ALBERT

Description / Table of Contents: The boundaries of rigid cratons can be affected by subsequent orogenic events, leading to ‘metacratonic’ characteristics not often properly recognized and still poorly understood. Major lithospheric thickening is absent and early events such as ophiolites are preserved; however, metacratonic boundaries are affected by major shear zones, abundant magmatism and mineralizations, and local high-pressure metamorphism. West Africa, marked by the large Eburnian (c. 2 Ga) West African craton, the absence of Mesoproterozoic events, the major Pan-African (0.9–0.55 Ga) mobile belts that generated the Peri-Gondawanan terranes, and the weaker but enlightening Variscan and Alpine orogenies, is an excellent place for tackling this promising concept of metacratonization. The papers in this book consider most of the West African craton boundaries, from the reworking of the Palaeoproterozoic terranes, through the Pan-African encircling terranes, the late Neoproterozoic-early Palaeozoic extension period and the Peri-Gondwanan terranes, the Variscan imprint to the current situation.

Description / Table of Contents: This volume, in honour of Peter L. Forey, is about fishes as palaeobiogeographic indicators in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. The last 250 million years in the history of Earth have witnessed the break-up of Pangaea, affecting the biogeography of organisms. Fishes occupy almost all freshwater and marine environments, making them a good tool to assess palaeogeographic models. The volume begins with studies of Triassic chondrichthyans and lungfishes, with reflections on Triassic palaeogeography. Phylogeny and distribution of Late Jurassic neoselachians and basal teleosts are broached, and are followed by five papers about the Cretaceous, dealing with SE Asian sharks, South American ray-finned fishes and coelacanths, European characiforms, and global fish palaeogeography. Then six papers cover Tertiary subjects, such as bony tongues, eels, cypriniforms and coelacanths. There is generally a good fit between fish phylogenies and the evolution of the palaeogeographical pattern, although a few discrepancies question details of current palaeogeographic models and/or some aspects of fish phylogeny.

Description / Table of Contents: Twenty years have passed since Menzies & Hawkesworth extended the concept of metasomatism to mantle processes. The aim of this book is to gather together progress made on this topic since then. Most of the 14 papers reported in the volume rely on in situ major and trace element analyses of minerals and glasses in mantle xenoliths, and deal with different kinds of metasomatic agents at variable fluid/rock ratios in tectonic settings as different as intra-plate, mid-ocean ridge (ophiolites) and supra-subduction. The book contributes to the wide debate on the nature of the fluids migrating into the mantle wedge, as well as on the different residential times of the subduction signature. In addition papers on intra-plate settings deal with the problem of relating various metasomatic signatures to one single metasomatic event through an infiltration-reaction process.

Description / Table of Contents: Improvements in energy efficiency over the past three decades have played a key role in limiting global increases in energy use and CO2 emissions. For IEA countries, energy efficiency gains since 1990 have led to annual energy savings of more than 16 EJ in 2005 and 1.3 Gt of avoided CO2 emissions. However, the recent rate of efficiency improvement has been much lower than in the past. The good news is that a large potential remains for further energy and CO2 savings across all sectors. In industry alone, the application of proven technologies and best practices on a global scale could save between 1.9 Gt and 3.2 Gt of CO2 emissions per year. In public power generation, if all countries produced electricity at current best practice levels, CO2 savings would be between 1.8 Gt and 2.5 Gt.

Description / Table of Contents: There are continual rounds of annual conferences, special sessions and other symposia that provide ample opportunity for researchers to convene and discuss igneous processes. However, the origins of laccoliths and sills continue to inspire and confound geologists. In one sense, this is surprising. After all, don't we know all we need to know about these rocks by now? As testified by the diverse range of topics covered in this volume, the answer is clearly ‘no’. This book contains contributions on physical geology, igneous petrology, volcanology, structural geology, crustal mechanics and geophysics that cover the entire gambit of geological processes associated with the shallow emplacement of magma. High-level intrusions in sedimentary basins can also act as hydrocarbon reservoirs and as sources for thermal maturation. In drawing together a diversity of perspectives on the emplacement of sills, laccoliths and dykes we hope to advance further our understanding of their behaviour.

