Manganese (Mn) oxides are among the most reactive minerals in the earth's surface environment, and play a significant role in adsorption, co-precipitation and redox reactions, affecting biogeochemical cycles of numerous nutrients and contaminants. In addition, manganese oxides are widely applied as absorbents, ion sieves, chemical oxidants and catalysts for environmental remediation and pollution control. There are, however, still many aspects poorly understood in terms of the environmental geochemistry of manganese oxides, such as biogenic formation mechanisms, detailed crystal structure of nanocrystalline phases, electron transfer paths in redox reactions, adsorption mechanisms of contaminants on surfaces, physiochemical factors controlling the contents of structural Mn(III) and vacant sites that largely determine Mn oxide reactivity, and the role of Mn(III) in the above processes. This book aims to bring together advances on manganese oxide environmental biogeochemistry from leading scientists in multiple disciplines, e.g., mineralogy, geochemistry, soil science and environmental engineering. A number of frontier research topics are included in the book, such as in-situ characterization of Mn oxide reactivity with As and Cr, kinetics and molecular-scale mechanisms of metal oxidation by mangnese oxides, mechanistic understanding of metal sorption through density function theory, the role of surface edge sites of birnessites in metal(loid) sorption, reactivity of natural crytomelane, pathways of phyllomanganate transformation to todorokite, water-oxidation catalysis by manganese oxides, in situ As immobilization using stabilized Fe-Mn binary oxides, and synthesis of Li ion-sieves from biogenic oxides and stability of colloidal Mn oxides. The book should be of interest to scientists and engineers in a broad range of disciplines, such as geochemistry, soil science, mineralogy, microbiology, materials science, and environment engineering, as well as graduate students who are engaged in research on manganese oxide biogeochemistry and the engineering application of Mn-bearing materials.

Sought after, fought over, hoarded, hidden, and stolen--diamonds remain one of mankind's greatest obsessions. Diamond represents the most concentrated form of wealth on the planet and the hardest known natural substance. Covering everything from the origin of diamonds and their properties, through mining, the four Cs of grading and marketing, to modern high-tech treatments, fancy colored diamonds, and synthetics, "The Diamond Compendium" presents the body of diamond knowledge in a simple and understandable way. Written by a diamond expert this book is based on thousands of hours of research with specialists worldwide. Whether you are using this book to learn the facts about purchasing diamonds, understand the trade, prepare for formal examinations, or simply satisfy your curiosity, "The Diamond Compendium" is the most thorough, absorbing, and comprehensive book on the market.

Gemstones have been a source of fascination for Millenia, from the icy brilliance of diamond and the soft iridescence of pearl, to the deep red garnets treasured by ancient Egyptians and Victorians alike. They are used for their natural beauty in jewellery, worn for protection as talismans, associated with romance and power. They are also of scientific importance, forming over billions of years and containing secrets to the inner earth. This book examines the world's most commonly encountered gemstones, exploring their unique beauty, rarity, and durability. It reveals how these gem materials formed, where they are mined, how they are identified by their physical and optical properties, their enhancements and imitations. Travelling through each gem's history and use in adornment, it is filled with fascinating facts for the curious to the professional. With sumptuous colour photographs, Gemstones is a dazzling insight into the world of the rare and valuable.

Bioleaching of chalcopyrite is always a challenge and research hotspot. The low copper extraction and dissolution kinetics restricted the industrial application of chalcopyrite bioleaching. To solve this problem, the dissolution process and passivation mechanism of chalcopyrite in bioleaching should be first studied, then the rate-limiting steps should be analysed explicitly, and finally the intensifying method can be put forward. Many scholars have made efforts to investigate the dissolution mechanism of chalcopyrite in bioleaching. However, there is no congruence of opinion as yet. Biohydrometallurgy of Chalcopyrite summarizes and discusses the reported research findings. In addition, this book publishes the related results found by the authors' research. Then, the dissolution mechanism of chalcopyrite in bioleaching is interpreted. Finally, the process intensification techniques of chalcopyrite bioleaching are provided and discussed. Hence, this book provides useful reference and guidance in both laboratory research and industrial production.

