Basin Evolution and Sediments

Basin evolution is a very broad interdisciplinary and complex topic in earth sciences. To study and understand basin evolution, the cooperation of geophysicists, structural geologists, stratigraphers, and sedimentary geologists is needed. In addition, petroleum geologists contribute considerably to our knowledge about basin evolution. Having in mind the fact that some hundred to thousand sedimentary basins, young and ancient, exist all over the world, it is obvious that even a series of volumes would be required to describe the most important evolutionary trends of all these basins. Many basins have been studied in some detail, and it is evident that each basin has some characteristic, individual features. In other words, the evolution of a certain sedimentary basin can never be described adequately by an idealized type basin. On the other hand, a limited number of type basins is needed for a better understanding of the true nature of the basin under investigation.