ALBERT

Beschreibung / Inhaltsverzeichnis: An entry point to the rapidly expanding field of paleoclimatology - the study of climates of the past. Highly interdisciplinary in nature, paleoclimatology integrates information from a broad array of disciplines in the geosciences.

Beschreibung / Inhaltsverzeichnis: Contents: The geology of Norway from its primeval origins to the present day. - The changing face of the EarthGeological processe. - The PrecambrianThe oldest rocks are formed. - Break-up of the Precambrian continent . - Late Precambrian, from Precambrian to Palaeozoic. - The Lower PalaeozoicCambrian, Ordovician and Silurian - the sea teems with life. - Creation of a mountain chain. The building up of the Caledonides. - The mountain chain rebounds and founders. - The Caledonides are worn down. - Volcanoes and faulting in an arid climate The Oslo Rift and North Sea in the Carboniferous and Permian. - Vast lowland plains, coal and salt . Carboniferous and Permian in the north. - From desert to alluvial plain -- from land to seaTriassic. - Norway encircled by coastal plains and deltas . Early and Middle Jurassic. - The source of Norway's oil wealth Late Jurassic -- a sea of islands emerges. - High seas and low horizonsThe Cretaceous. - Norway rises from the sea Palaeogene and Neogene (Cenozoic) - the modern continents take shape. - Glaciations come and goQuaternary to Holocene (Pleistocene). - The emergence of modern Norway The last 11,500 years - the Holocene. - What does the future hold? Geohazards, climate change and continental drift.

Beschreibung / Inhaltsverzeichnis: Contents: 1 Introduction to Quaternary Dating. 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 The development of Quaternary dating. 1.3 Precision and accuracy in dating. 1.4 Atomic structure, radioactivity and radiometric dating. 1.5 The Quaternary: stratigraphic framework and terminology. 1.6 The scope and content of the book. Notes. 2 Radiometric Dating 1: Radiocarbon Dating. 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 Basic principles. 2.3 Radiocarbon measurement. 2.4 Sources of error in radiocarbon dating. 2.5 Some problematic dating materials. 2.6 Calibration of the radiocarbon timescale. 2.7 Applications of radiocarbon dating. Notes. 3 Radiometric Dating 2: Dating using Long-lived and Short-lived Isotopes. 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 Potassium argon and Argon argon dating. 3.3 Uranium series dating. 3.4 Cosmogenic nuclide dating. 3.5 Dating using short-lived isotopes. Notes. 4 Radiometric Dating 3: Radiation Exposure Dating. 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 Luminescence dating. 4.3 Electron spin resonance dating. 4.4 Fission track dating.

Beschreibung / Inhaltsverzeichnis: Contents: 1. Biogeohistory and the development of classical biostratigraphy; 2. The biostratigraphy of fossil microplankton; 3. Biostratigraphy: its integration into modern geochronology; 4. Biostratigraphy and biohistorical theory I: evolution and correlation; 5. Systemic stratigraphy: beyond classical biostratigraphy; 6. Biostratigraphy and biohistorical theory II: carving nature at the joints; 7. Biostratigraphy and chronostratigraphic classification; 8. On biostratigraphy and biogeohistory

Beschreibung / Inhaltsverzeichnis: Fluids rich in water, carbon and sulfur species and a variety of dissolved salts are a ubiquitous transport medium for heat and matter in the Earth’s interior. Fluid transport through the upper mantle and crust controls the origin of magmatism above subduction zones and results in natural risks of explosive volcanism. Fluids passing through rocks affect the chemical and heat budget of the global oceans, and can be utilized as a source of geothermal energy on land. Fluid transport is a key to the formation and the practical utilization of natural resources, from the origin of hydrothermal mineral deposits, through the exploitation of gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons as sources of energy and essential raw materials, to the subsurface storage of waste materials such as CO2. Different sources of fluids and variable paths of recycling volatile components from the hydrosphere and atmosphere through the solid interior of the Earth lead to a broad range of fluid compositions, from aqueous liquids and gases through water-rich silicate or salt melts to carbon-rich endmember compositions. Different rock regimes in the crust and mantle generate characteristic ranges of fluid composition, which depending on pressure, temperature and composition are miscible to greatly variable degrees. For example, aqueous liquids and vapors are increasingly miscible at elevated pressure and temperature. The degree of this miscibility is, however, greatly influenced by the presence of additional carbonic or salt components. A wide range of fluid–fluid interactions results from this partial miscibility of crustal fluids. Vastly different chemical and physical properties of variably miscible fluids, combined with fluid flow from one pressure – temperature regime to another, therefore have major consequences for the chemical and physical evolution of the crust and mantle. Several recent textbooks and review articles have addressed the role and diverse aspects of fluids in crustal processes. However, immiscibility of fluids and the associated phenomena of m ultiphase fluid flow are generally dealt with only in subsections with respect to specific environments and aspects of fluid mediated processes. This volume of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry attempts to fill this gap and to explicitly focus on the role that co-existing fluids play in the diverse geologic environments. It brings together the previously somewhat detached literature on fluid–fluid interactions in continental, volcanic, submarine and subduction zone environments. It emphasizes that fluid mixing and unmixing are widespread processes that may occur in all geologic environments of the entire crust and upper mantle. Despite different P-T conditions, the fundamental processes are analogous in the different settings.

