This special volume stems from a symposium 'Granitic Systems - State of the Art and Future Avenues' that was held at the Department of Geology, University of Helsinki to mark the retirement of Professor Ilmari Haapala. The twenty articles in the volume cover a wide range of granite-related topics and focus on three general themes: tectonics and source regions, petrologic processes, and fractionated granites and pegmatites. Both original papers and reviews are included, and the volume will be acknowledged by anyone with a background in Earth Sciences ad a flavor for granitoid rocks. * Comprehensive account of the current status of granite-oriented research * Topics ranging from mineralogy, petrology, and geochemistry to tectonics and crustal evolution

There are several books emphasizing the mineralogical and petrological aspects of granites, but this book is the only one emphasizing the experimental aspects.

Granites (sensu lato) represent the dominant rock-type forming the upper–middle continental crust but their origin remains a matter of long-standing controversy. The granites may result from fractionation of mantle-derived basaltic magmas, or partial melting of different crustal protoliths at contrasting P–T conditions, either water-fluxed or fluid-absent. Consequently, many different mechanisms have been proposed to explain the compositional variability of granites ranging from whole igneous suites down to mineral scale. This book presents an overview of the state of the art, and envisages future avenues towards a better understanding of granite petrogenesis. Particular emphasis of this Volume is on the following topics: Compositional variability of granitic rocks generated in contrasting geodynamic settings during Proterozoic to Phanerozoic Periods, Main permissible mechanisms producing subduction-related granites, Crustal anatexis of different protoliths, and the role of water in granite petrogenesis, New theoretical and analytical tools available for modelling whole-rock geochemistry, in order to decipher the sources and evolution of granitic suites.