ALBERT

Description / Table of Contents: Fractured reservoirs contain a significant proportion of the global hydrocarbon reserves; however, they commonly exhibit unpredictable and extreme production behaviour. To develop such reservoirs it is necessary to obtain the best understanding possible of the fracture network and its impact on the fluid flow within the reservoir, using the full range of geoscience and engineering datasets available at all scales. This book presents an overview of current techniques and the latest technologies used to understand and exploit fractured reservoirs. The contributions are organized into sections on outcrop analogues, the application of geophysical techniques for fracture detection and imaging, numerical and analogue modelling and case studies from fields in the Middle East, Europe and North America. A number of the case studies also consider ways of assessing uncertainties in fracture geometry description and the implications for effective reservoir management.

Description / Table of Contents: We are poised to embark on a new era of discovery in the study of geomorphology. The discipline has a long and illustrious history, but in recent years an entirely new way of studying landscapes and seascapes has been developed. It involves the use of 3D seismic data. Just as CAT scans allow medical staff to view our anatomy in 3D, seismic data now allows Earth scientists to do what the early geomorphologists could only dream of - view tens and hundreds of square kilometres of the Earth's subsurface in 3D and therefore see for the first time how landscapes have evolved through time. This volume demonstrates how earth scientists are starting to use this relatively new tool to study the dynamic of a range of sedimentary environments.

Description / Table of Contents: There has lately been a growth in the number and level of studies of contourite deposits. Most recent studies of contourites have two major lines of interest. One, propelled by the oil industry's continuous move into increasingly deep waters, concerns their economic significance. The other involves the stratigraphic/ palaeoceanographic record of ocean circulation changes imprinted on contourite deposits that can be a key to understanding better the climate-ocean connection. The application of many different theoretical, experimental and empirical resources provided by geophysics, sedimentology, geochemistry, petrology, scale modeling and field geology are used in the 16 papers of this volume, proposing answers to those two main aspects. The papers are subdivided into two major categories (economic interest and stratigraphic/palaeoceanographic significance), with case studies ranging from well-documented drifts to new examples of modern and fossil series, involving a large diversity of geographic and physiographic scenarios worldwide.

Description / Table of Contents: Remerciements --- Avertissement --- Introduction --- Partie 1. Les grandes évolutions du passé --- Chapitre 1. La glace et les glaciers, indicateurs des changements climatiques --- Chapitre 2. La valse des glaciers et du climat dans le passé --- Les grands mécanismes en jeu --- Chapitre 3. Le Petit Âge Glaciaire --- La grande avancée des glaciers du dernier millénaire --- Chapitre 4. Quelles ont été les causes du Petit Âge Glaciaire ? --- Partie 2. Le temps du repli (XIXe-XXe siècle) --- Chapitre 5. Les glaciers des Alpes et du nord de l’Europe après le Petit Âge Glaciaire --- Chapitre 6. Le recul des glaciers dans le monde au XXe siècle --- Partie 3. Comment les glaciers varient-ils ? --- Chapitre 7. Des fluctuations des fronts aux bilans de masse --- Chapitre 8. Comment le climat influence-t-il les glaciers ? --- Partie 4. Quels glaciers pour quel climat ? --- Chapitre 9. Évolution de la cryosphère depuis les années 1960 --- Chapitre 10. Le XXIe siècle vu par les modèles --- Réponses des glaciers au nouveau climat --- Chapitre 11. Glaciers en recul : quelles conséquences ? --- Conclusion --- Pour en savoir plus --- Glossaire --- Table des encadrés

Description / Table of Contents: Tsunamis like the Indian Ocean tsunami caused by the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake in 2004 or the Chilean earthquake in the Pacific Ocean in 1960 motivate international collaborations for the development of tsunami warning systems. Since 1960 the Tsunami Commission, established by the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, has been holding a biannual International Tsunami Symposium (ITS). This volume contains 20 contributions of leading scientists mostly presented at the 22nd International Tsunami Symposium held in summer 2005 in Greece. Consolidated findings based on hydrophone records, seismometer readings, and tide gauges are presented. Reports of post-tsunami surveys and numerical simulations for tsunamis such as the 2004 Indian Ocean event, as well as geological studies of tsunamis in Japan, Central and North America are given. Probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis and tsunami warning systems, among others, are described as are methods to predict tsunamis and mitigate their hazards.