Beschreibung / Inhaltsverzeichnis: Contents: 1. LITHOFACIES AND TRANSPORT OF CLASTIC SEDIMENTS IN KARSTIC AQUIFERS, Rachel Bosch and William B. White.- 2. SEDIMENT AND SEDIMENT-ASSOCIATED CONTAMINANT TRANSPORT THROUGH KARST, Barbara J. Mahier et al. - 3. PALAEOMAGNETIC ANALYSIS OF SEDIMENTS ON THE BUCHAN CAVES, SOUTHEASTERN AUSTRALIA, PROVIDES A PRE-LATE PLEISTOCENE DATE FOR LANDSCAPE AND CLIMATE EVOLUTION, R. J. Musgrave and J. A. Webb - 4. PALEOMAGNETIC ANALYSIS OF A LONG-TERM SEDIMENT TRAP, KOOKEN CAVE, HUNTINGDON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, USA, Ira D. Sasowsky et al. - 5. PROVENANCE O SUSPENDED SEDIMENT DISCHARGED FROM A KARST AQUIFER DETERMINED BY CLAY MINERALOGY F. Leo Lynch et al. - 6. READING VIRGINIA?S PALEOCLIMATE FROM THE GEOCHEMISTRY AND SEDIMENTOLOGY OF CLASTIC CAVE SEDIMENTS, Elizabeth P. Knapp e al. - 7. GLACIALLY-INFLUENCED SEDIMENT CYCLES IN THE LIME CREEK KARST, EAGLE COUNTY, COLORADO Paul A, Burger - 8. CAVE SEDIMENTS AND DENUDED CAVERNS IN THE LAKI RAVNIK, CLASSICAL KARST OF SLOVENIA, France uteri - 9. PALEOCLIMATE RECORDS FROM SPELEOTHEMS IN LIMESTONE CAVES, William B. White - 1O. URANIUM-SERIES DATING OF SPELEOTHEMS: CURRENT TECHNIQUES, LIMITS, & APPLICATIONS, Jeffrey A. Dorale et al. - 11. PALEOCLIMATE INFORMATION FROM SPELEOTHEMS: THE PRESENT AS A GUIDE TO THE PAST, Russell S. Harmon et al. - 12 INFLUENCE OF DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT ON DEVIL?S HOLE CALCITE MORPHOLOGY AND PETROLOGY, Peter T. Kolesar and Alan C. Riggs - 13. SPELEOTHEMS FROM THE HIGH-ALPINE SPANNAGEL CAVE, ZILLERTAL ALPS (AUSTRIA), Christoph Spotl et al. - 14. ISOTOPE STAGE II, THE SUPER-INTERGLACIAL, FROM A NORTH NORWEGIAN SPELEOTHEM, Stein-Erik Lauritzen and Joyce Lundberg. - 15. ESTABLISHING A SPELEOTHEM CHRONOLOGY FOR SOUTHWESTERN OREGON - CLIMATIC CONTROLS AND GROWTH MODELLING, Steven C. Turgeon and Joyce Lundberg. - 6. SILICATES IN CARBONATE SPELEOTHEMS, GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS, NEW MEXICO, U.S.A, Victor J. Polyak and Necip Güven. - 17. RELIQUIAE DILUVIANAE ALTER: LAST INTERGLACIAL FLOOD DEPOSITS IN THE CAVES OF THE WEST INDIES, Donald A. McFarlane and Joyce Lundberg.

Beschreibung / Inhaltsverzeichnis: Die Subkommission Quartär der Deutschen Stratigraphischen Kommission legt mit diesem Band eine Beschreibung der wichtigsten Stratotypen bzw. stratigraphischen Begriffe für das Quartär Deutschlands vor. In dieser Zusammenstellung werden vor allem klimatostratigraphische Begriffe im Sinne von Kalt- und Warmzeiten berücksichtigt, die Eingang in eine regionale Chronostratigraphie gefunden haben. Ein erster Schritt war die Erarbeitung der Stratigraphischen Tabelle Deutschlands (STD) 2002 (DEUTSCHE STRATIGRAPHISCHE KOMMISSION 2002), in der für das Quartär eine Korrelation zwischen der globalen chronostratigraphischen Skala, NW-Europa, Norddeutschland, dem nordwestlichen und dem nordöstlichen Alpenraum vorgenommen wurde. Die STD 2002 (Quartär) berücksichtigt die kontinentale paläoklimatologische Klassifikation in Glaziale und Interglaziale (Erläuterungen vgl. LITT et al. 2005). Die Erarbeitung der Quartärtabelle verdeutlichte die Probleme bei der Verwendung traditionsreicher stratigraphischer Begriffe, die aber im Laufe der Zeit inhaltliche Änderungen erfahren haben bzw. sich regional sogar heterochron gegenüberstehen (z. B. im Alpenvorland). Eine Bestandsaufnahme unter Berücksichtigung der Forschungsgeschichte war dringend geboten. Die vorliegende Beschreibung der Begriffe stellt also keine „Festschreibung“ dar, sondern widerspiegelt den momentanen Stand der Diskussion. Neben den Punkten Definition, Erstbeschreibung, Typuslokalität, Verbreitung und Datierung wurden unter dem Punkt Bemerkungen bestehende Probleme aufgezeigt. Der vorliegende Band berücksichtigt vor allem stratigraphische Begriffe für das Quartär des norddeutschen Vereisungsgebietes und des süddeutschen Alpenvorlandes, die auch in der STD 2002 (Quartär) verwendet wurden. Überdies wurden einige wichtige klimatostratigraphische Begriffe aus dem Periglazialraum beschrieben. Abgerundet wird der Band durch Begriffe der Säugetierpaläontologie. Lithostratigraphische Begriffe fanden in dieser Zusammenstellung keine Berücksichtigung. Die Subkommission Quartär erarbeitet zur Zeit ein Lithostratigraphisches Lexikon, das zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt veröffentlicht wird.

