A structural and sedimentological history for the Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic is formulated from subsurface and seismic reflection data for the Arklatex Area. The Ouachita structural belt is the product of Pennsylvanian folding and thrusting of an Early Paleozoic passive margin wedge. An Atokan thin-skinned thrust complex (Ti Valley) was deformed during the DesMoinesian by basement-involved duplexing, which carried with it Early Paleozoic foreland carbonates. These carbonates and the underlying Precambrian basement may be mapped about 80 km south of the outcrop areas of the Ouachita Mountains. Following regional post-Atokan peneplanation, post- to synorogenic deposition commenced in the continental backarc (Paleozoic Arklatex) basin which formed on the hinterland side of the Ouachita arc. This successor basin contains over 8000 feet (2400 meters) of Pennsylvanian and Permian shelf carbonates and clastics. Following another regional unconformity, over 7000 feet (2100 meters) of discontinuous Triassic redbeds were deposited in structural troughs formed during a poorly-documented rifting event. Finally, Jurassic Werner clastics and anhydrite buried most remaining Triassic topography during the initial episode of evaporite deposition.

The area is located in west central Argentina, east of the Andes. It was a Mesozoic backarc basin which evolved into a foredeep basin during the upper Cretaceous, when a fold and thrust belt was formed to the west. The sedimentary infill is Permo-Triassic to Tertiary, continental and marine, deposited in a generally shallow, slowly subsiding basin. The main factors that help subdivide the stratigraphy were relative changes of sea level. Detailed sequence stratigraphic analysis of the upper Jurassic to lower Cretaceous helps explain the mechanisms by which subtle stratigraphic traps may be created. Deformation in the fold and thrust belt took place from the Campanian to Pliocene, showing three distinct zones. From east to west a broad arch is followed by an intricate series of tight anticlines formed by both east and west verging thrusts. More to the west an east-verging ramp anticline is identified, involving deeper decollement surfaces.

Yumaque formation biosiliceous sediments resemble modern and Neogene sediments deposited under coastal upwelling conditions. High biogenic silica accumulation rates (up to 69 g$\cdot$cm$\sp{-2}\cdot$yr$\sp{-3}$), preservation of fine sedimentary features, and high original organic carbon, resulted from favorable basin geometries and upwelling of nutrient-rich water. Light biosiliceous-rich and dark detrital-rich alternations occur at scales ranging from millimeters to meters. Mm-scale laminae couplets are interpreted as varves. Spectral analysis of laminae thickness using a varve-calibrated time scale reveals significant variance at periods of 5-6 and 8 years, within the El Nino (ENSO) frequency band, and at 11 years, possibly linked to the 10-12 year solar cycle. Centimeter to meter-scale cyclicity representing between a few hundred to a few thousand years correlates to solar and geomagnetic phenomenon. The Yumaque formation and similar biosiliceous deposits along the eastern Pacific margin may be indicative of widespread late Eocene biosiliceous sedimentation around the Pacific.

The basins of the study area were filled with the following sequences: E$\sb0$ (lower? to middle Eocene); E1 E2 and E3 (fill middle Eocene half grabens); E-O (uppermost middle Eocene-Oligocene); M1, M2 and M3 (lower-upper Miocene); P (uppermost Miocene-Pliocene); and, Q (Quaternary). Four compressive events occurred during Paleocene?, middle Eocene?, upper-middle to late Miocene and middle Pliocene?; and two extensional episodes took place during middle Eocene and late Pliocene. Pre-Tertiary substratum was involved in all tectonic events. The Salaverry-Trujillo High which formed during the third compressive event and the Pliocene consists of a trench-parallel open flexure and a belt of middle Eocene to upper Miocene inverted wedges. The continuous uplifting of the Salaverry-Trujillo High produced a sustained shallowing of the sea floor at the slope break zone on the western side of the high and the incision of submarine canyons.

The Silver Peak Range of west-central Nevada reveals metamorphic tectonites below a low-angle fault deformed in a northwesterly-trending doubly-plunging anticline. The rock units in the region are divided into a lower plate, a Lower Paleozoic upper plate and an Oligocene and younger upper plate. The lower plate assemblage and Lower Paleozoic upper plate rocks share a common structural history, with the exception that peak metamorphic conditions in the lower plate reached lower amphibolite grade, whereas conditions in the upper plate never exceeded lower greenschist facies. Rocks of Oligocene and younger only experienced late-stage brittle deformation which warped the detachment fault into a doubly-plunging anticline. The cooling history of lower plate tectonites and structural evidence from the upper and lower plate rocks indicate an early history associated with Mesozoic thrusting, and a younger history of Miocene extension associated with displacement transfer between the Furnace Creek Fault and Walker Lane Belt.

The evolution of the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin started during the Early Cretaceous, as part of the rift system that initiated the separation between the South American and African plates. The direction of propagation of the rift was controlled by preexisting basement fabric, and the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin developed as a rift bounded by N-S oriented normal faults, formed by crustal extension oriented obliquely to the direction of propagation of the rift. Different rates of crustal attenuation along the basin, due to the heterogeneous nature of the continental crust, were accommodated by transfer faults which divided the basin in three separate Domains. Crustal extension was substantially less in the Northern Domain than in the Central and Southern Domains. The first marine incursions in the basin occurred during the Aptian, after the end of the rifting phase, and the period is marked by the deposition of large amounts of evaporites. From the Albian to the Santonian, the basin was covered by a shallow but permanent sea, and great thickness of carbonates were stacked on high proximal areas, whereas in the distal portions of the basin only a thin, condensed section was deposited. Open oceanic conditions were installed towards the end of the Cretaceous, during the Campanian, and a prograding clastic wedge started to be deposited. The distribution of the post-rift sediments, as evidenced by isopach maps, indicates that the Northern Domain remained essentially stable throughout the post-rift evolution of the basin, and that the post-rift subsidence was mostly concentrated in the Southern and Central Domains. Structures formed after the rifting phase are restricted to those associated with sediment mobilization (especially evaporites), but the distribution of both structures and sediments in the post-rift phase was strongly controlled by the tectonic framework created during the rifting phase.