Description / Table of Contents: The many kinds of porous geomaterials (rocks, soils, concrete, etc.) exhibit a range of responses when undergoing inelastic deformation. In doing so they commonly develop well-ordered fabric elements, forming fractures, shear bands and compaction bands, so creating the planar fabrics that are regarded as localization. Because these induced localization fabrics alter the bulk material properties (such as permeability, acoustic characteristics and strength), it is important to understand how and why localization occurs, and how it relates to its setting. The concept of damage (in several uses) describes both the precursor to localization and the context within which it occurs. A key theme is that geomaterials display a strong material evolution during deformation, revealing a close linkage between the damage and localization processes. This volume assembles perspectives from a number of disciplines, including soil mechanics, rock mechanics, structural geology, seismic anisotropy and reservoir engineering. The papers range from theoretical to observational, and include contributions showing how the deformed geomaterials emergent bulk characteristics, like permeability and seismic anisotropy, can be predicted. This book will be of interest to a wide range of geoscientists and engineers who deal with characterization of deformed materials.

Description / Table of Contents: The Proterozoic and early Phanerozoic was a time punctuated by a series of significant events in Earth history. Glaciations of global scale wracked the planet, interfingered with dramatic changes in oceanic and atmospheric chemistry and marked changes in continental configuration. It was during these dynamic and ‘weedy’ times that metazoans first appeared. Their subsequent diversification culminated in the appearance of hard tissue skeletons and deep "farming" of the marine substrate in late Proterozoic and first few millions of years of the Phanerozoic. The papers in this book deal specifically with the precise timing of physical events and teasing out of the effects which these changing environments, climates, global chemistry and palaeogeography had on the development and diversification of animals, resulting in the spectacular Ediacaran/Vendian faunas of the late Precambrian.

Description / Table of Contents: The dangers that we face from geohazards appear to be getting worse, especially with the impact of increasing population and global climate change. This collection of papers illustrates how remote sensing technologies - measuring, mapping and monitoring the Earth's surface from aircraft or satellites - can help us to rapidly detect and better manage geohazards. The hazardous terrains examined include areas of landslides, flooding, erosion, contaminated land, shrink-swell clays, subsidence, seismic activity and volcanic landforms. Key aspects of remote sensing are introduced, making this a book that can easily be read by those who are unfamiliar with remote sensing. The featured remote sensing systems include aerial photography and photogrammetry, thermal scanning, hyperspectral sensors, airborne laser altimetry (LiDAR), radar interferometry and multispectral satellites (Landsat, ASTER). Related technologies and methodogies, such as the processing of Digital Elevation Models and data analysis using Geographical Information Systems, are also discussed.

Description / Table of Contents: The book presents an overview of the main hazards affecting karst, including collapse and subsidence phenomena, hydrological hazards and human-induced geohazards. Consideration is also given to the problems of geohazard management in karst. The geological and hydrological properties of karst terrains make them among the most fragile in the world and pose serious problems for land managers. Sustainable development in these terrains requires efforts to limit geohazards of anthropogenic origin and to recognize and mitigate against those of natural origin. Aimed at providing the reader with worldwide case studies, the contributions cover a range of geological and morphological settings. Geographically, the fourteen papers discuss very different karst areas, from North America, the Caribbean and Asia to several karst areas in Europe, including the British Isles, Spain, France and Italy.

Description / Table of Contents: For the geoscientist, interest in sediment dynamics relates to the understanding of modern processes, together with their extrapolation to the interpretation of ancient deposits within the stratigraphic record. Over the years, various measurement techniques and scientific approaches have been applied to the determination of sediment transport pathways and the derivation of erosion, transport and deposition rates. Recently, a number of new techniques and approaches have been developed, associated with different temporal and spatial scales, and it is appropriate and timely to review a representative selection, by reference to recently undertaken coastal and shelf investigations. The various contributions in the volume cover, for example: optical and acoustic backscatter measurements; particle tracking; the use of mutibeam imagery; grain-size trend analysis; and analytic, numerical and conceptual modelling. Although no single method provides a complete solution to the problem posed, this overview will assist sedimentologists and sediment dynamicists in their selection of the most appropriate approaches, towards the establishment of ‘high confidence’ in the interpretation of sediment transport rates and directions.

