Key concepts in mineralogy and petrology are explained alongside beautiful full-color illustrations, in this concisely written textbook.

First published in 1904, this book is a seminal work in the field of petrology. In it, the authors describe a new system for classifying igneous rocks based on their chemical and mineral makeup, a system that is still widely used today. With its rigorous analysis and detailed descriptions, this book is a must-read for anyone working in the field of geology. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Featuring over 250 contributions from more than 100 earth scientists from 18 countries, The Encyclopedia of Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology deals with the nature and genesis of igneous rocks that have crystallized from molten magma, and of metamorphic rocks that are the products of re-crystallization associated with increases in temperature and pressure, mainly at considerable depths in the Earth's crust. Entries range from alkaline rocks to zeolite facies - providing information on the mineralogical, chemical and textural characters of rock types, the development of concepts and the present state of knowledge across the spectrum of igneous and metamorphic petrology, together with extensive lists of both commonly used and little used terms and bibliographies.

Metamorphic rocks are one of the three classes of rocks. Seen on a global scale they constitute the dominant material of the Earth. The understanding of the petrogenesis and significance of metamorphic of geological education. rocks is, therefore, a fundamental topic There are, of course, many different possible ways to lecture on this theme. This book addresses rock metamorphism from a relatively pragmatic view point. It has been written for the senior undergrad uate or graduate student who needs practical knowledge of how to interpret various groups of minerals found in metamorphic rocks. The book is also of interest for the non-specialist and non-petrolo gist professional who is interested in learning more about the geolo gical messages that metamorphic mineral assemblages are sending, as well as pressure and temperature conditions of formation. The book is organized into two parts. The first part introduces the different types of metamorphism, defines some names, terms and graphs used to describe metamorphic rocks, and discusses principal aspects of metamorphic processes. Part I introduces the causes of metamorphism on various scales in time and space, and some principles of chemical reactions in rocks that accompany metamorphism, but without treating these principles in detail, and presenting the thermodynamic basis for quantitative analysis of reactions and their equilibria in metamorphism. Part I also presents concepts of metamorphic grade or intensity of metamorphism, such as the metamorphic-facies concept.

Phoscorites are dark, often very handsome, sometimes economically valuable, magnetite-apatite-silicate rocks, almost always associated with carbonatite. They are key to understanding the longstanding question of how carbonate and carbonate-bearing magmas rise to the crust and the Earths surface. Despite this, they have been given little attention; a search on geological literature databases will produce thousands of references to carbonatite (up to 4125 on Georef) but not more than thirty references to phoscorite. This book goes some way to redress this balance. Over recent years many European and North American scientists have studied Kola rocks in collaboration with Russian colleagues. The idea for this book came from one such project funded by the European organisation, INTAS (Grant No 97-0722). The Kola Peninsula is one of the outstanding areas in the World for the concentration and economic importance of alkaline rocks. However, Russian work on the Kola complexes is still relatively unknown and a particular aim of this book, as well as presenting current research, is to make this knowledge accessible to English language readers. A large exploration programme on Kola alkaline rocks was active from 1950 to 1990 and involved teams of geologists who studied many kilometres of drill core and carried out detailed mineralogical and petrological studies.