Beschreibung / Inhaltsverzeichnis: Tags: Pleistozän, Biostratigraphie, Chronostratigraphie, norddeutsches Vereisungsgebiet, stratigraphische Begriffe, biostratigraphische Begriffe, Periglazialraum, Säugetierpaläontologie, Pilozän, Deutschland

Beschreibung / Inhaltsverzeichnis: Contents: The environmental landscape of Lochnagar. - The environmental landscape of Lochnagar. - Anthropogenic impacts from atmospheric pollutant deposition. - Future impacts.

Beschreibung / Inhaltsverzeichnis: The importance of sulfide minerals in ores has long been, and continues to be, a major reason for the interest of mineralogists and geochemists in these materials. Determining the fundamental chemistry of sulfides is key to understanding their conditions of formation and, hence, the geological processes by which certain ore deposits have formed. This, in turn, may inform the strategies used in exploration for such deposits and their subsequent exploitation. In this context, knowledge of structures, stabilities, phase relations and transformations, together with the relevant thermodynamic and kinetic data, is critical. As with many geochemical systems, much can also be learned from isotopic studies. The practical contributions of mineralogists and geochemists to sulfide studies extend beyond areas related to geological applications. The mining of sulfide ores, to satisfy ever increasing world demand for metals, now involves extracting very large volumes of rock that contains a few percent at most (and commonly less than one percent) of the metal being mined. This is true of relatively low value metals such as copper; for the precious metals commonly occurring as sulfides, or associated with them, the mineable concentrations (grades) are very much lower. The "as-mined" ores therefore require extensive processing in order to produce a concentrate with a much higher percentage content of the metal being extracted. Such mineral processing (beneficiation) involves crushing and grinding of the ores to a very fine grain size in order to liberate the valuable metal-bearing (sulfide) minerals which can then be concentrated. In some cases, the metalliferous (sulfide) minerals may have specific electrical or magnetic properties that can be exploited to enable separation and, hence, concentration. More commonly, froth flotation is used, whereby the surfaces of particles of a particular mineral phase are rendered water repellent by the addition of chemical reagents and hence are attracted to air bubbles pulsed through a mineral particle-water-reagent pulp. An understanding of the surface chemistry and surface reactivity of sulfide minerals is central to this major industrial process and, of course, knowledge of electrical and magnetic properties is very important in cases where those particular properties can be utilized. In the years since the publication of the first ever Reviews in Mineralogy volume (1974, at that time called MSA "Short Course Notes") which was entitled Sulfide Mineralogy, sulfides have become a focus of research interest for reasons centering on at least two other areas in addition to their key role in ore deposit studies and mineral processing technology. It is in these two new areas that much of the research on sulfides has been concentrated in recent years. The first of these areas relates to the capacity of sulfides to react with natural waters and acidify them; the resulting Acid Rock Drainage (ARD), or Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) where the sulfides are the waste products of mining, has the capacity to damage or destroy vegetation, fish and other aquatic life forms. These acid waters may also accelerate the dissolution of associated minerals containing potentially toxic elements (e.g., As, Pb, Cd, Hg, etc.) and these may, in turn, cause environmental damage. The much greater public awareness of the need to prevent or control AMD and toxic metal pollution has led to regulation and legislation in many parts of the world, and to the funding of research programs aimed at a greater understanding of the factors controlling the breakdown of sulfide minerals. We begin with a review of analytical methods for measuring and calibrating water contents in nominally anhydrous minerals by George Rossman. While infrared spectroscopy is still the most sensitive and most convenient method for detecting water in minerals, it is not intrinsically quantitative but requires calibration by some other, independent analytical method, such as nuclear reaction analysis, hydrogen manometry, or SIMS. A particular advantage of infrared spectroscopy, however, is the fact that it does not only probe the concentration, but also the structure of hydrous species in a mineral and in many cases the precise location of a proton in a mineral structure can be worked out based on infrared spectra alone. The methods and principles behind this are reviewed by Eugen Libowitzky and Anton Beran, with many illustrative examples. Compared to infrared spectroscopy, NMR is much less used in studying hydrogen in minerals, mostly due to its lower sensitivity, the requirement of samples free of paramagnetic ions such as Fe2+ and because of the more complicated instrumentation required for NMR measurements. However, NMR could be very useful under some circumstances. It could detect any hydrogen species in a sample, including such species as H2 that would be invisible with infrared. Potential applications of NMR to the study of hydrogen in minerals are reviewed by Simon Kohn. While structural models of "water" in minerals have already been deduced from infrared spectra several decades ago, in recent years atomistic modeling has become a powerful tool for predicting potential sites for hydrogen in minerals. The review by Kate Wright gives an overview over both quantum mechanical methods and classical methods based on interatomic potentials. Joseph Smyth then summarizes the crystal chemistry of hydrogen in high-pressure silicate and oxide minerals. As a general rule, the incorporation of hydrogen is not controlled by the size of potential sites in the crystal lattice; rather, the protons will preferentially attach to oxygen atoms that are electrostatically underbonded, such as the non-silicate oxygen atoms in some high-pressure phases. Moreover, heterovalent substitutions, e.g., the substitution of Al3+ for Si4+, can have a major effect on the incorporation of hydrogen. The second reason for even greater research interest in sulfide minerals arose initially from the discoveries of active hydrothermal systems in the deep oceans. The presence of life forms that have chemical rather than photosynthetic metabolisms, and that occur in association with newly-forming sulfides, has encouraged research on the potential of sulfide surfaces in catalyzing the reactions leading to assembling of the complex molecules needed for life on Earth. These developments have been associated with a great