprising
about 100 pages, introduces the necessary definitions, and such concepts
as porosity, permeability, occurrences of ground water and oil-field fluids,
as well as a discussion of Darcy's law, in terms both of its theoretical basis
and of its application to permeability studies. The second part of the
volume devotes some 450 pages to the steady-state flow of liquids. The
subject is divided into two- and three-dimensional problems, and the use
of potential-theory methods of attacking them. Gravity flow systems,
questions of non-uniform permeability, and complexities due to two-fluid
systems are comprehensively treated. The last chapter in this section dis-
cusses multiple well systems, in which the analytical methods are applied
to problems of recovery from oil sands. The last two sections of the book
' Reviewed in Jour. Geol., Vol. XLVI (1938), pp. 902-3.

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 REVIEWS 903

are concerned respectively with the nonsteady-state flow of liquids and

the flow of gases through porous media.
The petroleum geologist and the ground-water hydrologist will find
the volume indispensable; the general geologist will find many examples
of typical geological problems analytically discussed. As a companion
volume to Tolman's Ground Water' Muskat's book will open new fields
to the quantitative attack on ground-water problems, in addition to its
significant contributions to the study of petroleum.
W. C. KRUMBEIN

The Geology of South-Western Ecuador. By GEORGESHEPPARD.London:

Thomas Murby & Co., 1937. Pp. 275; figs. 195. 25s. net.
This is the first book on the geology of Ecuador to be published in
English. Although it covers only a relatively small area in westernmost
Ecuador between the Gulf of Guayaquil and the Bay of Manta to the
north, this strip may presumably be taken as typical of the portion of the
country between the Andes and the Pacific, and this comprehensive treat-
ment of its geology is therefore a welcome contribution. The chapter
headings are as follows: (i) "Introduction"; (ii) "Climate and Physiog-
raphy"; (iii) "Sedimentation of the Tertiary Formations"; (iv) "Strati-
graphical Geology"; (v) "The Tertiary Larger Foraminifera of South-
West Ecuador," by T. W. Vaughan; (vi) "Structural Geology"; (vii)
"Cherts and Igneous Rocks"; and (viii) "Petroleum."
There have been recognized in Ecuador I5,000 feet of Tertiary sedi-
ments, which were brought down by streams from the uplifted Andes and
deposited under various conditions. The Eocene series is the thickest and
much of its material is thought by the author to have been laid down in
an extensive estuary near the present site of the Gulf of Guayaquil, to
which it was probably carried chiefly along ancient courses of the Guayas
and Tumbez rivers.
An unconformity separates the Oligocene from the Eocene, resulting
from a regional uplift which was accompanied by igneous intrusions. The
strongest episode of diastrophism appears to have occurred at or near the
close of the Oligocene, for the Eocene and Oligocene strata have been
subjected to much more block faulting than the Miocene. Hypabyssal
igneous activity accompanied or shortly followed this faulting. A general
uplift of the Andean region, with more faulting, followed the Tertiary
deposition but preceded the Quaternary.
As a result either of an omission of decimal points or of their failure to
' Reviewed in Jour. Geol., Vol. XLVI (1938), pp. 901-2.

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