Vail earned his AB at Dartmouth College in 1952, followed by M.S.
[2] He was the W. Maurice Ewing Professor, Emeritus, in the Department of Earth Science at Rice University.
This concept gave rise to the field of seismic stratigraphy.
[3] In 2005 he earned the Benjamin Franklin Medal for his pioneering works in sequence stratigraphy.
His other honors include the Legendary Geoscientist Award from the American Geological Institute, the Penrose Medal from the Geological Society of America in 2003, the Sidney Powers Memorial Award,[4] and the Distinguished Educator Award from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.