The microstructure of a quartzite experimentally deformed and partially recrystallised at 900 °C, 1.2 GPa confining pressure and strain rate 10~ /s was investigated using orientation contrast and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Boundaries between misoriented domains (grains or subgrains) were determined by image analysis of orientation contrast images. In each domain, EBSD measurements gave the complete quartz lattice orientation and enabled calculation of misorientation angles across every domain boundary. Results are analysed in terms of the boundary density, which for any range of misorientations is the boundary length for that range divided by image area. This allows a more direct comparison of misorientation statistics between different parts of a sample than does a treatment in terms of boundary number.

The stratifi ed red beds of the Catskill Formation are conspicuous in road cut exposureson the Allegheny Plateau of north-central Pennsylvania. During this fi eld trip we will visit and explore several fossil localities within the Catskill Formation. These sites have been central to recent investigations into the nature of Late Devonian continental ecosystems. By the Late Devonian, forests were widespread within seasonally wellwatered depositional basins and the spread of plants on land from the late Silurian through the Devonian set the stage for the radiation of animals in both freshwater and terrestrial settings.

The title Fundamentals and Applications of Rock Mechanics deals with the foundation of mechanics applied to rock engineering. It is a discipline firmly engaged with the basic and applied researches and activities comprising mining, civil constructions and foundations, dams, vehicular and hydroelectric tunnels, caverns, slope stability, underground storage facilities for foods, fuels, and waste material, underground disposal of municipal and radioactive waste, petroleum wellbore and others. The term ‘rock mechanics’ signifies the basic sciences of mechanics applied to rock and rock masses. It is also a discipline which analyses the stability of structures made of/on the rock masses.

Seismology has been defined as “the science based on data called seismograms” (Aki and Richards, 1980). The definition misses the urgency of human suffering caused by the complex phenomena called earthquakes. It also tends to restrict membership of our club to people who know their way around seismograms, rather than to those who make use of other kinds of input such as theoretical physics, fault displacements, or time series of seismic events. Actually seismograms tell us far less about earthquakes than we need to know. They are like unreliable couriers sent abroad with a long complicated message: By the time they get to their destination they tell us all about the incidents along the way but the original message has been forgotten.<...>