Volume 48 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry represents the work of many authors whose research illustrates how the unique chemical and physical behavior of phosphate minerals permits a wide range of applications that encompasses phosphate mineralogy, petrology, biomineralization, geochronology, and materials science. While diverse, these fields are all linked structurally, crystal-chemically and geochemically. As geoscientists turn their attention to the intersection of the biological, geological, and material science realms, there is no group of compounds more germane than the phosphates.

Volume 53 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry covers the most important aspects of zircon-related research over the past twenty-years and highlight possible future research avenues.The chapters review the structure of zircon and other mineral (and synthetic) phases with the zircon structure; the minor and trace element compositions of igneous, metamorphic and hydrothermal zircons; the study of melt inclusions in zircon; experimental and natural studies of zircon saturation and the use of zircon saturation thermometry for natural rocks; cation diffusion and oxygen diffusion in zircon; the historical development of zircon geochronology from the mid-1950s to the present; ID-TIMS, SIMS and ICP-MS; the application of zircon chronology in constraining sediment provenance and the calibration ofthe geologic time-scale; other isotopic systematics; the spectroscopy of zircon, both crystalline and metamict and an atlas of internal textures of zircon.

Volume 66 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry is based on a two day short course entitled Paleoaltimetry: Geochemical and Thermodynamic Approaches held prior to the Geological Society of American annual meeting in Denver, Colorado (October 26-27, 2007). This meeting and volume were sponsored by the Geochemical Society, Mineralogical Society of America, and the United States Department of Energy.

Contents:The Significance of PaleotopographyStable Isotope-Based Paleoaltimetry: Theory and ValidationPaleoelevation Reconstruction Using Pedogenic CarbonatesStable Isotope Paleoaltimetry in Orogenic Belts – The Silicate Record in Surface and Crustal Geological ArchivesPaleoaltimetry from Stable Isotope Compositions of FossilsA Review of Paleotemperature–Lapse Rate Methods for Estimating Paleoelevation from Fossil FlorasPaleoaltimetry: A Review of Thermodynamic MethodsPaleoelevation Measurement on the Basis of Vesicular BasaltsStomatal Frequency Change Over Altitudinal Gradients: Prospects for PaleoaltimetryThermochronologic Approaches to PaleotopographyTerrestrial Cosmogenic Nuclides as Paleoaltimetric Proxies

Volume 66 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry is based on a two day short course entitled Paleoaltimetry: Geochemical and Thermodynamic Approaches held prior to the Geological Society of American annual meeting in Denver, Colorado (October 26-27, 2007). This meeting and volume were sponsored by the Geochemical Society, Mineralogical Society of America, and the United States Department of Energy.

Contents:The Significance of PaleotopographyStable Isotope-Based Paleoaltimetry: Theory and ValidationPaleoelevation Reconstruction Using Pedogenic CarbonatesStable Isotope Paleoaltimetry in Orogenic Belts – The Silicate Record in Surface and Crustal Geological ArchivesPaleoaltimetry from Stable Isotope Compositions of FossilsA Review of Paleotemperature–Lapse Rate Methods for Estimating Paleoelevation from Fossil FlorasPaleoaltimetry: A Review of Thermodynamic MethodsPaleoelevation Measurement on the Basis of Vesicular BasaltsStomatal Frequency Change Over Altitudinal Gradients: Prospects for PaleoaltimetryThermochronologic Approaches to PaleotopographyTerrestrial Cosmogenic Nuclides as Paleoaltimetric Proxies

Volume 48 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry represents the work of many authors whose research illustrates how the unique chemical and physical behavior of phosphate minerals permits a wide range of applications that encompasses phosphate mineralogy, petrology, biomineralization, geochronology, and materials science. While diverse, these fields are all linked structurally, crystal-chemically and geochemically. As geoscientists turn their attention to the intersection of the biological, geological, and material science realms, there is no group of compounds more germane than the phosphates.

Petrochronology is a rapidly emerging branch of Earth science that links time (ages or rates) with specific rock-forming processes and their physical conditions. It is founded in petrology and geochemistry, which define a petrogenetic context or delimit a specific process, to which chronometric data are then linked. This combination informs Earth’s petrogenetic processes better than petrology or geochronology alone. This volume and the accompanying short courses address three broad categories of inquiry.　Conceptual approaches chapters　include petrologic modeling of multi-component chemical and mineralogic systems, and development of methods that include diffusive alteration of mineral chemistry.　Methods chapters　address four main analytical techniques, specifically EPMA, LA-ICP-MS, SIMS and TIMS.　Mineral-specific chapters　explore applications to a wide range of minerals, including zircon (metamorphic, igneous, and detrital/Hadean), baddeleyite, REE minerals (monazite, allanite, xenotime and apatite), titanite, rutile, garnet, and major igneous minerals (olivine, plagioclase and pyroxenes). These applications mainly focus on metamorphic, igneous, or tectonic processes, but additionally elucidate fundamental transdisciplinary progress in addressing mechanisms of crystal growth, the chemical consequences of mineral growth kinetics, and how chemical transport and deformation affect chemically complex mineral composites. Most chapters further recommend areas of future research.

