Explosive volcanic eruptions eject large volumes of high surface area, metal-rich dust and ash into the atmosphere. In areas near major volcanic eruptions, humans often interact with these materials and may bioaccumulate heavy and toxic metals. To evaluate these interactions, we examine bronchoalveolar lavage samples (BAL) collected from people exposed to the paroxysmal 2001 Etna eruption.

The review chapters in this volume were the basis for a two day short course on Medical Mineralogy and Geochemistry held at the United States Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California, U.S.A. (December 9-10, 2006) prior to the American Geophysical Union Meeting in San Francisco, California. This meeting and volume were sponsored by the Mineralogical Society of America, Geochemical Society, and the United States Department of Energy <...>

Melt inclusions (MI) are small droplets of melt now containing some combination of crystals, glass and vapor that are trapped in crystals formed in magmas. Over the past few decades, the study of MI has matured to become an accepted technique to investigate melt evolution in volcanic systems (Clocchiatti 1975, Roedder 1979, Lowenstern 1995, 2003, Sobolev 1996, Frezzotti 2001, Hauri et al. 2001, Anderson 2003, Schiano 2003). MI in volcanic rocks are commonly large (>50 µm), glassy and contained in fresh and transparent minerals, and are generally easy to identify. MI in volcanic rocks generally provide consistent and reasonable results concerning the chemistry of melts at depth and provide the best tool available for assessing the volatiles in magmas (Anderson 1973, 1974, Lowenstern 1994, 1995, 2003). The best MI are often found in the most rapidly cooled parts of pyroclastic deposits and glassy rinds of lavas, which are not so easy to find (A.T. Anderson, Jr., personal communication, 2006).

L'étude des faunes paléontologiques du sud-est de l'Espagne, et spécialement de la région comprise entre Valence et Carthagène n'a été, pour le Crétacé, l'objet d'aucun travail d'ensemble ; et cependant, cette contrée en raison même de sa situation géographique, se désigne naturellement à l'attention des géologues et des paléontologistes. L'étude des fossiles que l'on y rencontre conduit, en effet, à relier les faunes paléontologiques de la France méridionale et de l'Algérie, de l'Andalousie et des Iles Baléares.