Description / Table of Contents: Structurally complex reservoirs form a distinct class of reservoir in which fault arrays and fracture networks, in particular, exert an overriding control on petroleum trapping and production behaviour. With modern exploration and production portfolios now commonly held in geologically complex settings, there is an increasing technical challenge to find new prospects and to extract remaining hydrocarbons from these reservoirs. This volume reviews our current understanding and ability to model the complex distribution and behaviour of fault and fracture networks, highlighting their fluid compartmentalizing effects and storage-transmissivity characteristics, and outlining approaches for predicting the dynamic fluid flow and geomechanical behaviour of these reservoirs. This collection of 25 papers provides an overview of recent progress and outstanding issues in the areas of (i) structural complexity and fault geometry, (ii) detection and prediction of faults and fractures, (iii) compartmentalizing effects of fault systems and complex siliciclastic reservoirs and (iv) critical controls affecting fractured reservoirs.

Description / Table of Contents: This book summarizes our present understanding of the formation of passive continental margins and their ocean–continent transitions. It outlines the geological, geophysical and petrological observations that characterize extensional systems, and how such observations can guide and constrain dynamic and kinematic models of continental lithosphere extension, breakup and the inception of organized sea-floor spreading. The book focuses on imaging, mapping and modelling lithospheric extensional systems, at both the regional scale using dynamic models to the local scale of individual basins using kinematic models, with an emphasis on capturing the extensional history of the Iberia and Newfoundland margins. The results from a number of other extensional regimes are presented to provide comparisons with the North Atlantic studies; these range from the Tethyan realm and the northern Red Sea to the western and southern Australian margins, the Basin and Range Province, and the Woodlark basin of Papua New Guinea. All of these field studies, combined with lessons learnt from the modelling, are used to address fundamental questions about the extreme deformation of continental lithosphere.

Description / Table of Contents: Where were the women in Geology? This book is a first as it unravels the diverse roles women have played in the history and development of geology as a science predominantly in the UK, Ireland and Australia, and selectively in Germany, Russia and US. The volume covers the period from the late eighteenth century to the present day and shows how the roles that women have played changed with time. These included illustrators, museum collectors and curators, educationalists, researchers and geologists. Originally as wives, sisters or mothers many were assistants to their male relatives. This book looks at all these forgotten women and for the first time historians and scientists together explore the contribution they made to this male-dominated subject. There are individual profiles on remarkable women: Catherine Raisin, Dorothea Bate, Cuvier's daughters, Grace Prestwich, Annie Greenly, Nancy Kirk, Margaret Crosfield, Ethel Skeat, Maria Ogivlie Gordon, Marie Stopes, Anne Phillips, Muriel Arber and Etheldred Bennett. Pulling together this extensive research uncovered common issues and generated emergent themes. The Editors have brought this new research together under these themes and tried to answer the question Where were the women in Geology? They go on to discuss how these role models can be applicable to today's society.

Description / Table of Contents: The Devonian was a peculiar period, characterized by simplified plate tectonic configurations, climatic overheating and widely flooded continents. The bloom of fishes and ammonoids, extensive reef complexes, and the conquest of land indicate major biosphere innovations, punctuated by many global events, including two of the biggest mass extinctions. The Devonian was the first system for which subdivisions were formally defined. This was achieved by significant advances in pelagic biostratigraphy. The chronostratigraphic framework and interdisciplinary techniques allow us to correlate intervals or sudden events across facies boundaries, in order to reconstruct the sedimentary and evolutionary history of the system with highest precision. This volume honors the lifetime stratigraphic achievements of Michael Robert House (1930-2002). Based on case studies from Europe, North Africa and North America, it shows how the combination of biostratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy and event stratigraphy can contribute to a much deeper understanding of both regional and global environmental change.

