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Crystal Habits of Minerals
By Ivan Kostov and Ruslan I. Kostov
June 1999
Pensoft
ISBN: 9546420603
415 pages, illustrated
$139.50 hardcover
The book is a comprehensive crystallogenetic overview on the morphology of minerals based on the authors` original ideas. Current theories of crystal growth are briefly dealt with, attention being paid to the classical layer-by-layer and dislocation mechanisms. The modification of crystal forms of the most important rock-forming and ore-forming minerals, presented by their principal crystal habits, is checked by both observation in their natural occurrences and laboratory experiments. Crystal growth by accretion of clusters and/or submicroscopic crystallites under specific natural environments is also discussed. The examples used illustrate crystallization and variation in the crystal habits of minerals in magmatic, pegmatitic, hydrothermal, weathering, sedimentary and metamorphic environments. The trends of crystal habit variation have been used for genetic interpretations and for outlining corresponding morphological zonalities. A rich bibliography is included, attention focused especially on publications in Slavic languages, relatively less-known to the Western reader. The book is intended mainly for geoscientists (mineralogists, crystallographers, geochemists, petrologists and economic geologists), but it may also profit chemists, soil scientists, ore-dressing specialists and others of akin trades.
Author Biographies:
Academician Ivan KOSTOV. DIC, FGS, ARSM. Professor of Mineralogy and Crystallography at St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. Member of: the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Leopoldina German Academy, the Russian Academy of Sciences. Honorary Member of: the Mineralogical Society, the Geological Society and the Geologists` Association of Great Britain, the Russian Mineralogical Society, and others. Former President of IMA, Vice-President of IAGOD, IGCP UNESCO expert. Author of textbooks and monographs on mineralogy and crystallography; over 260 publications on the morphology, genesis and geochemical-crystallochemical systematics of minerals.
Dr. Ruslan I. KOSTOV. Associate Professor of Mineralogy and Crystallography and Head of the Geological Museum at the University of Mining and Geology in Sofia. Ph.D. (Cand.Sc.) from the Institute of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. Former Member of the Board of the International Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Symmetry. Member of the Bulgarian Mineralogical Society. Author of 5 books; over 70 publications in mineralogy and gemology.
Geology
Bulgarian Academic Monographs, No. 1