Geologic literature contains material from which a variety of working classifications of sedimentary environments may be constructed according to the geologist's need. The range of approaches to environmental classification is evident in the use of terms derived from places of deposition, processes and media of deposition, and materials deposited. Much of the diversity has a basis in practicality and is partly retained in the present classification. In this classification nonmarine, transitional, and marine categories of environments are divided into classes of environments; the further division into subenvironments is limited largely to areas of published recent investigations. Although the classification is incomplete and lags behind unpublished knowledge, it may provid a frame of reference for discussions of specific environments.

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