The first edition appeared fourteen years ago. Since then there have been significant advances in our science that warrant an updating and revision of Sand and Sandstone. The main framework of the first edition has been retained so that the reader can begin with the mineralogy and textural properties of sands and sandstones, progress through their organization and classification and their study as a body of rock, to consideration of their origin-prove nance, transportation, deposition, and lithification-and finally to their place in the stratigraphic column and the basin. The last decade has seen the rise of facies analysis based on a closer look at the stratigraphic record and the recognition of characteristic bed ding sequences that are the signatures of some geologic process-such as a prograding shallow-water delta or the migration of a point bar on an alluvial floodplain. The environment of sand deposition is more closely determined by its place in such depositional systems than by criteria based on textural characteristics-the "fingerprint" approach. Our revi sion reflects this change in thinking. As in the geological sciences as a whole, the concept of plate tectonics has required a rethinking of our older ideas about the origin and accumu lation of sediments-especially the nature of the sedimentary basins.

This volume presents an overview of the results of a European Union integrated program in which approximately two hundred earth scientists participated, drawn from all fields related to exploration.Two classes of modeling were addressed - geological modeling - the relationship between the conditions of sedimentation and the resulting reservoir conditions; and wave-propagation modeling - the investigation of wave-propagation through media of various degrees of complexity. Wave-propagation modeling was carried out either mathematically or physically with the most modern tools. An important aspect of the project was the inversion of seismic data, that is the determination of the parameters of the medium from observations. This problem is closely related to modeling since it is based on the inversion of the mathematical steps and often uses modeling for verification and updating.The geological data presents novel concepts with a coverage that is both broad in area and in discipline. The geophysical investigations are at the leading edge of current research. Although detailed results have been published separately by investigators, this volume is the only source of reference which summarises the results; but incorporating sufficient detail to enable the reader to follow the scientific reasoning.

"This Memoir is the result of plans made after the first Research Symposium on Seismic Stratigraphy presented at the 1975 national convention of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Selected reports from technical meetings since that time are also included."--Foreword.