This review covers a wide range of surface analytical techniques: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning photoelectron microscopy (SPEM), photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM), dynamic and static secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), atomic force microscopy (AFM). Others that are relatively less widely used but are also important to the Earth Sciences are also included: Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). All these techniques probe only the very top sample surface layers (sub-nm to several tens of nm). In addition, we also present several other techniques i.e. Raman microspectroscopy, reflection infrared (IR) microspectroscopy and quantitative evaluation of minerals by scanning electron microscopy (QEMSCAN) that penetrate deeper into the sample, up to several μm, as all of them are fundamental analytical tools for the Earth Sciences. Grazing incidence synchrotron techniques, sensitive to surface measurements, are also briefly introduced at the end of this review. (Scanning) transmission electron microscopy (TEM/STEM) is a special case that can be applied to characterisation of mineralogical and geological sample surfaces. Since TEM/STEM is such an important technique for Earth Scientists, we have also included it to draw attention to the capability of TEM/STEM applied as a surface-equivalent tool.

While this review presents most of the important techniques for the Earth Sciences, it is not an all-inclusive bibliography of those analytical techniques. Instead, for each technique that is discussed, we first give a very brief introduction about its principle and background, followed by a short section on approaches to sample preparation that are important for researchers to appreciate prior to the actual sample analysis. We then use examples from publications (and also some of our known unpublished results) within the Earth Sciences to show how each technique is applied and used to obtain specific information and to resolve real problems, which forms the central theme of this review. Although this review focuses on applications of these techniques to study mineralogical and geological samples, we also anticipate that researchers from other research areas such as Material and Environmental Sciences may benefit from this review.

这篇综述涵盖了广泛的表面分析技术：X射线光电子能谱（XPS），扫描光电子显微镜（SPEM），光发射电子显微镜（PEEM），动态和静态二次离子质谱（SIMS），电子背散射衍射（EBSD） ），原子力显微镜（AFM）。还包括相对较不广泛使用但对地球科学也很重要的其他材料：俄歇电子能谱（AES），低能电子衍射（LEED）和扫描隧道显微镜（STM）。所有这些技术仅探测样品的最顶层（亚纳米至几十纳米）。此外，我们还存在一些其他的技术，即拉曼光谱，反射红外（IR）光谱和通过扫描电子显微镜（QEMSCAN）对矿物进行定量评估，这些矿物可以更深地渗透到样品中，最深可达几微米，因为它们都是地球科学的基本分析工具。在本文的结尾还简要介绍了对表面测量敏感的掠入射同步加速器技术。（扫描）透射电子显微镜（TEM / STEM）是一种特殊情况，可用于表征矿物和地质样品表面。由于TEM / STEM对地球科学家而言是一项如此重要的技术，因此我们也将其包括在内，以提请注意将TEM / STEM用作表面等效工具的功能。

虽然本综述介绍了地球科学的大多数重要技术，但它不是这些分析技术的全部参考书目。相反，对于所讨论的每种技术，我们首先简要介绍其原理和背景，然后简短介绍样品制备方法，这对于研究人员在实际样品分析之前应先了解它们非常重要。然后，我们使用地球科学中的出版物中的示例（以及一些未公开的已知结果）来说明如何应用每种技术以及如何使用每种技术来获取特定信息并解决实际问题，这构成了本综述的中心主题。尽管这篇综述着重介绍了这些技术在研究矿物学和地质学样品中的应用，