One of the main outcomes of the eleven meetings of the Working Party was the recognition of the importance of interdisciplinary studies linking regional geochemistry with plant, animal and human health. The effects of major element deficiencies or excesses on plant health are well known; this is not the case for trace elements. In fact, rapid and reliable analytical methods for determining trace element abundances have only recently become available, and it is to be expected that important new information on trace element levels will be forthcoming.

Mills, C. F. Geochemical aspects of the aetiology of trace element related diseases
Plant, J. A., Baldock, J. W. & Smith, B. The role of geochemistry in environmental and epidemiological studies in developing countries: a review
Fordyce, F. M., Masara, D. & Appleton, J. D. Stream sediment, soil and forage chemistry as indicators of cattle mineral status in northeast Zimbabwe
Jumba, I. O., Suttle, N. F., Hunter, E. A. & Wandiga, S. O. Effects of botanical composition, soil origin and composition on mineral concentrations in dry season pastures in western Kenya
Maskall, J. & Thornton, I. The distribution of trace and major elements in Kenyan soil profiles and implications for wildlife nutrition

My first experience in applying borehole geophysics to the environmental field was in 1960 at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL); however, I started working with geophysical logs in 1953. In Idaho we were able to map a complex aquifer system and the distribution of plumes of waste from injection wells and ponds. One of the earliest applications of neutron moisture logs to locate waste migrating above the water table and of gamma-spectral logs to identify migrating radioisotopes was at the INEL. While at the INEL I was involved in the recovery operations and investigations at the SL-1 reactor.

PEST stands for “parameter estimation”. When it was originally written in 1994, this is all that PEST did. However over the 20 years that have elapsed since then, the capabilities of the PEST suite of software have expanded enormously. The emphasis has shifted from inversion to inversion-constrained model parameter and predictive uncertainty analysis.

Biological Weathering in the Terrestrial System: An Evolutionary Perspective

Plants as Drivers of Rock Weathering

Microbial Weathering of Minerals and Rocks in Natural Environments

Micro- and Nanoscale Techniques to Explore Bacteria and Fungi Interactions with Silicate Minerals

Modeling Microbial Dynamics and Heterotrophic Soil Respiration: Effect of Climate Change

Critical Zone Biogeochemistry: Linking Structure and Function

Mining operations have been seen by environmentalists and conservationists alike as causing problems. Undoubtedly, the operations of metal and coal producers have caused varying degrees of environmental damage in mining areas, which are often located in remote regions. In the urban, suburban, and rural settings of agricultural communities, the operators of rock quarries, gravel pits, and certain industrial mines have been considered the more visible and significant offenders.

Chapter 1 A Study of Airborne Trace Elements in Belgrade Urban Area: Instrumental and Active Biomonitoring Approach M. Aničić, Z. Mijić, M. Kuzmanoski, A. Stojić, M. Tomašević, S. Rajšić and M. Tasić

Chapter 2 Flow Optosensing Applied to the Analysis of Trace Elements Antonio Ruiz-Medina and Eulogio J. Llorent-Martínez

Chapter 3 Trace Metals in Fruit and Vegetable and their Effects on Human Health Stefania Papa, Giovanni Bartoli and Antonietta Fioretto

AUSTIN, W. E. N. & JAMES, R. H. Biogeochemical controls on palaeoceanographic environmental proxies: an introduction

JAMES, R. H. & AUSTIN, W. E. N. Biogeochemical controls on palaeoceanographic environmental proxies: a review 

WILLIAMS, R. J. P. Some fundamental features of biomineralization 

ZEEBE, R. E., BIJMA, J., HOЁ NISCH, B., SANYAL, A., SPERO, H. J. &WOLF-GLADROW, D. A. Vital effects and beyond: a modelling perspective on developing palaeoceanographic proxy relationships in foraminifera 

PEARSON, P. N. & BURGESS, C. E. Foraminifer test preservation and diagenesis: comparison of high latitute Eocene sites 

At first ‘sustainable mining’ could be perceived as a paradox—minerals are widely held to be finite resources with rising consumption causing pressure on known resources. The true sustainability of mineral resources, however, is a much more complex picture and involves exploration, technology, economics, social and environmental issues, and advancing scientific knowledge—predicting future sustainability is therefore not a simple task.

It is necessary to define some fundamental terms that will provide indispensable background for the entire book. The first term to be explained deals with the title of the book: mineral resources. A mineral resource can be defined broadly as the concentration of material of economic interest in or on the Earth’s crust. In this book, it includes solid earth materials such as metals (i.e., copper, gold, iron),