upsurge of interest in the interactions between microbes and minerals, and in the role that minerals can play in biological systems. In the rapidly growing field of geomicrobiology, metal sulfides are of major interest. This interest is related to a variety of processes including, for example, those where bacteria interact with sulfides as part of their metabolic activity and cause chemical changes such as oxidation or reduction, or those in which biogenic sulfide minerals perform a specific function, such as that of navigation in magnetotactic bacteria. The development of research in areas such as geomicrobiology and environmental mineralogy and geochemistry, is also leading to a greater appreciation of the role of sulfides (particularly the iron sulfides) in the geochemical cycling of the elements at or near the surface of the Earth. For example, the iron sulfides precipitated in the reducing environments beneath the surface of modern sediments in many estuarine areas may play a key role in the trapping of toxic metals and other pollutants. In our understanding of "Earth Systems," geochemical processes involving metal sulfides are an important part of the story. The main objective of the present text is to provide an up-to-date review of sulfide mineralogy and geochemistry. The emphasis is, therefore, on such topics as crystal structure and classification, electrical and magnetic properties, spectroscopic studies, chemical bonding, high and low temperature phase relations, thermochemistry, and stable isotope systematics. In the context of this book, emphasis is on metal sulfides sensu stricto where only the compounds of sulfur with one or more metals are considered. Where it is appropriate for comparison, there is brief discussion of the selenide or telluride analogs of the metal sulfides. When discussing crystal structures and structural relationships, the sulfosalt minerals as well as the sulfides are considered in some detail (see Chapter 2; also for definition of the term "sulfosalt"). However, in other chapters there is only limited discussion of sulfosalts, in part because there is little information available beyond knowledge of chemical composition and crystal structure. Given the dramatic developments in areas of research that were virtually non-existent at the time of the earlier reviews, major sections have been added here on sulfide mineral surface chemistry and reactivity, formation and transformation of metal-sulfur clusters and nanoparticles, modeling of hydrothermal precipitation, and on sulfides in biosystems. However, it should be emphasized that the growth in the literature on certain aspects of sulfide mineralogy over the past 20 years or so has been such that comprehensive coverage is not possible in a single volume. Thus, the general area of "sulfides in biosystems" is probably worthy of a volume in itself, and "environmental sulfide geochemistry" (including topics such as oxidative breakdown of sulfides) is another area where far more could have been written. In selecting areas for detailed coverage in this volume, we have been mindful of the existence of other relatively recent review volumes, including those in the RiMG series. It has also been our intention not to cover any aspects of the natural occurrence, textural or paragenetic relationships involving sulfides. This is published information that, although it may be supplemented by new observations, is likely to remain useful for a long period and largely not be superceded by later work. In the following chapters, the crystal structures, electrical and magnetic properties, spectroscopic studies, chemical bonding, thermochemistry, phase relations, solution chemistry, surface structure and chemistry, hydrothermal precipitation processes, sulfur isotope geochemistry and geobiology of metal sulfides are reviewed. Makovicky (Chapter 2) discusses the crystal structures and structural classification of sulfides and other chalcogenides (including the sulfosalts) in terms of the relationships between structural units. This very comprehensive survey, using a rather different and complementary approach to that used in previous review volumes, shows the great diversity of sulfide structures and the wealth of materials that remain to be characterized in detail. These materials include rare minerals, and synthetic sulfides that may represent as yet undescribed minerals. Pearce, Pattrick and Vaughan (Chapter 3) review the electrical and magnetic properties of sulfides, discussing the importance of this aspect of the sulfides to any understanding of their electronic structures (chemical bonding) and to applications ranging from geophysical prospecting and mineral extraction to geomagnetic and palaeomagnetic studies. Rapidly developing new areas of interest discussed include studies of the distinctive properties of sulfide nanoparticles. Wincott and Vaughan (Chapter 4) then outline the spectroscopic methods employed to study the crystal chemistry and electronic structures of sulfides. These range from UV-visible through infrared and Raman spectroscopies, to X-ray emission, photoemission and absorption, and to nuclear spectroscopies. Chemical bonding (electronic structure) in sulfides is the subject of the following chapter by Vaughan and Rosso (Chapter 5), a topic which draws on knowledge of electrical and magnetic properties and spectroscopic data as experimental input, as well as on a range of rapidly developing computational methods. Attention then turns to the thermochemistry of sulfides in a chapter by Sack and Ebel (Chapter 6) which is followed by discussion of phase equilibria at high temperatures in the review by Fleet (Chapter 7). Sulfides in aqueous systems, with emphasis on solution complexes and clusters, forms the subject matter of the chapter written by Rickard and Luther (Chapter 8). Sulfide mineral surfaces are the focus of the next two chapters, both by Rosso and Vaughan. The first of these chapters (Chapter 9) addresses characterization of the pristine sulfide surface, its structure and chemistry; the second (Chapter 10) concerns surface reactivity, including redox reactions, sorption phenomena, and the catalytic activity of sulfide surfaces. Reed and Palandri (Chapter 11) show in the next chapter how much can now be achieved in attempting to predict processes of sulfide precipitation in hydrothermal systems. The final chapters deal with two distinctive areas of sulfide mineralogy and geochemistry. Seal (Chapter 12) presents a comprehensive account of the theory and applications of sulfur isotope geochemistry; sulfur isotope fractionation can provide the key to understanding the natural processes of formation of sulfide deposits. In the final chapter, Posfai and Dunin-Borkowski (Chapter 13) review the rapidly developing area of sulfides in biosystems, discussing aspects of both sulfide mineral-microbe interactions and biomineralization processes involving sulfides.