Description / Table of Contents: This book is the first to describe the history of geoconservation. It draws on experience from the UK, Europe and further afield, to explore topics including: what is geoconservation; where, when and how did it start; who was responsible; and how has it differed across the world? Geological and geomorphological features, processes, sites and specimens, provide a resource of immense scientific and educational importance. They also form the foundation for the varied and spectacular landscapes that help define national and local identity as well as many of the great tourism destinations. Mankind's activities, including contributing to enhanced climate change, pose many threats to this resource: the importance of safeguarding and managing it for future generations is now widely accepted as part of sustainable development. Geoconservation is an established and growing activity across the world, with more participants and a greater profile than ever before. This volume highlights a history of challenges, set-backs, successes and visionary individuals and provides a sound basis for taking geoconservation into the future.

Description / Table of Contents: Over the last 18 months, natural gas prices have continued to rise steadily in all IEA markets. What are the causes of this steady upward trend? Over the last 18 months, natural gas prices have continued to rise steadily in all IEA markets. What are the causes of this steady upward trend? Unprecedented oil and coal prices which have encouraged power generators to switch to gas, together with tight supplies, demand for gas in new markets and delayed investments all played a role. Investment uncertainties, cost increases and delays remain major concerns in most gas markets and are continuing to constitute a threat to long-term security of supply. A massive expansion in LNG production is expected in the short term to 2012, but the lag in LNG investment beyond 2012 is a concern for all gas users in both IEA and non-IEA markets. Despite this tight market context, regional markets continue on their way to globalisation. This tendency seems irreversible, and it impacts even the most independent markets. Price linkages and other interactions between markets are becoming more pronounced. The Natural Gas Market Review 2008 addresses these mmajor developments, assessing investment in natural gas projects (LNG, pipelines, upstream), escalating costs, the activities of international oil and gas companies, and gas demand in the power sector. In addition, the publication includes data and forecasts on OECD and non-OECD regions to 2015 and in-depth reviews of five OECD countries and regions including the European Union. It also provides analysis of 34 non-OECD countries in South America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, including a detailed assessment of the outlook for gas in Russia, as well as insights on new technologies to deliver gas to markets.

Description / Table of Contents: Renewable energy can play a fundamental role in tackling climate change, environmental degradation and energy security. As these challenges have become ever more pressing, governments and markets are seeking innovative solutions. Yet, what are the key factors that will determine the success of renewable energy policies? How can current policies be improved to encourage greater deployment of renewables? What impact can more effective policies have on renewables’ share in the future global energy mix and how soon? Deploying Renewables: Principles for Effective Policies addresses these questions. Responding to the Gleneagles G8 call for a clean and secure energy future, it highlights key policy tools to fast-track renewables into the mainstream. This analysis illustrates good practices by applying the combined metrics of effectiveness and efficiency to renewable energy policies in the electricity, heating and transport sectors. It highlights significant barriers to accelerating renewables penetration, and argues that the great potential of renewables can be exploited much more rapidly and to a much larger extent if good practices are adopted. Carefully designed policy frameworks, customised to support technologies at differing stages of maturity, will deliver a strong portfolio of renewable energy technologies. Deploying Renewables: Principles for Effective Policies provides recommendations on key principles for policy design as a template for decision makers.

Description / Table of Contents: Existing buildings are responsible for over 40% of the world’s total primary energy consumption. An impressive amount of energy could be saved simply by applying energy-efficient technologies. Yet, various market barriers inhibit energy efficiency improvements in existing buildings and result in energy savings that are significantly lower than potentials. Financial barriers — including the initial cost barrier, risk exposure, discount-factor issues and the inadequacy of traditional financing mechanisms for energy-efficient projects — play a major role. Policies that may help to overcome financial barriers to improving energy efficiency in existing residential buildings are the focus of this study. The publication provides illustrations of policies and measures implemented in five IEA member countries and the European Union. Each case includes relevant background and contextual information, as well as a detailed evaluation of each policy according to five pre-defined criteria: relevance, effectiveness, flexibility, clarity and sustainability. Promoting Energy Efficiency Investments aims to inform policy makers and offers ideas on the most effective policies, programmes and measures available to improve energy efficiency in existing residential buildings.

Description / Table of Contents: Faults are primary focuses of both fluid migration and deformation in the upper crust. The recognition that faults are typically heterogeneous zones of deformed material, not simple discrete fractures, has fundamental implications for the way geoscientists predict fluid migration in fault zones, as well as leading to new concepts in understanding seismic/aseismic strain accommodation. This book captures current research into understanding the complexities of fault-zone internal structure, and their control on mechanical and fluid-flow properties of the upper crust. A wide variety of approaches are presented, from geological field studies and laboratory analyses of fault-zone and fault-rock properties to numerical fluid-flow modelling, and from seismological data analyses to coupled hydraulic and rheological modelling. The publication aims to illustrate the importance of understanding fault-zone complexity by integrating such diverse approaches, and its impact on the rheological and fluid-flow behaviour of fault zones in different contexts.

