waleed_hamoda
Well-Known Member
Clays
BY : Alain Meunier
Product Details
Hardcover: 472 pages
Publisher: Springer (May 24, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN: 3540216677
Preface
This book is about the most complete work on the subject of clay minerals
thus far conceived. Its scope is one of basics to general principles to use in
real geologic situations. In principle any student, advanced student or casual
researcher, should be able to find an answer to almost any question posed. The breadth of knowledge presented is truly impressive.
This presentation is especially important at present when the study of the
most abundant minerals found near the Earth’s surface, clays, appears to find
disfavour with students and Universities. In fact we have never before needed
such an encyclopaedicwork to strengthen the discipline.At presentwhenEarth
sciences are slowing in popularity, the need for a precise and general education in the study of clay minerals is greater than ever before. Curiously the study of the environment, those materials found in the sphere of biological activity, is more relevant than ever. The natural progress of human activity through the age of science and then industrial activity up to the present stage of the post-industrial era has been marked by an increasing use of the Earth’s surface resources. The steady increase of the human population has called upon the natural resources of the surface in a non-linear manner. In the pre-industrial era agriculture and industry was concerned with the basic subsistence of populations. In good years there was enough to eat and in bad ones not enough.
The means of obtaining this production did not draw upon the natural mineral
riches of the surface to any great extent. Animals were the major non-human
motor force, and iron was only a subsidiary part of the production mechanism.
Even in cities most of the means of heating remained as the natural, renewable sources of wood. This of course has changed greatly in the last 150 years. Today not only the soil of the planet is solicited to produce more than subsistence for a vastly increased population but the desires of these populations tomove about has drawn on the buried resources to respond to the high energy needs of motor transportation and total comfort heating. Skiing on the top of a mountain in January is the epitome of the triumph of modern man over the elements where an enormous use of energy and natural resources is used to gratify a desire for exotic experiences. These needs of comfort, abundance and pleasure draw on the natural equilibrium of the Earth’s surface.
Clay mineralogy is then the study of the basis of the natural riches found
in most surface layers of the Earth. Application of the accumulated knowledge
about these fundamental portions of our environment will allow us to search
more efficiently for petroleumresources, formetallic concentrations and for an
increased efficiency of farming practices. These are the positive aspects of our present human experience.However, as ismore andmore evident, the negative side of current human activity creates high concentrations of toxic material in the surface environment, and perhaps in the near future at some undetermined depth (toxic,nuclear waste). Thesemust be dealtwith intelligently and oft times in great haste. Such problems involve, or should involve, knowledge of clay mineralogy. The natural chemical stability (in chemical – time space) of clays, their physical properties and chemical influences must be known in order to deal efficiently with modern day problems involving the environment. In this sense the book proposed by AlainMeunier is not only timely but also essential.
No other work has attempted to unite the dispersed and rich knowledge of
clay minerals into a single volume. One can find the relations of chemical
stability, X-ray diffraction identification, natural occurrence and abundance,
reaction rates and physical properties of the minerals and many other aspects
are explained and documented in this text. Virtually all of the major questions
concerning clay minerals are treated here.
Thus this book can be used as a resource for teaching clay mineralogy or for
students or as a guide for research people fromother fieldswhowish to explore
the problems of clay mineralogy on their own. It is sufficiently clearly written
so that one can use it as a beginner or an experienced professional working
in a field that will need some expertise in clay minerals. This is especially
important today when we find a change in the structure of science beginning
to modify the classical frontiers of our ancient disciplines. As old boundaries
change, new needs arise and a fundamental understanding of clay minerals
will always be of greatest help in dealing with the surface of the Earth that is
the future of mankind.
رابط الكتاب
http://www.4shared.com/file/43871844/6f85ffaf/Clays.html?dirPwdVerified=98cdd41d
تحياتى لأخونا الأخ المهاجر والأخ ليث
