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In this book, David Stevenson offers us a look at the evolution of planets as they move from balls of mixed molten rock to vibrant worlds capable of hosting life. Embedded in our everyday architecture and in the literal ground beneath our feet, granite and its kin lie at the heart of many features of the Earth that we take for granted. From volcanism and mountain building to shifting water levels and local weather patterns, these rocks are closely intertwined with the complex processes that continue to shape and reshape our world. This book serves as a wonderful primer for anybody interested in our planet's geological past and that of other planets in our Solar System and beyond. It illustrates not only how our planet's surface evolved, but also how granite played a pivotal role in the creation of complex, intelligent life on Earth. There has long been a missing element in popular astronomy literature, which Stevenson now aims to fill: how geological and biological evolution work in a complex partnership, and what our planet's own diversity can teach us about other rocky worlds.

\"Granite and grace: seeking the heart of Yosemite reflects on Valerie and Michael Cohen's fifty-year encounter with the granite in the high country of Yosemite National Park, where they seek a sense of belonging in an era called the Anthropocene. By creating a dialogue between geological and literary representations, where the geological becomes metaphorical, while science turns mythological, these essays shaped by on-the-rock encounters with landforms, open up important experiential and pragmatic dimensions.\"-- Provided by publisher.

The Dahutang tungsten deposit, located in the Yangtze Block, South China, is one of the largest tungsten deposits in the world. Tungsten mineralization is closely related to Mesozoic granitic plutons. A drill core through a pluton in the Dalingshang ore block in the Central segment of the Dahutang tungsten deposit shows that the pluton is characterized by multi-stage intrusive phases including biotite granite, muscovite granite, and Li-mica granite. The granites are strongly peraluminous and rich in P and F. Decreasing bulk-rock (La/Yb)N ratios and total rare earth element (ΣREE) concentrations from the biotite granite to muscovite granite and Li-mica granite suggest an evolution involving the fractional crystallization of plagioclase. Bulk-rock Li, Rb, Cs, P, Sn, Nb, and Ta contents increase with decreasing Zr/Hf and Nb/Ta ratios, denoting that the muscovite granite and Li-mica granite have experienced a higher degree of magmatic fractionation than the biotite granite. In addition, the muscovite and Li-mica granites show M-type lanthanide tetrad effect, which indicates hydrothermal alteration during the post-magmatic stage. The micas are classified as lithian biotite and muscovite in the biotite granite, muscovite in the muscovite granite, and Li-muscovite and lepidolite in the Li-mica granite. The Li, F, Rb, and Cs contents of micas increase, while FeOT, MgO, and TiO2 contents decrease with increasing degree of magmatic fractionation. Micas in the muscovite granite and Li-mica granite exhibit compositional zonation in which Si, Rb, F, Fe, and Li increase, and Al decreases gradually from core to mantle, consistent with magmatic differentiation. However, the outermost rim contains much lower contents of Si, Rb, F, Fe, and Li, and higher Al than the mantle domains due to metasomatism in the presence of fluids. The variability in W contents of the micas matches the variability in Li, F, Rb, and Cs contents, indicating that both the magmatic and hydrothermal evolutions were closely associated with W mineralization in the Dahutang deposit. The chemical zoning of muscovite and Li-micas not only traces the processes of W enrichment by magmatic differentiation and volatiles but also traces the leaching of W by the fluids. Therefore, micas are indicators not only for the magmatic-hydrothermal evolution of granite, but also for tungsten mineralization.

