Historically, the discovery of tools, or evidence that tools have been used, has been taken as proof of human activity; certainly the invention and spread of new tools has been a critical marker of human progress and has increased our ability to observe, measure, and understand the physical world. In astronomy the tools are telescopes and the optical and electronic instruments that support them. The use of the telescope by Galileo marked the beginning of a new and productive way to study and understand the universe in which we live. The effects of this new tool on what we can see, and how we see ourselves, are well known. However, after almost four centuries of developing ever more sensitive and subtle instruments as tools for astronomy, it might have been expected that only a few minor improvements would remain to be made, or that possibly the law of diminishing returns would have taken effect. On the contrary, the new instruments and ideas for new instruments described in this book make it clear that the rate of progress has not diminished, and that this subject is still as exciting and productive as ever. Instrumentation for Ground-Based Optical Astronomy was chosen as the theme for the Ninth Santa Cruz Summer Workshop in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

All existing introductory reviews of mineralogy are written accord ing to the same algorithm, sometimes called the "Dana System of Mineralogy." Even modern advanced handbooks, which are cer tainly necessary, include basic data on minerals and are essentially descriptive. When basic information on the chemistry, structure, optical and physical properties, distinguished features and para genesis of 200-400 minerals is presented, then there is practically no further space available to include new ideas and concepts based on recent mineral studies. A possible solution to this dilemma would be to present a book beginning where introductory textbooks end for those already famil iar with the elementary concepts. Such a volume would be tailored to specialists in all fields of science and industry, interested in the most recent results in mineralogy. This approach may be called Advanced Mineralogy. Here, an attempt has been made to survey the current possibilities and aims in mineral mater investigations, including the main characteristics of all the methods, the most important problems and topics of mineralogy, and related studies. The individual volumes are composed of short, condensed chap ters. Each chapter presents in a complete, albeit condensed, form specific problems, methods, theories, and directions of investigations, and estimates their importance and strategic position in science and industry."

Causes of major disasters are many and diverse, and the risks associated with them endanger human lives, property, the environment, the economy, and even the country's political and social well-being. It is clear that, with rapid population growth, environmental degradation, climate change, poorly regulated industries, and continued economic uncertainty, the chances are that communities may become more vulnerable to disasters. The dramatic losses in recent years from volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and landslides, wildland fires, droughts and floods, cyclones and storm surges attest to the fact that we are still a long way from applying even the knowledge we have today to make communities safe. Tackling this problem requires a sound evaluation of disaster mitigation policies and tools. As a contribution to the International Decade for Natural Disasters Reduction (IDNDR), the fifth international symposium HAZARDS-93 was held in Qingdao, P.R. China on 29 August - 3 September, 1993. China is a country frequently hit by almost all kinds of disasters. Its history is one of combating natural disasters and working towards their reduction. More than 250 scientists, engineers and government officials from 20 countries met for the purpose of engaging in a free exchange of knowledge, experience and ideas regarding the scientific and socio-economic aspects of mitigating losses from natural and man- made disasters. A total of 180 papers were presented at 28 sessions covering a very broad range of topics related to disaster management. The twenty-one articles included in this book deal with the scientific and management issues of land-based and marine hazards which cause the most severe economic losses, deaths and environmental degradation in many parts of the world. The book also includes specific recommendations addressed to the IDNDR Secretariat, national governments and scientific experts to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of disaster management. Thus, Land-Based and Marine Hazards: Scientific and Management Issues forms an excellent reference for scientists, engineers, policy-makers and the insurance industry.

This handbook defines the discipline of historical seismology by detailing the latest research methodologies for studying historical earthquakes and tsunamis. It describes the various sources that reference seismic phenomena, discusses the critical problems of interpreting such sources, and presents a summary of the theories proposed throughout history to explain the causes of earthquakes. Incorporating examples from a broad geographic region (including Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, central Asia, and the Americas), the text presents numerous interpretations and misinterpretations of historical earthquakes and tsunamis in order to illustrate the key techniques. The authors also tie historical seismology research to archaeological investigations, and demonstrate how new scientific databases and catalogues can be compiled from information derived from the methodologies described. This is an important new reference for scientists, engineers, historians and archaeologists, providing a valuable foundation for understanding the Earth's seismic past and potential future seismic hazard.