Description / Table of Contents: This book provides an overview of the principal environments, main processes and manifestations of hypogenic speleogenesis, and refines the relevant conceptual framework. It consolidates the notion of hypogenic karst as one of the two major types of karst systems (the other being epigenetic karst). Karst is viewed in the context of regional groundwater flow systems, which provide the systematic transport and distribution mechanisms needed to produce and maintain the disequilibrium conditions necessary for speleogenesis. Hypogenic and epigenic karst systems are regularly associated with different types, patterns and segments of flow systems, characterized by distinct hydrokinetic, chemical and thermal conditions. Epigenic karst systems are predominantly local systems, and/or parts of recharge segments of intermediate and regional systems. Hypogenic karst is associated with discharge regimes of regional or intermediate flow systems. Various styles of hypogenic caves that were previously considered unrelated, specific either to certain lithologies or chemical mechanisms are shown to share common hydrogeologic genetic backgrounds. In contrast to the currently predominant view of hypogenic speleogenesis as a specific geochemical phenomenon, the broad hydrogeological approach is adopted in the book. Hypogenic speleogenesis is defined with reference to the source of fluid recharge to the cave-forming zone, and type of flow system. It is shown that confined settings are the principal hydrogeologic environment for hypogenic speleogenesis. However, there is a general evolutionary trend for hypogenic karst systems to lose their confinement due to uplift and denudation and due to their own expansion. Confined hypogenic caves may experience substantial modification or be partially or largely overridden under subsequent unconfined (vadose) stages, either by epigenic processes or continuing unconfined hypogenic processes, especially when H2S dissolution mechanisms are involved. Hypogenic confined systems evolve to facilitate cross-formational hydraulic communication between common aquifers, or between laterally transmissive beds in heterogeneous soluble formations, across cave-forming zones. The latter originally represented low-permeable, separating units supporting vertical rather than lateral flow. Layered heterogeneity in permeability and breaches in connectivity between different fracture porosity structures across soluble formations are important controls over the spatial organization of evolving ascending hypogenic cave systems. Transverse hydraulic communication across lithological and porosity system boundaries, which commonly coincide with major contrasts in water chemistry, gas composition and temperature, is potent enough to drive various disequilibrium and reaction dissolution mechanisms. Hypogenic speleogenesis may operate in both carbonates and evaporites, but also in some clastic rocks with soluble cement. Its main characteristic is the lack of genetic relationship with groundwater recharge from the overlying or immediately adjacent surface. It may not be manifested at the surface at all, receiving some expression only during later stages of uplift and denudation. In many instances, hypogenic speleogenesis is largely climate-independent. There is a specific hydrogeologic mechanism inherent in hypogenic transverse speleogenesis (restricted input/output) that suppresses the positive flow-dissolution feedback and speleogenetic competition in an initial flowpath network. This accounts for the development of more pervasive channeling and maze patterns in confined settings where appropriate structural prerequisites exist. As forced-flow regimes in confined settings are commonly sluggish, buoyancy dissolution driven by either solute or thermal density differences is important in hypogenic speleogenesis. In identifying hypogenic caves, the primary criteria are morphological (patterns and meso-morphology) and hydrogeological (hydrostratigraphic position and recharge/flow pattern viewed from the perspective of the evolution of a regional groundwater flow system). Elementary patterns typical for hypogenic caves are network mazes, spongework mazes, irregular chambers and isolated passages or crude passage clusters. They often combine to form composite patterns and complex 3-D structures. Hypogenic caves are identified in various geological and tectonic settings, and in various lithologies. Despite these variations, resultant caves demonstrate a remarkable similarity in cave patterns and meso-morphology, which strongly suggests that the hydrogeologic settings were broadly identical in their formation. Presence of the characteristic morphologic suites of rising flow with buoyancy components is one of the most decisive criteria to identify hypogenic speleogenesis. Hypogenic speleogenesis is much more widespread than it was previously presumed. Hypogenic caves include many of the largest, by integrated length and by volume, documented caves in the world. The refined conceptual framework of hypogenic speleogenesis has broad implications in applied fields and promises to make karst and cave expertise more demanded by practicing hydrogeology, geological engineering, economic geology and mineral resource industries. Any generalization of hydrogeology of karst aquifers, as well as approaches to practical issues and resource prospecting in karst regions, should take into account the different nature and characteristics of hypogenic and epigenic karst systems. Hydraulic properties of karst aquifers, evolved in response to hypogenic speleogenesis, are characteristically different from epigenic karst aquifers. In hypogenic systems, cave porosity is roughly an order of magnitude greater, and areal coverage of caves is five times greater than in epigenic karst systems. Hypogenic speleogenesis commonly results in more isotropic conduit permeability pervasively distributed within highly karstified areas measuring up to several square kilometers. Although being vertically and laterally integrated throughout conduit clusters, hypogenic systems, however, do not transmit flow laterally for considerable distances. Hypogenic speleogenesis can affect regional subsurface fluid flow by greatly enhancing initially available cross-formational permeability structures, providing higher local vertical hydraulic connections between lateral stratiform pathways for groundwater flow, and creating discharge segments of flow systems, the areas of low-fluid potential recognizable at the regional scale. Discharge of artesian karst springs, which are modern outlets of hypogenic karst systems, is often very large and steady, being moderated by the high karstic storage developed in the karstified zones and by the hydraulic capacity of an entire artesian system. Hypogenic speleogenesis plays an important role in conditioning related processes such as hydrothermal mineralization, diagenesis, and hydrocarbon transport and entrapment. The appreciation of the wide occurrence of hypogenic karst systems, marked specifics in their origin, development and characteristics, and their scientific and practical importance, calls for revisiting and expanding of the current predominantly epigenic paradigm of karst and cave science.

