Large igneous provinces (LIPs) are intraplate magmatic events, involving volumes of mainly mafic magma upwards of 100,000 km3, and often above 1 million km3. They are linked to continental break-up, global environmental catastrophes, regional uplift and a variety of ore deposit types. In this up-to-date, fascinating book, leading expert Richard E. Ernst explores all aspects of LIPs, beginning by introducing their definition and essential characteristics. Topics covered include continental and oceanic LIPs; their origins, structures, and geochemistry; geological and environmental effects; association with silicic, carbonatite and kimberlite magmatism; and analogues of LIPs in the Archean, and on other planets. The book concludes with an assessment of LIPs' influence on natural resources such as mineral deposits, petroleum and aquifers. This is a one-stop resource for researchers and graduate students in a wide range of disciplines, including tectonics, igneous petrology, geochemistry, geophysics, Earth history, and planetary geology, and for mining industry professionals.

Thermochronology, the study of the thermal history of rocks, enables us to quantify the nature and timing of tectonic processes. First published in 2006, Quantitative Thermochronology is a robust review of isotopic ages, and presents a range of numerical modeling techniques to allow the physical implications of isotopic age data to be explored. The authors provide analytical, semi-analytical and numerical solutions to the heat transfer equation in a range of tectonic settings and under varying boundary conditions. They then illustrate their modeling approach built around a large number of case studies. The benefits of different thermochronological techniques are also described. Computer programs on an accompanying website at www.cambridge.org/9781107407152 are introduced through the text and provide a means of solving the heat transport equation in the deforming Earth to predict the ages of rocks and compare them directly to geological and geochronological data. Several short tutorials, with hints and solutions, are also included.

Originally published during the early part of the twentieth century, the Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature were designed to provide concise introductions to a broad range of topics. They were written by experts for the general reader and combined a comprehensive approach to knowledge with an emphasis on accessibility. This volume contains the 1922 second edition of Grenville A. J. Cole's Rocks and their Origins, first published in 1912. Intended for non-specialists, the book offers six concise chapters on various rock types, their characteristics, and their formation.

This book represents a detailed introduction to the geology, structure, and stratigraphy of Kutch Basin, known for its rich fossilized megafauna and the wide range of condensed sections exposing Bathonian to Pleistocene. With its vast assortment of geological features, geomorphology, and geoheritage, the Kutch Basin shows geology, stratigraphy, and paleontology almost as a textbook. Besides the beautiful illustrations given in the book, in the form of good field photographs depicting the landscape, and geological and geomorphological features, this guidebook serves as an inspiring reading reference. Furthermore, this guidebook will be a handy reference book for the tourists visiting Kutch Basin in planning their visit to explore the beautiful Kutch region. The guidebook is intended to interest scientists, researchers, students from schools and universities, tourists, and geoscience professionals of the mining and oil industry working in Kutch.

This book was first published in 1973. Its authors, David Krinsley and John Doornkamp, have here compiled a comprehensive catalogue of the many presences and absences found within the characteristics of different types of quartz grain sand. Their study was originally designed to fill those gaps which existed in the field of quartz grain surface texture research at the time. The focal point of Krinsley and Doornkamp's work is found in its numerous micrographs, selected specifically for their ability to demonstrate the many variations in the surface textures of quartz grain sand. Although much progress has been made in this field since the book's publication, it will still be of great interest to all researchers with an interest in this topic. The four-page bibliography provided by the authors also makes this book a useful reference point for all scholars wishing to explore the history and development of this fascinating discipline.

The papers within these volumes were compiled between late 1978 and early 1980, from data on tillites and tillite-like rocks. The research was conducted for the Pre-Pleistocene Tillite Project of the International Geological Correlation Programme, and was first published in volume form in 1981. In this substantial work, M. J. Hambrey and W. B. Harland have assembled essays by leaders in the field of pre-Pleistocene glacial research. The work's various chapters review in depth the glacial records of Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australasia, Europe, and North and South America. The second volume concludes with a fascinating editorial overview of the pre-Pleistocene glacial record of the Earth as a whole. The reader is also presented with a collection of readily accessible statistics, maps and charts. This set will be of particular use to scholars of sedimentology, paleoclimatic patterns, climate change and ice ages, and the time-correlation of rocks.

Alfred Harker (1859 1939) was a prominent petrologist who spent his career at St John's College, Cambridge, lecturing on and researching rock formations and related geological activity. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1902, and was president of the Geological Society from 1916 to 1918. He used his Cambridge lectures as the foundation for this book (first published in 1909), offering an introduction to the development of rocks and related volcanic activity. With more than one hundred diagrams of various aspects of geological formations, this work also provides a visual guide to the location and formation of igneous rocks. Over the course of the work, he covers the themes of vulcanicity, rock structure, crystallization, the role of magma and the principles of rock classification, giving a broad picture of the field of petrology around the beginning of the twentieth century.

