Oxford Monographs on Geology and Geophysics – serie

No single prescription can tell us how to deal with problematic fossil taxa. The fact that there is very little evidence is demonstrated in the highly divergent interpretations of a number of problematica. The editors of this volume provide the reader with updated ideas on most of the major problematic fossil taxa, showing that a sweeping change in the paradigm of study is under way. The contributors focus particularly on Early Paleozoic organisms, although Precambrian biota are also discussed. Each fossil group is discussed by an international specialist on the group, and the book is comprehensively illustrated with fossil photographs and diagrams.

This monograph offers an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of geological systems which become spatially organized through the mediation of chemical processes. The treatment is based on a mathematical approach. The intended readership includes researcher and advanced undergraduate and graduate students in all branches of geology as well as scientists and mathematicians concerned with nonlinear dynamics, numerical analysis, self-organization, nonlinear waves and dynamics, and phase transition phenomena. The work could also serve as a basis for a special topics course in mathematics, chemistry or physics.

With significant advances in the field of atmospheric radiation and remote sensing in recent years, the need for an up-to-date treatment of radiation and cloud physics has become evident. This monograph addresses these advances, focusing on the physical principles and approximations required to develop specific subjects. In addition to its scientific value, the information presented here is essential for the development of better weather prediction models for medium- and long-range forecasting. It is also critical for achieving accurate retrieval of temperature and humidity profiles from satellite measurements, since new techniques for monitoring global biogeochemical changes rely on radiation theory and a precise knowledge of clouds and their role in radiative transfer.

Magmatic sulphides provide most of the world's supplies of platinum, nickel, chromium, and vanadium, among other rare and valuable ores.The author, a ranking authority on the topic, discusses the types of rocks that contain magmatic sulphides, the chemical processes by which they form, and the geological setting of major nickel-copper and platinum deposits throughout the world - Canada, Australia, the USSR, South Africa, USA, and Zimbabwe.The book also examines how theories about ore genesis can be applied in exploring for minerals. Of use to both industry and academic research, the book will be of interest to members of geological surveys worldwide as well as for postgraduate studies.

With important applications for ceramic sciences and solid earth geophysics, this book will be welcomed by all those in these fields. It describes in detail equations of state, which are fundamental in studying the physics and chemistry of the Earth. These represent the functional relationship between thermodynamic variables (pressure, volume, temperature) for solids. Oxides and silicates, especially those with high density, are examined.

This volume contains 24 papers covering virtually every recent development regarding fossil horses, rhinos, tapirs, and their extinct relatives. It includes material not currently available elsewhere, such as information on the oldest known rhino and the oldest known perissodactyl, as well as papers debunking myths about the evolution of horses, and strong evidence that hyraxes are not related to elephants. The summary chapter includes useful charts which show the relationships of all perissodactyl genera, their distribution in time and space, and a new classification of the order.

The second edition of this book presents an up-to-date account of the transfer of energy, matter, and momentum between the atmosphere and the ocean. The expository style of the book will be welcomed by students and professionals alike, within the fields of meteorology, oceanography, and physics. Topics covered include surface wind waves, the planetary boundary layer, and radiation.

This book explains the unique changes that occur in materials when they are subjected to unequal compressions. Until now, this class of behaviors has been poorly understood. Thermodynamics has provided an excellent means of understanding and predicting material behavior at the macroscopic level; even when limited to equilibrium states, thermodynamic statements are widely useful, and with extension to nonequilibrium states, almost all observable behaviors are accessible to theory. But there is one resistant point: if a cylinder of material is more strongly compressed along its length than radially, it is in a nonequilibrium state no matter how ideal its condition in other respects. The effect of this type of nonequilibrium has not been successfully explored. The physical consequences are well known: the cylinder deforms in ways described by continuum mechanics. But the chemical consequences are less well understood. The purpose of this book is to provide the outline of a comprehensive approach to answering this question. The author's perspective differs from current technical literature by emphasizing two little-used equations that describe the cylinder's response, simplifying and clarifying the consequent chemical changes. The work will interest all geochemists, petrologists, structural geologists, and materials scientists who encounter the phenomenon.

This volume covers the significant advances made in the field of optical oceanography over the last decade. It is the most complete description of the subject to date and is written in a format suitable for both researchers and students in oceanography, geophysics, biology, and biochemistry. An eclectic blend of information, the book covers the theories, experiments, and instrumentation that now characterize the ways in which optical oceanography is studied. The most significant element of the text is its interdisciplinary flavour. The reader is led from the physical concepts of radiative transfer, through the experimental techniques used in the lab' and at sea and process-oriented discussions of the biochemical mechanisms responsible for oceanic optical variability.

Serpentinites are curious rocks known for the most part as the source of the major form of asbestos, and as ornamental facing stones in architecture. Recent research has shown that these rocks can be important markers of the architecture of the ocean crust, providing vital clues to the processes occurring in the earth's tectonic plates. This book provides a comprehensive geologic history of these rocks, and all earth scientists will find it of enormous value as a reference resource.

This book documents the temporal and geographic distribution of amphibians and reptiles during the Pleistocene of North America. The identification of fossils, the range of adjustments and extinction patterns for these species are treated. The focus of the book is on the unique relationship of the North American herpetofauna to the events of the Pleistocene.

