This book is not a revised version of “The geology of fluvial deposits” (Miall 1996), but an entirely different product.
Much of the material in the 1996 book was compiled at a time when the methods of facies analysis and architectural element analysis were maturing and were becoming widely used by the sedimentological community. The lithofacies classification which I first proposed in 1977, and the method of architectural-element analysis, set out in major papers published in 1985 and 1988, were thoroughly documented in the 1996 book (Chaps. 5–7), and little has been done since then to require revisions or an upgrade.

Basin analysis is a process that requires the collection and integration of a wide variety of different types of data. Many review articles and books are available that deal with some of the individual specialized fields that together constitute basin analysis, such as stratigraphic methods, facies analysis, geophysical methods, sedimentation and tectonics, and sequence stratigraphy; but this is one of the few books that has attempted, now through three editions, to show how these different types of data and the varying types of analytical methodology used in basin analysis need to be brought together to tackle specific basin-analysis problems. The emphasis in this book continues to be on the traditional geological skills of observation, description and synthesis.  <...>

The first chapter of the book provides some essential historical background to the modern story of sequence stratigraphy. The history of the study of stratigraphy includes two parallel but largely independent strands of research that have been underway since at least the early twentieth century. They are characterized by some profound differences in underlying principles, references and research methods, one research method being essentially empirical and inductive in approach, while another groups of researchers has attempted to develop deductive, theoretical models for understanding Earth history. Chapter 1 is based largely on four papers which explored this history (Miall and Miall, 2001, 2002, 2004; Miall, 2004). It is to be hoped that readers will not skip this chapter, because experience suggests that students of geology do not learn enough about the history, philosophy, or methodology of their science.<...>

Fluvial deposits represent the preserved record of one of the major nonmarine environments. They accumulate in large and small intermontane valleys, in the broad valleys of trunk rivers, in the wedges of alluvial fans flanking areas of uplift, in the outwash plains fronting melting glaciers, and in coastal plains. The nature of alluvial assemblages - their lithofacies composition, vertical stratigraphic record, and architecture - reflect an interplay of many processes, from the wandering of individual channels across a floodplain, to the long-term effects of uplift and subsidence. Fluvial deposits are a sensitive indicator of tectonic processes, and also carry subtle signatures of the climate at the time of deposition. They are the hosts for many petroleum and mineral deposits. This book is about all these subjects.