Physics and Chemistry of the Earth

Physics and Chemistry of the Earth investigates the physics and chemistry of the earth, with emphasis on kimberlite and xenolith geology. Topics covered range from field geology to mineralogy and geochemistry, diamond inclusions, and experimental and theoretical petrology. Diatreme emplacement by fluidization is also discussed, along with the chemistry and genesis of opaque minerals in kimberlites; light element metasomatism of the continental mantle; and primary and secondary phlogopites and clinopyroxenes in garnet lherzolite xenoliths. Comprised of 59 chapters, this volume begins with a description of a model of a kimberlite pipe that depicts a hypothetical pipe having a diameter of 300 m at a level equivalent to the post-erosional surface of the major pipes in the Kimberley area, South Africa. Subsequent chapters explore the formation of phreatomagmatic maar-diatreme volcanoes and its relevance to kimberlite diatremes; emplacement of some diatreme-facies kimberlites; irregular patterns of magmatism in southwestern United States; and the chemistry of titanium-poor spinels, ilmenites, and rutiles from peridotite and eclogite xenoliths. Chromite-silicate intergrowths in upper mantle peridotites are also analyzed. The final chapter is devoted to theoretical aspects of gaseous and isotopic equilibria in the system C-H-O-S, with application to kimberlite. This book will be of interest to physicists and geophysicists, chemists and geochemists, geologists, and earth scientists.