Sequence stratigraphy arose in the late 1980s to fundamentally change the science of stratigraphy. Former practice of labeling formations and erecting stratigraphic columns gave place to a dynamic genetic stratigraphic analysis, where the main concern is about understanding the history of sedimentation and to establish models able to predict facies. Born and mainly applied to an environment of petroleum prospecting and exploration, sequence stratigraphy has gained entrance to other branches of sedimentary geology. The present paper gives a short introduction to sequence stratigraphic concepts and shows an overview of its application on coal-bearing strata. Two case studies, one from the Early Permian coals of the Parana Basin, Brazil, and one from the Lower Cretaceous coals of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin illustrate the concepts. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.