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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > Geology & the lithosphere > Geochemistry
As indicated on the title page, this book is an outgrowth of the NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) on Chemical Transport in Metasomatic Processes, which was held in Greece, June 3-16, 1985. The ASI consisted of five days of invited lectures, poster sessions, and discussion at the Club Poseidon near Loutraki, Corinthia, followed by a two-day field trip in Corinthia and Attica. The second week of the ASI consisted of an excursion aboard M/S Zeus, M/Y Dimitrios II, and the M/S Irini to four of the Cycladic Islands to visit, study, and sample outstanding exposures of metasomatic activity on Syros, Siphnos, Seriphos, and Naxos. Nine teen invited lectures and 10 session chairmen/discussion leaders participated in the ASI, which was attended by a total of 92 professional scientists and graduate stu dents from 15 countries. Seventeen of the invited lectures and the Field Excursion Guide are included in this volume, together with 10 papers and six abstracts representing contributed poster sessions. Although more than two years has elapsed since the ASI, all of the papers in this volume are up to date, and each has benefited from stimulating discussion, critical comment, and scientific interaction, both at the ASI and in the subsequent peer review process. The scientific emphasis of the ASI focused initially on upper mantle metasoma tism and crust/mantle interaction. Isotopic evidence was presented indicating that upper mantle peridotites have undergone nonequilibrium metasomatic exchange with an external oxygen-bearing fluid."
This book is written as a reference on organic substances in natural waters and as a supplementary text for graduate students in water chemistry. The chapters address five topics: amount, origin, nature, geochemistry, and characterization of organic carbon. Of these topics, the main themes are the amount and nature of dissolved organic carbon in natural waters (mainly fresh water, although seawater is briefly discussed). It is hoped that the reader is familiar with organic chemistry, but it is not necessary. The first part of the book is a general overview of the amount and general nature of dissolved organic carbon. Over the past 10 years there has been an exponential increase in knowledge on organic substances in water, which is the result of money directed toward the research of organic compounds, of new methods of analysis (such as gas chromatography and mass spectrometry), and most importantly, the result of more people working in this field. Because of this exponential increase in knowledge, there is a need to pull together and summarize the data that has accumulated from many disciplines over the last decade.
Do we actually understand geologic processes? New technology brings new inf- mation and perceptions, which sometimes overturn imaginations based on simple observation and estimation, in conjunction with common sense inference. In 1902- 1904,PierreCurieandErnestRutherford?rstformulatedtheideaofusingradioactive transformation of nuclides as a geologic chronometer. After a century of working with such tools, geology has advanced from a descriptive science to an analytic s- encethatformulatesconclusionsbasedonexactvalues.Thetechnologyofradiogenic isotope geology has created a branch of science that considers the Earth as a planet generated within a Solar system and studies the subsequent evolution of geologic processes that has resulted in the present formation of our planet's continents and oceans. The physicist Vitaly Ginsburg, Nobel Prize laureate, wrote recently: "If Kepler had been given information on orbital parameters of planets with modern precision, he would not have been able to formulate his laws". Indeed, after development of laws of celestial mechanics, methods of measurements became so advanced and such numerous secondary distortion effects were found that to describe an orbit of a cosmic body by a curve of the second order would appear impossible. But it does not mean that Kepler's laws are "cancelled"; they still occupy an honorable place in courses on celestial mechanics. A reasonable division into basic and secondary phenomena is accepted and the latter are entered as variations in the basic equations.
Nanotechnology has received tremendous interest over the last decade, not only from the scientific community but also from a business perspective and from the general public. Although nanotechnology is still at the largely unexplored frontier of science, it has the potential for extremely exciting technological innovations that will have an enormous impact on areas as diverse as information technology, medicine, energy supply and probably many others. The miniturization of devices and structures will impact the speed of devices and information storage capacity. More importantly, though, nanotechnology should lead to completely new functional devices as nanostructures have fundamentally different physical properties that are governed by quantum effects. When nanometer sized features are fabricated in materials that are currently used in electronic, magnetic, and optical applications, quantum behavior will lead to a set of unprecedented properties. The interactions of nanostructures with biological materials are largely unexplored. Future work in this direction should yield enabling technologies that allows the study and direct manipulation of biological processes at the (sub) cellular level.
