Book excerpt: The volume provides a modern synthesis of foreland basin stratigraphy and structural geology. It covers the foothills and foreland basins of the northwestern Alps, the Pyrenees and the Betic thrust belt. The multidisciplinary approach includes both sedimentological and structural studies, plus numerical modelling as a tool to quantify and integrate the geological data. This book reults from the Integrated Basin Studies Project, which was funded by the European Commission. More than 200 researchers from 38 institutions in 15 countries have collaborated in the IBS project. Several papers from outside the project have also been included to provide the reader with a more comprehensive overview of Western Europe's Cenozoic foreland basins. This volume concentrates on scientific research, but many oil companies are actively exploring the foothills of thrust belts throughout the world.