Henry William Posamentier (born December 4, 1948) 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...

. He helped pioneer and develop the modern approach to 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...

, blending the disciplines of sedimentology

Sedimentology

Sedimentology encompasses the study of modern sediments such as sand, mud , and clay, and the processes that result in their deposition. Sedimentologists apply their understanding of modern processes to interpret geologic history through observations of sedimentary rocks and sedimentary...

, stratigraphy, and depositional systems analysis, largely within the context of oil and gas exploration

Oil exploration

Hydrocarbon exploration is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for hydrocarbon deposits beneath the Earth's surface, such as oil and natural gas...

. During the past decade he pioneered and popularized the discipline of seismic geomorphology

Geomorphology

Geomorphology is the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them...

, which, when integrated with seismic stratigraphy

Stratigraphy

Stratigraphy, a branch of geology, studies rock layers and layering . It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks....

, leverages both 2D and 3D seismic data to better understand the paleogeographic distribution of lithologies.
Posamentier is partially colorblind and prefers to view his seismic data in grayscale.

Posamentier was born in Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

 in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, the son of Austrian-Jewish immigrants. He received his Bachelor of Science in geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

 in 1970 at the City College of New York

City College of New York

The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...

. In 1973 he earned his Master of Arts

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 in geology and in 1975 his Ph.D.

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

, both from Syracuse

Syracuse University

Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...

.

After a brief career in academia

Academia

Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...

 at Rider University

Rider University

Rider University is a private, coeducational and nonsectarian university located chiefly in Lawrenceville, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States...

 (Assistant Professor of Geology (1974-1979)), Posamentier joined the oil and gas industry

Petroleum industry

The petroleum industry includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transporting , and marketing petroleum products. The largest volume products of the industry are fuel oil and gasoline...

, working for assorted leading oil and gas firms. He currently works for Chevron Corporation

Chevron Corporation

Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining,...

 in Houston, Texas

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

. Among his accomplishments, he was a Fulbright Fellow to Austria (1971-1972); the AAPG Distinguished Lecturer to the United States (1992-1992), former Soviet Union (1996-1997), Middle East (1998-1999), and Europe (2005-2006); recipient of the Pettijohn Medal for excellence in sedimentology from the Society for Sedimentary geology (SEPMSEPM)(2008); recipient of the William Smith Medal for contributions to applied and economic aspects of geology from the Geological Society of London (2010); and the Robert Berg Award for Outstanding Petroleum Research (2012).

Posamentier has two sons (Joshua, b. 1976 and Jordan, b. 1978) and three daughters (Michelle, b. 1989, Emilie, b. 1994, and Rebecca, b. 1995). He presently resides with his wife, Ceri, in Houston, Texas.

Books Edited

• AAPG Memoir 58: Siliciclastic Sequence Stratigraphy: Recent Developments and Applications, 1993*Geological Society, London, Special Publication 277, Seismic Geomorphology: Applications to *Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production
• IAS Special Publication 18: Sequence Stratigraphy and Facies Associations, 1993
• NUNA Conference on High Resolution Sequence Stratigraphy, Proceedings Volume, 1991
• Second High Resolution Sequence Stratigraphy, Proceedings Volume, 1994
• SEPM Special Publication 42: Sea Level Change - an Integrated Approach, 1988
• SEPM Special Publication 76, Tropical Deltas of Southeast Asia, 2003
• SEPM Special Publication 84, Facies Models Revisited, 2006
• SEPM Special Publication (in press) Mass Transport Deposits