Readers will undoubtedly recognize the similarity of this book to Rock Slope Engineering by Dr Evert Hoek and Dr John Bray. We hope the following discussion of the origin and evolution of the current book will help to demonstrate the relationship between the two.
Rock Slope Engineering was published in three editions (1974, 1977 and 1981) by the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy in London. The original research for the book at the University of London was sponsored by the mining industry in response to a need to develop design methods for increasingly deep open pits. The 1960s and 1970s had seen the development of a new generation of high production drills, shovels and trucks that made low grade ore deposits economical to mine, and there was a consequent significant increase in the size of open pits. The investigation and design techniques originally developed in Rock Slope Engineering for mines were soon adopted in civil engineering where the slopes’ heights are usually less than those in open pits, but there is a need for a high level of reliability in terms of both rock falls and overall stability. In response to the demand for a book that clearly presents well-proven methods to design rock slopes, Hoek and Bray’s book has continued to sell steadily around the world, and has been translated into a number of languages <...>

Te process of assessing a rock slope for stability involves the application of many branches of engineering and natural science. Te determination of rock or soil strength parameters requires a working knowledge of rock mechanics and/or soil mechanics. Knowledge of basic hydrological concepts is essential for interpreting the efects of water on a rock slope. An understanding of geology—especially structural geology, mineralogy, petrology, and the geological processes—is extremely important for the rock slope engineer. Tese areas of knowledge—geology, rock and soil mechanics, and hydrology—along with other basic areas such as statics, engineering mechanics, statistics, and structural engineering are all important elements of rock slope engineering and design. <...>

The use of a polarizing microscope is still an essential tool for every earth scientist who does petrographic work. No student in mineralogy, petrography and petrology, geology and mining geology should leave university without knowledge of this fundamental method for determining minerals and rocks, which in 1850 revolutionized our science and placed it on firm foundations.

In German geological literature, this is the first short comprehensive teaching book about using a microscope in the identification of minerals for at least fifty years. The classic German works of this kind, such as those by Weinschenk (1915) and Chudoba (1932), opened up polarizing microscopy to earlier generations, including one of the authors (H.P.) These have long been out of print and outdated. Therefore, in order to close this gap and to provide future earth scientists with guidelines in practical microscopy, we have compiled these notes, which have been used and developed over many years at the Mineralogical Institute in Tubingen. In writing this book the following guidelines were used:

Tt is 50 years since the publication of the first edition of this volume of Rock-forming Minerals. The intervening years have seen a vast growth in the range and quantity of published work on 'non-silicate" rock-forming minerals, a growth that has justified dividing the topics of the first edition into two volumes (sulphates, carbonates, phosphates and halides have already been covered; see Chang, Howie and Zussman, Rock-forming Minerals, Vol. 5B, 2nd edn. The Geological Society, 1996). Here, we discuss the oxides, hydroxides and sulphides. This growth in published information on oxide, hydroxide and sulphide minerals has resulted partly from the availability of new techniques for the chemical and structural analysis of these materials and the characterization of their physical and chemical properties. It has also been the result of the opening-up of entirely new fields of investigation where these minerals play a key role. The list of minerals discussed in this new edition has expanded somewhat compared with the first edition; although the same five sulphide minerals are considered "rock-forming', the hydroxides have gained several new iron hydroxide phases (akaga-neitc. ferrihydrite and feroxyhyte), while losing limonite. These developmenb are largely due to better characterization of poorly crystalline ultrafine particle phases using new techniques. The list of oxides has also expanded with additions including quandilite. pseudonitile and armalcolite, the last a lunar mineral and a legacy of the Apollo missions which occurred seven years after publication of the first edition.