Autochthonous Lower Jurassic synorogenic strata (Dunlap and Water Canyon Formations) in the Pilot and Excelsior Mountains of west-central Nevada were deposited in actively extending half-graben basins. Northwest-trending syndepositional faults and rapid lateral variations in sedimentary facies from southwest to northeast indicate that the basins were northwesterly elongated. Mean northward paleotransport data indicates basins opened to the north. Sand-rich facies were funnelled northwestward down the axis of the basins by subaqueous tractive processes, whereas gravel-rich facies were shed northeastward by submarine fans which formed along the southwestern margins of the basins. Regional stratigraphic and petrographic evidence indicate that several basins existed, and that individual basins were isolated or poorly connected during deposition. Deposition of the Lower Jurassic Dunlap and Water Canyon Formations within half-grabens is in marked contrast to previous interpretations equating basin formation to mid-Mesozoic contraction. Dunlap sedimentation unequivocally predates the formation of Mesozoic folds and thrusts and cannot be used to date the onset of regional shortening. Synorogenic deposition of Lower Jurassic rocks in northwest-trending basins is consistent with widespread extensional systems in the western Great Basin, the Sierra Nevada and the Mojave.

A sequence stratigraphic analysis of Paleogene deposits, using subsurface data (well logs, seismic data, and biostratigraphy) from the Central North Sea and published outcrop information from northwest Europe, has documented a framework of 30 "third order" depositional sequences nested within 5 "second order" major regression/transgression cycles. The order of a cycle is based on observations concerning its constituents and its impact on the depositional systems of the basin, not strictly on its duration. Integration of composite standard biostratigraphy with sequence stratigraphy builds a consistent chronostratigraphic depositional framework. The framework is based on the identification of hiatal intervals in wells, boreholes, and outcrop using graphic correlation. Hiatal interval is a generic term that differs from condensed section. Discontinuous sedimentation is assumed of across some units traditionally called "condensed sections". This assumption is based on evidence from regional correlation of graphic correlation terraces. An ideal relationship of graphic correlation terraces within a sequence stratigraphic model is presented, providing the theoretical basis for regional correlations. Weaknesses in graphic correlation (underuse and static application) are countered with strengths in sequence stratigraphy (widespread use and dynamic application). Conversely, weaknesses in sequence stratigraphy (documentation and consistency) are the strengths of graphic correlation. This study emphasizes the interdependence of the two methodologies. A depositional model is also proposed as a variant of the classic Vail model. This model considers the effect of depositional profile and sediment supply in the preservation and distribution of systems tracts. Recent revisions in Central North Sea lithostratigraphy and sequence stratigraphy provide an opportunity for comparison between different methods and data resolutions. The stratigraphic framework built from subsurface data is compared with age-equivalent deposits outcropping in Northwest Europe. This correlation reveals that sedimentation in the deep basin occurs as depositional pulses, separated by time-correlative graphic correlation terraces (hiatal intervals). Data terraces expand into thick deposits in Northwest Europe. Not all sequence boundaries are resolvable by graphic correlation, but the method brackets packages defined by seismic, log interpretation and biostratigraphy. By correlating outcrops and subsurface data, it is possible to construct a relative sea level signal for the entire basin.

Piston cores and single-channel seismic data were acquired in Marguerite Bay, Antarctic Peninsula, to determine modern sedimentary conditions and recent glacial history of the area. Seismic data in the bay shows a rugged seafloor, having numerous deep troughs and a marked lack of sediment cover, with a thin layer of sediment over crystalline basement or older glacial deposits. Modern sedimentation consists predominantly of diatomaceous muds; ice-rafted debris is unimportant. These sediments show wind-driven or marine current influence. Piston cores are topped by diatomaceous muds, which are underlain by terrigenous muds and muddy gravels that were deposited beneath an ice shelf. Basal till sediments were recovered, reflecting deposition by a grounded marine ice sheet. A reconstruction of the glacial history of Marguerite Bay since the last glacial maximum shows grounded ice filling the bay in late Wisconsin time; rising sea level caused slow ice margin retreat and existence of an ice shelf throughout the Holocene. An ice margin recessional facies model has been developed.

The Point Lookout Sandstone undergoes an abrupt transition from strandplain-dominated to deltaic-dominated deposition in the northwestern part of the San Juan Basin near Durango, Colorado. The onset of deltaic deposition is preceded by a base level fall and development of a Type 2 sequence boundary as evidenced by a basinward shift in shoreline facies expressed as distributary channel sandstones overlying shoreface deposits. Deposition in the study area, therefore, represents late highstand systems tract progradation and subsequent shelf-margin systems tract deltaic deposition. Posamentier and Vail's (1988) model of deposition during base-level fail in the absence of fluvial incision predicts many of the stratigraphic relationships observed in the field, and provides the best sequence stratigraphic model for deposition within the study area.