The contributions in this book were presented at the Fourth International Geostatistics Congress held in Tróia, Portugal, in September 1992. They provide a comprehensive account of the current state of the art of geostatistics, including recent theoretical developments and new applications. In particular, readers will find descriptions and applications of the more recent methods of stochastic simulation together with data integration techniques applied to the modelling of hydrocabon reservoirs. In other fields there are stationary and non-stationary geostatistical applications to geology, climatology, pollution control, soil science, hydrology and human sciences. The papers also provide an insight into new trends in geostatistics particularly the increasing interaction with many other scientific disciplines. This book is a significant reference work for practitioners of geostatistics both in academia and industry.

When this two-day meeting was proposed, it was certainly not conceived as a celebration, much less as a party. However, on reflection, this might have been a wholly appropriate gesture because geostatistical simulation came of age this year: it is now 21 years since it was first proposed and implemented in the form of the turning bands method. The impetus for the original development was the mining industry, principally the problems encountered in mine planning and design based on smoothed estimates which did not reflect the degree of variability and detail present in the real, mined values. The sustained period of development over recent years has been driven by hydrocarbon applications. In addition to the original turning bands method there are now at least six other established methods of geostatistical simulation. Having reached adulthood, it is entirely appropriate that geostatistical simulation should now be subjected to an intense period of reflection and assessment. That we have now entered this period was evident in many of the papers and much of the discussion at the Fontainebleau meeting. Many questions were clearly articulated for the first time and, although many ofthem were not unambiguously answered, their presentation at the meeting and publication in this book will generate confirmatory studies and further research.

This book presents a collection of papers on topics in the field of strategic mine planning, including orebody modeling, mine-planning optimization and the optimization of mining complexes. Elaborating on the state of the art in the field, it describes the latest technologies and related research as well as the applications of a range of related technologies in diverse industrial contexts.

An introduction to geostatistics stressing the multivariate aspects for scientists, engineers and statisticians. The book presents a brief review of statistical concepts, a detailed introduction to linear geostatistics, and an account of three basic methods of multivariate analysis. Applications from very different areas of science, as well as exercises with solutions, are provided to help convey the general ideas. In this second edition, the chapters regarding normal kriging and cokriging have been restructured and the section on non-stationary geostatistics has been entirely rewritten.

The papers in this volume provide a comprehensive account of the current methods and work in geostatistics, including recent theoretical developments and applications. Topics featured include: stochastic simulations, space-time modelling, and Bayesian framework.