Home | Session 4 | Shallow Marine Pg 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Shallow Marine Environments and Paleoenvironments: Reefs, Beaches and Basins
Presented
by Carol Tang
California Academy of Sciences
That last profile was of a passive margin. Here in California, because we have an active margin with lots of plate tectonics, basins can develop off-shore, as shown below.
These basins are significant because they allow for the production and storage of petroleum sources. The basin on the right, because it is closer to shore, catches much of the sand and coarser grained materials washing off the continents. The basin on the left, therefore, has much finer grained materials. In addition, because the basins are restricted, they do not allow for good circulation or oxygenation of the waters. As a result, organic material can accumulate in these basins. If oil is produced from this organic material, they can migrate and become stored in the sandstones formed in the basin on the right.
These basins and processes support the oil drilling off the California coast, a controversial, political issue.
updated April 1, 2002
UCMP Home | What's new | About UCMP | History of Life | Collections | Subway
