The architecture element analysis is to plot out the lithofacies, bounding surfaces and architecture elements connected to palaeocurrent data on the photomosaic profiles of outcrops in order to illustrate the three - dimensional distribution of depositional systems and reconstruct their de-positional history. It is one of the best methods to study sedimentary geology for outcrops. A review of the principle of architecture element analysis and its applications to several types of depositional systems is given in this paper. Based on these, several problems with this method and its relationship with sequence stratigraphy are discussed.