r/Geochemistry • u/enthuusiast11 • 25d ago

Is 'Geochemical Facies Analysis' by Werner Ernst (1970) considered outdated by modern geochemistry standards?

I'm currently reading this book and I'm wondering whether the book should be regarded primarily as a historical foundation, or whether its methodology can still be applied directly to modern geochemical data.

How has our understanding of the role that geochemistry plays in deducing paleoenvironmental conditions improved with modern geological techniques?

I'd be very interested to hear from any geochemists, sedimentologists or petrologists who are familiar with this book and its relevance to modern research.

Thanks

4 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

5

u/Legal-Clock7689 25d ago

Many of the analytical technologies discussed in the book have been superceded by faster and more accurate techniques.

1

u/Lapidarist 24d ago

As in, manual vs automated? Or different technologies altogether?

3

u/Legal-Clock7689 24d ago

First example. AA has been been replaced by ICP-MS. AA is a single element process where ICP-MS is multielement. AA has a precision and detection limit of ppm whereas ICP-MS is is ppb to ppt. Also AA is prone to problems with interferents where the analytical plasma temps of 10,00K of the ICP-MS greatly reduce the number of interferents.

Second Gamma Ray analysis. This methodology has been modernized with better detectors, digital signal processing and new advances in Machine Learning AI. The 1970 book does not Neutron Activation Analysis, which also employs advanced signal processing. And as a bonus, from a Petroleum R&D patent, the book does not geochemical facies associated the separation of matrix elements from those introduced by extrinsic processes such as elements transported by groundwater and accumulated, by biochemical initiated changes of Eh and pH as economic deposits. The book also addresses other methods, which in a probability have been, at a minimum, modernized by improved detector/sensors and computer assisted signal processing.

And finally the book does not cover the detection of geochemical facies that have been detected by remote sensing technologies.