This book was written with the objective of providing geotechnical engineers with a practical guideline on how to cope with landslides as well as of acquaint ing them with the present state of physical fundamentals and scientific expla nations for the phenomenon of landslides. The book is based on my personal experiences, gathered over decades of work as geotechnical engineer on construction sites in Austria and many other parts of the world, which I also use in my lectures at the Technical University of Graz, Austria. The method of stabilizing lands lides by short-circuit conductors has been developed by myself and has been patented in Germany and Italy. A number of publications already exists (see References) on this method, and of course I also deal in this book with its theoretical and practical aspects. Here I want to thank my assistants, Messrs. J. Dalmatiner, K. Eigenberger, E. Garber, H. Kienberger, R. Potscher, and W. Prodinger, for working with me on various projects and for assisting me in the drafting of some chapters of this book, Mr. A. Trippl for preparing the illustrations, and my wife for many a Sunday worked through with me."

The collection of papers in this volume is a direct result of the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Research Symposium on "Thermal History of Sedimentary Basins: Methods and Case Histories" held as part of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Convention in New Orleans in March 1985. The original goal of the sym posium was to provide a forum where specialists from a variety of dis ciplines could present their views of methods that can be used to study the thermal history of a sedimentary basin or an important portion of a basin. An explicit part of that goal was to illustrate each method by presentation of a case history application. The original goal is addressed by the chapters in this volume, each of which emphasizes a somewhat different approach and gives field data in one way or another to illustrate the practical useful ness ofthe method. The significance of our relative ignorance of the thermal conductivities of sedimentary rocks, especially shales, in efforts to understand or model sedimentary basin thermal histories and maturation levels is a major thrust of the chapter by Blackwell and Steele. Creaney focuses on variations in kerogen composition in source rocks of different depositional environments and the degree to which these chem- . ically distinct kerogens respond differently to progressive burial heating."

Earthquake Hazard and Risk is a book summarizing selected papers presented at the 27th General Assembly of the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior (Wellington, January 1994). The papers, rigorously scrutinized by an international board of referees, cover some recent aspects of current research in earthquake hazard and seismic risk. They address the algorithms and methodology used in seismological applications, the reliability of these techniques with the decreasing level of probability and uncertainty associated with various seismotectonic settings, the physical and statistical nature of earthquake occurrences, strong ground motions and effects of surface seismogeological conditions. A special effort has been made to include papers that illustrate the assessment of earthquake hazard and seismic risk through applications at sites in either inter-plate or intra-plate tectonic settings. Of particular interest is hazard assessment in regions of rare large earthquakes. The book is suitable for those interested in earthquake hazard and seismic risk research as well as a more general audience of seismologists, geophysicists and Earth scientists. It is also useful for authorities responsible for public safety and natural hazard mitigation plans and for insurance companies.

The problems of ocean dynamics present more and more com plex tasks for investigators, based on the continuously sophisti cation of theoretical models, which are applied with the help of universal and efficient algorithms of numerical mathematics. The present level of our knowledge in the field of mathemat ical physics and numerical mathematics allows one to give rather complete theoretical analysis of basic statements of problems as well as numerical algorithms. Our task is to perform such analy sis and also to analyze the results of calculations in order to improve our knowledge of the mechanism of large-scale hy drological processes occurring in the World Ocean. The new level of numerical mathematics has essentially influenced, the formation of new solution methods of ocean dynamics prob lems, among which an important one is the splitting method, which has been already widely practised in various fields of science and engineering. A number of monographs by N. N. Yanenko, A. A. Samarsky, G. . Marchuk (Rozhdestvensky and Yanenko 1968; Samarsky and Andreyev 1976; Marchuk 1970, 1980b) and others are devoted to the description of this methods. But the methods of the splitting theory require extensive creative work for their application to concrete problems, which are peculiar, as a rule, in problem formulation. The success of the application of these methods is related to the deep understanding of the essence of the described processes. In the last decades fundamental works of Arakawa, K."

TECTONlCS AND PHYSICS Geology, although rooted in the laws of physics, rarely has been taught in a manner designed to stress the relations between the laws and theorems of physics and the postulates of geology. The same is true of geophysics, whose specialties (seismology, gravimetIy, magnetics, magnetotellurics) deal only with the laws that govern them, and not with those that govern geology's postulates. The branch of geology and geophysics called tectonophysics is not a formalized discipline or subdiscipline, and, therefore, has no formal laws or theorems of its own. Although many recent books claim to be textbooks in tectonophysics, they are not; they are books designed to explain one hypothesis, just as the present book is designed to explain one hypothesis. The textbook that comes closest to being a textbook of tectonophysics is Peter 1. Wyllie's (1971) book, The Dynamic Earth. Teachers, students, and practitioners of geology since the very beginning of earth science teaching have avoided the development of a rigorous (but not rigid) scientific approach to tectonics, largely because we earth scientists have not fully understood the origin of the features with which we are dealing. This fact is not at all surprising when one considers that the database for hypotheses and theories of tectonics, particularly before 1960, has been limited to a small part of the exposed land area on the Earth's surface.

