Igneous Rocks and Processes

This book is for geoscience students taking introductory or intermediate-level courses in igneous petrology, and helps them develop key skills (and confidence) in identifying igneous minerals, and in 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, 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.Gill, Robin is the author of 'Igneous Rocks and Processes', published 2010 under ISBN 9780632063772 and ISBN 0632063777.