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Distribution of Different Seafloor Sediments

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Discuss the distribution of seafloor sediments in the ocean basins. What are the different types of sediments and what are the factors that control their distribution (geologic setting, climate, etc.)?

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Different types of seafloor sediments and what controls their distribution.

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Sediment accumulates on the ocean floor in shallow (continental shelf and reef) to deep (abyssal plain) environments. Marine sediments are often subdivided on the basis of their depth of deposition into littoral 0-66 ft (0-20 m), neritic 66-660 ft (20-200 m), and bathyal 660-6600 ft (200-2000 m) deposits.

Marine sediments are generally classified by their orgin. The types are: (1) biogenic (derived from organisms and consisting mostly of calcareous material); (2) authigenic (precipitated from sea water or formed by chemical replacement of other particles, for example, glauconite, salt, and phosphorite); (3) residual (locally weathered from underlying rocks); (4) relict (remnants of earlier environments of deposition, for example, deposits formed during the transgression leading to the present high sea level ...

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