Most of what is written about ammonites is found in scientific journals, and an account of the natural history of ammonites for the general reader has long been overdue. The last such book, that went some way to bringing ammonites to the general reader was The ammonites: Their life and their world, was written by Ulrich Lehman and translated into English in 1981. Lehman drew from the latest scientific papers of the time, many of which he wrote himself, creating an impressive array of facts and theories which produced a detailed but very readable book. However, since its publication, palaeontologists have not just accumulated more information about ammonites but have also made some fundamental changes in the way ammonites are envisaged. The most significant has been the switch away from the nautilus as the prototype of the ammonite animal towards the more active cephalopods like the octopus. Any new book on ammonites must take into account these new observations and ideas, and in this book we describe some of the most important ones. <...>

This is the tenth book of a series which began in 1974 under the title Short Course Notes. In 1980 the Mineralogical Society of America changed the name and institutionalized this serial under the title Reviews in Mineralogy. The books published thus far are listed on the opposite page (p. ii); they are available at moderate cost from the Society. Volume 9B, "Amphiboles: Petrology and Experimental Phase Relations," was begun in 1981 in preparation for the Short Course on Amphiboles and Other Hydrous Pyriboles presented at Erlanger, Kentucky, October 29 - November 1, 1981, prior to the annual meetings of the Geological Society of America and associated societies. Unfortunately, only the first chapter was in manuscript form at the time of the short course, and publication was delayed by one year. Its printing coincides with that of Volume 10, "Characterization of Metamorphism through Mineral Equilibria," edited by John M. Ferry. <...>

Carlin-type deposits are major sources of gold, yet their origins are enigmatic. Suggested genetic models make connections to magmatism, regional metamorphism, or regional extension. Depositional mechanisms are uncertain as well. We propose on the basis of geologic, physical, and chemical reasoning, a genetic model in which meteoric fluids were circulated by heat released during crustal extension. These fluids interacted at depth with the sedimentary rock pile and scavenged gold. Upon upwelling, these fluids interacted with various lithologies and/or other fluids and produced the characteristic alteration and metal suites of these deposits. To test the viability of this amagmatic model, we have investigated certain physical and chemical constraints implicit to the model.

Why an atlas of the Carboniferous in northern England? There can hardly be a more researched system in the whole of the British Isles, given its widespread distribution at outcrop and annual appearance in numerous PhD theses (including our own). But perhaps all we really know about the Carboniferous is no more than skimming the surface. In this atlas, using modern multifold seismic and borehole data collected by the oil industry in its search for petroleum accumulations, we can start to look beyond the surface exposures and gain some new insights into the structure and stratigraphy of the subsurface (and surface) Carboniferous. The main elements of this atlas are: (i) a series of regional seismic lines crossing all the basinal areas in northern England illustrating the Carboniferous in section, and (ii) a set of palaeofacies maps describing the evolution of the system in map view.