Description / Table of Contents: The morphology of Earth's surface reflects the interaction of climate, tectonics and denudational processes operating over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. These processes can be considered catastrophic or continuous; depending on the timescale of observation or interest. Recent research had required integration of historically distinct subjects such as geomorphology, sedimentology, climatology and tectonics. Together, these have provided new insights into absolute and relative rates of denudation, and the factors that control the many dynamic processes involved. Specific subject areas covered are sediment transport processes and the timescales of competing processes, the role of the geological record and landscapes in constraining different processes, the nature of landscape evolution at different spatial scales and in contrasting geological environments.

Description / Table of Contents: There is a general consensus that for the next few decades at least, the Earth will continue its warming. This will inevitably bring about serious environmental problems. For human society, the most severe will be those related to alterations of the hydrological cycle, which is already heavily influenced by human activities. Climate change will directly affect groundwater recharge, groundwater quality and the freshwater-seawater interface. The variations of groundwater storage inevitably entail a variety of geomorphological and engineering effects. In the areas where water resources are likely to diminish, groundwater will be one of the main solutions to prevent drought. In spite of its paramount importance, the issue of ‘Climate Change and Groundwater’ has been neglected. This volume presents some of the current understanding of the topic.

Description / Table of Contents: Some 75 years after the visionary work of Wegener and du Toit, Neoproterozoic to Mesozoic geological correlations between South America and Africa are re-examined in the light of plate tectonics and modern geological investigation (structural and metamorphic studies, stratigraphic logging, geochemistry, geochronology and palaeomagnetism). The book presents both reviews and new research relating to the shared Gondwana origins of countries facing each other across the South Atlantic Ocean, especially Brazil, Argentina, Cameroon, Nigeria, Angola, Namibia and South Africa. This is the first comprehensive treatment to be readily available in book form. It covers the common elements of cratonic areas pre-dating Gondwana, and how they came together in late Precambrian and Cambrian times with the formation of the Pan-African/Brasiliano orogenic belts (Dom Feliciano, Brasília, Ribeira, Damara, Gariep, Kaoko, etc.). The subsequent shared Palaeozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary record (Karoo system) prior to Gondwana break-up is also reviewed.

Description / Table of Contents: Magmas are subject to a series of processes that lead to their differentiation during transfer through, and storage within, the Earth's crust. The depths and mechanisms of differentiation, the crustal contribution to magma generation through wall-rock assimilation, the rates and timescales of magma generation, transfer and storage, and how these link to the thermal state of the crust are subject to vivid debate and controversy. This volume presents a collection of research articles that provide a balanced overview of the diverse approaches available to elucidate these topics, and includes both theoretical models and case studies. By integrating petrological, geochemical and geophysical approaches, it offers new insights to the subject of magmatic processes operating within the Earth's crust, and reveals important links between subsurface processes and volcanism.

