It is to-day generally recognized by environmental scientists that the particular behaviour of trace metals in the environment is determined by their specific physico-chemical forms rather than by their total concentration. With the introduction, several years ago, of atomic absorption spectrometry at many laboratories involved in environmental studies, a technique for simple, rapid and cheap determination of total metal concentrations in environmental samples became available.

В методическом пособии рассматривается роль микроорганизмов в формировании биосферы, их широкое расселение и многообразие геохимических функций, регулирующих современные процессы рассеяния и концентрации химических элементов в биосфере. Дается характеристика основных групп микроорганизмов. Изложение теоретических вопросов увязано с практическими задачами охраны окружающей среды, сельского хозяйства, промышленности, геологии

The fundamental question underlying marine geochemistry is 'How do the oceans work as a chemical system?' At present, that question cannot be fully answered. However, the past two decades or so have seen a number of 'quantum leaps' in our understanding of some aspects of marine geochemistry. Three principal factors have made these leaps possible: (a) advances in sampling and analytical techniques; (b) the development of theoretical concepts; and (c) the setting up of large-scale international oceanographic programmes (e.g. DSDP, MANOP, HEBBLE, GEOSECS, TTO, VERTEX, GOFS, SEAREX), which have extended the marine geochemistry database to a global ocean scale. <...>

A quick look at the reference list of this textbook (initially conceived for Italian university students) is sufficient to appreciate the leading role played by North American scientists in the development of geochemistry, and it is a great honor for me to present my appraisal of this fascinating discipline to readers whose mother tongue is English. The fascination of geochemistry rests primarily on its intermediate position between exact sciences (chemistry, physics, mathematics) and natural sciences.

Учебное пособие написано для студентов – геологов, гидрогеологов, нефтяников направлений: 05.03.01 – Геология, по дисциплине «Общая геохимия» и предназначено для решения практических задач с использованием термодинамических методов при анализе природных геохимических процессов. Пособие может быть полезно также географам, биологам и лицам, использующим термодинамические методы в своей работе

Isotope geochemistry has grown over the last 60 years to become one of the most important fields in the earth sciences. It has two broad subdivisions, namely, radiogenic isotope geochemistry and stable isotope geochemistry. These subdivisions reflect the two primary reasons why the relative abundances of isotopes of elements vary in nature, which are radioactive decay and chemical fractionation; in this context, “fractionation” is any process in which the isotopes of the same element behave differently.

Chapter 1 Geochemical and Sedimentation History of Neogene Lacustrine Sediments from the Valjevo-Mionica Basin (Serbia)
Aleksandra Šajnović, Ksenija Stojanović, Vladimir Simić and Branimir Jovančićević
Chapter 2 Arsenic Geochemistry in Groundwater System
Dionisios Panagiotaras, George Panagopoulos, Dimitrios Papoulis and Pavlos Avramidis

Chapter 3 Geochemistry of Hydrothermal Alteration in Volcanic Rocks
Silvina Marfil and Pedro Maiza

The Mediterranean Sea lies between Europe, Asia and Africa in an area famous for its ancient civilizations and cultural developments. It was an area where marine navigation was developed and where many trade routes intersected. The publication of one of the first monographs on marine geology and geography by Marsilli in 1725 suggests that the Mediterranean Sea was the cradle of marine geology.