The discovery in the past of strange and unknown petrifed objects has given rise to many legends and superstitions since the remotest antiquity. Before recognizing fossils as the remains of ancient beings who lived in the more or less remote past, scholars of natural things had to struggle at least until the beginning of the nineteenth century. At the same time, popular culture has continued to maintain the ancient knowledge to this day, remembering part of the ancient rituals. We report some testimonies. <...>

Contourites are sediments deposited or substantially reworked by bottom currents. The study of contourites is nowadays crucial for several fields of fundamental and applied research:
1. palaeoclimatology and palaeoceanography, since these fairly continuous and relatively high-resolution sediments hold the key for priceless information on the variability in ocean circulation patterns, current velocities, oceanographic history and basin interconnectivity;

Щедра и разнообразна природа Черноземного края. Здесь исключительно мозаично сочетаются ландшафты, созданные человеком, и девственные ландшафты, сохранившиеся в заповедниках и заказниках.

The large scale structure of the earth is caused by geodynamic processes which are explained using energetic, kinematic and dynamic descriptions. While “geodynamic processes” are understood to include a large variety of processes and the term is used quite loosely, the methods of their description involve well defined fields. Energetic descriptions are involved with distribution of energy in our planet, typically expressed in terms of heat and temperature. Kinematic descriptions describe movements using velocities, strains and strain rates. Dynamic descriptions indicate how stresses and forces behave.

The term “geochemistry” was first used by the German-Swiss chemist Christian Friedrich Schönbein* in 1838. You might guess, merely from the etymology of the word, that the field of geochemistry is somehow a marriage of the fields of geology and chemistry. That would be a good guess. But just how are chemistry and geology combined within geochemistry; what is the relationship between them? Perhaps the best explanation would be to state that in geochemistry, we use the tools of chemistry to solve geological problems; that is, we use chemistry to understand the Earth and how it works.

Geochemistry is a branch of earth science. Since it is a field of study that uses the tools and principles of chemistry to explain the mechanisms in geologic environments, it often focuses on determining processes that control the abundance and composition of minerals and their distribution in the earth’s crust. Geochemistry also plays a vital role in environmental soil and water systems in identifying and modulating environmental problems, and in studying the composition, structure and processes of the earth.

The geochemical analysis of fades is a special part of geochemistry and geology. The development of this research was initiated by BISCHOF (1847-1851), who was the first to attempt to recognize sediments of different origin by geochemical means. In his now famous book he listed some chemical elements belonging to typical environments, such as boron in marine sediments and metallic sulphides in zones rich in sulphuretted hydrogens. Moreover he was the first author to suppose that all "soluble rocks" of the continents must be present in the oceans. This early concept of facies was supplemented by ROTH (1879-1890) who discovered new elements in the ocean waters and in the ashes of marine organisms. However, the data used by both of these workers were quantitatively unsatisfactory and can only be considered as the qualitative results of inadequate chemical analyses <...>

Many of the methods now used for gold extraction are based on techniques that have been known or established for centuries. Gravity concentration, amalgamation, cyanide leaching, chlorination, zinc precipitation, and carbon/charcoal adsorption are all processes that have been used for at least a hundred years, and combinations of these remain as the basis for most gold recovery flowsheets.

Geostatistics aims at providing quantitative descriptions of natural variables distributed in space or in time and space. Examples of such variables are 

Ore grades in a mineral deposit 

Depth and thickness of a geological layer 

Porosity and permeability in a porous medium 

Density of trees of a certain species in a forest 

Soil properties in a region 

Rainfall over a catchment area 

Pressure, temperature, and wind velocity in the atmosphere
Concentrations of pollutants in a contaminated site