A Look Back…50 years ago: The Evolving Science of Stratigraphy

For many years, the field of stratigraphy was largely a descriptive science.  In his address as president of SEPM in 1962, Sloss suggested that the aspects of stratigraphy which addressed the “patterns in space and time formed by the bodies of rock” that form sedimentary rocks remained poorly understood due in part because of the “awesome complexities involved.”  He advocated an approach in which stratigraphy might become more predictive and quantitative, facilitated by “analysis of sedimentologic data in terms of specific process variables which interact to produce an observable stratigraphic response,” such as a distinct geometry or composition.

Stratigraphic Models in Exploration by Lawrence L. Sloss