This series of monographs represents continuation on an inter- national
basis of the previous series MINERALOGIE UND PETRO- GRAPHIE IN
EINZELDARSTELLUNGEN, published by Springer- Verlag. The voluminous
results arising from recent progress in pure and applied research
increase the need for authoritative reviews but the standard scientific
journals are unable to provide the space for them. By their very nature,
text-books are unable to consider specific topics in depth and recent
research methods and results often receive only cursory treatment.
Advanced reference volumes are usually too detailed except for experts
in the field. It is often very expensive to purchase a symposium volume
or an "Advances in . . . " for the sake of a specific review chapter
surrounded by volume unrelated chapters. We hope that this monograph
series will by- pass these problems in fulfilling the need. The purpose
of the series is to publish reviews and reports of carefully selected
topics written by carefully selected authors, who are both good writers
and experts in their scientific field. In general, the monographs will
be concerned with the most recent research methods and results. The
editors hope that the monographs will serve several functions, acting as
supplements to existing text-books, guiding research workers, and
providing the basis for advanced seminars. W. VON ENGELHARDT, Tiibingen
July 1970 T. HAHN, Aachen R. RoY, University Park, Pa. J. W. WINCHESTER,
Tallahassee, Fla. P. J. WYLLIE, Chicago, Ill. Preface Sub-series on
"Isotopes in Geology".
