Young Blonde Girl Shows Off On The Sedimentary Rocks

The facies of all rocks of a certain age can be plotted on a map to give an overview of the palaeogeography. A sequence of maps for different ages can give an insight in the development of the regional geography.
Sedimentary basins
Places where large-scale sedimentation takes place are called sedimentary basins. The amount of sediment that can be deposited in a basin depends on the depth of the basin, the so called accommodation space. Depth, shape and size of a basin depend on tectonics, movements within the Earth's lithosphere. Where the lithosphere moves upward (tectonic uplift), land eventually rises above sea level, so that and erosion removes material, and the area becomes a source for new sediment. Where the lithosphere moves downward (tectonic subsidence), a basin forms and sedimentation can take place. When the lithosphere keeps subsiding, new accommodation space keeps being created.