In looking back at the 1970's, the decade may prove to be a crucial one in the development of quantitative geology. After quantification had lain fallow and essen- tially undeveloped for 120 years, introduction of the computer in the 1950's revived interest and fostered ad- vances in the subject. Developments continued through the 1960's at a rapid pace and the state-of-the-art was reported on in the proceedings of an international sym- posium held at the University of Kansas in June 1969 (Merriam, 1969). The proceedings of the Kansas meeting, published as the first contribution in this series on "Computer Applications in the Earth Sciences" was one of 8 collo- quia sponsored by the Kansas Geological Survey and the International Association for Mathematical Geology in the late 1960's. In a sense those international sympo- sia were continued in the 1970's at Syracuse University as a series of Geochautauquas sponsored by the Depart- ment of Geology at Syracuse University and the Interna- tional Association for Mathematical Geology. These pro- ceedings report the results of the 8th Geochautauqua held in Syracuse on 26-27 October 1979.

This symposium on 'Computerized Basin Analysis for Prognosis of Energy - and Mineral Resources' was organized by Dr. Jan Harff, chairman ofthe Scientific Committee for the meeting, in Giistrowin what was then East Germany. Sponsors ofthis meeting were the International Union of Geological Sciences' Commission on Storage, Automatic Pro cessing and Retrieval of Geologic Data (COGEODATA), Academy of Sciences of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), National Oil and Gas Trustofthe GDR, and the International Association for Mathematical Geology (IAMG). Main topics of the symposium, held from 19-22 June 1990, were application of computer methods to the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas, coal, and other energy and mineral resources. There were computer demonstrations as well as a one-day field trip to the geothermic heating plant in Waren. The Regional Group for Eastern Europe of COG EO DATA also met during the conference. Fifty-one papers were presented including eight poster sessions by authors from 14 countries. As was to be expected, there was a large percentage of papers from the East Bloc of European countries, especially the GDR, USSR, and the CSSR with a fair representation from the FRG and USA and a smattering from the nine others. Most of the papers were application oriented and related to the mineral industries. There was ample time for exchange of ideas and dissemination of material.

Modeling and simulation were introduced to the earth sciences about four decades ago. Modeling has proven its worth and now it is an accepted procedure for analyzing and solving geological problems. The papers in this collection are focused on modeling sediment deposition and sedimentary sequences and have a decidedly practical flavor. Some of the leading simulation packages, such as CORRELATOR, SEDFLUX, SEDpak, SEDSIM, STRATA, and STRATSIM are applied to problems in hydrocarbon exploration, oil production, groundwater development, coal-bed appraisal, geothermics, and environmental diagnosis. All of these subjects fall under the broad heading of sedimentary basin analysis. The fifteen papers in this volume are written by internationally recognized experts from academia and industry. The contributions represent the status of geologic modeling and simulation at the start of the 21st century, and will give the reader an insight into current research problems and their possible solutions.

Geothermics in Basin Analysis focuses on the study of sedimentary basins, stressing essential parts of problems in which geothermics is involved. Subject matter includes the measuring of temperature logs and capturing of industrial temperature data and their interpretation to delineate subsurface conditions and processes, the importance of porosity and pore filling for modeling thermal fields, the thermal insulation of shales, geothermal anomalies associated with mud diapirs and basin hydrodynamic regimes, temperatures related to magmatic underplating and plate tectonics.

This volume is a compendium of papers on the subject, as noted in the book title, of modeling and mapping. They were presented at the 25th Anniversary meeting of the International Association for Mathematical Geology (IAMG) at Praha (Prague), Czech Republic in October of 1993. The Association, founded at the International Geological Congress (IGC) in Prague in 1968, returned to its origins for its Silver Anniversary celebration. All in all 146 papers by 276 authors were offered for the 165 attendees at the 3-day meeting convened in the Hotel Krystal. It was a time for remembrance and for future prognostication. The selected papers in Geologic Modeling and Mapping comprise a broad range of powerful techniques used nowadays in the earth sciences. Modeling stands for reconstruction of geological features, such as subsurface structure, in space and time, as well as for simulation of geological processes both providing scenarios of geologic events and how these events might have occurred. Mapping stands for spatial analysis of data, a topic that always has been an extremely important part of the earth sciences. Because both modeling and mapping are used widely in conjunction, the book title should reflect the close relation of the subjects rather than a division. Here, we bring together a collection of papers that hopefully contribute to the growing amount of knowledge on these techniques.