Volume 48 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry represents the work of many authors whose research illustrates how the unique chemical and physical behavior of phosphate minerals permits a wide range of applications that encompasses phosphate mineralogy, petrology, biomineralization, geochronology, and materials science. While diverse, these fields are all linked structurally, crystal-chemically and geochemically. As geoscientists turn their attention to the intersection of the biological, geological, and material science realms, there is no group of compounds more germane than the phosphates.

Volume 53 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry covers the most important aspects of zircon-related research over the past twenty-years and highlight possible future research avenues.The chapters review the structure of zircon and other mineral (and synthetic) phases with the zircon structure; the minor and trace element compositions of igneous, metamorphic and hydrothermal zircons; the study of melt inclusions in zircon; experimental and natural studies of zircon saturation and the use of zircon saturation thermometry for natural rocks; cation diffusion and oxygen diffusion in zircon; the historical development of zircon geochronology from the mid-1950s to the present; ID-TIMS, SIMS and ICP-MS; the application of zircon chronology in constraining sediment provenance and the calibration ofthe geologic time-scale; other isotopic systematics; the spectroscopy of zircon, both crystalline and metamict and an atlas of internal textures of zircon.

Volume 66 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry is based on a two day short course entitled Paleoaltimetry: Geochemical and Thermodynamic Approaches held prior to the Geological Society of American annual meeting in Denver, Colorado (October 26-27, 2007). This meeting and volume were sponsored by the Geochemical Society, Mineralogical Society of America, and the United States Department of Energy.

Contents:The Significance of PaleotopographyStable Isotope-Based Paleoaltimetry: Theory and ValidationPaleoelevation Reconstruction Using Pedogenic CarbonatesStable Isotope Paleoaltimetry in Orogenic Belts – The Silicate Record in Surface and Crustal Geological ArchivesPaleoaltimetry from Stable Isotope Compositions of FossilsA Review of Paleotemperature–Lapse Rate Methods for Estimating Paleoelevation from Fossil FlorasPaleoaltimetry: A Review of Thermodynamic MethodsPaleoelevation Measurement on the Basis of Vesicular BasaltsStomatal Frequency Change Over Altitudinal Gradients: Prospects for PaleoaltimetryThermochronologic Approaches to PaleotopographyTerrestrial Cosmogenic Nuclides as Paleoaltimetric Proxies

Volume 66 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry is based on a two day short course entitled Paleoaltimetry: Geochemical and Thermodynamic Approaches held prior to the Geological Society of American annual meeting in Denver, Colorado (October 26-27, 2007). This meeting and volume were sponsored by the Geochemical Society, Mineralogical Society of America, and the United States Department of Energy.

Contents:The Significance of PaleotopographyStable Isotope-Based Paleoaltimetry: Theory and ValidationPaleoelevation Reconstruction Using Pedogenic CarbonatesStable Isotope Paleoaltimetry in Orogenic Belts – The Silicate Record in Surface and Crustal Geological ArchivesPaleoaltimetry from Stable Isotope Compositions of FossilsA Review of Paleotemperature–Lapse Rate Methods for Estimating Paleoelevation from Fossil FlorasPaleoaltimetry: A Review of Thermodynamic MethodsPaleoelevation Measurement on the Basis of Vesicular BasaltsStomatal Frequency Change Over Altitudinal Gradients: Prospects for PaleoaltimetryThermochronologic Approaches to PaleotopographyTerrestrial Cosmogenic Nuclides as Paleoaltimetric Proxies

Volume 48 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry represents the work of many authors whose research illustrates how the unique chemical and physical behavior of phosphate minerals permits a wide range of applications that encompasses phosphate mineralogy, petrology, biomineralization, geochronology, and materials science. While diverse, these fields are all linked structurally, crystal-chemically and geochemically. As geoscientists turn their attention to the intersection of the biological, geological, and material science realms, there is no group of compounds more germane than the phosphates.

Petrochronology is a rapidly emerging branch of Earth science that links time (ages or rates) with specific rock-forming processes and their physical conditions. It is founded in petrology and geochemistry, which define a petrogenetic context or delimit a specific process, to which chronometric data are then linked. This combination informs Earth’s petrogenetic processes better than petrology or geochronology alone. This volume and the accompanying short courses address three broad categories of inquiry.　Conceptual approaches chapters　include petrologic modeling of multi-component chemical and mineralogic systems, and development of methods that include diffusive alteration of mineral chemistry.　Methods chapters　address four main analytical techniques, specifically EPMA, LA-ICP-MS, SIMS and TIMS.　Mineral-specific chapters　explore applications to a wide range of minerals, including zircon (metamorphic, igneous, and detrital/Hadean), baddeleyite, REE minerals (monazite, allanite, xenotime and apatite), titanite, rutile, garnet, and major igneous minerals (olivine, plagioclase and pyroxenes). These applications mainly focus on metamorphic, igneous, or tectonic processes, but additionally elucidate fundamental transdisciplinary progress in addressing mechanisms of crystal growth, the chemical consequences of mineral growth kinetics, and how chemical transport and deformation affect chemically complex mineral composites. Most chapters further recommend areas of future research.