Accuracy is a measure of how close a measured value of a variable is to its true value. In the context of the mathematical geosciences, it could also be a measure of how close an estimated value of a variable is to the unknown true value at a given location when the estimate is obtained as some function of the measured data values.

Th e book MATLAB Recipes for Earth Sciences is designed to help undergraduate and postgraduate students, doctoral students, post-doctoral researchers, and professionals fi nd quick solutions for common data analysis problems in earth sciences. It provides a minimal amount of theoretical background and demonstrates the application of all described methods through the use of examples.

Our dependence on the minerals that underpin modern life has grown enormously over the last few decades. Figure 1.1 shows the price, the average grade and production of copper ore has changed dramatically from 1900 to the present. At the start of last century the price was 7000 US$ per ton (expressed in 1998 currency) to negate the effects of inflation; by 2002 it had decreased three-fold to about 1800 US $ per ton, then, in the three years to 2010 it rose sharply to about 9000 US$ per ton before declining again in the latest recession. Over the same period, the total amount of copper mined gradually increased, except in the early 20s and 30s when both price and production dropped. How do we explain these changes, and what do they tell us about how the metal is found and mined, and about how it is used by society? Understanding these concepts is the basis of economic geology <...>

Forty years ago when plate tectonics was first discovered, there was a major shift in thinking in the Earth Sciences. Little was known at that time about the deep mantle because of the lack of knowledge about material properties, the absence of any seismic tomography or concepts such as mantle convection. Thus the theory of plate tectonics was built on surface observations and kinematic constraints. The theory of plate tectonics is not independent but consists of several assumptions. Examples are the origin of arc magma, MORB or OIB, and the distribution of earthquakes and the plate margin processes are all part of plate tectonics theory. <...>

Geobiology is a rapidly growing and truly interdisciplinary field at the interface between earth and life sciences, and mainstream research in geobiology involves microbes and microbial activities at all scales in different geological environments through time in Earth’s history. This research and its findings have strong implications for the evolution of life on the Earth and potentially in other planets.

The goal of generations of igneous geochemists is to use mineralogical and chemical laws in an attempt to explain the geological processes they are investigating. This scientific approach is both simple and rigorous. Initially it consists of highlighting magmatic differentiation trends and determining the possible underlying petrogenetic mechanism(s).

This book is not a revised version of “The geology of fluvial deposits” (Miall 1996), but an entirely different product.
Much of the material in the 1996 book was compiled at a time when the methods of facies analysis and architectural element analysis were maturing and were becoming widely used by the sedimentological community. The lithofacies classification which I first proposed in 1977, and the method of architectural-element analysis, set out in major papers published in 1985 and 1988, were thoroughly documented in the 1996 book (Chaps. 5–7), and little has been done since then to require revisions or an upgrade.

The objective of this book is to provide a synthesis of the methods used in microfacies studies of carbonate rocks and to show how the application of microfacies studies has contributed to new developments in carbonate geology. In contrast with other textbooks on carbonate sedimentology this book focuses on those compositional and textural constituents of carbonates that reflect the depositional and diagenetic history and determine the practical usefulness of carbonate rocks.

It is a privilege to introduce “Advances in Applied Strategic Mine Planning”, a collection of technical papers addressing core aspects of the sustainable, responsible and optimal development and utilization of Earth’s mineral resources. In a world of uncertain markets, mismatches between demand and reserve base growth (supply), emerging technologies, and new technical challenges and solutions, this book aims to support knowledge dissemination and mobilization of new concerns, concepts, methods and technologies.

In this book the author attempts to provide up-to-date information about the geochemistry, exotic mineralogy, petrology, and experimental studies on ultrapotassic feldspathoid-bearing mafic and ultramafic rocks, which are quite distinct from the rocks of basalt family. The parental liquids for this intriguing group of rocks bear definite signature of their deep mantle source.