When the first edition of Noble Gas Geochemistry was published in 1983, this discipline was still comparatively underdeveloped, and few people seemed to expect that this apparently arcane subject would become one of the major tools of geochemistry. But noble gases have become mainstream, spoken of in the same breath as Pb, Sr, and Nd. Due to unique properties such as extreme scarcity in nature and (almost) perfect lack of chemical interaction, noble gases are now being used as a geochemical tracer to address a variety of problems in the earth and planetary sciences in ways that other tracers cannot. In this light, we thought that the time was ripe to revise the first edition in accordance with recent developments.

Current noble gas geochemistry deals with very broad subjects ranging from the origin and evolution of the earth and the solar system to local geological problems. A single-volume monograph cannot deal comprehensively with all these issues. In this revised edition, we, therefore, decided to concentrate on the more fundamental aspects of noble gas geochemistry, necessarily forcing us to give short shrift to many specific geological applications. Considerable space is devoted to a general discussion of the physics and chemistry of noble gases. In the last decade, much laboratory work has led to progress in understanding adsorption, absorption, and diffusion of noble gases in melts and in solids.