Many new mineral species have been documented in Arizona since the third edition of Mineralogy of Arizona was published in 1995. This new edition adds to the extensive work of the previous authors, who built the foundation on which this new effort rests. This edition is dedicated to these men: John Anthony, Sidney Williams, and Richard Bideaux.The field of mineralogy has undergone many changes since the third edition.

Систематизированы данные о минералогии микрокристаллов алмаза из коренных пород и россыпей разных алмазоносных провинций, приведен атлас микрокристаллов алмаза, графита и минеральных включений в алмазе, иллюстрирующий различные аспекты их кристаллогенезиса. Проанализированы индикаторные признаки микрокристаллов алмаза из алмазеодержащих пород разных генетических типов. Особое внимание уделено морфологии микрокристаллов алмаза и графита, способам и механизмам их роста, особенностям конституции. Рассмотрены вопросы морфогенезис а минералов-спутников алмаза в кимберлитах. Предложены критерии прогноза и поиска месторождений алмаза разных генетических типов.
Для геологов, минералогов и кристаллографов, а также специалистов других областей науки и техники, занимающихс я поисками и изучением алмаза, его синтезом.

Advances in nanotechnology over the past decade have made scanning electron microscopy (SEM) an indispensable and powerful tool for analyzing and constructing new nanomaterials. Development of nanomaterials requires advanced techniques and skills to attain higher quality images, understand nanostructures, and improve synthesis strategies.

Среди полезных ископаемых алмаз занимает особое положение и как драгоценный камень, и как один из важнейших минералов технического прогресса. Более пяти тысячелетий человечество знает алмаз, но еще много таинственного хранит в себе этот волшебный минерал с уникальными свойствами кристаллов. Разгадке некоторых тайн алмаза посвящается настоящая книга.

The present textbook has been prepared in compliance with the course in mineralogy set by the university curriculum. The first part contains a traditional crystallochemical characterization of minerals. Information on the types of crystalline structure and structural motifs of minerals has been supplemented by a discussion of polymorphic modifications and polytypes. A special section dealing with structural imperfections (defects) has also been introduced. Phenomena pertaining to isomorphism, resolution of solid solutions have received due prominence together with the role of water in the composition of minerals. The graphical representation of the chemical composition of minerals and the calculation of crystallochemical formulae have been illustrated. The description of physical properties is discussed in terms of their nature, the methods of their analysis and the importance for diagnostic purposes, in prospecting, the enrichment of ores, technology, etc. <...>

The clay minerals are small hydrous layer silicates and are part of the phyllosilicate family. As discussed in Chapter 11, many of the hydrous layer silicates in clays, muds, soils, shales, slates, etc. are coarser than clay (< 2 or < 4 pm). Primarily for this reason I have suggested (Weaver, 1980) using the term physil, which has no size connotation, to refer to the low-temperature ( 5 400°C) hydrous layer silicates.

The name bentonite was suggested in 1898 by Knight for a peculiar claylike material with soapy properties from its occurrence in the Fort Benton unit of Cretaceous age formations in Wyoming (U.S.A.). Hewitt (1917) and Wherry (1917) first established that this particular clay is an alteration product of volcanic ash, although an earlier observation by Condra (1908) suggested this origin for a similar clay from northern Nebraska. Ross and Shannon (1926) presented the following definition which has been widely quoted:

Have you tried to walk across a farmer’s field in Montmorillon in France on a rainy October day? Marcel and Bertrand, his father, tried to do so in the fall of 1881 with fatal consequences. We will return to this terrible true story in the first chapter of this book for explaining how the soil at this place made it happen, continuing throughout the rest of the book by explaining how the dreadful soil, in fact, also has extremely beneficial properties in other contexts, like isolation of very hazardous waste.