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Sedimentary basins are region-scale depressions of the Earth's crust where subsidence has occurred and a thick sequence of
sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sa ...
s have accumulated to form a large three-dimensional body of sedimentary rock. They form when long-term subsidence creates a regional depression that provides accommodation space for accumulation of sediments. Over millions or tens or hundreds of millions of years the deposition of
sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sa ...
, primarily gravity-driven transportation of water-borne eroded material, acts to fill the depression. As the sediments are buried, they are subject to increasing pressure and begin the processes of compaction and lithification that transform them into sedimentary rock. Sedimentary basins are created by deformation of Earth's lithosphere in diverse geological settings, usually as a result of plate tectonic activity. Mechanisms of crustal deformation that lead to subsidence and sedimentary basin formation include the thinning of underlying crust; depression of the crust by sedimentary, tectonic or volcanic loading; or changes in the thickness or density of underlying or adjacent lithosphere. Once the process of basin formation has begun, the weight of the sediments being deposited in the basin adds a further load on the underlying crust that accentuates subsidence and thus amplifies basin development as a result of
isostasy Isostasy (Greek ''ísos'' "equal", ''stásis'' "standstill") or isostatic equilibrium is the state of gravitational equilibrium between Earth's crust (or lithosphere) and mantle such that the crust "floats" at an elevation that depends on its ...
. The long-term preserved geologic record of a sedimentary basin is a large scale contiguous three-dimensional package of sedimentary rocks created during a particular period of geologic time, a 'stratigraphic succession', that geologists continue to refer to as a sedimentary basin even if it is no longer a bathymetric or topographic depression. The
Williston Basin The Williston Basin is a large intracratonic sedimentary basin in eastern Montana, western North Dakota, South Dakota, southern Saskatchewan, and south-western Manitoba that is known for its rich deposits of petroleum and potash. The basin is a ...
, Molasse basin and
Magallanes Basin The Magallanes Basin or Austral Basin is a major sedimentary basin in southern Patagonia. The basin covers a surface of about and has a NNW-SSE oriented shape. The basin is bounded to the west by the Andes mountains and is separated from the Malvi ...
are examples of sedimentary basins that are no longer depressions. Basins formed in different tectonic regimes vary in their preservation potential. Intracratonic basins, which form on highly-stable continental interiors, have a high probability of preservation. In contrast, sedimentary basins formed on oceanic crust are likely to be destroyed by subduction. Continental margins formed when new ocean basins like the Atlantic are created as continents rift apart are likely to have lifespans of hundreds of millions of years, but may be only partially preserved when those ocean basins close as continents collide. Sedimentary basins are of great economic importance. Almost all the world's
natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
and petroleum and all of its
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...
are found in sedimentary rock. Many metal ores are found in sedimentary rocks formed in particular sedimentary environments.Boggs 1987, p.16 Sedimentary basins are also important from a purely scientific perspective because their sedimentary fill provides a record of Earth's history during the time in which the basin was actively receiving sediment. More than six hundred sedimentary basins have been identified worldwide. They range in areal size from tens of square kilometers to well over a million, and their sedimentary fills range from one to almost twenty kilometers in thickness.


Basin classification

A dozen or so common types of sedimentary basins are widely recognized and several classification schemes are proposed, however no single classification scheme is recognized as the standard. Most sedimentary basin classification schemes are based on one or more of these interrelated criteria: * ''Plate tectonic setting'' - the proximity to a divergent, convergent or transform plate tectonic boundary and the type and origin of the tectonically-induced forces that cause a basin to form, specifically those active at the time of active sedimentation in the basin. * ''Nature of underlying crust'' - basins formed on
continental crust Continental crust is the layer of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks that forms the geological continents and the areas of shallow seabed close to their shores, known as continental shelves. This layer is sometimes called '' sial'' be ...
are quite different from those formed on oceanic crust as the two types of lithosphere have very different mechanical characteristics ( rheology) and different densities, which means they respond differently to isostasy. * ''
Geodynamics Geodynamics is a subfield of geophysics dealing with dynamics of the Earth. It applies physics, chemistry and mathematics to the understanding of how mantle convection leads to plate tectonics and geologic phenomena such as seafloor spreading, mo ...
of basin formation'' - the mechanical and thermal forces that cause lithosphere to subside to form a basin. * ''Petroleum/economic potential'' - basin characteristics that influence the likelihood for the basin to have an accumulations of petroleum or the manner in which it formed.


Widely-recognized types of sedimentary basins

Although no one basin classification scheme has been widely adopted, several common types of sedimentary basins are widely accepted and well understood as distinct types. Over its complete lifespan a single sedimentary basin can go through multiple phases and evolve from one of these types to another, such as a rift process going to completion to form a passive margin. In this case the sedimentary rocks of the rift basin phase are overlain by those rocks deposited during the passive margin phase. Hybrid basins where a single regional basin results from the processes that are characteristic of multiple of these types are also possible.


Mechanics of formation

Sedimentary basins form as a result of regional subsidence of the lithosphere, mostly as a result of a few geodynamic processes.


