Page 16 - Physical Principles of Sedimentary Basin Analysis

xiv Preface

should be included and what should be left out. Important topics such as sedimentology,
seismics, diagenesis and models for hydrocarbon generation and migration are left out.
Examples and applications of the models are shown. But geological processes are often
very complex and specific examples often have several more aspects than those captured
by the actual model. These other aspects are mentioned, but a discussion often leads far
beyond this book and into special disciplines like for instance sedimentology, structural
geology, geochemistry or petrology. The purpose of the examples is to show how the
models work with real data, and the setting is therefore chosen to be as simple as possible.
This book can used in different ways depending on the goals, the students’ background
and the amount of lecturing per week. It is, for example, possible to take two main routes
through the book, one with respect to subsidence, rheology, flexure and gravity (Chapters 7,
8, 9 and 10) and another with respect to fluid flow (Chapters 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15). Com-
mon for both routes are the following chapters: properties of porous media, continuum
mechanics, burial histories and heat flow (Chapters 2, 3, 5 and 6 respectively). Details of
derivations are provided in notes that follow the sections, which may be left to the students
to go through.
Inevitably, some errors will remain in this book, and in order to correct them I ask that
any that are noticed are reported. It would also be great to know if there are alternative and
simpler derivations than the ones presented or if there are better examples. Any suggestions
that could improve the book will be greatly appreciated.
It is my hope that this book will be useful for anyone interested in a quantitative
modeling of processes related to sedimentary basins and Earth science.