Today more than 5 million chemicals are known and roughly 100,000 of them are frequently used, with both numbers rising. Many of these chemicals are ultimately released into the environment and may cause adverse effects to ecosystems and human health. Effect-directed analysis (EDA) is a promising tool for identifying predominant toxicants in complex, mostly environmental mixtures combining effect testing, fractionation and chemical analysis. In the present book leading experts in the field provide an overview of relevant approaches and tools used in EDA. This includes diagnostic biological tools, separation techniques and advanced analytical and computer tools for toxicant identification and structure elucidation. Examples of the successful application of EDA are discussed such as the identification of mutagens in airborne particles and sediments, of endocrine disruptors in aquatic ecosystems and of major toxicants in pulp and paper mill effluents. This book is a valuable, comprehensive and interdisciplinary source of information for environmental scientists and environmental agencies dealing with the analysis, monitoring and assessment of environmental contamination.
This is a book about the petrology of kimberlites. It is not about upper mantle xenoliths, diamonds, or prospecting for kimberlites. The object of the book is to provide a comprehensive survey and critique of the advances which have been made in kimberlite studies over the last twenty-five years. Kimberlites are rare rock types; however, their relative obscurity is overriden by their economic and petrological importance to a degree which is not shared with the commoner varieties of igneous rocks. Kimberlites are consequently of interest to a diverse group of earth scientists, ranging from isotope g ochemists concerned with the evolution of the mantle, to volcanologists pondering the origins of diatremes, to exploration geologists seeking new occurrences of the diamondiferous varieties. A common factor essential to all of these activities is a thorough understanding of the characteristics of kimberlites. For the petrologist, kimberlites are exciting and challenging objects for study. Their petrographic diversity, complex mineralogy and geochemistry, and unusual style of intrusion provide endless opportunities for stimulating hypothesis and conjecture concerning their origin and evolution. Kimberlites are a part of a wide spectrum of continental intra-cratonic magmatism. Only by understanding all of the parts of this activity in detail may we make progress in our understanding of the whole.
This abundantly illustrated book provides a concise overview of our understanding of the entire mantle, its evolution since early differentiation and the consequences of superplumes for earth surface processes. The book's balanced authorship has produced a state-of-the-science report on the emerging concept of superplumes. This presents a new concept to explain catastrophic events on Earth through geologic time.
Uniting the conceptual foundations of the physical sciences and biology, this groundbreaking multidisciplinary book explores the origin of life as a planetary process. Combining geology, geochemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, evolution and statistical physics to create an inclusive picture of the living state, the authors develop the argument that the emergence of life was a necessary cascade of non-equilibrium phase transitions that opened new channels for chemical energy flow on Earth. This full colour and logically structured book introduces the main areas of significance and provides a well-ordered and accessible introduction to multiple literatures outside the confines of disciplinary specializations, as well as including an extensive bibliography to provide context and further reading. For researchers, professionals entering the field or specialists looking for a coherent overview, this text brings together diverse perspectives to form a unified picture of the origin of life and the ongoing organization of the biosphere.
The Baltic Sea is an area extensively explored by the oceanographers. Hence it is one of the most often described marine areas in the scientific literature. However, there are still several fields which are poorly investigated and reported by scientists. One of them is the carbon cycle of the Baltic Sea. Although it is believed the shelf seas are responsible for about 20% of all marine carbon dioxide uptake, while they constitute only 7% of the whole sea surface, still a scientific debate exists on the role of the Baltic Sea in the global carbon cycle. "Carbon cycle of the Baltic Sea" is intended to be a comprehensive presentation and discussion of state of the art research by biogeochemists involved in the Baltic Sea carbon cycle research. This work presents both qualitative and quantitative descriptions of the main carbon flows in the Baltic Sea as well as their possible shifts induced by climatic and global change.
Potable water supplies that contain arsenic concentrations high
enough to pose a human health hazard are a problem of international
proportion. Surface water and ground water are both at risk of
arsenic contamination. However, most incidences of high
concentrations of arsenic have been reported for ground water,
which is the subject of this book. The geochemistry of arsenic in
aqueous environments is complex. This book consolidates much of
what is known about the geochemistry of arsenic and provides new
information on relationships between high concentrations of arsenic
in ground water and geochemical environments. The subject matter of
this book ranges in scope from molecular-scale geochemical
processes that affect the mobility of arsenic in ground water, to
arsenic contaminated ground water at the national scale. Chapters
were contributed by an international group of research scientists
from a broad range of backgrounds.