Lithospheric stretching

If the lithosphere is caused to stretch horizontally, by mechanisms such as rifting (which is associated with divergent plate boundaries) or ''ridge-push'' or ''trench-pull'' (associated with convergent boundaries), the effect is believed to be twofold. The lower, hotter part of the lithosphere will "flow" slowly away from the main area being stretched, whilst the upper, cooler and more brittle crust will tend to fault (crack) and fracture. The combined effect of these two mechanisms is for Earth's surface in the area of extension to subside, creating a geographical depression which is then often infilled with water and/or sediments. (An analogy is a piece of rubber, which thins in the middle when stretched.) An example of a basin caused by lithospheric stretching is the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
– also an important location for significant
hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ...
reserves. Another such feature is the Basin and Range Province which covers most of Nevada, forming a series of horst and graben structures. Tectonic extension at divergent boundaries where continental rifting is occurring can create a nascent ocean basin leading to either an ocean or the failure of the rift zone. Another expression of lithospheric stretching results in the formation of ocean basins with central ridges. The Red Sea is in fact an incipient ocean, in a plate tectonic context. The mouth of the Red Sea is also a tectonic triple junction where the Indian Ocean Ridge, Red Sea Rift and East African Rift meet. This is the only place on the planet where such a triple junction in oceanic crust is exposed subaerially. This is due to a high thermal buoyancy ( thermal subsidence) of the junction, and also to a local crumpled zone of seafloor crust acting as a dam against the Red Sea.


Lithospheric flexure

Lithospheric flexure Lithospheric flexure (also called regional isostasy) is the process by which the lithosphere (rigid, thin outer layer of the Earth) bends under the action of forces such as the weight of a growing orogeny or changes in ice thickness related to glac ...
is another geodynamic mechanism that can cause regional subsidence resulting in the creation of a sedimentary basin. If a load is placed on the lithosphere, it will tend to flex in the manner of an elastic plate. The magnitude of the lithospheric flexure is a function of the imposed load and the ''
flexural rigidity Flexural rigidity is defined as the force couple required to bend a fixed non- rigid structure by one unit of curvature, or as the resistance offered by a structure while undergoing bending. Flexural rigidity of a beam Although the moment M(x) an ...
'' of the lithosphere, and the wavelength of flexure is a function of flexural rigidity of the lithospheric plate. Flexural rigidity is in itself, a function of the lithospheric mineral composition, thermal regime, and effective elastic thickness of the lithosphere. Plate tectonic processes that can create sufficient loads on the lithosphere to induce basin-forming processes include: * formation of new mountain belts through orogeny create massive regional topographic highs that impose loads on the lithosphere and can result in foreland basins. * growth of a volcanic arc as the result of subduction or even the formation of a hotspot volcanic chain. * growth of an
accretionary wedge An accretionary wedge or accretionary prism forms from sediments accreted onto the non- subducting tectonic plate at a convergent plate boundary. Most of the material in the accretionary wedge consists of marine sediments scraped off from the d ...
and thrusting of it onto the overriding tectonic plate can contribute to the formation of forearc basins. After any kind of sedimentary basin has begun to form, the load created by the water and sediments filling the basin creates additional load, thus causing additional lithospheric flexure and amplifying the original subsidence that created the basin, regardless of the original cause of basin inception.


Thermal subsidence

Cooling of a lithospheric plate, particularly young oceanic crust or recently stretched continental crust, causes thermal subsidence. As the plate cools it shrinks and becomes denser through
thermal contraction Negative thermal expansion (NTE) is an unusual physicochemical process in which some materials contract upon heating, rather than expand as most other materials do. The most well-known material with NTE is water at 0~4 °C. Water's NTE is the r ...
. Analogous to a solid floating in a liquid, as the lithospheric plate gets denser it sinks because it displaces more of the underlying mantle through an equilibrium process known as
isostasy Isostasy (Greek ''ísos'' "equal", ''stásis'' "standstill") or isostatic equilibrium is the state of gravitational equilibrium between Earth's crust (or lithosphere) and mantle such that the crust "floats" at an elevation that depends on its ...
. Thermal subsidence is particularly measurable and observable with oceanic crust, as there is a well-established correlation between the age of the underlying crust and depth of the ocean. As newly-formed oceanic crust cools over a period of tens of millions of years. This is an important contribution to subsidence in rift basins, backarc basins and passive margins where they are underlain by newly-formed oceanic crust.


