Igneous Rocks and Processes: A Practical Guide

by Robin Gill (Royal Holloway University of London)

• ISBN13: 9781444309829
• ISBN10: 144430982X
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2009-12-01
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This book is for geoscience students taking introductory or intermediate-level courses in igneous petrology, to help develop key skills (and confidence) in identifying igneous minerals, interpreting and allocating appropriate names to unknown rocks presented to them. The book thus serves, uniquely, both as a conventional course text and as a practical laboratory manual.Following an introduction reviewing igneous nomenclature, each chapter addresses a specific compositional category of magmatic rocks, covering definition, mineralogy, eruption/ emplacement processes, textures and crystallization processes, geotectonic distribution, geochemistry, and aspects of magma genesis. One chapter is devoted to phase equilibrium experiments and magma evolution; another introduces pyroclastic volcanology. Each chapter concludes with exercises, with the answers being provided at the end of the book.Appendices provide a summary of techniques and optical data for microscope mineral identification, an introduction to petrographic calculations, a glossary of petrological terms, and a list of symbols and units. The book is richly illustrated with line drawings, monochrome pictures and colour plates.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

An introduction to magmas and magmatic rocks

Basalts and related rocks

Magma differentiation: phase diagrams and variation diagrams

Gabbros and gabbroic rocks

Ultramafic and ultrabasic rocks

Andesites, dacites and rhyolites

How magmas erupt an introduction to pyroclastic processes and products

Granitic rocks

Alkali rocks

Summary of mineral identification using a polarizing microscope

Petrographic calculations

Glossary

Symbols, units and constants used in this book

Answers to exercises

Reference list

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.