It is an old wisdom that metals are indispensable for life. Indeed, several of them, like sodium, potassium, and calcium, are easily discovered in living matter. However, the role of metals and their impact on life remained largely hidden until inorganic chemistry and coordination chemistry experienced a pronounced revival in the 1950s. The experimental and theoretical tools created in this period and their application to biochemical problems led to the development of the field or discipline now known as Bioinorganic Chemistry, Inorganic Biochemistry, or more recently also often addressed as Biological Inorganic Chemistry.

By 1970 Bioinorganic Chemistry was established and further promoted by the book series Metal Ions in Biological Systems founded in 1973 (edited by H.S., who was soon joined by A.S.) and published by Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, for more than 30 years. After this company ceased to be a family endeavor and its acquisition by another company, we decided, after having edited 44 volumes of the MIBS series (the last two together with R.K.O.S.) to launch a new and broader minded series to cover today’s needs in the Life Sciences. Therefore, the Sigels new series is entitled <...>

This book presents an integrated approach to the study of geomechanical processes occurring in oil- and gas-bearing formations during their development. It includes: the choice of a model that takes into account the basic properties of rocks; experimental finding of model parameters; and numerical modeling as well as direct physical modeling of deformation and filtration processes in reservoir and host rocks. The main features of the behavior of rocks are taken into account, such as anisotropy of the mechanical properties of rocks during elastoplastic deformation, dependence of permeability on the total stress tensor, contribution of the filtration flow to the stress state of the formation, and influence of not only tangential but also normal stresses on the transition to inelastic deformation. It is shown how the presented approach allows solving practical problems of increasing the productivity of wells, oil recovery, and ensuring the stability of wellbores.

This book is intended for specialists-geomechanics working primarily in the oil and gas sector, teachers, graduate students, and students of oil universities and faculty, as well as for all those who are interested in scientific and technological development and meeting the enormous needs of mankind in raw materials and energy

In general, naturally occurring rocks are saturated with fluids, water, oil, or gas (Amyx et al. 1960). Any formation rock can produce oil, gas, and water which are considered as reservoir rock. A reservoir rock is a rock has an adequate permeability and porosity to permit fluids flow, to accumulate and to extract in viable volumes (Daniel and Lapedes 1978).

Normally, hydrocarbons exist in sandstones, carbonate, and shales formations and also are present in metamorphic and igneous rocks (basement rock). The principal reservoir rocks are sandstone and carbonate formations. Typically, the physical properties and the composition of the sandstone and carbonate reservoir rocks are varying (Cecil 1949). Therefore, known the physical properties of reservoir rocks, reservoir engineers can estimate the hydrocarbon reserve and identified the ultimate reservoir recovery and determine the best effective production that is economically viable under the existing condition <...>

Availability of energy is key to wealth, political and military power, and living standards. Energy availability and consumption may be the most reliable measure of an economy. There is a direct relationship between energy consumption and countries’ gross domestic product (GDP) and the Human Development Index (HDI). Energy security, which is the relative certainty that energy supplies for a country will be available, constitutes a primary security concern for countries with high energy demands and countries with increasing energy use. Even though there appears to be no immediate shortage of hydrocarbons, this non-renewable resource is being supplemented by renewable energy. The Renewable Energy Era has already begun. Reduction in CO2 emissions is underway because of government regulations and market forces. A completely renewable energy future may be in ourfuture, but its timing is very uncertain as renewable energy presently contributes less than 10% of energy, and that supply is highly concentrated geographically. The potentially largest natural gas resource remaining on Earth, oceanic natural gas hydrate (NGH), may substantially supplement the natural gas supply far into the future. An additional benefit is that natural gas produces less CO2 per Btu and also has a much lower pollution potential than any other combustion fuel. Natural gas is the clean hydrocarbon fuel that will reach into the renewable energy future. Its continued availability at affordable prices becomes increasingly important as coal and oil power plants are retired and energy demand becomes increasingly filled by development of renewable or intermittent power sources.

Heterogeneity is an intrinsic property of all carbonate reservoirs. The properties of these reservoirs considerably change both laterally and vertically. Lateral changes are usually the result of various depositional settings, while vertical heterogeneities are caused by basin evolution through time. Available data from these reservoirs are very limited and so predicting the distribution of properties between the wells is very complicated. The hydrocarbon in place is calculated using these predictions and so they are very important. In fact, many aspects of the reservoir studies are about heterogeneities. Facies analysis and classifications, determining sedimentary environments, reservoir rock typing, flow unit determination and sequence stratigraphy are some examples. <...>

This revision (third edition) is being published 4 years after the publication of the second edition. Many entries have been improved and circa 500 new terms have been added. It includes more than 27,000 entries, 1,500 graphic figures, and nearly 50 tables. New entries include notable sapphires (comprising blue sapphires, sapphires of other colors, engraved or carved sapphires), notable rubies (engraved or carved rubies), and corundums.

If you have criticism or suggestions, please feel free to contact the author.

“Topics in Igneous Petrology: A Tribute to Professor Mihir K. Bose”, as the title appropriately suggests, is a Festschrift, ably edited by Professors Jyotisankar Ray, Gautam Sen and Dr. Biswajit Ghosh. It includes 18 scientific papers by 53 authors from around the globe. This Festschrift is indeed a welcome tribute, a true “festival of writing”, celebrating the life and works of the honoree, the admirable Professor Bose, by his students, colleagues and acquaintances. Unfortunately, Professor Bose passed away on October 1, 2009 before seeing these papers in print. The papers cover a broad range of topics and focus on igneous petrology that is bound to attract attentions of many igneous petrologist-geochemist, and certainly Professor Bose would have found himself drawn to many of these papers with utmost interest.

My main objective in writing this book has been to review the processes involved in present-day magma generation and their relationship to global tectonic processes. Clearly, these are fundamental to our understanding of the petrogenesis of ancient volcanic and plutonic sequences, the original tectonic setting of which may have been obscured by subsequent deformation and metamorphism.

The Earth is a complex and dynamic system that over 4.5 billion years has evolved to form the environment we live in and the resources we depend on. Franco Pirajno’s book ‘‘Hydrothermal Processes and Mineral Systems’’ provides an authoritative and comprehensive overview of hyrdrothermally controlled major mineral resources that have developed in this dynamic system, and where appropriate their links with the development of life and extraterrestrial hydrothermal systems.

Map measurements of the world’s coastline length have yielded a figure of 500,000 km. However, when all of the very real and intricate coastal crenulations are considered, the actual length is probably closer to 1,000,000 km. Added to this is the fact that 40% of the 6,000,000,000 people presently inhabiting the earth live within 100 km of a coastline. From these observations, it can be seen that coasts are a very major geo-morphic and social feature on the face of the planet. And for this reason, scholars in a multitude of disciplines have long been studying the many facets of the zone where the land meets the sea.