Processes of synchronization and interaction play a very special role in different physical problems concerning the dynamics of the Earth's interior; they are of particular importance in the study of seismic phenomena, and their complexity is strongly affected by the variety of geological structures and inhomogeneities of the medium that hamper the course of these processes and their intensity. The attempt to tackle these problems is a great challenge from experimental, observational and theoretical point of view. We present in this Monograph the theoretical and experimental results achieved in the frame of the European Project "Triggering and synchronization of seismic/ acoustic events by weak external forcing as a sign of approaching the critical point" (INTAS Ref. Nr 05-1000008-7889); in this Project, which was inspired by Professor Tamaz Chelidze, our aim was to give grounds for better understanding and interpretation of dynamical interactive processes of physical ?elds, both found in the laboratory experiments as well as in ?eld observations. One of the leading problems - related to synchronization and interaction of different physical ?elds in fracture processes concerns triggering and initiation of rupture and displa- ments within the Earth interior. From this point of view, the results from laboratory studies on synchronization and interaction and those found and involved in ?eld observations, helped to improve the theoretical background. Reversely, some of the presented new theoretical approaches have served to stimulate laboratory and ?eld studies.

Der bekannte Astronom Karl Schwarzschild (1873-1916) gilt als der Begrunder der Astrophysik und als hervorragender Forscher mit einer erstaunlichen Bandbreite seiner Interessen. Arbeiten zur Himmelsmechanik, Elektrodynamik und Relativitatstheorie weisen ihn als vorzuglichen Mathematiker und Physiker auf der Hohe seiner Zeit aus. Untersuchungen zur Photographischen Photometrie, Optik und Spektroskopie zeigen den versierten Beobachter, der sein Messinstrumentarium beherrscht, und schliesslich arbeitete Schwarzschild als Astrophysiker an Sternatmospharen, Kometen, Struktur und Dynamik von Sternsystemen. Die in seinem kurzen Leben entstandene Fulle an wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten ist in drei Banden der Gesamtausgabe gesammelt, erganzt durch biographisches Material, Annotationen von Fachleuten und einen Essay des Nobelpreistragers S. Chandrasekhar."

Magnetotellurics is finding increasing applications for imaging electrically conductive structures below the Earths surface - in both industrial and academic research projects. In Models and Methods of Magnetotellurics the authors provide a systematic approach to understanding the modern theory of ill-posed problems which is essential to making confident meaningful interpretations of magnetotelluric and magnetovariational soundings. The interpretation is conducted in an interactive way, including the hypotheses tests and successive partial inversions with priority on the tippers, magnetic tensors and impedance-phases, which keeps out the destructive static effects of near-surface inhomogeneities. The efficiency of the interpretation is exemplified by new geoelectric models of the Baikal rift zone and the Cascadian subduction zone.

The present book is the author's third on the subject of vertical seismic profiling (VSP). Ten years have elapsed since the pUblication of the fIrst book. During this period, VSP has become the principal method of seismic observations in boreholes and the chief method of experimental studies of seismic waves in the real earth. VSP combines borehole studies in the seismic frequency band, well velocity surveys, proximity or aplanatic surveys, all of which previously existed as separate methods. The high effectiveness ofVSP, its great practical value, the express nature and clarity of the results obtained have all contributed towards a very rapid acceptance of the method. In the USSR VSP has been used in an overwhelming majority of areas and is being used increasingly in many foreign countries as well. This has been greatly facilitated by the translation into English and the publication in the U. S. A. by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists of the book Vertical Seismic Profiling (Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1974). As the method has become more familiar, it has attracted growing interest outside the USSR This has been substantiated by the special seminar on VSP (Oklahoma, 1979) which was organized for 22 U. S. companies and universities and presented by the author.

Since the 1960s, x-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), both wavelength and energy-dispersive have served as the workhorse for non-destructive and destructive analyses of archaeological materials. Recently eclipsed by other instrumentation such as LA-ICP-MS, XRF remains the mainstay of non-destructive chemical analyses in archaeology, particularly for volcanic rocks, and most particularly for obsidian. In a world where heritage and repatriation issues drive archaeological method and theory, XRF remains an important tool for understanding the human past, and will remain so for decades to come.