Beschreibung / Inhaltsverzeichnis: The Australide orogen, the southern hemisphere Neoproterozoic to Mesozoic terrane accretionary orogen that forms the palaeo-Pacific margin of Gondwana, is one of the largest and longest-lived orogens on Earth. This book brings together a series of reviews and multidisciplinary research papers that comprehensively cover the Australides from the Tasman orogen of eastern Australia to the Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic orogens of South America, taking in New Zealand and Antarctica along the way. It deals with the evolution of the southern Gondwana margin, as it grew during a series of terrane accretion episodes from the late Proterozoic through to final fragmentation in mid-Cretaceous times. Global perspectives are given by comparison with the Palaeozoic northern Gondwana margin and documentation of world-wide terrane accretion episodes in the Late TriassicEarly Jurassic and mid-Cretaceous. The Tasmanides of eastern Australia, and the terrane histories of New Zealand and southern South America are given comprehensive up-to-date reviews.

Beschreibung / Inhaltsverzeichnis: In Materials Science, investigations aiming to prepare new types of molecular sieves (porous materials) have opened a productive field of research inspired by the crystal structures of minerals. These new molecular sieves are distinct from zeolites in that they have different kinds of polyhedra that build up their structures. Of particular interest are the new molecular sieves characterized by a mixed "octahedral"-tetrahedral framework (heteropolyhedral frameworks), instead of a purely tetrahedral framework as in zeolites. Heteropolyhedral compounds have been extensively studied since the early 1990's, with particular attention having been focused on titanosilicates, such as ETS-4 (synthetic analog of the mineral zorite) and ETS-10. However, titanosilicates are not the only representatives of novel microporous mineral phases. The search for "octahedral"-tetrahedral silicates was extended to metals other than titanium, for instance, the zirconosilicates with the preparation of synthetic counterparts of the minerals gaidonnayite, petarasite and umbite. Many microporous heteropolyhedral compounds containing metals such as Nb, V, Sn, Ca and lanthanides, have been reported and a wide number of distinct structural types (e.g., rhodesite-delhayelite and tobermorite) have been synthesized and structurally characterized. Moreover, the potential applications of these novel materials have been evaluated, particularly in the areas of catalysis, separation of molecular species, ion exchange and optical and magnetic properties. A comprehensive review of the mineralogical, structural, chemical and crystal-chemical studies carried on natural phases may be extremely useful to inspire and favor investigations on analogs or related synthetic materials. A similar synergy between mineralogists and materials scientists already occurred in the "classical" case of zeolites, in which the wide and deep structural and crystal-chemical knowledge accumulated in the study of the natural phases was extraordinarily useful to the chemists who are active in the field of molecular sieves. In particular, the structural investigation of the natural phases may be extremely rewarding and helpful in orienting the work of synthesis and in understanding the nature of the synthetic products, for the following reasons: Whereas rarely the crystalline synthetic products are suitable for single-crystal structural investigations, the natural counterparts are often well crystallized. Crystallization in nature occurs from chemical systems characterized by a wide compositional range, thus producing compounds with a very rich and variable crystal chemistry, which may provide precious information, suggesting possible substituting elements and addressing the synthetic work in a very productive way. The present volume follows a meeting on "Micro- and mesoporous mineral phases" (Rome, December 6-7, 2004) that was jointly organized by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (ANL) and the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) via its Commission on Inorganic and Mineral Structures (CIMS). The meeting was convened by Fausto Calderazzo, Giovanni Ferraris, Stefano Merlino and Annibale Mottana and financially supported by several other organizations representing both Mineralogy (e.g., the International Mineralogical Association and the European Mineralogical Union) and Crystallography (e.g., the European Crystallographic Association and the Italian Association of Crystallography). To participants, ANL staff, organizations, and, in general, all involved persons, our sincere acknowledgments; in particular, we are grateful to Annibale Mottana who was able to convince the ANL Academicians to schedule and support the meeting. This volume of the RiMG series highlights the present knowledge on micro- and mesoporous mineral phases, with focus on their crystal-chemical aspects, occurrence and porous activity in nature and experiments. As zeolites are the matter of numerous ad hoc meetings and books - including two volumes in this series - they do not specifically appear in the present volume. The phases of the sodalite and cancrinite-davyne groups, which mineralogists consider distinct from zeolites, are instead considered (in the order, chapter 7 by W. Depmeier and part of chapter 8 by E. Bonaccorsi and S. Merlino, respectively). The first two chapters of the volume cover general aspects of porous materials. This includes the application of the IUPAC nomenclature developed for ordered porous materials to non-zeolite mineral phases (L.B. McCusker, chapter 1) and the extension to heteropolyhedral structures of a topological description by using nodes representing the coordination polyhedra (S.V. Krivovichev, chapter 2). Chapters from 3 to 7 are dedicated to various groups of heteropolyhedral porous structures for which the authors emphasize some of the more general aspects according to their research specialization. G. Ferraris and A. Gula (chapter 3) put the emphasis on the modular aspects of well-known porous phases (such as sepiolite, palygorskite and rhodesite-related structures) as well as on heterophyllosilicates that may be not strictly porous phases (according to the definition given in chapter 1) but could be the starting basis for pillared materials. The porous mineral phases typical of hyperalkaline rocks (such as eudialytes and labuntsovites) are discussed by N.V. Chukanov and I.V. Pekov under their crystal-chemical (chapter 4) and minerogenetic (chapter 5) aspects showing the role of ion exchange during the geological evolution from primary to later phases, with experimental cation exchange data also being reported. J. Rocha and Z. Lin (chapter 6) emphasize how research on the synthesis of octahedral-pentahedral-tetrahedral framework silicates has been inspired and motivated by the many examples of such materials provided by nature; synthesis, structure and possible technological applications of a wide number of these materials are also described. Following chapters 7 and 8 - which besides the cancrinite-davyne group, presents the crystallographic features of the minerals in the tobermorite and gyrolite groups - M. Pasero (chapter 9) illustrates the topological and polysomatic aspects of the "tunnel oxides," a historical name applied to porous oxides related to MnO2, and reviews their main technological applications. The next two chapters (10 and 11) draw attention to "unexpected" porous materials like apatite and sulfides. T.J. White and his team (chapter 10) convincingly show that the apatite structure type displays porous properties, some of which are already exploited. Chapter 10 also contains two appendices that report crystal and synthesis data for hundreds of synthetic apatites, a number that demonstrates how wide the interest is for this class of compounds. E. Makovicky (chapter 11) analyzes the structures of natural and synthetic sulfides and selenides showing that, even if experimental work proving porous activity is practically still missing, several structure types display promising channels. Chapter 12, by M. Mellini, is the only one dedicated to mesoporous mineral phases - which are crystalline compounds with pores wider than 2 nm. Examples discussed are carbon nanotubes, fullerenes - which occur also in nature - chrysotile, opal and, moving from channels to cages, clathrates.