Strike-slip deformation

In strike-slip tectonic settings, deformation of the lithosphere occurs primarily in the plane of Earth as a result of near horizontal maximum and minimum principal stresses. Faults associated with these plate boundaries are primarily vertical. Wherever these vertical fault planes encounter bends, movement along the fault can create local areas of compression or tension. When the curve in the fault plane moves apart, a region of '' transtension'' occurs and sometimes is large enough and long-lived enough to create a sedimentary basin often called a pull-apart basin or strike-slip basin. These basins are often roughly rhombohedral in shape and may be called a ''rhombochasm''. A classic rhombochasm is illustrated by the Dead Sea rift, where northward movement of the
Arabian Plate The Arabian Plate is a minor tectonic plate in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres. It is one of the three continental plates (along with the African and the Indian Plates) that have been moving northward in geological history and colliding ...
relative to the Anatolian Plate has created a strike slip basin. The opposite effect is that of '' transpression'', where converging movement of a curved fault plane causes collision of the opposing sides of the fault. An example is the San Bernardino Mountains north of
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, which result from convergence along a curve in the
San Andreas fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is right-lateral strike-slip (horizonta ...
system. The Northridge earthquake was caused by vertical movement along local thrust and reverse faults "bunching up" against the bend in the otherwise strike-slip fault environment.


Study of sedimentary basins

The study of sedimentary basins as entities unto themselves is often referred to as sedimentary basin analysis. Study involving quantitative modeling of the dynamic geologic processes by which they evolved is called
basin modelling Basin modelling is the term broadly applied to a group of geological disciplines that can be used to analyse the formation and evolution of sedimentary basins, often but not exclusively to aid evaluation of potential hydrocarbon reserves. At its m ...
. The sedimentary rocks comprising the fill of sedimentary basins hold the most complete historical record of the evolution of the earth's surface over time. Regional study of these rocks can be used as the primary record for different kinds of scientific investigation aimed at understanding and reconstructing the earth's past plate tectonics (paleotectonics), geography ( paleogeography, climate ( paleoclimatology), oceans (
paleoceanography Paleoceanography is the study of the history of the oceans in the geologic past with regard to circulation, chemistry, biology, geology and patterns of sedimentation and biological productivity. Paleoceanographic studies using environment models ...
), habitats (
paleoecology Paleoecology (also spelled palaeoecology) is the study of interactions between organisms and/or interactions between organisms and their environments across geologic timescales. As a discipline, paleoecology interacts with, depends on and informs ...
and paleobiogeography). Sedimentary basin analysis is thus an important area of study for purely scientific and academic reasons. There are however important economic incentives as well for understanding the processes of sedimentary basin formation and evolution because almost all of the world's fossil fuel reserves were formed in sedimentary basins. All of these perspectives on the history of a particular region are based on the study of a large three-dimensional body of sedimentary rocks that resulted from the fill of one or more sedimentary basins over time. The scientific studies of stratigraphy and in recent decades
sequence stratigraphy Sequence stratigraphy is a branch of geology, specifically a branch of stratigraphy, that attempts to discern and understand historic geology through time by subdividing and linking sedimentary deposits into unconformity bounded units on a variety ...
are focused on understanding the three-dimensional architecture, packaging and layering of this body of sedimentary rocks as a record resulting from sedimentary processes acting over time, influenced by global sea level change and regional plate tectonics.


Surface geologic study

Where the sedimentary rocks comprising a sedimentary basin's fill are exposed at the earth's surface, traditional field geology and
aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing airc ...
techniques as well as satellite imagery can be used in the study of sedimentary basins.


Subsurface geologic study

Much of a sedimentary basin's fill often remains buried below the surface, often submerged in the ocean, and thus cannot be studied directly. Acoustic imaging using seismic reflection acquired through seismic data acquisition and studied through the specific sub-discipline of seismic stratigraphy is the primary means of understanding the three-dimensional architecture of the basin's fill through remote sensing. Direct sampling of the rocks themselves is accomplished via the drilling of boreholes and the retrieval of rock samples in the form of both
core sample A core sample is a cylindrical section of (usually) a naturally-occurring substance. Most core samples are obtained by drilling with special drills into the substance, such as sediment or rock, with a hollow steel tube, called a core drill. The ...
s and drill cuttings. These allow geologists to study small samples of the rocks directly and also very importantly allow paleontologists to study the
microfossil A microfossil is a fossil that is generally between 0.001 mm and 1 mm in size, the visual study of which requires the use of light or electron microscopy. A fossil which can be studied with the naked eye or low-powered magnification, ...
s they contain (
micropaleontology Micropaleontology (American spelling; spelled micropalaeontology in European usage) is the branch of paleontology (palaeontology) that studies microfossils, or fossils that require the use of a microscope to see the organism, its morphology and it ...
). At the time they are being drilled, boreholes are also surveyed by pulling electronic instruments along the length of the borehole in a process known as
well logging Well logging, also known as borehole logging is the practice of making a detailed record (a ''well log'') of the geologic formations penetrated by a borehole. The log may be based either on visual inspection of samples brought to the surface ( ...
. Well logging, which is sometimes appropriately called borehole geophysics, uses electromagnetic and radioactive properties of the rocks surrounding the borehole, as well as their interaction with the fluids used in the process of drilling the borehole, to create a continuous record of the rocks along the length of the borehole, displayed as of a family of curves. Comparison of well log curves between multiple boreholes can be used to understand the stratigraphy of a sedimentary basin, particularly if used in conjunction with seismic stratigraphy.


See also

* * * * *


References


External links


Preliminary Catalog of the Sedimentary Basins of the United States
United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

Global sedimentary basin map
{{Authority control Sedimentology .