The first edition of this text is the recommended text in most British Universities, has been widely adopted in North America, has been translated into at least four other languages (including Chinese), and is the Open University set text for the course on basin analysis (5338). It has been and will remain the book of choice for second year undergraduate students in geology with sales of the first edition totalling some 15,000. This new edition has been updated and expanded (by some 35%) to take in the new advances and developments in soft-rock geology since publication of the first edition in 1981. The number of figures and photographs has been considerably increased and the new edition will be produced in the more modern double-column format. Over half of the text for this new edition has been rewritten and the sections on depositional environments have been expanded thus making the text more comprehensive. The very topical area of sequence stratigraphy is introduced, and a new section on sandstone provenance and plate tectonics has been introduced, an aspect of sandstone petrology which has been developed in the 1980s.