Peter Vail

Not to be confused with Peter Vaill or Peter Vale.

Peter R. Vail (January 13, 1930 – December 28, 2024)^[1] was an American geologist and geophysicist, the namesake of the Vail curve of sea level changes. Vail earned his AB at Dartmouth College in 1952, followed by M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University in 1956.^[2] He was the W. Maurice Ewing Professor, Emeritus, in the Department of Earth Science at Rice University.^[2]

Vail was well known for being the first to realize that seismic reflections do not follow lithofacies boundaries but instead follow geologic time lines. This concept gave rise to the field of seismic stratigraphy.^[3]

In 2005 he earned the Benjamin Franklin Medal for his pioneering works in sequence stratigraphy. His other honors include the Legendary Geoscientist Award from the American Geological Institute, the Penrose Medal from the Geological Society of America in 2003, the Sidney Powers Memorial Award,^[4] and the Distinguished Educator Award from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.^[5] Vail died on December 28, 2024, at the age of 94.^[6]

External links

• Sequence Stratigraphy and Career Video, Houston Geological Society, January 2006
• Interviews Videos, Mini Geology, 2015

References

1. Gates, Alexander E. (1 January 2009). A to Z of Earth Scientists. Infobase Publishing. pp. 271–2. ISBN 978-1-4381-0919-0. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
2. "Peter Vail". Rice University. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
3. Vail, Peter; Rick, Sarg (1987). Introduction to Seismic Stratigraphy. Tulsa: AAPG Films.
4. "Sidney Powers Memorial Award". American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
5. 2005 Recipients of the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environment Science
6. "Peter Vail Obituary (1930 - 2024) - Houston, TX - Houston Chronicle". Legacy.com. Retrieved 2025-01-02.