Following publication of the landmark American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 26 in 1977, seismic and sequence stratigraphy revitalised the traditional subject of stratigraphy. It became one of the liveliest and most controversial disciplines in the earth sciences. The dust has now largerly settled but the science of sequence stratigraphy is still being driven forward, with work on high resolution examples from outcrop and the subsurface and computer modelling of sedimentary fill from parasequence to basin scales. Sequence Stratigraphy, based on the successful training course of BP, sets out to define and explain the concepts, principles and applications of this profoundly influential set of techniques. Not least, the dense terminology of the subject is carefully de-mystified, with reference to numerous real examples.

This book is, above all, a practical guide and presents the tools and techniques of sequence stratigraphy. It is a arranged to cover four main themes: a brief history; concepts and principles; tools; and applications of sequence stratigraphy to different depositional systems. Emphasis is given to the importance of seeing sequence stratigraphy in its sedimentological context, relating product to process.