Description / Table of Contents: 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.

Description / Table of Contents: Over 25 years ago, Volume 9 of Reviews in Mineralogy: Amphiboles and Other Hydrous Pyriboles seemed to contain all that was possible to know about this group of fascinating minerals. The subsequent twenty-five years have shown that this assessment was wrong: Nature was keeping a lot in reserve, and has since revealed considerable new complexity in the constitution and behavior of amphiboles. Some of the advances in knowledge have been due to the use of new experimental techniques, some have been due to the investigation of hitherto neglected rock-types, and some have been due to the development of new ideas. The identification and systematic investigation of variable LLE (Light Lithophile Elements), particularly Li and H, led to the identification of several new amphibole species and the recognition that variable Li and H play an important role in chemical variations in amphiboles from both igneous and metamorphic parageneses. In turn, this work drove the development of microbeam SIMS to analyze LLE in amphiboles. Detailed mineralogical work on metasyenites showed hitherto unexpected solid-solution between Na and Li at the M(4) site in monoclinic amphiboles, a discovery that has upset the current scheme of amphibole classification and nomenclature and initiated new efforts in this direction. Systematic and well-planned synthesis of amphiboles, combined with careful spectroscopy, has greatly furthered our understanding of cation and anion order in amphiboles. The use of bond-valence theory to predict patterns of SRO (Short-Range Order) in amphiboles, and use of these predictions to understand the infrared spectra of well-characterized synthetic-amphibole solid-solutions, has shown that SRO is a major feature of the amphibole structure, and has resulted in major advances in our understanding of SRO in minerals. There has been significant progress relating changes in amphibole composition and cation ordering to petrogenetic conditions and trace-element behavior. Work on the nature of fibrous amphiboles and their toxicity and persistence in living organisms has emphasized the importance of accurate mineralogical characterization in environmental and health-related problems. The current volume has taken a different approach from previous volumes concerned with major groups of rock-forming minerals. Some of the contents have previously been organized by the investigative technique or groups of similar techniques: crystal-structure refinement, spectroscopy, TEM etc. Here, we have taken an approach that focuses on aspects of amphiboles rather than experimental techniques: crystal chemistry, new compositions, long-range order, short-range order etc., and all experimental results germane to these topics are discussed in each chapter. The intent of this approach is to focus on amphiboles, and to emphasize that many techniques are necessary to fully understand each aspect of the amphiboles and their behavior in both natural and industrial processes.

Description / Table of Contents: The idea for this book was conceived in early June, 2005 at a paleoaltimetry workshop held at Lehigh University, Lehigh, Pennsyalvania and organized by Dork Sahagian. The workshop was funded by the tectonics program at NSF, and was designed to bring together researchers in paleoaltimetry to discuss different techniques and focus the community on ways of improving paleoelevation estimates and consequent interpretations of geodynamics and tectonics. At this meeting, some commented that a comprehensive volume describing the different methods could help advance the field. I offered to contact the Mineralogical Society of America and the Geochemical Society about publishing a RiMG volume on paleoaltimetry. Because many of the techniques used to infer paleoelevations are geochemically-based or deal with thermodynamic principles, the GS and MSA agreed to the project. Two years and roughly 1000 e-mails later, our book has arrived. The book is organized into 4 sections: (1) Geodynamic and geomorphologic rationale (Clark). This chapter provides the broad rationale behind paleoaltimetry, i.e., why we study it. (2) Stable isotope proxies. These 4 chapters cover theory of stable isotopes in precipitation and their response to altitudinal gradients (Rowley), and stable isotopes sytematics in paleosols (Quade, Garzione and Eiler), silicates (Mulch and Chamberlain) and fossils (Kohn and Dettman). (3) Proxies of atmospheric properties. These 4 chapters cover temperature lapse rates (Meyer), entropy (Forest), and atmospheric pressure proxies, including total atmospheric pressure from gas bubbles in basalt (Sahagian and Proussevitch), and the partial pressure of CO2 (Kouwenberg, Kürshner, and McElwain). Note that clumped isotope thermometry (Quade, Garzione and Eiler) also provides direct estimates of temperature. (4) Radiogenic and cosmogenic nuclides. These 2 chapters cover low-temperature thermochronologic approaches (Reiners) and cosmogenic isotopes (Riihimaki and Libarkin). Some chapters overlap in general content (e.g., basic principles of stable isotopes in precipitation are covered to different degrees in all stable isotope chapters), but no attempt was made to limit authors' discussion of principles, or somehow attempt to arrive at a "consensus view" on any specific topic. Because science advances by critical discussion of concepts, such restrictions were viewed as counterproductive. This does mean that different chapters may present different views on reliability of paleoelevation estimates, and readers are advised to read other chapters in the book on related topics – they may be more closely linked than they might at first appear! I hope readers of this book will discover and appreciate the synergy among paleoaltimetry, climate change, and tectonic geomorphology. These interrelationships create a complex, yet rich field of scientific enquiry that in turn offers insights into climate and geodynamics.