Currently, there is no comprehensive book in XRF applications in archaeology at a time when the applications of portable XRF and desktop XRF instrumentation are exploding particularly in anthropology and archaeology departments worldwide.

The contributors to this volumeare the experts in the field, and most are at the forefront of the newest applications of XRF to archaeological problems. Itcovers all relevant aspects of the field for thoseusing the newest XRF technologies to deal with very current issues in archaeology. "

Beyond the four centuries of sunspot observation and the five decades during which artificial satellites have monitored the Sun that is to say for 99.99999% of the Sun 's existence our knowledge of solar history depends largely on analogy with kindred main sequence stars, on the outcome of various kinds of modelling, and on indirect measures of solar activity. They include the analysis of lunar rocks and meteorites for evidence of solar flares and other components of the solar cosmic-ray (SCR) flux, and the measurement of cosmogenic isotopes in wood, stratified ice and marine sediments to evaluate changes in the galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) flux and thus infer changes in the sheltering magnetic fields of the solar wind. In addition, shifts in the global atmospheric circulation which appear to result from cyclic fluctuations in solar irradiance have left their mark in river sediments and in the isotopic composition of cave deposits. In this volume the results these sources have already produced have been summarised, paying special attention to those that reflect processes in different parts of the Sun 's interior and that display periodicities and trends which may enable us to forecast future large-scale environmental changes.

Earthquakes are the expression of the continuing evolution of the Earth planet and of the deformation of its crust and occur worldwide; while the largest events (M>7. 5) concentrate on plate boundary areas and active plate interiors, moderate earthquakes may take place, if rarely, in all continental areas and may turn catastrophic in areas with poor building construction practice, as tragically shown by the sequence of earthquakes striking the Caucasus region in recent years (Spitak, Armenia, 1988; Rutbar, W. Iran, 1990; Ratcha, Georgia, 1991; Erzincan, E. Turkey, 1992). Vulnerability to disaster is increasing as urbanisation and development occupy more areas that are prone to the effects of significant earthquakes. In order to minimize the loss of life, property damage and social and economic disruption caused by earthquakes, it is essential that reliable estimates of seismic hazard be available to national decision makers and engineers for land use planning and improved building design and construction. While short- and mid-term earthquake prediction may one day be able to reduce significantly the death toll of earthquakes, the environmental effects (collapse of buildings and infrastructures, disruption of the productive chain, human resettlement) can be reduced only through a long-term prevention policy in earthquake-prone areas based on the assessment of seismic hazard and risk, the implementation of safe building construction codes, the increased public awareness on natural disasters, a strategy of land-use planning taking into account the seismic hazard and the occurrence of other natural disasters.

This book presents the history, phenomena, and relevance of the stratosphere. Beginning with the discovery of the stratosphere itself, the book explores various unexpected phenomena observed in the stratosphere, such as the ozone hole in 1984 and the influence of the 11-year solar cycle in 1987. It describes the interrelations of stratospheric phenomena and its effects on the variability of the climate system, as well as examines various human impacts on the system such as the decrease in the ozone layer.

This state-of-the-art survey serves as a complete overview of the subject. Besides the principles and theoretical foundations, emphasis is laid on practical applicability -- describing not only classical methods, but also modern developments and their applications. Students, researchers and practitioners, especially in the fields of data registration, treatment and evaluation, will find this a wealth of information.

Celestial fundamental catalogues are a prerequisite for the determination of absolute positions and motions in space. Presently, positional astrometry is at the watershed between classical fundamental catalogues, based on moving reference stars, and modern catalogues, based on extragalactic reference objects with non-measurable motion. This book addresses the concepts and methods of the respective construction techniques leading to the stellar frame of the FK5 (fifth fundamental catalogue) and to the newly adopted extragalactic radio reference frame, ICRF (international celestial reference frame), with its extension to optical wavelengths by the Hipparcos Catalogue. While principal outlines of meridian circle observations are given, emphasis is put in some detail on the VLBI technique as applied to astrometry, and to the observational techniques used in the Hipparcos mission, including the tie of the originally non-anchored rigid Hipparcos sphere into the ICRF.

In recent years aperture synthesis and interferometry have become very powerful tools in radioastronomy. Investigation of distant galaxies, for example, have revealed structures with sizes of less than a kiloparsec. In general, the study of galaxies has benefited from the great power of these techniques. Radar applications have also dramatically increased their quality by using the interferometry principle. Tracking and airborne radar can now determine position and velocity of objects with a much higher accuracy. This book describes in the first six, short chapters the basics of interferometry and aperture synthesis. The following two, long chapters treat the aspects of radioastronomical interferometers and radar applications of interferometry in great detail. The text offers readers a very good opportunity to familiarize themselves with the mathematical background of these very complex techniques. For researchers and students in radioastronomy and electrical engineering.