Beschreibung / Inhaltsverzeichnis: Six contributions from researchers discuss current geochemical approaches to reconstructing climate in both marine and terrestrial settings during the Cenozoic era. Included are descriptions of a number of theoretical and practical frameworks for analyzing and interpreting isotopic and elemental signals across a range of substrates.

Beschreibung / Inhaltsverzeichnis: The publication of this volume occurs at the one-hundredth anniversary of 1905, which has been called the annus mirabilus because it was the year of a number of enormous scientific advances. Among them are four papers by Albert Einstein explaining (among other things) Brownian motion, the photoelectric effect, the special theory of relativity, and the equation E = mc2. Also of significance in 1905 was the first application of another major advance in physics, which dramatically changed the fields of Earth and planetary science. In March of 1905 (and published the following year), Ernest Rutherford presented the following in the Silliman Lectures at Yale: "The helium observed in the radioactive minerals is almost certainly due to its production from the radium and other radioactive substances contained therein. If the rate of production of helium from known weights of the different radioelements were experimentally known, it should thus be possible to determine the interval required for the production of the amount of helium observed in radioactive minerals, or, in other words, to determine the age of the mineral." Rutherford E (1906) Radioactive Transformations. Charles Scriber's Sons, NY Thus radioisotopic geochronology was born, almost immediately shattering centuries of speculative conjectures and estimates and laying the foundation for establishment of the geologic timescale, the age of the Earth and meteorites, and a quantitative understanding of the rates of processes ranging from nebular condensation to Quaternary glaciations. There is an important subplot to the historical development of radioisotopic dating over the last hundred years, which, ironically, arises directly from the subsequent history of the U-He dating method Rutherford described in 1905. Almost as soon as radioisotopic dating was invented, it was recognized that the U-He [or later the (U-Th)/He method], provided ages that were often far younger than those allowed by stratigraphic correlations or other techniques such as U/Pb dating. Clearly, as R.J. Strutt noted in 1910, He ages only provided "minimum values, because helium leaks out from the mineral, to what extent it is impossible to say" (Strutt, 1910, Proc Roy Soc Lond, Ser A 84:379-388). For several decades most attention was diverted to U/Pb and other techniques better suited to measurement of crystallization ages and establishment of the geologic timescale. Gradually it became clear that other radioisotopic systems such as K/Ar and later fission-track also provided ages that were clearly younger than formation ages. In 1910 it may have been impossible to say the extent to which He (or most other elements) leaked out of minerals, but eventually a growing understanding of thermally-activated diffusion and annealing began to shed light on the significance of such ages. The recognition that some systems can provide cooling, rather than formation, ages, was gradual and diachronous across radioisotopic systems. Most of the heavy lifting in this regard was accomplished by researchers working on the interpretation of K/Ar and fission-track ages. Ironically, Rutherfordπs He-based radioisotopic system was one of the last to be quantitatively interpreted as a thermochronometer, and has been added to K/Ar (including 40Ar/39Ar) and fission-track methods as important for constraining the medium- to low-temperature thermal histories of rocks and minerals. Thermochronology has had a slow and sometimes fitful maturation from what were once troubling age discrepancies and poorly-understood open-system behaviors, into a powerful branch of geochronology applied by Earth scientists from diverse fields. Cooling ages, coupled with quantitative understanding of crystal-scale kinetic phenomena and crustal- or landscape-scale interpretational models now provide an enormous range of insights into tectonics, geomorphology, and subjects of other fields. At the same time, blossoming of lower temperature thermochronometric approaches has inspired new perspectives into the detailed behavior of higher temperature systems that previously may have been primarily used for establishing formation ages. Increased recognition of the importance of thermal histories, combined with improved analytical precision, has motivated progress in understanding the thermochronologic behavior of U/Pb, Sm/Nd, Lu/Hf, and other systems in a wide range of minerals, filling out the temperature range accessible by thermochronologic approaches. Thus the maturation of low- and medium-temperature thermochronology has led to a fuller understanding of the significance of radioisotopic ages in general, and to one degree or another has permeated most of geochronology. Except in rare cases, the goal of thermochronology is not thermal histories themselves, but rather the geologic processes responsible for them. Thermochronometers are now routinely used for quantifying exhumation histories (tectonic or erosional), magmatism, or landscape evolution. As thermochronology has matured, so have model and interpretational approaches used to convert thermal histories into these more useful geologic histories. Low-temperature thermochronology has been especially important in this regard, as knowledge of thermal processes in the uppermost few kilometers of the crust require consideration of coupled interactions of tectonic, geodynamic, and surface processes. Exciting new developments in these fields in turn drive improved thermochronologic methods and innovative sampling approaches. The chapters This volume presents 22 chapters covering many of the important modern aspects of thermochronology. The coverage of the chapters ranges widely, including historical perspective, analytical techniques, kinetics and calibrations, modeling approaches, and interpretational methods. In general, the chapters focus on intermediate- to low-temperature thermochronometry, though some chapters cover higher temperature methods such as monazite U/Pb closure profiles, and the same theory and approaches used in low-temperature thermochronometry are generally applicable to higher temperature systems. The widely used low- to medium-temperature thermochronometric systems are reviewed in detail in these chapters, but while there are numerous chapters reviewing