In the heart of Africa, a unique lake attracts the attention of scientists since the beginning of the 20th century. At the foot of the Virunga volcano chain, Lake Kivu harbors a vast amount of dissolved carbon dioxide and methane, making this lake the most dangerous lake on Earth. But the lake furnishes also many goods and services for surrounding populations and may soon become the most important energy supplier in the area. At the beginning of gas exploitation, the time has come for gathering the large amount of scientific information acquired during past and present research on Lake Kivu. The eleven chapters cover many aspects of the physics, geochemistry and biology of the lake, with a particular focus on the unique physical and geochemical features of the water column and on the ecological functioning of the surface waters. The impacts of the introduced fish species and the potential impacts of methane exploitation are also summarized. This multi-disciplinary book may also be used as an introduction to the limnology and biogeochemistry of large tropical lakes, as it covers various aspects of the physics, geochemistry, biology and ecology of the African Great Rift lakes.
Radiography, the use of penetrating radiation to produce shadow images of the internal structure of materials, has been with us since Roentgen made his discovery of x rays in 1895. However, applications of radiography in the earth sciences and in the related field of soils engineering have, until recent ly, been slow to develop. Bruhl reported optimistically on applications in paleontology as early as 1896 and there have been additional reports through the years. However, very few paleontologists adopted the method and the significant literature is relatively restricted. In soil mechanics, Gerber observed the movement oflead pellets in sand during a plate-bearing test as early as 1929. Gradual ly, radiography was applied to other tests including those on footings, compaction of soils, strain in sand, effects of pile penetration, and displace ments under moving wheel loads. Recently, such work has broadened into much varied and sophisticated research. Applications in geology may be dated to Hamblin's work on rocks re ported in 1962. His demonstration that many fine textural and structural details can be observed in slices of rock led to experimentation by others on unconsolidated sediments and soils. Work is now expanding at an un precedented rate. In some operations, such as the logging of oceanographic cores, it is already a routine process. The advantages of radiography lie in its nondestructive nature and its ability to reveal features that sometimes cannot be seen in any other way."
Taphonomic bias is a pervasive feature of the fossil record. A pressing concern, however, is the extent to which taphonomic processes have varied through the ages. It is one thing to work with a biased data set and quite another to work with a bias that has changed with time. This book includes work from both new and established researchers who are using laboratory, field and data-base techniques to characterise and quantify the temporal and spatial variation in taphonomic bias. It may not provide all the answers but it will at least shed light on the right questions.
The founders of geology at the beginning of the last century were suspicious oflaboratories. Hutton's well-known dictum illustrates the point: "There are also superficial reasoning men . . . they judge of the great oper ations of the mineral kingdom from having kindled a fire, and looked into the bottom of a little crucible. " The idea was not unreasonable; the earth is so large and its changes are so slow and so complicated that labo ratory tests and experiments were of little help. The earth had to be studied in its own terms and geology grew up as a separate science and not as a branch of physics or chemistry. Its practitioners were, for the most part, experts in structure, stratigraphy, or paleontology, not in silicate chemistry or mechanics. The chemists broke into this closed circle before the physicists did. The problems of the classification of rocks, particularly igneous rocks, and of the nature and genesis of ores are obviously chemical and, by the mid- 19th century, chemistry was in a state where rocks could be effectively analyzed, and a classification built up depending partly on chemistry and partly on the optical study of thin specimens. Gradually the chemical study of rocks became one of the central themes of earth science."
Carbon dioxide and other `greenhouse' gases are increasing in the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels, the destruction of rain forests, etc., leading to predictions of a gradual global warming which will perturb the global biosphere. An important process which counters this trend toward potential climate change is the removal of carbon dioxide from the surface ocean by photosynthesis. This process packages carbon in phytoplankton which enter the food chain or sink into the deep sea. Their ultimate fate is a `rain' of organic debris out of the surface-mixed layer of the ocean. On a global scale, the mechanisms and overall rate of this process are poorly known. The authors of the 25 papers in this volume present their state-of-the-art approaches to quantifying the mechanisms by which the `rain' of biogenic debris nourishes deep ocean life. Prominent deep sea ecologists, geochemists and modelers address relationships between data and models of carbon fluxes and food chains in the deep ocean. An attempt is made to estimate the fate of carbon in the deep sea on a global scale by summing up the utilization of organic matter among all the populations of the abyssal biosphere. Comparisons are made between these ecological approaches and estimates of geochemical fluxes based on sediment trapping, one-dimensional geochemical models and horizontal (physical) input from continental margins. Planning interdisciplinary enterprises between geochemists and ecologists, including new field programs, are summarized in the final chapter. The summary includes a list of the important gaps in understanding which must be addressed before the role of the deep-sea biota in global-scale processes can be put in perspective.
