 | Title | Economic geology principles and practice: metals, minerals, coal and hydrocarbons: introduction to formation and sustainable exploitation of mineral deposits. |
| Authors/editors | Pohl W.L. | |
| Publisher | Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell | |
| Date | 2011 | |
| Pages | 663 | |
| ISBN | 978-1-4443-3663-4 | |
| Price | ||
| (Revised English-language edition of Mineralische und Energie-Rohstoffe, 5th edn. Stuttgart, Germany: E.Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 2005. Companion website www.wiley.com/go/pohl/geology.) | ||
| Review | An economic geologist is concerned with how useful raw materials become concentrated in the Earth�s crust, how and where these concentrations may be located, and the means by which their extent and composition may be mapped and quantified before and during their mining. The four parts of this book reflect these concerns, covering metalliferous ore deposits, non-metallic minerals and rocks, the practice of economic geology and fossil energy raw materials. The arrangement of the book is slightly odd, with the interesting central section on concepts and methods in exploration and mining geology sandwiched between the earlier parts on ores and industrial minerals and the concluding section on coal, oil and gas. The book has been rewritten from the last German edition for an international public, retaining some European bias in its references to examples from this region but turning to important deposits world-wide for explanation of genetic types and practical aspects. The aim is to present the state of the art in economic geology by referring to and citing recent publications as well as earlier fundamental concepts; it is hoped that even experienced practitioners, academic teachers and advanced students of particular subjects will find the synopsis useful. Chapters, each concluding with a summary and recommendation of further reading, survey the following topics: Geological ore formation process systems (metallogenesis), including magmatic, supergene, sedimentary, diagenetic, metamorphic/metamorphosed and metamorphogenic systems as well as deposit formation in space and time and genetic classification of deposits; Economic geology of metals; Industrial minerals, earths and rocks; Salt deposits (evaporites); Geological concepts and methods in the mining cycle of exploration, exploitation and closure, including the development and valuation of deposits, potential environmental problems related to mining and processing, and the deep geological disposal of dangerous wastes; Coal, including peat formation, coalification and post-depositional changes of seams; and Petroleum and natural gas deposits, including species of natural bituments, kerogen and gas, the origins and formation of oil and gas deposits, their exploration and exploitation, tar sand, asphalt, pyrobitumen, shungite, oil shales and environmental aspects of oil and gas production. The volume is completed by a 69-page reference list and a subject index, while the companion web site includes figures and tables from the book for downloading. | |
| Reviewed by | Frances Perry a BA BA Dip. Lib | |
Economic geology principles and practice
Metals, minerals, coal and hydrocarbons: introduction to formation and sustainable exploitation of mineral deposits.