**5. Outline of this book**

The control factors on the deposition of sequences and system tracts have been considered, including the sea-level fluctuations, the sediment supply and the accommodation space [68]. Some applications of siliciclastic sequence stratigraphy have been given in the recognition of depositional sequences and system tracts from well logs coupled with seismic profiles and biostratigraphic data [69]. The integration of these stratigraphic methods has been applied to the Gulf of Mexico and has allowed for the prediction of reservoirs, seals and source rocks, useful in the petroleum exploration. The stratigraphic architecture has evidenced the occurrence of a complete depositional sequence, consisting of lowstand system tract (LST), transgressive system tract (TST), and highstand system tract (HST), whose stratigraphic signature has been identified based on well log interpretation. High-resolution paleobathymetric and biostratigraphic interpretation of well logs has detailed the general stratigraphic setting.

8 Seismic and Sequence Stratigraphy and Integrated Stratigraphy - New Insights and Contributions

Some key concepts of sequence stratigraphy, particularly referring to the stratigraphic unconformities, are given in the Chapter 5 of this book. The stratigraphic unconformities are considered as main stratigraphic surfaces and their identification in outcrops can be constrained using the relative weathering maturity of the subaerial profile, the calibration through cyclostratigraphy, the absolute dating and the biostratigraphy. At the scale of the seismic profiles, the disconformities show concordant strata overlying and underlying the stratigraphic surface. In the sense of this chapter, they are considered to include the ravinement surfaces, which are important stratigraphic surfaces, related to the erosion during the transgressive movement of the landward margin of the transgressive system tract (TST) [70–72]. Moreover, the concept of drowning unconformity has been reviewed, considering this stratigraphic surface as one of the most important stratigraphic surfaces in carbonate platform settings [73–76]. These surfaces develop when the rate of vertical aggradation of the carbonate platform is lower than the rate of the accommodation space. Perhaps the deep water sedimentation tends to prevail on the shallow carbonate sedimentation, as evidenced by the individuation of the drowning unconformity. These kind of unconformities have been individuated offshore of the Apulian region in the Southern Adriatic Sea [62] and onshore in the Gargano Promontory,

showing a well-developed carbonate platform margin-slope-basin succession [77].

In this book, different studies on integrated stratigraphy have been presented, which are grouped in the second section of the book. These studies are based on the integration of several stratigraphic methodologies, including the lithologic and paleobotanical data, the three-dimensional seismic models, the biostratigraphy, the paleopedology and paleoaquifer studies, the lithologic logs of cores and their subaerial exposure profiles, the individuation of the eroded paleosols, the lithologic and lithofacies logs of wells and some corresponding measurements and, finally, the facies analysis aimed at individuating the depositional archi-

Different stratigraphic methods are involved in the integrated stratigraphy, including the chemostratigraphy, the isotopic stratigraphy, the oxygen isotopes, the carbon isotopes, the strontium

**4. Integrated stratigraphy**

tecture and the sequence stratigraphic setting.

Different stratigraphic studies have been carried out in this book. First, they include the sequence stratigraphic architecture of siliciclastic- and carbonate-dominated shales in USA and China, focusing on the implications in the reservoir prediction. The sequence stratigraphy of alluvial depositional environments has also been studied, defining a new type of fluvial facies, representative of the Bohai Bay Basin, which is located in Eastern China in extensional tectonic setting. In the northern Taiwan offshore, the main regional unconformities (U1 and U2) and the related seismic units (SU I, SU II, SU III) have been singled out as an answer to the collapse of the fold and thrust belt located in the emerged areas. A new stratigraphic scale for the Jurassic deposits of western Siberia has been constructed based on the correlation of these deposits with the surrounding regions. The theoretical aspects of the stratigraphic unconformities have been reviewed, focusing on the drowning unconformities (Middle Devonian drowning unconformity). The significance of this study is the integration among different aspects of stratigraphy. Most of the work which has been described in this book derives from detailed in situ observations and sophisticated stratigraphic analyses.

This book contains six chapters, as follows:

Chapter 2 (Sequence Stratigraphy of Fine-Grained "Shale" Deposits: Case Studies of Representative Shales in USA and China).

Chapter 3 (Sequence Stratigraphy of Fluvial Facies: A New Type Representative from Wenliu Area, Bohai Bay Basin, China).

Chapter 4 (Seismic Stratigraphic Features of the Late Miocene-Present Unconformities and Related Seismic Units, Northern Offshore Taiwan).

Chapter 5 (Stratigraphy of Jurassic Sediments of the Southern Siberian Platform (Russia) Studied Through Lithologic and Palaeobotanical Data).

Chapter 6 (Stratigraphic Unconformities: Review of the Concept and Examples from the Middle-Upper Paleozoic).

Chapter 7 (Integrated Stratigraphy of the Cenozoic Andean Foreland Basin (Northern Argentina)).
