The last major cycle of sedimentation in the Pannonian basin began in early Miocene time and has continued to the present. Stratigraphically, the Miocene section is most complete in northern and southern Hungary where the section is mainly continuous. In the deep basin areas, sedimentation began with deposition of variegated terrigenous deposits (up to about 30 m thick) overlain by clastic and calcareous marine sedimentary rocks. In early Badenian time and later, creation of topographic relief led to the development of small emergent islands, where no deposition occurred, surrounded by areas receiving clastic sediments. These islands were gradually covered by transgressive sedimentary sequences, with sediments being deposited on the last island in early Pannonian time. In the deep basins, sedimentation was mainly continuous from Badenian to Quaternary time. In places a gap is present in the sedimentary record because of extensive redeposition by turbidity currents in Sarmatian time. In the deep Neogene basins, five major depositional environments can be distinguished through time.