Principles of Geochemistry / Основы геохимии

A quick look at the reference list of this textbook (initially conceived for Italian university students) is sufficient to appreciate the leading role played by North American scientists in the development of geochemistry, and it is a great honor for me to present my appraisal of this fascinating discipline to readers whose mother tongue is English. The fascination of geochemistry rests primarily on its intermediate position between exact sciences (chemistry, physics, mathematics) and natural sciences. The molding of the quantitative approach taken in physical chemistry, thermodynamics, mathematics, and analytical chemistry to natural observation offers enormous advantages. These are counterbalanced, however, by the inevitable drawbacks that have to be faced when writing a textbook on geochemistry: 1) the need to summarize and apply, very often in a superficial and incomplete fashion, concepts that would require an entire volume if they were to be described with sufficient accuracy and completeness; 2) the difficulty of overcoming the diffidence of nature-oriented scientists who consider the application of exact sciences to natural observations no more than models (in the worst sense of that term). To overcome these difficulties I gradually introduce the various concepts, first presenting them in a preliminary way, and then, whenever possible, repeating them more rigorously and in greater detail. <...>