Three principal granite provinces are defined across SE Asia, as follows. (1) The Western Thailand-Myanmar/Burma province consists of hornblende-biotite I-type granodiorite-granites and felsic biotite-K-feldspar (± garnet ± tourmaline) granites associated with abundant tin mineralization in greisen-type veins. New ion microprobe U-Pb dating results from Phuket Island show zircon core ages of 212 ± 2 and 214 ± 2 Ma and a thermal overprint with rims of 81.2 ± 1.2 and 85-75 Ma. (2) The North Thailand-West Malaya Main Range province has mainly S-type biotite granites and abundant tin mineralization resulting from crustal thickening following collision of the Sibumasu plate with Indochina during the Mid-Triassic. Biotite granites around Kuala Lumpur contain extremely U-rich zircons (up to 38000 ppm) that yield ages of 215 ± 7 and 210 ± 7 Ma. (3) The East Malaya province consists of dominantly Permian-Triassic I-type hornblende-biotite granites but with subordinate S-type plutons and A-type syenite-gabbros. Biotite-K-feldspar granites from Tioman Island off the east coast of Malaysia also yield a zircon age of 80 ± 1 Ma, showing Cretaceous magmatism in common with province 1. Geological and U-Pb geochronological data suggest that two east-dipping (in present-day coordinates) subduction zones are required during the Triassic, one along the Bentong-Raub Palaeo-Tethyan suture, and the other west of the Phuket-Burma province 1 belt. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: A full description of U-Pb analytical methods used and data tables are available at www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18523.

We investigate the shape and strength of the magnetic fabrics (anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) data) of various massive granitic plutons from different parts of India, using the eigenvalue method. The study aims to analyse eigenvalues and establish their relationship with various deformational attributes. It involves: (1) calculating eigenvectors and their corresponding eigenvalues from magnetic fabric datasets; (2) finding a link between the geometrical appearance of eigenvectors and the mechanistic issues involved with a specific deformation scenario; and (3) determining shape and strength parameters from the magnetic foliation data distribution. The statistical analysis for the unimodal magnetic fabric dataset of orthorhombic symmetry class implies that the plane, consisting of intermediate (V2) and minimum (V3) eigenvectors with pole V1, accurately traces the instantaneous stretching axis (ISAmax) of a particular material flow system under a pure shear regime. Moreover, for the distributions of similar symmetry and modality, we infer that the rotational characteristics of eigenvectors with respect to a fixed coordinate cause a distinct shift of such planes (V2–V3) from the ISAmax of a steady-state flow system under simple shear, where a substantial amount of rotational strain is involved. However, our findings also suggest that variation in symmetry and modality of magnetic fabric data distribution of different studied granitoids can directly influence the relative disposition of V2–V3 with respect to the direction of ISAmax. We conclude that eigenvalue analysis of magnetic fabrics is a powerful approach, which can be utilized while studying the salient deformational aspects of any syntectonic massive granitic body.

Zircon geochemistry provides a sensitive monitor of its parental magma composition. However, due to the complexity of the uptake of trace elements during zircon growth, identifying source magmas remains challenging, particularly for detrital grains whose petrological context is lost. We use a machine learning-based approach to explore the classifiers for zircon provenance, based on 3794 published, high-quality zircon trace element analyses compiled from I-, S-, and A-type granites. Three supervised machine learning algorithms, namely, Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest (RF), and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) were used and trained with 11 features, including 7 trace elements (Ce, Eu, Ho, Nb, Ta, Th, and U) and 4 derived trace element ratios (Th/U, U/Yb, Ce/Ce*, and Eu/Eu*). Our results show that all three trained machine learning methods perform very well with accuracy varying from 0.86 to 0.89, and that input–output relationships captured by different ML methods are nearly consistent and can be explained by the known petrological processes. The application of our trained machine learning classifiers to detrital zircon studies will enhance the interpretability of zircon assemblages of different origins. It also helps develop interpretations, approaches, and tools that will benefit, for example, the study of continental crust evolution and mineral exploration.

