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The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the fields of sedimentology and stratigraphy, the two areas that are fundamental to the interpretation of the sedimentary rock sequence. The reconstruction of earth history depends to a large upon the interpretation of sedimentary rocks, which form a cumulative sequence documenting past environments on the earth’s surface and containing fossils of ancient organisms. Students will learn how the present is the key to the past, in that modern observations of sedimentological processes form the basis of rock sequence interpretation; but also that the past is the key to the future, given that these processes will continue. Students will learn the methods of dating and correlating rocks; the concept of facies and its relation to environments; and methods used to reconstruct ancient environments and climates.  Special attention will be paid to western Canadian examples.