various aspects of the apatite (U-Th)/He system, there is no chapter singularly devoted to it, partly because of several previous reviews recently published on this topic. Chapter 1 by Reiners, Ehlers, and Zeitler provides a perspective on the history of thermochronology, comments on modern work in this field and general lessons on the potential for noise to be turned into signal. This chapter also provides a summary of the current challenges, unresolved issues, and most exciting prospects in the field. Much of the modern understanding of kinetic controls on apparent ages, thermal histories, and sampling approaches comes from decades of progress in fission-track dating, a method that remains as essential as ever, partly because of the power of track-length measurements and the depth of (at least empirical) understanding of the kinetics of track annealing. Tagami, Donelick and OπSullivan review the fundamentals of modern fission-track dating (Chapter 2). Two of the most commonly dated, well-understood, and powerful minerals dated by fission-track methods are apatite and zircon, and the specifics of modern methods for these systems and their kinetics are reviewed by Donelick, OπSullivan, and Ketcham (Chapter 3), and Tagami (Chapter 4). Although 40Ar/39Ar and (U-Th)/He dating methods followed somewhat different paths to their modern thermochronologic incarnations, they have many features in common, especially in the kinetics of diffusion and closure. Zeitler and Harrison review the concepts underlying both 40Ar/39Ar and (U-Th)/He methods (Chapter 5). Zircon was one of the first minerals dated by the (U-Th)/He method, but has only just begun to be used for thermochronometry of both bedrock and detrital samples, as reviewed by Reiners (Chapter 6). Continuous time-temperature paths from intracrystalline variations of radiogenic Ar proven perhaps the most powerful of all thermochronologic approaches, and an innovative analogous approach in He dating (4He/3He thermochronometry) is revealing remarkably powerful constraints on the extreme low temperature end of thermal histories, as reviewed by Shuster and Farley (Chapter 7). Thermochronology of detrital minerals provides unique constraints on the long-term evolution of orogens, sediment provenance, and depositional age constraints, to name a few. Bernet and Garver (Chapter 8) review the essentials of detrital zircon fission-track dating, one of the most venerable and robust of detrital thermochronometers, and in Chapter 9, Hodges, Ruhl, Wobus, and Pringle review the use of 40Ar/39Ar dating of detrital minerals, demonstrating the power of detrital muscovite ages in illuminating variations in exhumation rates in catchments over broad landscapes. (U-Th)/He thermochronometry presents several unique interpretational challenges besides new kinetics and low temperature sensitivity. One of these is long-alpha stopping distances, and its coupling with diffusion and U-Th zonation in age corrections. Dunai reviews modeling approaches to deal with these issues in interpreting low-temperature thermal histories (Chapter 10). Ketcham (Chapter 11) reviews the theory and calibration of both forward and inverse models of thermal histories from fission-track and (U-Th)/He data, and makes some important points about the interpretations of such models. Translating thermal histories into exhumational histories and their tectonic or geomorphic significance across a landscape requires quantitative understanding of the thermal structure of the crust and how it is perturbed, a review of which is presented by Ehlers (Chapter 12). Braun (Chapter 13) illustrates the power of low-temperature thermochronometry to constrain topographic evolution of landscapes over time, using PECUBE. Gallagher, Stephenson, Brown, Holmes, and Ballester present a novel method of inverse modeling of fission-track and (U-Th)/He data for thermal histories over landscapes (Chapter 14). Continuous time-temperature paths from closure profiles or their step-heating-derived equivalents are, to some degree, the holy grail of thermochronology. Harrison, Zeitler, Grove, and Lovera (Chapter 15) provide a review of the theory, measurement, and interpretation of continuous thermal histories at both intermediate and high temperatures, derived from both K-feldspar 40Ar/39Ar and monazite U/Pb dating. Extensional orogens provide a special challenge and opportunity for thermochronometry because tectonic exhumation by footwall unroofing often outstrips erosional exhumation, and often occurs at high rates. As Stockli shows (Chapter 16) thermochronology in these setting provides opportunities to measure rates of a number of important processes, as well as obtain a snapshot of crustal thermal structure and its imprint on thermochronometers with varying closure temperatures. Spotila (Chapter 17) reviews the use of thermochronology applied to tectonic geomorphology in a wide range of orogenic settings, introducing the concept of denudational maturity. Thermochronology has found great utility in economic geology, and newly developed approaches pose great potential in this area, and shown by McInnes, Evans, Fu, and Garwin in their review of the use and modeling of thermochronology of hydrothermal ore deposits (Chapter 18). The thermal histories of sedimentary basins are also critical to understanding thermal maturation of hydrocarbons, but are also critical for understanding basin formation, erosional histories of source regions, fluid flow, and climate change and other temporal signals preserved in sedimentary rocks. Armstrong (Chapter 19) reviews these issues and the use of thermochronology in deducing the thermal histories of sedimentary basins. Drawing on large datasets of bedrock apatite fission-track dates, Kohn, Gleadow, Brown, Gallagher, Lorencak, and Noble demonstrate the power of modeling, and, importantly, effectively visualizing, integrated thermotectonic and denudational histories over large regions (Chapter 20). Thermal histories of meteorites provide constraints on a wide range of fundamentally important processes, including nebular condensation and early solar-system metamorphic histories, and the dynamics of interplanetary collisions and shock metamorphism. Min reviews thermochronologic approaches to understanding meteorite thermal histories (Chapter 21), including new methods and approaches. Finally, the importance of robust models with which to interpret thermochronologic data is underscored by the review of the Software for Interpretation and Analysis of Thermochronologic Data (Chapter 22), summarized and compiled by Ehlers, for programs associated with the work of authors in this volume and others.

