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.

Modern sequence stratigraphy has its roots in the development of seismic stratigraphy. In the late 1960s to middle 1970s, Peter R. Vail and his colleagues at Exxon Production Research Company developed stratigraphic techniques and principles based on time stratigraphic rather than rock stratigraphic (lithostratigraphic) relationships using multi-fold seismic reflection data. Seismic stratigraphic units called depositional sequences were recognized within which the strata seemed conformable and free of any internal stratal discontinuities. Based on global seismic stratigraphic observations, these workers inferred a eustatic signal and developed global sea level curves. Despite shortcomings, the sequence stratigraphic approach represents a powerful geological tool. At the field development scale, improved reservoir, source, and seal prediction can enhance petroleum recovery. At the exploration scale, this approach can be instrumental in developing new play concepts in both mature and frontier basins. To realize the full potential of this method, earlier conceptual models must be substantiated and modified. 80 refs., 2 tabs.

Applying depositional sequence stratigraphic concepts to the interpretation of siliciclastic depositional systems is becoming an increasingly important tool in petroleum geology. After a succession of breakthroughs during the 1970s and 1980s, sequence stratigraphic concepts now have entered a phase of intense application and documentation, especially with regard to successful implementation in the field of petroleum geology. Workers have applied these concepts to a variety of databases, ranging from outcrop to cores to electric logs and to multifold seismic data. Clearly, sequence stratigraphic concepts embody–not a rigid model or template–but rather a way of looking at geology. This volume has two purposes: to compile some recent applications of siliciclastic sequence stratigraphic concepts, and to present new studies focused on refining conceptual models. This memoir grew out of a 1991 symposium, "Variations in Depositional Systems Within a Sequence Stratigraphic Framework: Applications to Exploration," organized by the authors at the AAPG annual meeting at Dallas. Robert Loucks and Rick Sarg have edited a companion volume, also published by AAPG,“Entitled Carbonate Sequence Stratigraphy: New Developments and Applications.”