Kevin Hefferan & John O’Brien 
Earth Materials 

Minerals and rocks form the foundation of geologic studies. This
new textbook has been written to address the needs of students at
the increasing number of universities that have compressed separate
mineralogy and petrology courses into a one- or two-semester Earth
materials course.

Key features of this book include:

* equal coverage of mineralogy, sedimentary petrology, igneous
petrology and metamorphic petrology;

* copious field examples and regional relationships with graphics
that illustrate the concepts discussed;

* numerous case studies to show the uses of earth materials as
resources and their fundamental role in our lives and the global
economy, and their relation to natural and human-induced
hazards;

* the integration of earth materials into a cohesive
process-based earth systems framework;

* two color thoughout with 48 pages of four color.

Readership: students taking an earth materials, or
combined mineralogy and petrology course in an earth science degree
program. It will also be useful for environmental scientists,
engineering geologists, and physical geographers who need to learn
about minerals, rocks, soil and water in a comprehensive
framework.

A companion website for this book is available at: href=’http://www.wiley.com/go/hefferan/earthmaterials’>www.wiley.com/go/hefferan/earthmaterials.

Tabella dei contenuti

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

1. Earth materials and the geosphere.

2. Atoms, elements, bonds and coordination polyhedra.

3 Atomic substitution, phase diagrams and isotopes.

4. Crystallography.

5. Mineral properties and rock-forming minerals.

6. Optical identification of minerals.

7. Classification of igneous rocks.

8. Magma and intrusive structures.

9. Volcanic features and landforms.

10. Igneous rock associations.

11. The sedimentary cycle: erosion, transportation, deposition
and sedimentary structures.

12. Weathering, sediment production and soils.

13. Detrital sediments and sedimentary rocks.

14. Biochemical sedimentary rocks.

15. Metamorphism.

16. Metamorphism: stress, deformation and structures.

17. Texture and classification of metamorphic rocks.

18. Metamorphic zones, facies and facies series.

19. Mineral resources and hazards.

References.

Index.

Periodic table.

List of elements.

Circa l’autore

Kevin Hefferan is the author of Earth Materials, published by Wiley.