Description / Table of Contents: Biogeochemical controls on palaeoceanographic environmental proxies: an introduction / William E. N. Austin and Rachael H. James / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 303, 1-2, 1 January 2008, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP303.1 --- Biogeochemical controls on palaeoceanographic environmental proxies: a review / Rachael H. James and William E. N. Austin / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 303, 3-32, 1 January 2008, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP303.2 --- Some fundamental features of biomineralization / R. J. P. Williams / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 303, 33-44, 1 January 2008, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP303.3 --- Vital effects and beyond: a modelling perspective on developing palaeoceanographical proxy relationships in foraminifera / Richard E. Zeebe, Jelle Bijma, Bärbel Hönisch, Abhijit Sanyal, Howard J. Spero and Dieter A. Wolf-Gladrow / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 303, 45-58, 1 January 2008, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP303.4 --- Foraminifer test preservation and diagenesis: comparison of high latitude Eocene sites / Paul N. Pearson and Catherine E. Burgess / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 303, 59-72, 1 January 2008, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP303.5 --- The influences of growth rates on planktic foraminifers as proxies for palaeostudies – a review / D. N. Schmidt, T. Elliott and S. A. Kasemann / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 303, 73-85, 1 January 2008, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP303.6 --- Fine-scale growth patterns in coral skeletons: biochemical control over crystallization of aragonite fibres and assessment of early diagenesis / J. P. Cuif, Y. Dauphin, A. Meibom, C. Rollion-Bard, M. Salomé, J. Susini and C. T. Williams / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 303, 87-96, 1 January 2008, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP303.7 --- Modern deep-sea benthic foraminifera: a brief review of their morphology-based biodiversity and trophic diversity / A. J. Gooday, H. Nomaki and H. Kitazato / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 303, 97-119, 1 January 2008, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP303.8 --- On the use of benthic foraminiferal δ13C in palaeoceanography: constraints from primary proxy relationships / Andreas Mackensen / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 303, 121-133, 1 January 2008, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP303.9 --- The carbon and oxygen stable isotopic composition of cultured benthic foraminifera / Daniel C. McCorkle, Joan M. Bernhard, Christopher J. Hintz, Jessica K. Blanks, G. Thomas Chandler and Timothy J. Shaw / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 303, 135-154, 1 January 2008, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP303.10 --- Seasonal dynamics of coastal water masses in a Scottish fjord and their potential influence on benthic foraminiferal shell geochemistry / Alix G. Cage and William E. N. Austin / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 303, 155-172, 1 January 2008, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP303.11 --- Isotopic variability in the intertidal acorn barnacle Semibalanus balanoides: a potentially novel sea-level proxy indicator / K. F. Craven, M. I. Bird, W. E. N. Austin and J. Wynn / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 303, 173-185, 1 January 2008, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP303.12

Description / Table of Contents: The 3D geological model is still regarded as one of the newest and most innovative tools for reservoir management purposes. The computer modelling of structures, rock properties and fluid flow in hydrocarbon reservoirs has evolved from a specialist activity to part of the standard desktop toolkit. The application of these techniques has allowed all disciplines of the subsurface team to collaborate in a common workspace. In today's asset teams, the role of the geological model in hydrocarbon development planning is key and will be for some time ahead. The challenges that face the geologists and engineers will be to provide more seamless interaction between static and dynamic models. This interaction requires the development of conventional and unconventional modelling algorithms and methodologies in order to provide more risk-assessed scenarios, thus enabling geologists and engineers to better understand and capture inherent uncertainties at each aspect of the geological model's life.

Description / Table of Contents: In its latest publication, Development of Competitive Gas Trading in Continental Europe, the IEA examines the history of major gas markets’ development in OECD Europe, and explores the possible expansion of trading through the mechanism of different hubs across the region. Lessons learned from North American markets on the benefits of regulatory convergence and investor-friendly legal framework are an important part of the analysis. Competitive trading based on transparent, non-discriminatory rules in a flexible and integrated European gas market will lead to more efficiency, timely investment, and greater market resilience, therefore ensuring more security for both customers and suppliers in the long term.

Description / Table of Contents: Volcanoes become active when fluids are in motion, and erupt when these fluids escape into the atmosphere. Volcanic fluids are a mixture of solid, liquid and gas. These mixtures result in a complex range of flow behaviour, especially during interaction with conduit geometry. These processes are not directly observable and must be inferred from interpretations of field observation and measurement. One of the outcomes of this complexity is the generation of pressure and force transients as high-density phases accelerate and decelerate during unsteady flow. These transients are one means of flexing the conduit wall, a process that manifests itself as ground motion and is detectable as volcano seismic signals. On eruption, volcanic fluids interact with the atmosphere and generate acoustic and thermal signals. In this Special Publication we present a series of papers based on field, numerical and experimental approaches that seek to establish links between geophysical signals and fluid motion in volcanic conduits.

Description / Table of Contents: This collection of papers addresses the issues surrounding communication of environmental geoscience. Geologists whose research deals with environmental problems such as landslides, floods, earthquakes and other natural hazards that affect people's health and safety, must communicate their results effectively to the public, policy makers and politicians. There are many examples of geological studies being ignored in policy and public action; this is in due in part to geoscientists being poor communicators. These papers document issues in communicating environmental geoscience, outline successes and failures through case studies, describe ways in which geoscientists can improve communication skills and show how new methods can make communication more effective.

