Physical properties of rocks are of interest and utility in many fields of work, including geology, petrophysics, geophysics, materials science, geochemistry, and geotechnical engineering. The scale of investigation ranges from the molecular and crystalline up to terrestrial studies of the Earth and other planetary bodies. Geologists are interested in the radioactive age dating of rocks to reconstruct the origin of mineral deposits; seismologists formulate prospective earthquake predictions using premonitory physical or chemical changes; crystallographers study the synthesis of minerals with special optical or physical properties; exploration geophysicists investigate the variation of physical properties of subsurface rocks to make possible detection ...(100 of 7839 words)
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