Biotite granites and muscovite-bearing granites are dominant rock types of the widespread granites in SE China. However, their petrogenesis has been enigmatic. A combined study of zircon U–Pb dating and Lu–Hf isotopes, whole-rock element geochemistry and Sr–Nd–O isotopes was performed for three late Mesozoic granitic plutons (Xinfengjie, Jiangbei and Dabu) in central Jiangxi province, SE China. All the plutons are composed of biotite granites and muscovite-bearing granites that have been poorly investigated previously. The new data not only allow us to assess their sources and magma evolution processes, but also helps us to better understand the genetic link to the large-scale polymetallic mineralization in SE China. LA-ICP-MS zircon U–Pb dating shows that three plutons were emplaced in the Late Jurassic (159–148 Ma) and that the muscovite-bearing granites are almost contemporaneous with the biotite granites. The biotite granites have SiO 2 contents of 70.3–74.4 wt% and are weakly to strongly peraluminous with ASI from 1.00 to 1.26, and show a general decrease in ASI with increasing SiO 2 . They have relatively high zircon saturation temperatures ( T Zr  = 707–817 °C, most > 745 °C) and show a general decrease in T Zr with increasing SiO 2 . They have high initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios (0.7136 to 0.7166) and high δ 18 O values (9.1–12.8‰, most > 9.5‰) and clearly negative ε Nd (T) (− 9.5 to − 11.8) and ε Hf (T) (in situ zircon) (− 13.1 to − 13.5). The muscovite-bearing granites have high SiO 2 contents (74.7–78.2 wt%). They are also weakly to strongly peraluminous with ASI of 1.04–1.18 but show a general increase in ASI with increasing SiO 2 . They have relatively low T Zr (671–764 °C, most < 745 °C) and also show a general decrease in T Zr with increasing SiO 2 . The muscovite-bearing granites have high Rb (up to 810 ppm) and high (K 2 O + Na 2 O)/CaO (up to 270), Rb/Sr (up to 42) and Rb/Ba (up to 30) as well as low K/Rb (< 150, down to 50), Zr/Hf (< 24, down to 11) and Nb/Ta (< 6, down to 2). They show similar Nd–O–Hf isotopic compositions to the biotite granites with ε Nd (T) of − 8.7 to − 12.0, δ 18 O of 8.7–13.0‰ (most > 9.5‰) and ε Hf (T) (in situ zircon) of − 11.3 to − 13.1. Geochemical data suggest the origin of the biotite granites and muscovite-bearing granites as follows: Partial melting of Precambrian metasedimentary rocks (mainly two-mica schist) in the lower crust at temperatures of ca. 820 °C generated the melts of the less felsic biotite granites. Such primary crustal melts underwent biotite-dominant fractionation crystallization, forming the felsic biotite granites. Progressive plagioclase-dominant fractionation crystallization from the evolved biotite granites produced the more felsic muscovite-bearing granites. Thus, the biotite granites belong to the S-type whereas the muscovite-bearing granites are highly fractionated S-type granites. We further suggest that during the formation of the muscovite-bearing granites the fractional crystallization was accompanied by fluid fractionation and most likely the addition of internally derived mineralizing fluids. That is why the large-scale polymetallic mineralization is closely related to the muscovite-bearing granites rather than biotite granites in SE China. This is important to further understand the source and origin of biotite granites and muscovite-bearing granites in SE China even worldwide.

In rare-metal granites, niobium and tantalum are generally hosted by Nb-Ta oxides. However, in SE China, the Nb-specialized Huangshan granites are a unique occurrence in which Nb is essentially hosted by Li-Fe micas. The Huangshan granites are part of the Early Cretaceous (Late Yanshanian) Lingshan granite complex and belong to the A-type granite series, with two facies differing by their mica compositions: medium-grained \"protolithionite\" granite and medium-grained lithian (lithium-rich) annite granite. The granites are characterized by elevated whole-rock Nb contents (average 144 ppm in \"protolithionite\" granite and 158 ppm in annite granite), quite low Ta contents (average 9 and 4 ppm, respectively), leading to very high Nb/Ta ratios (average 15.3 and 31.2). Niobium is mainly hosted in the micas, with an average Nb content of 1347 ppm in the lithian annite and 884 ppm in the \"protolithionite,\" which is the highest ever reported in granitic mica. With an estimated endowment of ∼80 kt Nb, the Huangshan granites represent a new style of potential Nb resource. Contrasting with the great rarity of columbite, there is abundant Hf-rich zircon, Y-rich fluorite, and Th-rich fluocerite included in the Huangshan micas. Such accessory minerals being typical of alkaline rhyolitic magmas and niobium enrichment in the Huangshan granites results from A-type melt. The extreme Nb enrichment in the micas results from the highly compatible behavior of Nb in this melt, combined with the high magma temperature (estimated at 790-800 °C) and possibly enhanced magma oxidation.