Description / Table of Contents: Understanding the process underlying the origin of Earth magnetic field is one of the greatest challenges left to classical Physics. Geomagnetism, being the oldest Earth science, studies the Earth’s magnetic field in its broadest sense. The magnetic record left in rocks is studied in Paleomagnetism. Both fields have applications, pure and applied: in navigation, in the search for minerals and hydrocarbons, in dating rock sequences, and in unraveling past geologic movements such as plate motions they have contributed to a better understanding of the Earth. Consisting of more than 300 articles written by ca 200 leading experts, this authoritative reference encompasses the entire fields of Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism in a single volume. It describes in fine detail at an assessable level the state of the current knowledge and provides an up-to-date synthesis of the most basic concepts. As such, it will be an indispensable working tool not only for geophysicists and geophysics students but also for geologists, physicists, atmospheric and environmental scientists, and engineers.

Description / Table of Contents: During the last decades, measurements of various geodynamic processes have gained ever increasing importance. Temporal variations of the deformation and gravity fields monitored by geodetic measuring techniques reflect isostatic, tectonic or volcanic processes in the earth's interior. Recordings of hydrologic or oceanographic phenomena allow conclusions on surface processes. This volume reflects the major developments during recent years in these areas of research. Most of the papers in this book were presented at the workshop on "Deformation and Gravity Change: Indicators of Isostasy, Tectonics, Volcanism and Climate Change", which took place at the Casa de los Volcanes on Lanzarote, Spain, during March 1-4, 2005. It was jointly organized and supported by the International Association of Geodesy (IAG), the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, the Spanish Council for Scientific Research and the Cabildo Insular de Lanzarote. The workshop also served as the first meeting of the members of the IAG Working Group ICCT2 on "Dynamic Theories of Deformation and Gravity Fields".

Description / Table of Contents: Exciting developments in earthquake science have benefited from new observations, improved computational technologies, and improved modeling capabilities. Designing realistic supercomputer simulation models for the complete earthquake generation process is a grand scientific challenge due to the complexity of phenomena and range of scales involved from microscopic to global. The present volume - Part II - incorporates computational environment and algorithms, data assimilation and understanding, model applications and iSERVO. Topics covered range from iSERVO and QuakeSim: implementing the international solid earth research virtual observatory by integrating computational grid and geographical information web services; LURR (Load-Unload Response Ratio) described in six papers involving this promising earthquake forecasting model; pattern informatics and phase dynamics and their applications, which was also a highlight in the Workshop; computational algorithms, including continuum damage models and visualization and analysis of geophysical datasets; evolution of mantle material; the state vector approach; and assimilation of data such as geodetic data, GPS data, and seismicity and laboratory experimental data.

Description / Table of Contents: Restraining and releasing bends are common, but enigmatic features of strike-slip fault systems occurring in all crustal environments and at regional to microscopic scales of observation. Regional-scale restraining bends are sites of mountain building, transpressional deformation and basement exhumation, whereas releasing bends are sites of topographic subsidence, transtensional deformation, basin sedimentation and possible volcanism and economic mineralization. Because restraining and releasing bends often occur as singular self-contained domains of complex deformation, they are appealing natural laboratories for Earth scientists to study fault processes, earthquake seismology, active faulting and sedimentation, fault and fluid-flow relationships, links between tectonics and topography, tectonic and erosional controls on exhumation, and tectonic geomorphology. This volume addresses the tectonic complexity and diversity of strike-slip restraining and releasing bends with 18 contributions divided into four thematic sections: (1) a topical review of fault bends and their global distribution; (2) bends, sedimentary basins and earthquake hazards; (3) restraining bends, transpressional deformation and basement controls on development; (4) releasing bends, transtensional deformation and fluid flow.

