The first edition of this successful book has become the standard adopted text in many universities, and enjoyed high acclaim worldwide. This third edition has been significantly ewxpanded to inlcude new advances and developments in soft rock geology since publication of the first edition in 1981. The number of figures and photographs has also been considerably increased. Authored by an acknowledged expert, over half of the text for this edition has been rewritten with expansion of some sections on depositional environments. The highly topical area of sequence stratigraphy is introduced, and a new section on sandstone provenance and plate tectonics is included.