Beschreibung / Inhaltsverzeichnis: This volume was written in preparation for a short course by the same title, sponsored by the Mineralogical Society of America, October 22 and 23, 1999 in Golden, Colorado, prior to MSA's joint annual meeting with the Geological Society of America. Research emphasis in traditional mineralogy has often focused on detailed studies of a few hundred common rock-forming minerals. However, scanning the contents of a current issue of American Mineralogist or Canadian Mineralogist, or the titles of recent Reviews in Mineralogy volumes reveals that the emphasis of mineralogical research has undergone considerable change recently. Less-common, low-temperature minerals are receiving ever increasing attention, often owing to their importance to the environment. A tremendous challenge lies ahead for mineralogists and geochemists: the occurrences, structures, stabilities, and paragenesis of perhaps a thousand low-temperature minerals require detailed study if geoscientists are to be properly equipped to tackle environmental problems today and in the future. In many low-temperature environments mineral assemblages are extremely complex, with more than 10 species common in many em-size samples. This Reviews in Mineralogy volume provides detailed reviews of various aspects of the mineralogy and geochemistry of uranium; hopefully the reader will benefit from this presentation, and perhaps more importantly, the reader may develop a sense of the tremendous amount of work that remains to be done, not only concerning uranium in natural systems, but for low-temperature mineralogy and geochemistry in general. The low crustal abundance of uranium belies its mineralogical and geochemical significance: more than five percent of minerals known today contain uranium as an essential constituent. Uranium is a geochemical and geochronological indicator, and the U-Pb decay series has long been one of the most important systems for dating rocks and minerals. Uranium is an important energy source, and the uranium nuclear fuel cycle has generated a great deal of interest in uranium mineralogy and geochemistry since the first controlled nuclear fission reaction nearly sixty years ago. Current interest in uranium mineralogy and geochemistry stems in large part from the utilization of uranium as a natural resource. Environmental issues such as coping with uranium mine and mill tailings and other uranium-contaminated sites, as well as permanent disposal of highly radioactive uranium-based nuclear fuels in deep geologic repositories, have all refocused attention on uranium. More than twenty years have passed since the 1978 Mineralogical Association of Canada's Short Course on Uranium Deposits. A realignment of research focus has clearly occurred since then, from exploration and exploitation to environmental remediation and geological "forecasting" of potential future impacts of decisions made today. The past decades have produced numerous remarkable advances in our understanding of uranium mineralogy and geochemistry, as well as technological and theoretical advances in analytical techniques which have revolutionized research of trace-elements, including uranium. It was these advances that provided us the impetus to develop this volume. We have attempted to produce a volume that incorporates most important aspects of uranium in natural systems, while providing some insight into important applications of uranium mineralogy and geochemistry to environmental problems. The result is a blend of perspectives and themes: historical (Chapter 1), crystal structures (Chapter 2), systematic mineralogy and paragenesis (Chapters 3 and 7), the genesis of uranium ore deposits (Chapters 4 and 6), the geochemical behavior of uranium and other actinides in natural fluids (Chapter 5), environmental aspects of uranium such as microbial effects, groundwater contamination and disposal of nuclear waste (Chapters 8, 9 and 10), and various analytical techniques applied to uranium-bearing phases (Chapters 11-14).