This volume contains the proceedings of a NATO Advanced study Institute held at Geilo, Norway between 2 - 12 april 1991. This institute was the eleventh in a series held biannually at Geilo on the subject of phase transitions. It was intended to capture the latest ideas on selforgan ized patterns and criticality. The Institute brought together many lecturers, students and active re searchers in the field from a wide range of NATO and non-NATO countries. The main financial support came from the NATO scientific Affairs Divi sion, but additional support was obtained from the Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities (NAVF) and Institutt for energi teknikk. The organizers would like to thank all these contributors for their help in promoting an exciting and rewarding meeting, and in doing so are confident that they echo the appreciation of all the parti cipants. In cooperative, equilibrium systems, physical states are described by spatio-temporal correlation functions. The intimate connection between space and time correlations is especially apparent at the critical point, the second order phase transition, where the spatial range and the decay time of the correlation function both become infinite. The salient features of critical phenomena and the history of the devel opment of this field of science are treated in the first chapter of this book.

An atmospheric phenomenon is considered as 'explained' when we have succeeded in deducing it on the basis of accepted principles of physics. (H. Ertel, Methods and problems of dynamical meteorolo gy,p. l) Until recently, noctilucent clouds were regarded merely as a curious atmos pheric phenomenon, the occurrence of which aroused only limited scientific attention. However, in the last two decades the interest they have been given has markedly increased. The clouds, usually pale blue in colour, may be seen on a clear night at high latitudes. Typical examples are illustrated in the book. Clouds looking like these in daytime would be classified as cirrostratus. What sets noctilucent clouds apart is their occurrence in the middle of the night, their very obvious pale blue colour, and their disappearance into the dawn close to the onset of civil twilight when the Sun is 6 Degrees below the horizon. as being set apart from ordinary Noctilucent clouds were first recognized clouds in 1884/1885 and in a series of sightings that followed their return in the summer of 1885. That year marked the beginning of observations and the interpretation of twilight phenomena. The impetus came from the extraordi nary Krakatoa eruption, which was not only one of the most spectacular volcanic eruptions in recorded history, but which also turned out to be a startling event in atmospheric science with repercussions even in our time.

This book has developed from a short residential course organised by the Department of Minerals Engineering and the Department of Extra Mural Studies of the University of Birmingham. The course was concerned mainly with physical methods of analysis of minerals and mineral products, and particular regard was given to 'non-destructive' methods, with special emphasis on newly available techniques but with a review of older methods and their recent developments included therein. Mineral analysis is obviously of great importance in all the stages of mineral exploration, processing, and utilisation. Selection of a method for a particular mineral or mineral product will depend upon a number of factors, primarily whether an elementary analysis or a phase or structure analysis is required. It will also depend upon the accuracy required. The chapters in the book covering the different methods show the range of useful applicability of the methods considered and should prove valuable as an aid or methods for a given set of circumstances. in selecting a suitable method The book, referring as it does to the majority of the instrumental methods available today (as well as, for comparison, a useful contribution on the place of classical wet chemical analysis) will be valuable to the student as well as to those analysts, research workers, and process engineers who are concerned with the winning, processing, and utilisation of minerals and mineral products.

Realistically representing our three-dimensional world has been the subject of many (philosophical) discussions since ancient times. While the recognition of the globular shape of the Earth goes back to Pythagoras' statements of the sixth century B. C. , the two-dimensional, circular depiction of the Earth's surface has remained prevailing and also dominated the art of painting until the late Middle Ages. Given the immature technological means, objects on the Earth's surface were often represented in academic and technical disciplines by two-dimensional cross-sections oriented along combinations of three mutually perpendicular directions. As soon as computer science evolved, scientists have steadily been improving the three-dimensional representation of the Earth and developed techniques to analyze the many natural processes and phenomena taking part on its surface. Both computer aided design (CAD) and geographical information systems (GIS) have been developed in parallel during the last three decades. While the former concentrates more on the detailed design of geometric models of object shapes, the latter emphasizes the topological relationships between geographical objects and analysis of spatial patterns. Nonetheless, this distinction has become increasingly blurred and both approaches have been integrated into commercial software packages. In recent years, an active line of inquiry has emerged along the junctures of CAD and GIS, viz. 3D geoinformation science. Studies along this line have recently made significant inroads in terms of 3D modeling and data acquisition.