Today, as earth science curricula are evolving rapidly, many programs throughout the US are adopting new approaches to the study of earth materials. At many universities earth science departments are increasingly finding a single geological materials course to be an attractive requirement in lieu of the standard mineralogy-petrology sequence. Adopting such a requirement allows more room in the student's program for courses that address topical subjects such as environmental geoscience, earth surface processes, etc.

Whilst there are many books on individual topics such as mineralogy or igneous/metamorphic petrology, there is currently only one combined text (Sen's - see below) and it is widely agreed to be unsatisfactory.

This text will require further detailed market research and developmental editing. The outline as it currently stands is probably too detailed and needs to be reorganised to allow the book to be used in a one-semester course.

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Contents

Introduction

1. Composition of the earth

Section I: minerals

Chapter 1

Chapter 2. crystal chemistry

Chapter 3. crystallography

Chapter 4. Ore minerals

Chapter 5. Industrial minerals

Chapter 6. Gems

Chapter 7. Microscopic identification of minerals

Chapter 8. Overview of rock-forming processes; the rock cycle

Chapter 9. Overview of the major rock groups

Section II: igneous rock

Introduction

Chapter 10: composition of igneous rocks

Chapter 11: igneous textures

Chapter 12. Classification of igneous rocks

Chapter 13: the evolution of magma

Chapter 14. Plutons and plutonic structures

Chapter 15: volcanoes and volcanic structures

Chapter 16: igneous rock associations; their origin and distribution

Section III: sedimentary rocks

Chapter 17: sediments, sediment production and the sedimentary cycle

Chapter 18: Detrital sediments and sedimentary rocks

Chapter 19: transportation, deposition & syngenetic structures of clastic sedimentary rocks

Chapter 20: secondary sedimentary structures

Chapter 21: detrital sediment depositional models

Chapter 22: Carbonate sediments and sedimentary rocks

Chapter 23: evaporites

Chapter 24: siliceous rocks

Chapter 25: sedimentary phosphorites, coals and iron-rich rocks

Section IV. Metamorphic rocks

Chapter 26 .metamorphism

Chapter 27. Types of metamorphism

Chapter 28. Metamorphic textures

Chapter 29. Classification of metamorphic rocks

Chapter 30. Metamorphic facies and facies series

References

Appendices