Introduction to Mineralogy and Petrology, second edition, presents the essentials of both disciplines through an approach accessible to industry professionals, academic researchers, and students alike. This new edition emphasizes the relationship between rocks and minerals, right from the structures created during rock formation through the economics of mineral deposits. While petrology is classified on the lines of geological evolution and rock formation, mineralogy speaks to the physical and chemical properties, uses, and global occurrences for each mineral, emphasizing the need for the growth of human development. The primary goal is for the reader to identify minerals in all respects, including host-rocks, and mineral deposits, with additional knowledge of mineral-exploration, resource, extraction, process, and ultimate use. To help provide a comprehensive analysis across ethical and socio-economic dimensions, a separate chapter describes the hazards associated with minerals, rocks, and mineral industries, and the consequences to humanity along with remedies and case studies. New to the second edition: includes coverage of minerals and petrology in extra-terrestrial environments as well as case studies on the hazards of the mining industry.

Due to unprecedented growth in population and the resultant massive mining of energy resources, especially the non-renewable resources and also water resources, these resources have gradually become scarce commodities. Hence the geoscientists and the technocrats from all over the world have embarked into many fold research programmes for locating newer reservoirs of these resources and also to develop models to conserve and sustainably exploit them. As this involves the total understanding of the rock types, tectonic architecture, geomorphology and reservoir conditions, the Geomatics technology comprising Remote Sensing, Geographic Information System (GIS), etc have been found to be vital tools in the inventory and management of these resources; While the former due to its synoptivity, multispectral nature and repeativity and the latter by virtue of its capability to store, manipulate and model huge volume of spatial and non-spatial data. Divergent geological provinces and processes are brought out deserving concepts and methods on geology, 3D visualization of subsurface lineaments, SRTM based lineament mapping, spatio-linear modeling of hard rock aquifer systems, 3D visualization of oil bearing structures, etc., both as field geologists and as researchers.

This book discusses the fundamental principles of different branches of geology prescribed in the syllabus, so that the students acquire basic knowledge of the subject. The book consists of basic concepts and practical aspects of these subjects as prescribed syllabus of Civil and Mining Engineering courses in various Universities and Institutes.

The book "Landslide Research- The DST's Initiatives" is a compilation of over 21 Scientific articles on various aspects of Landslides viz: Overviews, Earth system processes and Landslides, Landslide hazard Zonation mapping, Geotechnical investigations, instrumentation and early warning of Landslides, Satellite based monitoring of Landslides, site specific investigations etc. These articles are the outcome of the studies carried by various academicians, researchers and the research institutions under the funding of NRDMS/DST in different geological provinces of Indian subcontinent. These articles provide wider and deeper spectrum of information on earth system processes like post collision tectonics of Shillong plateau, Churachandpur-Mao fault and up-warping of Tirumalai hills and the Landslides; different geo-spatial and geo-statistical techniques and optimisation of methods for Landslide hazard zonation mapping from Western Ghats of South India, BIS based methods of LHZ mapping and Geotechnical investigations encompassing RMR, SMR & Kinematic studies of landslides of northeastern region; instrumentation and forewarning of Jakhri Landslides, wireless sensor based Landslide monitoring of Munnar (Kerala); SAR interferometery based monitoring of Nainital and Mansadevi landslides; and site specific landslides studies of Kailasaur (Himalayas), Rawana slides (Himachal Pradesh), geophysical studies of Landslides of Mizoram region, Malin landslides (Maharashtra), techniques of diagnosing active movements from Nilgiris etc.

Gems still exert a powerful influence on the modern world, enlightened though it is said to be: once poverty-stricken, Botswana has recently found sudden wealth under the desert sands, where diamonds have been hiding for a hundred million years. In the Congo, Zaire, and Angola, civil war in our times has been inspired partly by mineral riches. And the rivalry of East and West over the African continent is concerned almost entirely with natural resources. This absorbing and often astonishing history of legendary gems is told with style and wit by expert gemmologist Eric Bruton. Amid legends and intrigue are hard facts about gems - classification, valuation and engraving. Prospecting and mining details, plus the inside (and sometimes sordid) stories of how enormous stones were cut and dispersed in great secrecy, make this book a 'must' read for the gemmologist and jeweller.

