Introduction to geochemistry / Введение в геохимию

The urge to make geology more quantitative has led to the widespread inclusion of chemistry, physics, and mathematics—the so-called "basic" sciences—among the required courses in undergraduate curricula. One can only applaud this practice, for certainly many of the new and exciting ideas in earth science have come from application of quantitative reasoning to geologic problems. It is reasonable to ask. however, if the mere requiring of courses in basic science is an efficient way to give most students facility in handling ideas quantitatively. For the few who take easily to mathematical symbolism, the answer would be "yes": they need only be shown the tools that the basic sciences can supply, and thereafter they will instinctively put the tools to good use. But many who are attracted to geology need special incentives to keep them using the quantitative ideas learned in basic science, and too often such incentives are missing from advanced geology courses. This is not a criticism of the geology courses, for their chief purpose is to develop geological judgment rather than to teach more physics and chemistry. But students who find few immediate applications of basic science in their geological work tend to forget what they have learned in the elementary courses. They take the courses in much the way they would take doses of bad medicine, because the doctor prescribes them, but they find them largely irrelevant to their principal interests. Thus methods and concepts painfully acquired become rust\. and later in their careers, when they need them, they must turn for help to someone else. For it is an unhappy fact that the language of fundamental science slips from the memory as fast as any other acquired language if it is not frequently used. <...>