Since the early days of Goldschmidt or Vernadsky, geochemistry has become a mature science which now plays a central role in the Earth Sciences. More particularly, it has evolved considerably over the last fifty years. From an analytical approach with a goal of establishing the chemistry of the Earth compositions of rocks, soils, water, crust and mantle, geochemistry has become an explanatory science.

The chemical and isotopic compositions of various earth materials now make up the data used to build models to explains the formation of the Earth, its evolution the genesis of the different terrestrial units: continents, mantle, core, ocean etc. … From a descriptive and qualitative early stage, geochemistry has become explanatory and quantitative. In this new context modeling is a key method.

Francis Albarède has been a very active actor in this evolution towards quantitative science. His abundant scientific contributions published in the best international journals are all focussed on the goal of building a quantitative science. He is one of the leading scientists in this area and has now decided to broaden his approach by writing a book on geochemical modeling. This book has no equivalent in the present literature. It explains how we can build mathematical models to explain geochemical observations.

This book also gives the vision of Francis Albarède about science. He does not consider a science serious if there is no solid mathematical modeling applied to robust quantitative measurements. In this book, he gives all the techniques used today to model various geochemical phenomena from isotope geology to mineral thermodynamics passing through ocean chemistry or trace-element behaviour in volcanic systems.