Description / Table of Contents: The geological record contains a fascinating diversity of reefs and shell accumulations. As my other biosedimentary structures, their facies characterization requires careful observation at outcrop and sample scale, and in thin-section to provide information about the global geometries, fabrics and textures respectively. This collection of papers encompasses the breadth of sedimentary geometries and facies displayed by Palaeozoic reefs, shell accumulations, and transitional composite deposits. The definition of reefs and shell concentrations has given rise to variations in nomenclature. The papers in this volume cover specific problems regarding the nomenclature and facies characterization of reefs, shell accumulations and transitional composite deposits. However, rather than attempt a complete revision of terms, the authors have touched on some of the important issues at this stage of development in the field: the main climatic, environmental and evolutionary factors that controlled the Palaeozoic development of shell accumulation and reefs.

Description / Table of Contents: This book is the first peer-reviewed collection of papers focusing on the potential of myth storylines to yield data and lessons that are of value to the geological sciences. Building on the nascent discipline of geomythology, scientists and scholars from a variety of disciplines have contributed to this volume. The geological hazards (such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and cosmic impacts) that have given rise to myths are considered, as are the sacred and cultural values associated with rocks, fossils, geological formations and landscapes. There are also discussions about the historical and literary perspectives of geomythology. Regional coverage includes Europe and the Mediterranean, Afghanistan, Cameroon, India, Australia, Japan, Pacific islands, South America and North America. Myth and Geology challenges the widespread notion that myths are fictitious or otherwise lacking in value for the physical sciences.

Description / Table of Contents: The complexity of plate interactions and associated crustal deformation in the Eastern Mediterranean region is reflected by the numerous destructive earthquakes that have occurred throughout its history. Many of these have been well documented and studied. In addition, the Aegean region provides examples of core-complex formation, synchronous basin evolution and subsequent graben formation and continental extensional deformation following orogenic contraction. It is therefore considered to be a perfect natural laboratory for the study of these mechanisms. The region has been the subject of intensive research for several decades. This book contains current results and ideas regarding the geodynamics of the Aegean and Anatolia. It will be essential reading for all geoscientists with an interest in the structural evolution of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Description / Table of Contents: In the last four centuries geologists have traversed the globe, searching for economically important materials or simply to satisfy their intellectual curiosity. Geologists have often been at the vanguard of scientific exploration. The microscopist Robert Hooke explored the Isle of Wight, and Charles Darwin the Cape Verde islands and parts of South America. The volcanic wonders of Italy and central France attracted native and foreign visitors including Lyell and Murchison. The Tyrrell brothers faced great hardship in northern Canada, as did the actor and mineralogist Charles Lewis Giesecke in Greenland. The development of Sydney, Australia depended on finding limestone for building. French geologists relied on camels in the Sahara, and Grenville Cole trusted his tricycle to carry him across Europe. Four Centuries of Geological Travel: The Search for Knowledge on Foot, Bicycle, Sledge and Camel focuses on the complexities of geological exploration and will be of particular interest to Earth scientists, historians of science and to the general reader interested in science.

Description / Table of Contents: The study of reservoir and repository performance requires the integration of many different fields in Earth sciences, among them rock physics and geomechanics. The aim of this book is to emphasize how rock physics and geomechanics help to get a better insight into important issues linked to reservoir management for exploitation of natural resources, and to repository safety assessment for hazardous waste storage in geological environment. The studies presented here deal with the hydromechanical coupling in fractured rocks, the key experiments in safety assessment of repositories, the development of damaged zones during excavation in a shaley formation, the influence of temperature on the properties of shales, the poroelastic response of sandstones, the development and propagation of compaction bands in reservoir rocks, imaging techniques of geomaterials, the characterization and modelling of reservoirs using 4D seismic data, the mechanical behaviour of fractured rock masses, the petrophysical properties of fault zones, models for rock deformation by pressure solution and the elastic anisotropy in cracked rocks.