Petroleum Production Engineering, Second Edition, updates both the new and veteran engineer on how to employ day-to-day production fundamentals to solve real-world challenges with modern technology. Enhanced to include equations and references with today's more complex systems, such as working with horizontal wells, workovers, and an entire new section of chapters dedicated to flow assurance, this go-to reference remains the most all-inclusive source for answering all upstream and midstream production issues. Completely updated with five sections covering the entire production spectrum, including well productivity, equipment and facilities, well stimulation and workover, artificial lift methods, and flow assurance, this updated edition continues to deliver the most practical applied production techniques, answers, and methods for today's production engineer and manager. In addition, updated Excel spreadsheets that cover the most critical production equations from the book are included for download.

Nickel Sulfide Ores and Impact Melts: Origin of the Sudbury Igneous Complex presents a current state of understanding on the geology and ore deposits of the Sudbury Igneous Complex in Ontario, Canada. As the first complete reference on the subject, this book explores the linkage between the processes of meteorite impact, melt sheet formation, differentiation, sulfide immiscibility and metal collection, and the localization of ores by magmatic and post-magmatic processes. The discovery of new ore deposits requires industry and government scientists and academic scholars to have access to the latest understanding of ore formation process models that link to the mineralization of their host rocks. The ore deposits at Sudbury are one of the world's largest ore systems, representing a classic case study that brings together very diverse datasets and ways of thinking. This book is designed to emphasize concepts that can be applied across a broad range of ore deposit types beyond Sudbury and nickel deposit geology. It is an essential resource for exploration geologists, university researchers, and government scientists, and can be used in rock and mineral analysis, remote sensing, and geophysical applications.

Modern mineral exploration is the Modern Hunting of the Solid Earth". It provides a vital bridging between mineral explorations coupled with committed intellectual investment. Mineral explorers like: geochemists, geophysists, geomatists, geo-technical engineers, mineral chemists, environmental scientists, ceramic engineers, metallurgists and business communities with diverse range of interests and in training the experts of specific research needs. This volume covers major areas like: Mineral resources. Modern techniques for exploration of resources. Exploration and exploitation of water resources. Environmental studies. Economic development. This collection of illustrations with maps, photographs, figures, satellite images, colour photographs and tables will be found beneficial to students, researchers, field professionals and to decision makers." jacket

Presenting the first book to focus on the importance of silicon for plant health and soil productivity and on our current understanding of this element as it relates to agriculture.

Long considered by plant physiologists as a non-essential element, or plant nutrient, silicon was the center of attention at the first international conference on Silicon in Agriculture, held in Florida in 1999.

Ninety scientists, growers, and producers of silicon fertilizer from 19 countries pondered a paradox in plant biology and crop science. They considered the element Si, second only to oxygen in quantity in soils, and absorbed by many plants in amounts roughly equivalent to those of such nutrients as sulfur or magnesium. Some species, including such staples as rice, may contain this element in amounts as great as or even greater than any other inorganic constituent. Compilations of the mineral composition of plants, however, and much of the plant physiological literature largely ignore this element. The participants in Silicon in Agriculture explored that extraordinary discrepancy between the silicon content of plants and that of the plant research enterprise.

The participants, all of whom are active in agricultural science, with an emphasis on crop production, presented, and were presented with, a wealth of evidence that silicon plays a multitude of functions in the real world of plant life. Many soils in the humid tropics are low in plant available silicon, and the same condition holds in warm to hot humid areas elsewhere. Field experience, and experimentation even with nutrient solutions, reveals a multitude of functions of silicon in plant life. Resistance to disease is one, toleration of toxic metals such as aluminum, another. Silicon applications often minimize lodging of cereals (leaning over or even becoming prostrate), and often cause leaves to assume orientations more favorable for light interception. For some crops, rice and sugarcane in particular, spectacular yield responses to silicon application have been obtained. More recently, other crop species including orchids, daisies and yucca were reported to respond to silicon accumulation and plant growth/disease control. The culture solutions used for the hydroponic production of high-priced crops such as cucumbers and roses in many areas (The Netherlands for example) routinely included silicon, mainly for disease control. The biochemistry of silicon in plant cell walls, where most of it is located, is coming increasingly under scrutiny; the element may act as a crosslinking element between carbohydrate polymers.

There is an increased conviction among scientists that the time is at hand to stop treating silicon as a plant biological nonentity. The element exists, and it matters.