Editing Sediment (section)

=== Key marine depositional environments ===
[[File:EolianiteLongIsland.JPG|thumb|right|[[Holocene]] [[eolianite]] and a carbonate beach on [[Long Island, Bahamas]]]]
The major areas for deposition of sediments in the marine environment include:
* [[Littoral]] sands (e.g. beach sands, runoff river sands, coastal bars and spits, largely [[clastic]] with little faunal content)
* The continental shelf ([[silt]]y [[clay]]s, increasing marine faunal content).
* The shelf margin (low terrigenous supply, mostly [[calcite|calcareous]] faunal skeletons)
* The shelf slope (much more fine-grained silts and clays)
* Beds of estuaries with the resultant deposits called "[[bay mud]]".

One other depositional environment which is a mixture of fluvial and marine is the [[turbidite]] system, which is a major source of sediment to the deep [[sedimentary basin|sedimentary]] and [[Abyssal plain|abyssal basins]] as well as the deep [[oceanic trench]]es.

Any depression in a marine environment where sediments accumulate over time is known as a [[Sediment trap (geology)|sediment trap]].

The null point theory explains how sediment deposition undergoes a hydrodynamic sorting process within the marine environment leading to a seaward fining of sediment grain size.