Petrology

Petrology, scientific study of rocks that deals with their composition, texture, and structure; their occurrence and distribution; and their origin in relation to physicochemical conditions and geologic processes. It is concerned with all three major types of rocks—igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. Petrology includes the subdisciplines of experimental petrology and petrography. Petrology is the study of rocks – igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary – and the processes that form and transform them. Mineralogy is the study of the chemistry, crystal structure and physical properties of the mineral constituents of rocks. Both petrological and mineralogical processes are sensitive to environmental conditions, so the compositions of rocks, and the minerals they consist of, are interrogated to answer fundamental questions across a wide range of geological disciplines. Sedimentary rocks are the product of the erosion of existing rocks. Eroded material accumulates as sediment, either in the sea or on land, and is then buried, compacted and cemented to produce sedimentary rock (a process known as diagenesis). Metamorphic mineral deposits are formed due to regional prograde or retrograde metamorphic process and hosted by metamorphic rocks. Minerals like garnet, kyanite, sillimanite, wollastonite, graphite and andalusite are end product of metamorphic process. Copper deposits of Kennicott, Alaska and White Pine, Michigan are formed by low-grade metamorphism of organic-rich sediments resting over mafic or ultramafic rocks. The low copper values of underlying source rocks liberate during a leaching process caused by passing of low-temperature hydrothermal fluids. This book is designed to give students a balanced and comprehensive coverage of these new advances as well as a firm grounding in the classical aspects of petrology.