sedimentary basin

…undisturbed for many years in sedimentary basins. Whereas some such basins are small, others occupy thousands of square kilometres and usually have within them several different local depositional environments. Physical, chemical, and biological factors influence these environments, and the conditions that they produce largely determine the nature of the sediments…

The sedimentary environment is the specific depositional setting of a particular sedimentary rock and is unique in terms of physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. The physical features of a sedimentary environment include water depth and the velocity and persistence of currents. Chemical characteristics…

…currents and a quiet depositional basin. Water is the common transporting medium, but ice-rafted glacial flour (silt produced by glacial grinding) is a major component in high-latitude oceanic muds, and windblown dust is prominent, particularly in the open ocean at low and intermediate latitudes. Shale environments thus include the deep…