Understanding granites: integrating new and classical techniques

Abstract

Granite magmatism represents a major contribution to crustal growth and recycling and, consequently, is one of the most important mechanisms to have contributed to the geochemical differentiation of the Earth’s crust since Archaean time. Granites are also often associated with ore bodies, and their study therefore has direct commercial relevance. The modern view of the granite problems requires the application of many different theoretical, experimental and empirical resources provided by geophysics, geochemistry, experimental petrology, structural geology, scale modelling and field geology. Because of the complexity of the granite problem, it is necessary to integrate a variety of techniques and corroborate the findings with field observations.This is the philosophy of this book. Many chapters are review papers dealing with the development and achievements of a particular technique, whilst other chapters deal with the application of a number of techniques to a specific problem. This volume brings together papers that would otherwise be dispersed in different publications. The book will be of interest to igneous petrologists, geophysicists, structural geologists and geochemists.