THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED to Bob Makela, a best friend for 20 years. He always managed to invent a way carefully to pry loose from the rocks the specimens or data I needed, and he was devoted to finding new ways to disseminate scientific information to children of all ages. Bob died in 1987 while working in the field, but his encouragement to others and his determination won't be forgotten. He was a truly exceptional man, and his memory remains with everyone who knew him. <...>

In the last fifty years, there have been major advances in the acquisition, processing and interpretation of seismic reflection data. These advances have been driven largely by the spectacular developments in the electronic and computer industries.
The first was the common midpoint (CMP) method for acquiring data (Mayne, 1962). CMP methods improve the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios of primary reflections through stacking redundant data.

Digital Signal Processing (DSP) is concernedwith the theoretical and practical aspects of representing information bearing signals in digital form and with using computers or special purpose digital hardware either to extract that information or to transform the signals in useful ways. Areas where digital signal processing has made a significant impact include telecommunications, man-machine communications, computer engineering, multimedia applications, medical technology, radar and sonar, seismic data analysis, and remote sensing, to name just a few. <...>

Shallow, near-surface magma emplacement into a porous, unlithified sandstone occurred by forceful dike dilation and was accompanied by a localized hydrothermal event. Petrographic fabric, authigenic mineralogy and petrophysical data, grade smoothly through the quartzite contact zone outward into the friable Inmar sandstone of Makhtesh Ramon, Israel. Quartz grain deformation, fracturing and rehealing of grains, and pressure solution constitute overwhelming evidence of a compressive environment adjacent to dike margins, albeit with temperatures and pressures insufficient to fully recrystallize detrital grains. Dikes were accommodated primarily by the repacking of the sandstone with both brittle and elastic grain interaction. Post emplacement heating together with elastic compressive stress dissipation, lead to fracture healing and pressure solution. The occasional columnar-jointing must be related to thermal contraction of the quartzite during later cooling and resulting mode I cracks. The alteration of both contact zone and dike material occurred via a transitory and confined hydrothermal seepage up dike margins. Elsewhere around the world highly altered intrusions bordered by indurated sometimes uniformly jointed sediments, may also be the result of forceful magma emplacement and hydrothermal alteration at near-surface levels.