Rock physics encompasses practically all aspects of solid and fluid state physics. This book provides a unified presentation of the underlying physical principles of rock physics, covering elements of mineral physics, petrology and rock mechanics. After a short introduction on rocks and minerals, the subsequent chapters cover rock density, porosity, stress and strain relationships, permeability, poroelasticity, acoustics, conductivity, polarizability, magnetism, thermal properties and natural radioactivity. Each chapter includes problem sets and focus boxes with in-depth explanations of the physical and mathematical aspects of underlying processes. The book is also supplemented by online MATLAB exercises to help students apply their knowledge to numerically solve rock physics problems. Covering laboratory and field-based measurement methods, as well as theoretical models, this textbook is ideal for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in rock physics. It will also make a useful reference for researchers and professional scientists working in geoscience and petroleum engineering.

Komatiites erupted billions of years ago as pulsating streams of white-hot lava. Their unusual chemical compositions and exceptionally high formation temperatures produced highly fluid lava that crystallized as spectacular layered flows. Investigation of the extreme conditions in which komatiites formed provides important evidence about the thermal and chemical evolution of the planet, and the nature of the Precambrian mantle. This monograph, written by three experts with long experience in the field, presents a complete account of the characteristics of komatiites including their volcanic structures, textures, mineralogy and chemical compositions. Models for their formation and eruption are evaluated (including the anhydrous vs. hydrous magmas controversy). A chapter is also devoted to the valuable nickel and copper ore deposits found in komatiites. Komatiite is a key reference for researchers and advanced students interested in petrology, Archaean geology, economic geology, and broader questions about the evolution of the Earth's crust and mantle.

Backscattered Scanning Electron Microscopy (BSE) reveals the minerals, textures, and fabrics of sediments and rocks in much greater detail than is possible with conventional optical microscopy. Backscattered Scanning Electron Microscopy provides a concise summary of the BSE technique. This comprehensive guide uses abundant images to illustrate the type of information BSE yields and the application of the technique to the study of sediments and sedimentary rocks. The authors review the use of this petrographic technique on all the major sedimentary rock types, including sediment grains, sandstones, shales, carbonate rocks, rock varnish, and glauconite. They also describe image analysis techniques that allow quantification of backscattered scanning electron microscope images and illustrate the potential applications of these methods. Heavily illustrated and lucidly written, this book will provide researchers and graduate students with the most current research on this important geological tool.

Decades of field and microscope studies, and more recent quantitative geochemical analyses have resulted in a vast, and sometimes overwhelming, array of nomenclature and terminology associated with igneous rocks. This book presents a complete classification of igneous rocks based on all the recommendations of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) Subcommission on the Systematics of Igneous Rocks. The glossary of igneous terms has been fully updated since the first edition and now includes 1637 entries, of which 316 are recommended by the Subcommission. Incorporating a comprehensive bibliography of source references for all the terms included in the glossary, this book is an indispensable reference guide for all geologists studying igneous rocks, either in the field or the laboratory. It presents a standardised and widely accepted naming scheme that will allow geologists to interpret terminology in the primary literature and provide formal names for rock samples based on petrographic analyses. It is also supported by a website with downloadable code for chemical classifications.

Progress in Metamorphic and Magmatic Petrology comprises a collection of review articles summarising recent scientific achievements in the theory of petrology. The contributors include many prominent specialists in the field, such as A. Boettcher, A. Marakushev, I. Kushiro, B. Mysen, W. Schreyer, W. Ernst, E. Grew, P. Wyllie and E-an Zen. Their papers discuss developments in experimental work as well as in field geology. The book is divided into three main sections: section 1 covers general thermodynamics and mineral equilibria, section 2 covers metamorphic and metasomatic processes, and the final section covers the mantle and magmatic processes. The subjects covered include the general thermodynamics of geological processes, the thermodynamics of solid solutions, geothermometry and geobarometry, P-T-time paths, experimental and theoretical modelling of metasomatic processes, the genesis of anorthosites, island arc magmatic rocks and kimberlites, and the thermal areas around intrusive bodies. The book is dedicated to the memory of Professor D. S. Korzhinskiy, a founder of the theory of open systems with perfectly mobile components.

The role of hydrothermal fluids during the crystallization of layered intrusions and the ore deposits they contain has long been debated. This book summarizes the evidence for fluid-crystal-liquid (hydromagmatic) interactions and their importance for the understanding of the formation of platinum-group deposits in layered intrusions. It discusses the composition of igneous fluids in mafic magmatic systems, the generation and movement of these fluids in layered intrusions, their impact in altering the mineralogy and composition of the originally precipitated assemblages, and their role in the transport of the platinum-group elements (PGE). Using examples from the Bushveld complex of South Africa and other intrusions, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the hydromagmatic model for the origin of various features of layered intrusions. It is a useful reference for academic researchers and professional geologists working on economic mineral exploration, layered igneous intrusions, and hydrothermal metallogenesis.

