In the extensive field of earth sciences, with its many subdisciplines, the trans fer of knowledge is primarily established via personal communication, during meetings, by reading journal articles, or by consulting books. Because more information is available than can be assimilated, it is necessary for the individual to search selectively. Books take more time from the inception of an idea until publication than any of the other means of communication men tioned. As a consequence, their function is somewhat different. Many good books are a compilation of up to date knowledge and serve as reference or instruction manuals. Some books are a collection of previously published papers dealing with a certain topic, while others may basically provide large sets of data or examples. The Frontiers in Sedimentary Geology series was established both for stu dents and practicing earth scientists who wish to either stay abreast of the most recent ideas or developments or to become familiar with an important topic in the field of sedimentary geology. The series attempts to deal with sub jects that are in the forefront of both scientific and economic interest. The treatment of a subject in an individual volume should be a combination of topi cal, regional, and interdisciplinary approaches. Although these three terms can be defined separately, in reality they should flow into each other. A topical treatment should relate to a major category of sedimentary geology.

This is the first book to deal comprehensively with Spain's tectonic and sedimentary history over the past sixty or so million years. During Tertiary times, Spain had suffered compressional collision between France and Africa, and its Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts had been further modified by extensional rifting.

Basin Analysis is an up-to-date overview of the essential processes of the formation and evolution of sedimentary basins, and their implications for the development of hydrocarbon resources. The new edition features: A consideration of the fundamental physical state of the lithosphere. A discussion on the major types of lithospheric deformation relevant to basin development – stretching and flexure. A new chapter on the effects of mantle dynamics. Radically revised chapters on the basin-fill. A new chapter on the erosional engine for sediment delivery to basins, reflecting the massive and exciting advances in this area in the last decade. Expansion of the techniques used in approaching problems in basin analysis. Updated chapters on subsidence analysis and measurements of thermal maturity of organic and non-organic components of the basin-fill. New material on thermochronological and exposure dating tools. Inclusion of the important petroleum system concept in the updated section on the application to the petroleum play. Visit: www.blackwellpublishing.com/allen for practical exercises related to problems in Basin Analysis 2e. To run the programs you will need a copy of Matlab 6 or 7. An Instructor manual CD-ROM for this title is available. Please contact our Higher Education team at [email protected] for more information.

The sediment flux to a basin is controlled by a complex combination of tectonics, climatic variability and stochastic events, thereby creating a cryptic geological record. Deconvolving the effects of individual factors controlling sedimentation can often be challenging, due to a variety of reasons including a lack of outcrop, a poor understanding of the regional tectonic framework and insufficiently detailed geological maps. However, many of these deficiencies can be overcome within the deep-marine Ainsa basin, South Central Pyrenees where detailed research over the last decade has provided an extensive knowledge base. The Ainsa basin comprises ~4 km of middle Eocene deep-marine sediments. Basin stratigraphy consists of a succession of ~25 discrete sandy submarine fans and inter-fan deposits belonging to the Hecho Group. Recently it has been hypothesised that the supply of coarse-clastic sediment to the basin was paced by orbitally induced climate and/or sea level variability, whilst tectonics controlled the locus of deposition. This hypothesis is tested within the Upper Hecho Group using a refined basin age model and the creation of floating orbital time scales between submarine fans. Using calcareous nannofossil and large shallow benthic foraminifera, deposition of the Upper Hecho Group took place over a 6.0-8.3 Myr period between ~40.5-48.4 Ma, giving an average sediment accumulation rate (SAR) of 43.2±10.5 cm/kyr. Stratigraphic time series analyses of inter-fan fine-grained sediments indicate the presence of short eccentricity, obliquity and precession Milankovitch cycles. These floating time scales provide average SARs of 36, 28 and 25-33 cm/kyr for the Banaston, Ainsa and Guaso systems respectively. Applying these age models to the three systems suggest that submarine fan deposition potentially corresponds to specific eccentricity minima. As in the Pleistocene, such Milankovitch forcing could be linked with ephemeral glacio-eustatic low-stand conditions, associated with increased coarse sediment flux to the deep-marine Ainsa basin.