Reading and discussion of current issues and themes in the stratigraphic sciences, including stratigraphic and facies analysis, spatial heterogeneity and self-organization, numerical modeling; origin, evolution, mass extinctions, and megatrajectories of life; and paleooceanographic and paleoclimatic signals in sedimentary rocks. Goal is to diversify students' understanding of the role of physics, chemistry, and biology in attacking research problems in sedimentary systems. Prerequisites: Restricted to graduate students only.