This volume 'Use ofMicrocomputers in Geology' is the sixth in the series
Computer Applications in the Earth Sciences published by Plenum Press in
New York. The series was started in 1969 to publish proceedings of
important meetings on geomathematics and computer applications. The
first two volumes recorded proceedings ofthe Colloquia (1969,1970)
sponsored by the Kansas Geological Survey at The University ofKansas in
Lawrence. The third volume was proceedings ofthe 8th International
Sedimentological Congress (1971) held in Heidelberg, West Germany; the
fourth was preceedings ofthe 8th Geochautauqua (1979) at Syracuse
Universityin Syracuse, New York; and the fifth was selected papers from
the 27th International Geological Congress (1989) held in Washington,
D.C. All meetings were cosponsored by the International Association for
Mathematical Geology. These special publications are important in the
development of quantitative geology. Papers by a wide range of authors
on a wide range of topics gives the reader a flavor for recent advances
in the subject -in this volume, those advances in the use
ofmicrocomputers. The 24 authors ofthe 15 papers come from nine
countries -Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Italy, Portugal,
Switzerland, UK, and USA. My coeditor, Hans Kürzl, has given pertinent
information on the included papers in the Introduction.