This is the first modern text to provide a thorough integrated treatment of those parts of the subject that use the polarizing microscope as the central analytical tool. The book is divided into three parts and a comprehensive glossary/index provides easy access to the contents of the book.

The origin, dispersal, deposition and burial of natural sediment grains is the central concern of sedimentology. The subject is truly inter disciplinary, commands the attention of Earth scientists, is of consider able interest to fluid dynamicists and civil engineers, and it finds widespread practical applications in industry. Sedimentology may be approached from two viewpoints: a descrip tive approach, as exemplified by traditional petrography and facies analysis, and a quantitative approach through the physical and chemical sciences. Both approaches are complementary and must be used in tandem if the recent remarkable progress in the field is to be sustained. This text aims to introduce such a combined approach to senior undergraduate students, graduate students and to interested professional Earth scientists. Thus the many descriptive diagrams in the text are counterbalanced by the use of basic physical and chemical reasoning through equations. I have tried to construct a text that follows logically on from the origin of sediment grains through fluid flow, transport, deposition and diagenesis (the change from sediment to rock). The text has been written assuming that some basic previous instruction has been given in the Earth sciences and in general physics and chemistry. Certain important derivations are given in appendices. I have avoided advanced mathematical treatment since it is my opinion that recogni tion of the basic physical or chemical basis to a problem is more important to the student than the formal mathematical reduction of poorly gathered data. As T. H."

"This is undoubtedly a major contribution to the field. David Burdige's scholarship is cutting edge."--Bernard P. Boudreau, Dalhousie University

"Burdige has written a wonderfully exhaustive review spanning all aspects of marine sedimentary geochemistry. Generous background welcomes the newcomer, while ample depth and breadth stimulate the savvy expert. The discussions are built from the latest work in biogeochemistry and microbial ecology. And in the tradition of Robert Berner's classic treatment of early diagenesis, Burdige handles reaction pathways and transport processes rigorously and quantitatively. This nicely written, well-illustrated survey suits both the reference shelf and the classroom."--Timothy W. Lyons, University of California, Riverside

"This book fills a gaping hole in our field. While certain to be used by specialists, it also provides background and ancillary information so as to reach allied fields. Burdige has done a remarkable job in providing the right balance of background theory, real-world implementation, and examples from the literature."--Rick Murray, Boston University

"David Burdige's book reviews and develops the ideas that emerged in the field of geochemistry over the last twenty-five years. It is a significant contribution. The scholarship is clearly sound, with excellent and comprehensive references to the latest work. I have no doubt it will be useful to any students who wish to learn the subject."--Michael Krom, Leeds University Earth and Biosphere Institute

Finding viable solutions to many of the problems threatening our environment hinges on understanding the rocks below the earth's surface. For those evaluating the relative hazards of radioactive waste sites, investigating energy resources such as oil, gas, and hydrothermal energy, studying the behavior of natural hazards like earthquakes and volcanoes, or charting the flow of groundwater through the earth, this book will be indispensable. Until now, there has been no book that treats the subject of the nature and behavior of rocks in a comprehensive yet accessible manner. Yves Gueguen and Victor Palciauskas first discuss the physical properties of rocks, proceeding by chapter through mechanical, fluid flow, acoustical, electrical, dielectric, thermal, and magnetic properties. Then they provide the theoretical framework for achieving reliable data and making reasonable inferences about the aggregate system within the earth. "Introduction to the Physics of Rocks" covers the important and most current theoretical approaches to the physics of inhomogeneous media, including theoretical bounds on properties, various effective medium theories, percolation, and fractals.

This book will be of use to students and researchers in civil, petroleum, and environmental engineering and to geologists, geophysicists, hydrologists, and other earth scientists interested in the physics of the earth. Its clear presentation, with problems at the end of each chapter and selective references, will make it ideal for advanced undergraduate-or graduate-level courses."

Clays and clay minerals are the most abundant natural reactive solids on the Earth's surface. This comprehensive review considers clay science in the context of the Critical Zone - the Earth's permeable near-surface layer. Providing information on clays and clay minerals related to geological, biological and material sciences in the Critical Zone, it's well suited for graduate students and researchers interested in clay science, and environmental and soil mineralogy. The book starts with an introduction to clays and clay minerals, their historic background, and a review of how clay science impacts the Critical Zone. Examples and applications demonstrate how clays regulate habitats and determine the availability of other resources. These examples are supported by quantitative field data, including numerical and graphical depictions of clay and clay mineral occurrences. The book concludes by covering Critical Zone clay geochemistry and clay sequences, including the industrial, synthetic medical and extra-terrestrial world of clay science.

