Regional Studies is a collection of papers that deals with strata-bound mineral deposits in the Eastern Alps, in the Canadian Cordillera, in north-central, and southwest England. Other papers describe southern African stratiform ore deposits and the genesis of Irish base-metal deposits. One paper compares the various types of volcanogenic mineral deposits and their depositional environments characterized by distinct assemblages of volcanic rocks, which formed in the Northern Appalachians during certain episodes of the tectonic evolution. The paper notes that the youngest volcanogenic deposits of economic interest are tungsten—molybdenum—tin—bismuth base metal deposits in highly altered rhyolitic sub-volcanic complexes at Mount Pleasant, New Brunswick. Another paper reviews the mineral occurrences in southern Africa that include stratiform, non-magmatic, ore deposits, The paper considers a subdivision of deposits formed from surficial chemical processes during previous (or current) cycles of weathering and erosion. Many ore bodies have a dual origin: for example, the iron in the high-grade hematite deposits is partly syngenetic and partly epigenetic. The paper also illustrates the time-dependence of some stratiform ore deposits in southern Africa in a schematic diagram. Geologists, researchers, or engineers whose works are related with ore deposits and mining will benefit tremendously from the collection.
Most geoscientists are aware of recent IT developments, but cannot spend time on obscure technicalities. Few have considered their implications for the science as a whole. Yet the information industry is moving fast: electronic delivery of hyperlinked multimedia; standards to support interdisciplinary and geographic integration; new models to represent and visualize our concepts, and control and manage our activities; plummeting costs that force the pace. To stay on course, the scientist needs a broad appreciation of the complex and profound interactions of geoscience and IT, not previously reviewed in a single work.The book brings together ideas from many sources, some probably unfamiliar, that bear on the geoscience information system. It encourages readers to give thought to areas that, for various reasons, they have taken for granted, and to take a view on forces affecting geoscience, the consequences for themselves and their organisations, and the need to reconsider, adapt and rebuild.Practicing geoscientists with a general interest in how IT will affect their work and influence future directions of the science; geoscientists familiar with IT applications in their own specialist field who need a broader perspective; and students or educators specializing in IT applications in geoscience who require a top-down overview of their subject will find this title valuable. The IT background from this book should help geoscientists build a strategy for the new century.