The analysis of materials containing several elements used to be a difficult problem for analytical chemists, so a well established sequence of wet chemical qualitative tests were performed to ensure each element was detected. Quantitative tests could then be carried out on the sample, according to the range of elements present. Most analytical chemists were very familiar with these techniques, having been taugth them from a very early stage in their education and careers. The analytical chemist can now call on a range of specialist instrumental techniques which can detect the presence of many elements, often simultaneously, and often quantitatively, providing rapid results on samples which, in the past, could take days. The drawback is that the instruments tend to be expensive, suited to particular sample types or matrices and complex in both setting up and in the interpretation of results. Furthermore the general analytical chemist may have access and familiarity with only one or two methods. Written by an international team of contributors, each experts in their particular fields, this book familiarizes analytical chemists with the range of elemental analysis techniquers, to enable them to specify the most appropriate test for any given sample. In addition, it contains important chapters on sample preparation and quality control, essential elements in obtaining accurate and reliable analytical results. As such, this book will be essential reading for all analytical chemists. The techniques of elemental analysis are important in many other disciplines, so the book will be of particular interest to those commissioning a wide range of analytical measurements, such as chemists, geologists, environmental scientists and biologists. The breadth and depth of coverage will also make the book very useful for advanced students.
This volume focuses on isotopic signatures of volatile elements as
tracers for evolutionary processes during the formation of the Sun
and the planets from an interstellar molecular cloud and, in turn,
illuminates how the isotopic compositions of the present-day solar
system objects have been established.
Dr. Heinonen reviews and critically evaluates the scientific literature on the biological role of inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi ) published from 1940 to the end of 1999. He describes and classifies all known biochemical reactions that produce Ppi; describes and evaluates all published methods used in biological Ppi; and compiles and critically evaluates information on the concentration of PPi (with the conclusion that, contrary to common belief, PPi exists throughout the living world in rather high concentrations). Many reactions in which PPi is used as a biochemical energy source instead of ATP have been described in recent decades, especially in bacteria, protists, and plants. These reactions are evaluated from the bioenergetic and regulatory points of view. Also considered is the possible role of PPi as a source of biochemical energy in the primitive phases of life, before ATP. Data is presented on the regulatory role of PPi in living systems, such as activities of enzymes, fidelity of syntheses of macromolecules, and proliferation of cells. PPi may also regulate the formation and dissolution of bone as well as pathologic calcification of soft tissues and the formation of urinary stones. The formation of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystals in the extracellular fluids of joints cause the disease called pseudogout. Biological Role of Inorganic Pyrophosphate book is a unique and invaluable source of references (about 1120) and summarized data for professionals who study or plan to study the role of PPi in living systems. Many different branches of science (biochemistry, microbiology, bioenergetics, plant physiology, parasitology, evolution, orthopedics, rheumatology) have involvement with PPi. This book sums up available knowledge in one place and will help scientists cross disciplinary boundaries.
Oceanographic discontinuities (e. g. frontal systems, upwelling areas, ice edges) are often areas of enhanced biological productivity. Considerable research on the physics and biology of the physical boundaries defining these discontinues has been accomplished (see [I D. The interface between water and sediment is the largest physical boundary in the ocean, but has not received a proportionate degree of attention. The purpose of the Nato Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) was to focus on soft-sediment systems by identifying deficiencies in our knowledge of these systems and defining key issues in the management of coastal sedimentary habitats. Marine sediments play important roles in the marine ecosystem and the biosphere. They provide food and habitat for many marine organisms, some of which are commercially important. More importantly from a global perspective, marine sediments also provide "ecosystem goods and services" [2J. Organic matter from primary production in the water column and contaminants scavenged by particles accumulate in sediments where their fate is determined by sediment processes such as bioturbation and biogeochemical cycling. Nutrients are regenerated and contaminants degraded in sediments. Under some conditions, carbon accumulates in coastal and shelf sediments and may by removed from the carbon cycle for millions of years, having a potentially significant impact on global climate change. Sediments also protect coasts. The economic value of services provided by coastal areas has recently been estimated to be on the order of $12,568 9 10 y" [3J, far in excess of the global GNP.