This guide is intended to show some of the much-prized rocks and minerals of the northwest. Some are valued for their beauty when cut and polished. Others are prized for the economic value of the metals they contain, such as copper in chalcopyrite, or of some physical property of the mineral itself, such as the fibrous nature of asbestos. Still other minerals are valued for their crystal form, or, simply as examples of the great diversity in the mineral kingdom.

Komatiites erupted billions of years ago as pulsating streams of white-hot lava. Their unusual chemical compositions and exceptionally high formation temperatures produced highly fluid lava that crystallized as spectacular layered flows. Investigation of the extreme conditions in which komatiites formed provides important evidence about the thermal and chemical evolution of the planet, and the nature of the Precambrian mantle. This monograph, written by three experts with long experience in the field, presents a complete account of the characteristics of komatiites including their volcanic structures, textures, mineralogy and chemical compositions. Models for their formation and eruption are evaluated (including the anhydrous vs. hydrous magmas controversy). A chapter is also devoted to the valuable nickel and copper ore deposits found in komatiites. Komatiite is a key reference for researchers and advanced students interested in petrology, Archaean geology, economic geology, and broader questions about the evolution of the Earth's crust and mantle.

This textbook provides an overview of the origin and preservation of carbonate sedimentary rocks. The focus is on limestones and dolostones and the sediments from which they are derived. The approach is general and universal and draws heavily on fundamental discoveries, arresting interpretations, and keystone syntheses that have been developed over the last five decades. The book is designed as a teaching tool for upper level undergraduate classes, a fundamental reference for graduate and research students, and a scholarly source of information for practicing professionals whose expertise lies outside this specialty. The approach is rigorous, with every chapter being designed as a separate lecture on a specific topic that is encased within a larger scheme. The text is profusely illustrated with all colour diagrams and images of rocks, subsurface cores, thin sections, modern sediments, and underwater seascapes. Additional resources for this book can be found at: www.wiley.com/go/james/carbonaterocks

While the chemical aspects of igneous petrology have dominated research for many years, the physical processes associated with the generation, transport, and crystallization of magma have been somewhat neglected. Here a group of distinguished scientists, whose current research embraces both chemical and physical aspects of the field, illustrates these new directions in igneous petrology. Originally published in 1980. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Many common terms in metamorphic petrology vary in their usage and meaning between countries. The International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) Subcommission on the Systematics of Metamorphic Rocks (SCMR) has aimed to resolve this, and to present systematic terminology and rock definitions that can be used worldwide. This 2007 book is the result of discussion and consultation lasting 20 years and involving hundreds of geoscientists worldwide. It presents a complete nomenclature of metamorphic rocks, with a comprehensive glossary of definitions, sources and etymology of over 1200 terms, and a list of mineral abbreviations. Twelve multi-authored sections explain how to derive the correct names for metamorphic rocks and processes, and discuss the rationale behind the more important terms. These sections deal with rocks from high- to low- and very-low-grade. This book will form a key reference and international standard for all geoscientists studying metamorphic rocks.

Minerals in sedimentary rocks emit characteristic visible luminescence called cathodoluminescence (CL) when bombarded by high energy electrons. CL emissions can be displayed as colour images in a cathodoluminescence microscope or as high-resolution monochromatic images in a scanning electron microscope. This provides information not available by other techniques on the provenance of the mineral grains in sedimentary rocks, and insights into diagenetic changes. The book, first published in 2006, begins with an easily understood presentation of the fundamental principles of CL imaging. This is followed by a description and discussion of the instruments used in CL imaging, and a detailed account of its applications to the study of sedimentary rocks. The volume is a comprehensive, easily understood description of the applications of cathodoluminescence imaging to the study of sedimentary rocks. It will be an important resource for academic researchers, industry professionals and advanced graduate students in sedimentary geology.

Quantitative Seismic Interpretation demonstrates how rock physics can be applied to predict reservoir parameters, such as lithologies and pore fluids, from seismically derived attributes. The authors provide an integrated methodology and practical tools for quantitative interpretation, uncertainty assessment, and characterization of subsurface reservoirs using well-log and seismic data. They illustrate the advantages of these new methodologies, while providing advice about limitations of the methods and traditional pitfalls. This book is aimed at graduate students, academics and industry professionals working in the areas of petroleum geoscience and exploration seismology. It will also interest environmental geophysicists seeking a quantitative subsurface characterization from shallow seismic data. The book includes problem sets and a case-study, for which seismic and well-log data, and MATLAB (R) codes are provided on a website (http://www.cambridge.org/9780521151351). These resources will allow readers to gain a hands-on understanding of the methodologies.