For a human, the planet Earth is an object of vital and eternal significance. To date a huge data volume on the Earth matter and its alteration has been obtained by various methods and at various scales of the planetary research. The practical purpose of this knowledge is a prospecting and exploitation of mineral resources. However, this specific objective, along with the preservation of the human environment itself, is intimately associated with understanding of the nature of the Earth. The latter is best evident in the ever changing mineral matter. Therefore, the problem comes down to discover the true laws of the geological evolution.

The Earth is a space object. It’s not surprising, therefore, that up to the present day the Earth sciences are dominated by “global” theories manipulating by the macroscopic (of the scale of the whole Globe or its fragments) mass and heat flows. However, the well-known geological processes such as tectonics, metamorphism, magmatic and hydrothermal activities are, in fact, only visible manifestations of the ceaseless and hidden life of the mineral matter. Global theories do not take it into account. As a result, geology experiences an obvious crisis. On the one hand, systematization and classification based on geological evidence have exhausted their potentialities, on the other hand – the models and theories meant to explain geological processes have a little to do with the actual ones. The major problem of energy source, which provides perpetual circulation of the natural matter, also remains disputable.

It’s appropriate here to draw an analogy between two closely related, in our opinion, areas of knowledge as biology and geology. For a long time both sciences have been developing towards classification and systematization.  Following this path, by the mid-20th century they reached the highest level of the accumulated data treatment. This fact, as well as new technical means, allowed biologists to delve deeper into the microscopic interior of the living matter - the internal structure of a cell. As a result, DNA was discovered. The deciphering of its structure in 1953 marked an evolution of biology from empirical to exact science, competent in the law of development of a test object. Geologists recognize such prospects in a slower and more complicated way. One of the objective reasons for that is a global scale of their research target. Consequently, a geologist exploring either by space or land-based transportation units cannot realize the primary character of genetic information enclosed in the fine internal structure of a mineral.

The subject matter of the book is the very inner world of natural minerals and the role of information obtained at this level in unraveling the nature of the Earth. In popular terms, investigation has a direct relationship to “nano”- science. As a matter of fact, the proposed concept of mineral matter evolution is based on the results of studying the features of fine internal structure of natural minerals by means of the conventional and high resolution TEM (transmission electron microscopy).  Therefore, the term “nano” (10^-9) has here its true meaning.

At the “nano”–level of the natural matter structure a «terra incognita» was discovered - namely diversity of features (in other words, defects) of a real crystal structure of minerals and mineral interfaces within the rock assemblages. “Apollo” expeditions which brought back the Moon samples in the 1970s have given a powerful impetus to these researches. In order to study the internal structure of minerals from the outer space the new techniques, including modern TEM methods, have been invoked. A bursting expansion of the fresh information on the structure of natural mineral matter stimulated the development of a new line of investigation – electron petrography. At the early years of this science, two books were published: “Electron Microscopy in Mineralogy” (ed. H.-R. Wenk, 1976) and “Principles of Mineral Behaviour” by A. Putnis and J.D.C. McConnell (1979). At the present, electron-microscopic studies of crystal lattice defects have turned into a routine, judging by the abundance of publications on the subject. However, in spite of the very promising beginning, these studies remained within the frames of fine mineralogy. We believe the main reason of this is as following. The electron microscopy revealed the complex and diverse world of crystal lattice defects of natural minerals (this is especially true in the case of rock-forming silicates). Along with the defects, described and studied earlier in metallic alloys and semiconductor crystals of simpler composition and structure, those of the unknown nature have been discovered in minerals. The common micro structural features, such as deformation structures and defects caused by exsolution and ordering in the silicate solid solutions (feldspars, plagioclases, pyroxenes) are widely used for the reconstruction of deformation events and the thermal rock history. To identify previously unknown and generally very complex defects, the new approach and specific methodology was required. The material presented in our first book (Stenina 1985) has been designed to show the principles of deciphering such defects and their potentialities in genetic problem solving.

Water–trace element defects in quartz are rather unusual crystal lattice features.  Interaction of water (fluids) with solid material plays a leading role in structural and chemical alteration of mineral matter. Worthy of note is that quartz is the most common rock-forming mineral. This brought us to a suggestion that the very water–related defects in the silica minerals contain basic information about the laws of evolution of rock matter. Therefore, we did our best to unravel the nature of these complex defects.

As in the case of a living cell, solving this problem led us to discovery of the complex association of atoms, named “aqua-complex”. Our own experimental studies as well as analysis of the whole variety of geological evidence allowed us to define the aqua-complex as the major crystallochemical unit (“building block”) of the mineral continuum of the Earth’s matter, a sort of “geochemical quantum”, responsible for its evolution. The role of the aqua-complex as a “DNA” of mineral matter is demonstrated by solving actual theoretical and applied problems of Earth sciences.

Scientists use extensively laws of physics, chemistry and mathematics in modeling geological processes and in explaining the complex behavior of the Earth matter. In the context of the great idea of I.R. Prigogine concerning “the necessity of a dialogue with the Nature, with the open World to which we belong”, the concept of aqua-complex, in contrast, gives an impulse to the development of natural sciences. The Earth as a phenomenon of the Nature is primary; whereas the sciences, created by a human questioning the Nature, are secondary.

The main goal of our book is to present and justify the concept of aqua-complex as the law of evolution of mineral matter. We did not aim (and if did, then could not reach the goal) at analyzing all the diversity of the geological evidence in the new context. Therefore, I would like to apologize to all those explorers whose notable contribution into studying our planet was not referenced.