Modern Methods Of Igneous Petrology

Volume 24 of Reviews in Mineralogy attempted to bring together the basic data and fundamental theoretical constraints on magmatic processes with applications to specific problems in igneous petrology. The Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) sponsored the short course on "Modern Methods of Igneous Petrolgy: Understanding Magmatic Processes" at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco, California in December 1990. It was organized by the editors, Jim Nicholls and Kelly Russell, and presented by the authors of this volume to about 80 participants in conjunction with the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

The field of Igneous Petrology has evolved greatly in the past years. McBirney's new Third Edition, completely revised and updated, presents a modern and integrated survey of the geological and genetic relations of igneous rocks. It illustrates how modern geochemical and geophysical methods can be combined with field relations to understand the generational and compositional evolution of magmas.

A balanced text that bridges the gap between introductory petrography-oriented texts and the more advanced texts that have a thermodynamic and/or chemical approach. Well-indexed, well-referenced and written in a particularly readable style, it leads the reader from classical to modern concepts in igneous petrology.

Mind over Magma chronicles the scientific effort to unravel the mysteries of rocks that solidified on or beneath Earth's surface from the intensely hot, molten material called magma. The first-ever comprehensive history of the study of such igneous rocks, it traces the development of igneous petrology from ancient descriptions of volcanic eruptions to recent work incorporating insights from physical chemistry, isotope studies, and fluid dynamics. Intellectual developments in the field--from the application of scientific methods to the study of rocks to the discovery of critical data and the development of the field's major theories--are considered within their broader geographical, social, and technological contexts. Mind over Magma examines the spread of igneous petrology from western Europe to North America, South Africa, Japan, Australia, and much of the rest of the world. It considers the professionalization and Anglicization of the field, detailing changes in publication outlets, the role of women, and the influence of government funding. The book also highlights the significant role that technological developments--including the polarizing microscope, high-temperature quenching furnaces, and instrumental analysis--have played in the discovery of new data and development of revolutionary insights into the nature of igneous rocks. Both an engagingly told story and a major reference, Mind over Magma is the only available history of this important field. As such, it will be appreciated by petrologists, geochemists, and other geologists as well as by those interested in the history of science.

Igneous and metamorphic petrology has over the last twenty years expanded rapidly into a broad, multifaceted and increasingly quantitative science. Advances in geochemistry, geochronology, and geophysics, as well as the appearance of new analytical tools, have all contributed to new ways of thinking about the origin and evolution of magmas, and the processes driving metamorphism. This book is designed to give students a balanced and comprehensive coverage of these new advances, as well as a firm grounding in the classical aspects of igneous and metamorphic petrology. The emphasis throughout is on the processes controlling petrogenesis, but care is taken to present the important descriptive information so crucial to interpretation. One of the most up-to-date synthesis of igneous and metamorphic petrology available. Emphasis throughout on latest experimental and field data. Igneous and metamorphic sections can be used independently if necessary.

This textbook provides a basic understanding of the formative processes of igneous and metamorphic rock through quantitative applications of simple physical and chemical principles. The book encourages a deeper comprehension of the subject by explaining the petrologic principles rather than simply presenting the student with petrologic facts and terminology. Assuming knowledge of only introductory college-level courses in physics, chemistry, and calculus, it lucidly outlines mathematical derivations fully and at an elementary level, and is ideal for intermediate and advanced courses in igneous and metamorphic petrology. The end-of-chapter quantitative problem sets facilitate student learning by working through simple applications. They also introduce several widely-used thermodynamic software programs for calculating igneous and metamorphic phase equilibria and image analysis software. With over 350 illustrations, this revised edition contains valuable new material on the structure of the Earth's mantle and core, the properties and behaviour of magmas, recent results from satellite imaging, and more.

The founders of geology at the beginning of the last century were suspicious oflaboratories. Hutton's well-known dictum illustrates the point: "There are also superficial reasoning men . . . they judge of the great oper ations of the mineral kingdom from having kindled a fire, and looked into the bottom of a little crucible. " The idea was not unreasonable; the earth is so large and its changes are so slow and so complicated that labo ratory tests and experiments were of little help. The earth had to be studied in its own terms and geology grew up as a separate science and not as a branch of physics or chemistry. Its practitioners were, for the most part, experts in structure, stratigraphy, or paleontology, not in silicate chemistry or mechanics. The chemists broke into this closed circle before the physicists did. The problems of the classification of rocks, particularly igneous rocks, and of the nature and genesis of ores are obviously chemical and, by the mid- 19th century, chemistry was in a state where rocks could be effectively analyzed, and a classification built up depending partly on chemistry and partly on the optical study of thin specimens. Gradually the chemical study of rocks became one of the central themes of earth science.