My earliest work on fl uvial sedimentology was carried out as part of my doctoral thesis
research in the Canadian Arctic Islands, under the stimulating leadership of the late Brian
Rust. I was able to continue research in this areas during the 1970s, while undertaking
regional basin studies for the Geological Survey of Canada. I am grateful to the enlightened
management of the Survey at the time, for encouraging this "theoreticaf' interest, particularly Don Stott, the Director of the Institute of Sedimentary and Petroleum Geology at
Calgary for most of my time there .
Since my move to the Universityof Toronto in 1979, my research has been supported by
the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada . I have also, at times,
received support from the Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society,
and from various petroleum companies, including British Petroleum (USA), Imperial Oil,
Union Pacific, Petro-Canada, Petrel-Robertson and Wascana . Some of the compilation of
case studies and mapping methods and, in particular, the sections dealing with petroleum
geology, formed part of a report prepared for the japan National Oil Corporation in 1991,
and I am very grateful to the Corporation for permission to include this material in the
book.
Most of the chapters in the first half of the book were drafted at University of Oxford
while I was on sabaticalleave there in 1991-1992. I am grateful to john Dewey, Chair of the
Department, and to Phil Allen, my host, for making my stay there a memorable one. Later
work on the book was completed at my home base, and I appreciate the fl exibility I was
afforded by my Chair, John Westgate, in rearranging my teaching timetable to provide
blocks of time for work on the final chapters and for the production stage of the book .
Many of my students at the University of Toronto have become stimulating and
challenging colleagues, and I am grateful to them for the mutual learning experience . In
particular, Phil Fralick, David Eberth, Greg Nadon) Jun Cowan, Mike Bromley, Paul Godin,
Mark Stephens, Shuji Yoshida, Andrew Willis, and Octavian Catuneanu, have given me
much to think about. Most of them are quoted in this book .
I am grateful to various colleagues for reading parts of the book (including some
material that was original prepared for review articles and subsequently incorporated into
the book instead) . Their input has been most valuable. They include Kevin Biddle, Lars
Clemmensen, Bob Dalrymple, Bill Galloway, Martin Giblingl John Horne, John Hubert,
Gary Kocurek, Mike Leeder, Jim Lowell, Peter McCabe, Judith Totman Parrish, Norm
Smith, Finn Surlyk, Jim Tucker, and Paul Wright . Mike Leeder drew my attention to the
early understanding of the power of rivers contained in works by Plato and Homer .
Photographs have been contributed by Kevin Crowley, Miles Hayes, Lloyd Homer (and
the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Ltd ., Lower Hutt, New Zealand. My
thanks to Dale Leckie for the introduction), Tomasz Jerzykiewicz, Ray Levey, Grant
Mossop, Sarah Prosser, Derald Smith, and Norm Smith . The field photographs from the
Canadian Arctic were taken by myself, nearly all of them while I was employed by the
Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary, and the Survey is hereby gratefully acknowledged as
the source of these illustrations. Jim Dixon assisted with the preparation of some of these.
All other photographs are from my own research collection . Chris Fielding provided good
copies of some of his diagrams . Some original or redrawn line drawings were done by
research in the Canadian Arctic Islands, under the stimulating leadership of the late Brian
Rust. I was able to continue research in this areas during the 1970s, while undertaking
regional basin studies for the Geological Survey of Canada. I am grateful to the enlightened
management of the Survey at the time, for encouraging this "theoreticaf' interest, particularly Don Stott, the Director of the Institute of Sedimentary and Petroleum Geology at
Calgary for most of my time there .
Since my move to the Universityof Toronto in 1979, my research has been supported by
the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada . I have also, at times,
received support from the Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society,
and from various petroleum companies, including British Petroleum (USA), Imperial Oil,
Union Pacific, Petro-Canada, Petrel-Robertson and Wascana . Some of the compilation of
case studies and mapping methods and, in particular, the sections dealing with petroleum
geology, formed part of a report prepared for the japan National Oil Corporation in 1991,
and I am very grateful to the Corporation for permission to include this material in the
book.
Most of the chapters in the first half of the book were drafted at University of Oxford
while I was on sabaticalleave there in 1991-1992. I am grateful to john Dewey, Chair of the
Department, and to Phil Allen, my host, for making my stay there a memorable one. Later
work on the book was completed at my home base, and I appreciate the fl exibility I was
afforded by my Chair, John Westgate, in rearranging my teaching timetable to provide
blocks of time for work on the final chapters and for the production stage of the book .
Many of my students at the University of Toronto have become stimulating and
challenging colleagues, and I am grateful to them for the mutual learning experience . In
particular, Phil Fralick, David Eberth, Greg Nadon) Jun Cowan, Mike Bromley, Paul Godin,
Mark Stephens, Shuji Yoshida, Andrew Willis, and Octavian Catuneanu, have given me
much to think about. Most of them are quoted in this book .
I am grateful to various colleagues for reading parts of the book (including some
material that was original prepared for review articles and subsequently incorporated into
the book instead) . Their input has been most valuable. They include Kevin Biddle, Lars
Clemmensen, Bob Dalrymple, Bill Galloway, Martin Giblingl John Horne, John Hubert,
Gary Kocurek, Mike Leeder, Jim Lowell, Peter McCabe, Judith Totman Parrish, Norm
Smith, Finn Surlyk, Jim Tucker, and Paul Wright . Mike Leeder drew my attention to the
early understanding of the power of rivers contained in works by Plato and Homer .
Photographs have been contributed by Kevin Crowley, Miles Hayes, Lloyd Homer (and
the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Ltd ., Lower Hutt, New Zealand. My
thanks to Dale Leckie for the introduction), Tomasz Jerzykiewicz, Ray Levey, Grant
Mossop, Sarah Prosser, Derald Smith, and Norm Smith . The field photographs from the
Canadian Arctic were taken by myself, nearly all of them while I was employed by the
Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary, and the Survey is hereby gratefully acknowledged as
the source of these illustrations. Jim Dixon assisted with the preparation of some of these.
All other photographs are from my own research collection . Chris Fielding provided good
copies of some of his diagrams . Some original or redrawn line drawings were done by