Description / Table of Contents: Increasingly, researchers have reported that passive margins do not show a simple uninterrupted thermal sag pattern of post-rift subsidence following continental separation. Rather, the structural and stratigraphic development of such margins may record evidence of complex phases of differential subsidence, exhumation and fold development. Some of the fold structures observed on passive continental margins appear to be related to regional stresses transmitted through basement rocks, whereas others are related to gravitational sliding and toe-thrusting. This special publication concentrates on the first of these categories. The morphology and distribution of such folds, together with potential mechanisms for generation of regional stress, are described in a series of papers by authorities in the field. As well as being an enigmatic feature of passive margin geology, the compressive folds have significance in the exploration for petroleum.

Description / Table of Contents: This book deals with various interesting aspects of the histories of geomorphology and Quaternary geology in different parts of the world. The papers cover a range of topics: the origin of the term ‘Quaternary’, histories of ideas and debates relating to aspects of fluvial geomorphology (USA and Australia), glacial geomorphology and glaciation (Northern Europe, the Baltic countries, Russia, Iceland, and New Zealand), desert dunes and the geology of Australia, peneplains in China, a palaeo-Tokyo Bay in Japan, together with biographies of Charles Cotton (New Zealand), Valerija Cepulyte (Lithuania) and Ceslovas Pakuckas (Lithuania and Poland) that highlight their respective contributions to the disciplines of geomorphology and Quaternary geology. There is an autobiographical contribution from E. E. Milanovsky (Russia) on his work in Siberia, the Caucasus and Iceland, illustrated by his sketches made in the field.

Description / Table of Contents: Faults are primary focuses of both fluid migration and deformation in the upper crust. The recognition that faults are typically heterogeneous zones of deformed material, not simple discrete fractures, has fundamental implications for the way geoscientists predict fluid migration in fault zones, as well as leading to new concepts in understanding seismic/aseismic strain accommodation. This book captures current research into understanding the complexities of fault-zone internal structure, and their control on mechanical and fluid-flow properties of the upper crust. A wide variety of approaches are presented, from geological field studies and laboratory analyses of fault-zone and fault-rock properties to numerical fluid-flow modelling, and from seismological data analyses to coupled hydraulic and rheological modelling. The publication aims to illustrate the importance of understanding fault-zone complexity by integrating such diverse approaches, and its impact on the rheological and fluid-flow behaviour of fault zones in different contexts.

Description / Table of Contents: Geological correlations of East Antarctica with adjoining continents have been puzzling geologists ever since the concept of a Gondwana supercontinent surfaced. Despite the paucity of outcrops because of ice cover, difficulty of access and extreme weather, the past 50 years of Japanese Antarctic Research Expeditions (JARE) has successfully revealed vital elements of the geology of East Antarctica. This volume presents reviews and new research from localities across East Antarctica, especially from Dronning Maud Land to Enderby Land, where the geological record preserves a history that spans the Archaean and Proterozoic. The reviews include extensive bibliographies of results obtained by geologists who participated in the JARE. Comprehensive geological, petrological and geochemical studies, form a platform for future research on the formation and dispersion of Rodinia in the Mesoproterozoic and subsequent assembly of Gondwana in the Neoproterozoic to Early Palaeozoic.

Description / Table of Contents: Coal is and will remain the world’s most abundant and widely distributed fossil fuel. Burning coal, however, can pollute and it produces carbon dioxide. Clean coal technologies address this problem. The widespread deployment of pollution-control equipment to reduce sulphur dioxide, Nox and dust emissions from industry is just one example which has brought cleaner air to many countries. Since the 1970s, various policy and regulatory measures have created a growing commercial market for these clean coal technologies, with the result that costs have fallen and performance has improved. More recently, the need to tackle rising CO2 emissions to address climate change means that clean coal technologies now extend to include those for CO2 capture and storage (CCS). This short report from the IEA Coal Industry Advisory Board (CIAB) presents industry’s considered recommendations on how to accelerate the development and deployment of this important group of new technologies and to grasp their very signifi cant potential to reduce emissions from coal use. It identifies an urgent need to make progress with demonstration projects and prove the potential of CCS through government-industry partnerships. Its commercialisation depends upon a clear legal and regulatory framework,public acceptance and market-based financial incentives. For the latter, the CIAB favours cap-and-trade systems, price supports and mandatory feed-in tariffs, as well as inclusion of CCS in the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism to create demand in developing economies where coal use is growing most rapidly. This report offers a unique insight into the thinking of an industry that recognises both the threats and growing opportunities for coal in a carbonconstrained world.