The Pleistocene epoch or Ice Age, an extended period of advancing and retreating ice sheets, is characterized by striking climatic oscillations and sea level fluctuations. This age saw the rise and spread of humans and a great extinction of large mammals by the end of the epoch; in fact, the world today is essentially the product of dramatic changes that took place in the Pleistocene. This book, a companion to the author's Pleistocene Amphibians and Reptiles in North America, discusses the Pleistocene amphibians and reptiles in Britain and the European continent eastward through present-day Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Yugoslavian republics, and Greece. The book begins with a general discussion of the Pleistocene in Britain and Europe with an emphasis on regional terms used to define Pleistocene chronological events. Next, a look at the pre-Pleistocene herpetofauna of the study area sets the stage for a discussion of Pleistocene herpetofauna. A significant section of the book consists of a "bestiary," a series of annotated taxonomic accounts of Pleistocene herpetological taxa from the region. Following this is the interpretive section, beginning with a discussion of herpetological species as paleoenvironmental indicators and continuing with an analysis of herpetological population adjustments to Pleistocene events in Britain and Europe, and then with a discussion of extinction patterns in the region. Finally, the author compares Pleistocene herpetological events in Europe with those in North America. This volume and its companion together provide an up-to-date and comprehensive review of Pleistocene herpetofaunas across a significant portion of the Northern Hemisphere.

In the last ten to fifteen years there has been a movement to break down old disciplinary boundaries in the geosciences in order to develop a more unified view of the earth as an integrated system. Much of this effort has been stimulated by developments in the atmosphere and ocean sciences that study the effect of humanity's impact on the environment. However, solid earth sciences also have a role to play in the Earth System Science/Global Change Programs but efforts to integrate solid and fluid elements of the geosciences have not progressed as rapidly as other elements of these programs.In this book, the authors present examples of how integrating solid earth and climate studies can lead to better understanding of both disciplines. The focus on the role of tectonic boundary conditions for paleoclimate reconstructions. Chapters presenting background material on the impact of tectonic changes on climate will be followed by individual chapters on the "uncertainties" - with respect to orography, geography, timing of ocean gatewary closures, bathymetry, and CO₂ levels in the atmosphere. The book developed from a discussion at the Geodynamics Committee of the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources of the United States National Academy of Sciences.

This book presents our current knowledge of the early vertebrates, which were mainly fish, but included some land vertebrates, and lived about 470 to 250 million years ago. It centres on anatomical and phylogenetic questions, but includes information about fossil discovery and preparation, as well as the analysis of the characteristics from which their relationships may be reconstructed. It addresses critically both old and new problems in the evolution of certain anatomical structures and deals briefly with the animals' way of life, extinction, and former distribution.In addition, the author gives a potted history of the field of vertebrate palaeontology and the rise of cladistics, a major methodological revolution in comparative biology. The book is the first in theif field to use a cladistic approach. For each major vertebrate group, the reader will find a diagram of relationships, or cladogram, with a selection of characters at each node, and a cuccinct phylogenetic classification. The book is illustrated with numerous line drawings, culminating in a series of reconstructions of early vertebrates and their environment, which may have a more popular appeal.

This is the first and only book to give a regional analysis of the oil, gas, coal, and mineral deposits of South-East Asia. The hydrocarbon-bearing basins are described in the complicated regional Tertiary tectonics, for which the region is the world's foremost field laboratory. The book is a companion to the author's 1989 Geological Evolution of South-East Asia. (Now to be reissued by the Geological Society of Malaya.)The stratigraphy, structures, hydrocarbon and coal deposits of the major Tertiary basins are described. Regional similarities and differencs are analysed.Important ophiolite-related chromium, nickel and copper deposits, and volcanic-related porphyry copper and epithermal gold-silver deposits are described from the island-arc terrains of the Philipines and Indonesia. The Sundaland continental peninsular core has been the world's foremost source of tungsten and tin. The great placer tin mines of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are now in decline. Iron, antimony, non-volcanic gold, fluorite, barite, lead-zinc and gemstone deposits are also described.

Most of the world's great volcanic massive sulphide ore deposits, most of its porphyry copper ores, and many of its richest gold deposits occur in association with basalt-andesite-dactite-rhyolite laval suites that have been erupted from the volcanoes of ancient volcanic island arcs and their Precambrian equivalents. The volcanic arc and related aquatic-volcanic environments are now recognized as critical to an understanding of the evolution of the earth's crust, to the unravelling of the petrogenesis of many important ore types, and to the planning of much mineral exploration.This book is concerned with the behaviour of the `ore elements' - copper, zinc, lead, cobalt, nickel, barium, and other - in young, unmetamorphosed volcanic arc suites ranging from high-magnesium basalts to dactites and rhyolites. Using principally the Late Tertiary to Recent lavas of the Solomon Islands Younger Volcanic Suite, the author considers the patterns of abundance of these elements both in the `whole rocks' and their constituent minerals, and the way in which the metals may be enriched or impoverished in the residual melt as an arc lava series evolves from basalt to rhyolite.