Description / Table of Contents: This Special Publication, in memory and celebration of the work of Professor Mike Coward, is about the deformation of the continental lithosphere. The collected papers discuss geometry, structural principles, processes and problems in a wide range of tectonic settings and thereby reflect the breadth of Coward's interests. They encompass the evolution of Precambrian basement gneiss terrains, the geometry and evolution of thrust systems, basement involvement and structural inheritance in basins, syn-orogenic extension, salt tectonics, the implication of structural evolution on hydrocarbon prospectivity and structural controls on mineralization. Examples are drawn from the Lewisian and Moine Thrust Belt of NW Scotland, the Italian Apennines, NW Himalayas, the Cyclades, Oman, Zagros Mountains, Colombian Cordillera, Carpathians, North Sea, offshore Brazil, regional studies of the Irumide Belt (central Africa), Taurus Mountains (Turkey), greater South America, and from the Witwatersrand Basin of South Africa and the Antler Orogeny of SW USA.

Description / Table of Contents: This topical volume of the Journal of Pure and Applied Geophysics utilizes new information not previously accessible for fog related research. It focuses on surface and remote sensing observations of fog, various numerical model applications using new parameterizations, fog climatology, and new statistical methods. The results presented in this special issue come from research efforts in North America and Europe, mainly from the Canadian Fog Remote Sensing And Modeling (FRAM) and European COST-722 fog/visibility related projects. Students, postgraduates, and researchers, interested in cloud physics, physical meteorology, aviation meteorology, climate, weather forecasting, and in other adjacent disciplines, can use this book as a basis for future developments in fog research. It is hoped that this book will lead to new scientific challenges in fog related research, teaching, and applications.

Description / Table of Contents: Understanding, modeling and prediction of mesoscale processes in the atmosphere, ocean and environmental systems have gained importance in the last decade or so. This is because of the availability of more sophisticated observational systems, provided by technological innovations and more realistic simulations using advanced dynamical models. This volume contains many original findings on mesoscale processes in atmospheric and oceanic systems through mathematical modeling, numerical simulations and field experiments. These scientific papers examine and provide the latest developments on a range of topics that include tropical cyclones/hurricanes, mesoscale variability and modeling, seasonal monsoons and land surface processes including atmospheric boundary layer.

Description / Table of Contents: The North China craton is the only known place where an Archaean craton with a thick tectospheric root lost half of that root in younger tectonism by processes such as delamination, convection, hydration-weakening, compositional change or some other mechanism. In this volume, authors provide data constraining the geometry and timing of root loss, aimed at understanding why and how continental roots are lost in general. Modelling how often this process may have occurred in the geological past, and how much lithospheric material has been recycled to the convecting mantle through this mechanism, could drastically change our current understanding of crustal growth rates and processes. Possible triggering mechanisms for root loss include collision of the South China (Yangtze) and North China cratons in the Triassic, the India–Asia collision, closure of the Solonker and Monhgol–Okhotsk oceans, Mesozoic subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath eastern China, impingement of mantle plumes, mantle hydration from long-term subduction and several rifting events. In this volume, we link studies of crustal tectonics with investigations aimed at determining the nature of and timing of the formation and loss of the root, in order to better-understand mechanisms of continental root formation, evolution and recycling/removal.

Description / Table of Contents: Stone buildings and monuments from the cultural centres of many of the world's urban areas. Frequently these areas are prone to high levels of atmospheric pollution that promote a variety of aggressive stone decay processes. Because of this, stone decay is now widely recognized as a severe threat to much of our cultural heritage. If this threat is to be successfully addressed it is essential that the symptoms of decay are clearly identified, that appropriate stone properties are accurately characterized and that decay processes are precisely identified. It is undoubtedly the case that successful conservation has to be underpinned by a comprehensive understanding of the causes of decay and the factors that control them. The accomplishment of these demanding goals requires an interdisciplinary approach based on co-operation between geologists, environmental scientists, chemists, material scientists, civil engineers, restorers and architects. In pursuit of this collaboration, this volume aims to strengthen the knowledge base dealing with the causes, consequences, prevention and solution of stone decay problems.

Description / Table of Contents: This book is an exploration of varying approaches to the study of the deposition, diagenesis and stratigraphy of evaporites. The volume includes papers from chemical modellers, who work on the basis of geochemical representations of the formative water bodies, and from basin-wide depositional-stratigraphical modellers, who propose depositional scenarios that are fitted to individual basinal pictures. Until now there have been only a few studies of evaporite formation that explain the characteristic features we observe in the real rock record. This volume is a collection of relevant papers in which these features are integrated in a realistic manner, based on our new understanding of saline water bodies, to the diverse tectonic, chemical and depositional constraints of their individual basins. In additional there are several review articles that offer oversight and extensive referencing of basins worthy of further study. This book is a valuable resource for sedimentologists and stratigraphers looking for an up-to-date reference on evaporite deposits.