Geothermics in Basin Analysis focuses on the study of sedimentary basins, stressing essential parts of problems in which geothermics is involved. Subject matter includes the measuring of temperature logs and capturing of industrial temperature data and their interpretation to delineate subsurface conditions and processes, the importance of porosity and pore filling for modeling thermal fields, the thermal insulation of shales, geothermal anomalies associated with mud diapirs and basin hydrodynamic regimes, temperatures related to magmatic underplating and plate tectonics.

This volume 'Use ofMicrocomputers in Geology' is the sixth in the series Computer Applications in the Earth Sciences published by Plenum Press in New York. The series was started in 1969 to publish proceedings of important meetings on geomathematics and computer applications. The first two volumes recorded proceedings ofthe Colloquia (1969,1970) sponsored by the Kansas Geological Survey at The University ofKansas in Lawrence. The third volume was proceedings ofthe 8th International Sedimentological Congress (1971) held in Heidelberg, West Germany; the fourth was preceedings ofthe 8th Geochautauqua (1979) at Syracuse Universityin Syracuse, New York; and the fifth was selected papers from the 27th International Geological Congress (1989) held in Washington, D.C. All meetings were cosponsored by the International Association for Mathematical Geology. These special publications are important in the development of quantitative geology. Papers by a wide range of authors on a wide range of topics gives the reader a flavor for recent advances in the subject -in this volume, those advances in the use ofmicrocomputers. The 24 authors ofthe 15 papers come from nine countries -Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, UK, and USA. My coeditor, Hans Kurzl, has given pertinent information on the included papers in the Introduction."

The International Association for Mathematical Geology, in conjunc tion with the International Geological Congress, sponsored two symposia in Montreal, Canada, September 1972. The first symposium, Random Processes in Geology, consisted of two, half-day sessions and featured ten major papers on various aspects of stochastic models as applied to geologic problems. The invited speakers were selected by the Projects Committee of the IAMG so as to represent a wide spectrum of geologic disciplines. The topics fell naturally into two categories: those dealing with continuous stochastic processes and those concerned with point processes and branch ing operations. The program, as presented, was Introduction: R. A. Reyment Ideal granites and their metasomatic transformation: stochastic model, statistical description, and natural rocks: A. B. Vistelius (read by G. Lea) The influence of greisenization on the Markovian properties of grain sequences in granitic rocks: M. A. Romanova The mechanism of bed formation in a limestone-shale environment: W. Schwarzacher Volcanic eruptions as random events: F. E. Wickman Statistical geometric similarity in drainage networks: J. S. Smart Length and gradient properties of stochastic streams: M. F. Dacey Application of stochastic point processes to volcanic eruptions: R. A. Reyment Applications of random process models to the description of spatial distributions of qualitative geologic variables: P. Switzer Sedimentary porous materials as a realization of a stochastic process: F. W. Preston and J. C. Davis Stochastic process models in geology: W. C. Krumbein. This volume consists of eight of the ten presented papers."

This volume 'Use ofMicrocomputers in Geology' is the sixth in the series Computer Applications in the Earth Sciences published by Plenum Press in New York. The series was started in 1969 to publish proceedings of important meetings on geomathematics and computer applications. The first two volumes recorded proceedings ofthe Colloquia (1969,1970) sponsored by the Kansas Geological Survey at The University ofKansas in Lawrence. The third volume was proceedings ofthe 8th International Sedimentological Congress (1971) held in Heidelberg, West Germany; the fourth was preceedings ofthe 8th Geochautauqua (1979) at Syracuse Universityin Syracuse, New York; and the fifth was selected papers from the 27th International Geological Congress (1989) held in Washington, D.C. All meetings were cosponsored by the International Association for Mathematical Geology. These special publications are important in the development of quantitative geology. Papers by a wide range of authors on a wide range of topics gives the reader a flavor for recent advances in the subject -in this volume, those advances in the use ofmicrocomputers. The 24 authors ofthe 15 papers come from nine countries -Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, UK, and USA. My coeditor, Hans Kurzl, has given pertinent information on the included papers in the Introduction."