Peter Vail is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 geologist

Geologist

A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...

 and geophysicist, the namesake of the Vail curve of sea level

Sea level

Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...

 changes. Vail earned his AB at Dartmouth College in 1952, followed by M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University in 1956.

Vail is notorious for being the first to realize that seismic reflections do not follow lithofacies

Lithofacies

Lithofacies may refer to:* A mappable subdivision of a designated stratigraphic unit, distinguished from adjacent subdivisions on the basis of lithology; a facies characterized by particular lithologic features....

 boundaries but instead follow geologic time lines. This concept gave rise to the field of seismic stratigraphy.

In 2005 he earned the Benjamin Franklin Medal for his pioneering works in sequence stratigraphy

Sequence stratigraphy

Sequence stratigraphy is a branch of geology that attempts to subdivide and link sedimentary deposits into unconformity bound units on a variety of scales and explain these stratigraphic units in terms of variations in sediment supply and variations in the rate of change in accommodation space...

. His other honors include the Legendary Geoscientist Award from the American Geological Institute

American Geological Institute

The American Geosciences Institute is a nonprofit federation of 45 geoscientific and professional associations that represents more than 100,000 geologists, geophysicists, and other earth scientists...

, the Penrose Medal

Penrose Medal

The Penrose Medal was created in 1927 by R.A.F. Penrose, Jr. as the top prize awarded by the Geological Society of America to those who advance the study of geoscience.-Award winners:* 2011 Paul F. Hoffman* 2010 Eric J. Essene* 2009 B. Clark Burchfiel...

 from the Geological Society of America

Geological Society of America

The Geological Society of America is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. The society was founded in New York in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitchcock, John R. Proctor and Edward Orton and has been headquartered at 3300 Penrose...

, the Sidney Powers Memorial Medal, and the Distinguished Educator Award from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists

American Association of Petroleum Geologists

The American Association of Petroleum Geologists is one of the world's largest professional geological societies with over 31,000 members as of 2007. The AAPG works to advance the science of geology , to promote technology, and to inspire high professional conduct...

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