Key Concepts in Geomorphology is a book about our planet’s dynamic surface, a place where Earth and atmosphere meet and life thrives. By its very nature, geomorphology, the study of Earth surface processes and history, is an integrative discipline. As geomorphologists, we strive to make sense of the complicated web of interactions shaping mountains and valleys, moving sediment and water downslope, and changing the shape of continents and ocean basins over millennia. A deep understanding of geomorphology requires not only expertise in solid-Earth geology but also the ability to use principles of physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics to understand Earth surface processes and the evolution of topography over short and long timescales. <...>

To convene the 1st. International Kimberlite Conference in Cape Town is full y justifie d by the fact that South Afric a and Bostwana together provide more than 38% of the present world production of diamond. With considerably smaller resources, the United States of America could (i n 1977) present new observations on diamond-bearing kimberlites recently discovered in the Colorado-Wyoming area, and so Santa Fe situated near these kimberlite localities , and even closer to the classica l lamproites field s of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah was a reasonable choice fo r the 2nd. meeting. Certainl y the next meeting scheduled fo r 1986 in Perth (Australia ) wil l also demonstrate new localities , as well as give the opportunity to visi t the firs t diamond-bearing lamproites ever discovered. <...>

The Bafq metallogenic province in Iran contains world class Kiruna-type apatite-iron oxide ores, apatite-rich magmatic rocks called "apatitites", REE, Th-U, Pb-Zn and recently reported Cu(-Au?) mineralisation. The metallogenesis is related to magmatic events that accompanied a major late Precambrian rifting event within Gondwanaland. The magmatic activity is subvolcanic to volcanic, is characterised by thebimodal association of rhyolites and spilitic basalts and is accompanied by a regional alkali metasomatism.

The iron deposits are commonly hosted by hydrothermally altered and metasomatised rhyolitic rocks, which are either interstratified with volcano-sedimentary sequences, or form large subvolcanic and volcanic masses. The iron ore is dominantly a Ti-V-poor massive magnetite with subordinate hematite, and is commonly accompanied by apatite. Apatite also occurs within the magmatic "apatitites', which are spatially and temporally closely associated with the iron ores.

This special issue of the Mineralogical Almanac is devoted to the Kola Peninsula. The main article by I.V. Pekov and A.P. Nikolaev is on the mineralogy of peralkaline pegmatites and hydrothermal bodies of the Koashva apatite deposit in Khibiny. The history of its exploration and geology are outlined, the pegmatite-hydrothermal complex is characterized and 127 minerals are described.

An article by A.V. Voloshin is focused on the history of mineralogical studies of the rare-element granite pegmatites of Kolmozero and Voron'i Tundras and the amazonite pegmatites of West Keivy. The paper by Yu.L Voitekhovsky is devoted to almandine and its deposits in West Keivy. A.V. Voloshin, I.V. Pekov and V.V. Borisova give a historical review with statistical data on 264 new minerals first discovered in the Kola region. A special article is devoted to the collection by V.G. Grishin, one of the most interesting modern collections of the Kola minerals.