Fission track dating is based on the microscopic observation and counting of etchable tracks left by the spontaneous fission of uranium in minerals. Since its development in 1963 the method attracted a steadily growing interest from geologists and geochronologists throughout the world. Apart from its relative experimental ease the success must be mainly ascribed to the specific ability of the method of unravelling the thermal and tectonic history of rocks, a potential which only became fully exploited during the last decade with the systematic introduction of track size analysis. The present work is the first one to deal entirely with fission track dating covering all of its aspects from the origin of the fission tracks, the basis of track etching and fading, the various dating techniques as well as practical procedures and the geologic interpretation to the most recent applications in geology and archaeology.
This book presents the statistical analysis of compositional data sets, i.e., data in percentages, proportions, concentrations, etc. The subject is covered from its grounding principles to the practical use in descriptive exploratory analysis, robust linear models and advanced multivariate statistical methods, including zeros and missing values, and paying special attention to data visualization and model display issues. Many illustrated examples and code chunks guide the reader into their modeling and interpretation. And, though the book primarily serves as a reference guide for the R package "compositions," it is also a general introductory text on Compositional Data Analysis. Awareness of their special characteristics spread in the Geosciences in the early sixties, but a strategy for properly dealing with them was not available until the works of Aitchison in the eighties. Since then, research has expanded our understanding of their theoretical principles and the potentials and limitations of their interpretation. This is the first comprehensive textbook addressing these issues, as well as their practical implications with regard to software. The book is intended for scientists interested in statistically analyzing their compositional data. The subject enjoys relatively broad awareness in the geosciences and environmental sciences, but the spectrum of recent applications also covers areas like medicine, official statistics, and economics. Readers should be familiar with basic univariate and multivariate statistics. Knowledge of R is recommended but not required, as the book is self-contained.
The future of the Common Fisheries Policy depends on progress in the relevant areas of research. This applies to the whole range of management decisions, where precise, reliable and complete data are essential to inform those who must decide on the pursuit of existing activities, especially in the area of maritime fisheries, and the development of promising new activities such as aquaculture. Every day the Director-General of DG XIV requires more and more information to prepare decisions which will affect the future of all those in the Community who are dependent on fishing and aquaculture. There is thus a high level of direct demand from DG XIV. Over and above this immediate and specific requirement for short- and medium-term applications, research affects the competitivity of the Community. This is one area which favours the collaboration across frontiers of all those who seek to advance knowledge. But although DG XIV is uniquely placed to appreciate the importance of research into fisheries and aquaculture, there is no question of succumbing to the temptation to directly control the scope of research or its conduct. The notion of subsidiarity can best be understood by examining the existing structures in the Member States. The Commission must act first and foremost as a catalyst, by promoting the circulation of information and the coordination of research programmes.
This is the first book to deal specifically with the procedures used in the analysis of structural relationships and the determination of structural successions in complexly deformed rocks such as migmatites and gneisses. The establishment of structural successions enables: The rigorous control of the dating of specific events in the deformational history by constraining the sites of the dated rocks within the structural succession; The establishment of the time span of orogenic events throughout the structural succession, and the rate of orogenic processes;Their comparison to be used as a basis for correlation between dismembered and separated crustal segments in continental reconstructions;The resolution of the complex relationships between deformed ore bodies and host rocks in high grade terranes, and hence determination of the structural control of ore bodies, an essential part of any successful geological exploration, and a precondition to efficient exploitation. With its new approach, and the use of practical field examples from various parts of the world, this highly illustrated work will form an invaluable reference resource for postgraduates, lecturers and researchers in the structural and isotope geology of high-grade metamorphic terranes, as well as for exploration and survey geologists working in the field. Dr Alaric M. Hopgood who holds an Honorary Readership at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, was a Reader in the Department of Geology there until 1995. |
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