This book contains contributions from the invited speakers to the symposium on Absorption Spectroscopy in Mineralogy, held in Rome, Italy, on 4-7 October, 1989. The meeting was organised with the primary aim of bringing together European specialists working the different absorption spectroscopic techniques, to deliver the highlights and principles of their methods. Absorption spectroscopy methods have been widely used in the past in mineralogy, and far from being exhausted they are bound to gain in momentum in the future.

1. Some Contributions of Spectral Studies in the Visible (and Near Visible) Light Region to Mineralogy (D.J. Vaughan).2. Contribution of Raman Microspectrometry to the Study of Minerals (J.M. Malezieux). 3. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and A1 Si Ordening in Minerals (A. Putnis). 4. Distribution of Ions in Phyllosilicates by NMR Spectroscopy (J. Santz). 5. Phase Transformations in Minerals Studies by 57 Fe Mossbauer Spectroscopy (F. Seifert). Application of EXAFS in Mineralogy (G. Calas et al.). 7. Principles and Recent Developments of XANES Spectroscopy (I. Davoli and E. Paris). 8. High Pressure Spectroscopy (K. Langer). Acknowledgements. Literature. Index.