Sulfidic Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

This book deals with sedimentary sulfides which are the most abundant authigenic minerals in sediments. Special emphasis is given to the biogeochemistry that plays such a central role in the formation of sedimentary sulfides. It will be of interest to scientists in a number of disciplines, including geology, microbiology, chemistry and environmental science. The sulfur system is important to environmental scientists considering the present and future effects of pollution and anoxia. The development of the sulfur system – particularly the characteristics of ocean anoxia over the last 200 Ma – is useful in predicting the future fate of the Earth surface system as well as in understanding the past. The biochemistry and microbiology of the sulfur system are key to understanding microbial ecology and the evolution of life.

• First monograph on sedimentary sulfides, covering the ancient and modern sedimentary sulfide systems
• Comprehensive, integrating chemistry, microbiology, geology and environmental science
• All key references are included and discussed

David Rickard has been one of the world’s leading sulfide experts for over 40 years. He was a pioneer in geomicrobiology. He started his career as a senior undergraduate at Imperial College, London, with a thesis on pyrite framboids. He was awarded a £10,000 grant by the UK scientific research council in 1965 to set up a geomicrobiology laboratory in Imperial College and completed his PhD thesis in 1968 on the Chemistry and Microbiology of Iron Sulphide Formation. His work with the Swedish Natural Science Research Council was particularly focussed on geochemical kinetics and constituted some of the earliest contributions to this subject. At the same time he worked on Economic Geology and founded the largest ore geology research group of the time in Stockholm. He was appointed to a Chair in Cardiff University in 1983 and has continued to contribute to sulfide geochemistry and ore geology.

He has over 300 publications including over 150 research journal papers and two edited books. He published his first paper in Nature in 1968. He was Chief Editor of Chemical Geology and Mineralium Deposita. His latest interests have involved characterizing nanoparticulate metal sulfides and their interactions with biochemical molecules, including nucleic acid polymers.

He has received a number of awards including Fellowships of the Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry and Honorary Membership of the Society of Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits. He is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. His multidisciplinary contributions have been recognized by his election to Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Society of Biology and the Geological Society.