**1. Introduction**

This is the introductory chapter of the book "Seismic and sequence stratigraphy and integrated stratigraphy - new insights and contributions." In this chapter, the research themes studied in this book have been introduced referring to the seismo-stratigraphic and sequence stratigraphic techniques and methodologies, pertaining, in particular, the fine-grained shales and the alluvial systems, the seismo-stratigraphic features of Late Miocene deposits offshore the northern Taiwan and to the integrated stratigraphic studies, including the stratigraphy of the Jurassic deposits in the Irkutsk sedimentary basin studied through lithologic and paleobotanical data, the disconformities in stratigraphy, reviewing their theoretical concepts and studying selected examples from Paleozoic successions and the integrated stratigraphy of the foreland basin of the Andean fold and thrust belt.

The topics and the research themes developed in this book are of the great actuality and should have a good impact on the scientific research community. In fact, the sequence stratigraphic studies and the seismo-stratigraphic concepts have been typically developed on the deposits pertaining to the marine environment in a geodynamic context of a passive, Atlantictype continental margin [1–13]. In this book, instead, emphasis is given to the sequence stratigraphic studies performed on the alluvial systems and on the fine-grained shales.

The passive margins are characterized by thick successions of clastic and carbonate deposits, mainly of shallow water depositional environments, constituting sedimentary wedges thickening toward the ocean. The sedimentary wedge overlies a continental lithosphere segmented in horst and graben structures and tends to be prograding on the newly formed continental lithosphere. The sedimentary successions of a passive continental margin may reach thicknesses in the order of 14 kilometers and accumulate during and after the continental

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

rifting and the formation of oceanic lithosphere. In a well-developed Atlantic-type continental margin, a continental shelf, continental slope and rise and basin occur [14–28].

Sequence stratigraphic interpretations of the alluvial systems and of the fine-grained shales, studied in this book, may be considered as both a counterpart and an integration of sequence stratigraphic analyses of marine deposits in continental shelf, slope and basin environments. The sequence stratigraphic setting of the fluvial depositional systems has been studied by several authors in different geological frameworks [29–35]. The distributive fluvial systems (DFS) [35], which have been investigated in this book, are a particular type of fluvial system, which is characterized by a downstream whose size decreases, is not bounded from valleys and shows a pattern of different rays coming from an apex. The sequence stratigraphy of the fine-grained shales is an interesting research topic of this book, and theoretical aspects applied to several geological settings have been pointed out by several papers [36–40]. In particular, the sequence stratigraphy of the Barnett Shale and subordinately of the Woodford Shale is among the most studied research topics regarding the shales and has been coupled with other geological methodologies, including the geochemistry and the evaluation of the gas content for petroleum studies [41–45].

In this book, different case studies located in China have been presented. To this aim, it should be useful to clarify the type of geological structure of the Chinese-type basins. The present-day geological setting of the Asia continent and, in particular, of China has been controlled by the amalgamation of several Paleozoic continental blocks and many insular arcs. Ziegler et al. [46] have attempted to follow the traces of the migration of some of these blocks up to their unification in the Laurasia continent of the Pangea. The paleogeographic reconstructions of the Chinese region at the end of the Paleozoic have allowed to distinguish three Precambrian platforms, which have been captured during the growth processes in the Paleozoic (i.e., the Tarim platforms, Northern China, and Southern China) [47]. During the formation of the Meso-Cenozoic megasuture belt, a new set of plates was produced, with the capture of the blocks of the Lut, Iran, Tibetan block, and Indochinese platform, merging with the initial Paleozoic nucleus. In the time interval ranging from the Upper Cretaceous to the Pliocene, the collision of the Asia with the Arabian block occurred, while during the Cenozoic, the collision of the Asia with the Indian block occurred [48]. The Chinese basins include the Ordos, Pre-Nan Shan, Tsaidam, Tarim, Turfan, and Dzungarian and are characterized by the occurrence of Mesozoic-Tertiary continental successions deformed by both strike-slip and reverse faults involving the Paleozoic basement [49]. Their individuation appears to be related to compressional stresses [50]. Three types of basins, hosting important oil and gas resources, have been distinguished in China, namely the extensional basins, the compressional basins, and the transitional basins [50]. The extensional basins prevail in the Eastern China, including the Songliao and Bohai Gulf basins (the second one has been investigated in this book). The compressional basins are mainly located in the Western China, including the Tarim and Junggar basins, while the transitional ones are mainly located in the Central China, including the Sichuan and Ordos basins [50].

In this book, another important research topic is represented by the Andean foreland basin, whose age is Cenozoic and located in northern Argentina. Its formation has been modeled from a geodynamic point of view, finding a coefficient of erosional transport of 3000 m<sup>2</sup> /year and a coefficient of depositional transport of 20,000 m<sup>2</sup> /year [51]. These parameters have predicted the basin geometry of the Andean foreland basin [51]. It is a belt of foreland basins located eastwards of the Central Andes and extending into different regions, including the eastern Bolivia, the northern Argentina, the Paraguay and the southwestern sector of Brazil. Perhaps, this belt is characterized by several depocenters, whose regional sediment distribution has been reconstructed by Horton and deCelles [52]. According to the obtained results [52], the sedimentary basin filling strongly varies in the depocentral zones including the wedge-top, the foredeep, the forebulge and the back-bulge depocentral zones. This variation is accompanied by significant variations in elevation and gravimetric anomalies [52]. Significant variations in the crustal thickness of Andes have been previously pointed out by geological studies [53]. Moreover, the lithospheric flexure of the central Andes and the corresponding bending of stratigraphic sequences have been investigated in detail [54].
