This book, in which the term granite is taken in its broadest sense, collates the most innovative contributions that were presented at the EUG 8 Meeting, X12 Symposium, held in Strasbourg during April 1995. It covers a broad range of topics related to the physical aspects of granite magmatism, which are largely under-represented in comparison with chemical-oriented approaches. Nineteen papers span the range from physical properties of granitic material to several pluton case studies. The first part, Melt and Magmas: Properties and Segregation', deals mainly with the physical properties and segregation of melts and magmas, including laboratory and field data. The second part, Fabrics in Granites', develops some lively aspects of present-day granite geology, such as magmatic fabrics at all scales, and analogue and numerical experiments aimed at modelling magmatic fabrics. The third part, Emplacement of Granite Plutons: Case Studies', begins with a general consideration of syntectonic granites, includes a review of the shape of plutons as inferred from combined fabric and gravity data, and comprises some spectacular examples of plutons emplaced along shear zones, in Spain, Sierra Nevada -California- (see the cover page), Nigeria, and Brazil, or emplaced along subduction zones, in Japan. Granite is the most abundant rock on the continental crust, and this unique text is devoted entirely to the understanding of its origins and emplacement by studying its internal structures. The book is particularly well-illustrated, and almost all the illustrations are original. It will serve as an invaluable reference for geologists, petrologists, geophysicists interested in the development of thecontinental crust and, more generally, for earth scientists.

viii debate of those earlier days has been beautifully summarized by H. H. Read in his famous "Granite Controversy" (1957). Read's formulation of the controversy occurred at the time when geochemistry was as a new and powerful tool. The new techniques opened era during which emerging an granites were considered mainly from this new viewpoint. Geochemical signatures have shown that mantle and crustal origins for granites were both possible, but the debate on how and why granites are emplaced did not progress much. Meanwhile, structural geology was essentially geometrical and mechanistic. In the early 70's, the structural approach began to widen to include solid state physics and fluid dynamics. Detailed structural maps of granitic bodies were again published, mainly in France, and analysed in terms of magmatic and plastic flow. The senior editor of this volume and his students deserve much of the credit for this new development. Via microstructural and petrofabric studies, they were able to discriminate between strain in the presence of residual melt or in the solid-state, and, by systematically measuring magnetic fabrics (AMS), they have been able to map magmatic foliations and lineations in ever finer detail, using the internal markers within granites coming from different tectonic environments. The traditional debate has been shifted anew. The burning question now seems to be how the necessary, large-scale or local, crustal extension required for granite emplacement can be obtained.