Depositional Environments

Depositional environments are geographically restricted areas where sediment is being deposited. This can be clastic sediments being moved by air, water or ice, or chemical/biochemical sediments being created within the depositional environment.

Depositional environments are divided into three main categories: terrestrial (on land), transitional (at the margins between land and ocean), and marine. Table 2.2 lists the depositional environments in these settings organized according to whether they are in clastic- or carbonate-dominated systems. Figures 2.1 and 2.2 (respectively) illustrate these two types of systems and the depositional environments within them.