This handbook is vital for understanding the origin of deep-water sandstones, emphasizing sandy-mass transport deposits (SMTDs) and bottom-current reworked sands (BCRSs) in petroleum reservoirs. This cutting-edge perspective, a pragmatic alternative to the conventional turbidite concepts, is crucial because the turbidite paradigm is built on a dubious foundation without empirical data on sandy turbidity currents in modern oceans. In the absence of evidence for sandy turbidity currents in natural environments, elegant theoretical models and experimental observations of turbidity currents are irrelevant substitutes for explaining the origin of sandy deposits as "turbidites." In documenting modern and ancient SMTDs (sandy slides, sandy slumps, and sandy debrites) and BCRSs (deposits of thermohaline [contour] currents, wind-driven currents, and tidal currents), the author describes and interprets core and outcrop (1:20 to 1:50 scale) from 35 case studies worldwide (which include 32 petroleum reservoirs), totaling more than 10,000 m in cumulative thickness, carried out during the past 36 years (1974-2010). The book dispels myths about the importance of sea level lowstand and provides much-needed clarity on the triggering of sediment failures by earthquakes, meteorite impacts, tsunamis, and cyclones with implications for the distribution of deep-water sandstone petroleum reservoirs. Promotes pragmatic interpretation of deep-water sands using alternative possibilities Validates the economic importance of SMTDs and BCRS in deep-water exploration and production Rich in empirical data and timely new perspectives

This rock-based book is an attempt to link deep-water process sedimentology with sandstone petroleum reservoirs. In presenting a consistent process interpretation, the author has relied on his description and interpretation of core and outcrop (1:20 to 1:50 scale) from 35 case studies (which include 32 petroleum reservoirs), totaling more than 30,000 feet (9,145 m), carried out during the past 30 years (1974-2004). This book should serve as an important source of information for students on history, methodology, first principles, advanced concepts, controversies, and practical applications on deep-water sedimentology and petroleum geology.* Discusses the link between deep-water process sedimentology and petroleum geology * Addresses criteria for recognizing deposits of gravity-driven, thermohaline-driven, wind-driven, and tide-driven processes in deep-water environments* Provides head-on approach to resolve controversial process-related problems

Historically, submarine-mass failures or mass-transport deposits have been a focus of increasingly intense investigation by academic institutions particularly during the last decade, though they received much less attention by geoscientists in the energy industry. With recent interest in expanding petroleum exploration and production into deeper water-depths globally and more widespread availability of high-quality data sets, mass-transport deposits are now recognized as a major component of most deep-water settings. This recognition has lead to the realization that many aspects of these deposits are still unknown or poorly understood. This volume contains twenty-three papers that address a number of topics critical to further understanding mass-transport deposits. These topics include general overviews of these deposits, depositional settings on the seafloor and in the near-subsurface interval, geohazard concerns, descriptive outcrops, integrated outcrop and seismic data/seismic forward modeling, petroleum reservoirs, and case studies on several associated topics. This volume will appeal to a broad cross section of geoscientists and geotechnical engineers, who are interested in this rapidly expanding field. The selection of papers in this volume reflects a growing trend towards a more diverse blend of disciplines and topics, covered in the study of mass-transport deposits.

Accompanying CD-ROM contains color illustrations.--cf. page 4 of cover.

Hardcover plus CD

We are poised to embark on a new era of discovery in the study of geomorphology. The discipline has a long and illustrious history, but in recent years an entirely new way of studying landscapes and seascapes has been developed. It involves the use of 3D seismic data. Just as CAT scans allow medical staff to view our anatomy in 3D, seismic data now allows Earth scientists to do what the early geomorphologists could only dream of - view tens and hundreds of square kilometres of the Earth's subsurface in 3D and therefore see for the first time how landscapes have evolved through time. This volume demonstrates how Earth scientists are starting to use this relatively new tool to study the dynamic evolution of a range of sedimentary environments.