Reviewers of the German edition of this book found that the text deals with facts and descriptions of limestones rather than with glo- bal speculations on facies models or large-scale sedimentation pat- terns. The book is neither a picture-book nor a recipe-book for facies interpretation of carbonates, but an attempt to summarize the present "state of the art" of a rather small but increasingly more im- portant part of geology. The book is written for advanced undergraduate and post-grad- uate students as well as for research workers and exploration geol- ogists who need rapid and intensive training in modern methods of microfacies analysis. The book should facilitate decisions about which methods to use in one's own investigations, and where to look for comparative studies. Microfacies interpretation of carbonate rocks can not rely solely on the investigation of sedimentological and paleontological thin- section data, but must also consider geological and palecological cri- teria. It is beyond the scope of this book to describe all of these as- pects. However, broader applications are indicated in the chapters dealing with the relationships between geochemical as well as physi- cal data and the depositional and diagenetic fabric oflimestones.

Algae and Algal Carbonates are of interest to geo- and bioscientists because of the significant interactions between algal life and environ- ment. Much information about systematical, morphological and eco- logical data of fossil algae has been accumulated during the last two decades. Facies interpretation, sedimentology, and biostratigraphic correlations, as well as speculations about Precambrian ecosystems have received new impulses from the detailed study of Recent algae and their fossil counterparts. During the First International Symposium on Fossil Algae, orga- nized by the Institute of Paleontology of the University Erlangen- Niirnberg in October 1975, about 130 scientists were able to discuss the present status of knowledge; 55 lectures were given, 37 of which now have been chosen for publication. Some of these articles comprehend fundamental reviews on algal groups and algal constructions, such as Monty on the stromatolites, Herak et al. and the "French Group" on the dasyclads, and Wray and Poignant on the Paleozoic and Mesozoic red algae. Other articles deal with the biology and morphology of blue-green algae, with the arduous problem of the affinities of many algae and "pseudo-algae", with bio- metrical methods and with the ultrastructure of calcareous algae. A broad section of this book is reserved for some stimulating papers about the role of algae as facies indicators and sedimentological factors in Recent and Ancient environments. Thanks to the gratefully accepted co-operation of many collegues, we hope this book may offer a good cross-section through main trends of recent algal research.