Glossary of geology 2nd. ed.

This second edition of the Glossary of Geology contains approximately 36,000 terms. New entries are especially numerous in such active fields as biostratigraphy, caves and karst, igneous petrology, paleomagnetism, remote sensing, plate tectonics, and seismic stratigraphy. Subject categories range in size from mineral names, with nearly 4,500 entries, to military geology, with just one (terrain analysis). There are some 2,000 references to the geological literature, from the early 1700's to 1978. The definitions provide much background information. The reader will learn, for example, how to pronounce argille scagliose and many other foreign terms used by geoscientists writing in English; not to confuse reinerite with renierite, and to distinguish between several dozen other look-alikes; the origin of the rock name charnockite (first described from the tombstone of Job Charnock, founder of Calcutta!), and of many other rock names; the meaning of GOR, LVL, PDB, and more than 100 other abbreviations now common in the geosciences vocabulary; and the date when many terms were first used, the meaning of certain common prefixes, and the preferred term of two or more synonyms. The authority of this work rests on the expertise of nearly 150 geoscientists, who have reviewed definitions, added new terms, and cited references. The result is a comprehensive volume of central value to the geosciences community. - Dust jacket.