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| Oceanic crust: 0–20Ma 20–65Ma >65Ma |
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Astructural basin is a large-scalestructural formation of rockstrata formed bytectonic warping (folding) of previously flat-lying strata into asyncline fold. They are geologicaldepressions, the inverse ofdomes. Elongated structural basins are a type of geologicaltrough. Some structural basins aresedimentary basins, aggregations of sediment that filled up a depression or accumulated in an area; others were formed by tectonic events long after the sedimentary layers were deposited.
Basins may appear on a geologic map as roughly circular or elliptical, with concentric layers. Because the strata dip toward the center, the exposed strata in a basin are progressively younger from the outside in, with the youngest rocks in the center. Basins are often large in areal extent, often hundreds of kilometers across.
Structural basins are often important sources ofcoal,petroleum, andgroundwater.
