a.)    An Alluvial Fan occurs when a fan shaped accumulation of alluvium is deposited at the mouth of a ravine or stream where the water flattens out and slows down.

b.)    The sediment found in alluvial fans is usually unconsolidated sedimentary deposit that accumulates at the mouth of a mountain canyon because of a decrease or ending of sediment transport by the issuing stream. The deposits, which are generally fan-shaped in plane view, can develop under a wide range of climatic conditions.

a.)    A Fluvial environment is an environment relating to a river or stream system.

b.)    The sediments found in a fluvial environment consist of mostly thick deposits. Rivers are the avenues through which most of the debris produced by the denudation of the continents reaches the sea. However, large volumes of sediment are deposited in the fluvial environment and become preserved as part of the geological record. These deposits are sometimes very thick and cover vast areas.

b.) A Lacustrine Environment consists of a lake system.

c.) Sediments found in a Lacustrine Environment include mostly sediment grains such as grains of sand

b.) A desert environment is an area of land that receives very little or no rainfall. A barren or desolate area, especially a dry, often sandy region of little rainfall, extreme temperatures, and sparse vegetation.

c.) Commonly the sediment found in desert areas is wind deposits, dunes, wind blown dust, and grains of sand.

b.) Swamps are wetlands dominated by woody plants. They tend to have fairly deep water and minimal growth of emergent plants.

c.) In sheltered intertidal coastal settings that include lagoons, bays, tidal creeks and inlets. They also include mosquitoes, snakes, and various types of bugs.

b.) A delta is a landform that is created at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river.

c.) The formation of a delta consists of three main forms: the topset foreset/frontset, and bottomset. The bottomset beds are created from the suspended sediment that settles out of the water as the river flows into the body of water and loses energy. The foreset beds consist of the bed load that the river is moving along which consists of larger sediments that roll along the main channel. The topset beds in turn overlay the foresets, and are horizontal layers of smaller sediment size that form as the main channel of the river.

b.) A beach or strand is a geological formation consisting of loose rock particles such as sand, shingle, cobble, or even shell along the shoreline of a body of water. A barrier island is a ridge of sand that runs parallel to the main coast but is separated from it by a bay or lagoon. Barrier islands range from 10 to 100 kilometers in length and from 2 to 5 kilometers in width. A barrier island may be as high as 6 meters above sea level. Barrier reef a long, narrow reef that runs parallel to the main coast but is separated from it by a wide lagoon.

c.)Sediments of a beach or barrier island consist of loose rock particles such as sand, shingle, cobble, or even shell along the shoreline of a body of water.

a)      A lagoon is a shallow body of water, especially one separated from a sea by sandbars or coral reefs.

b)      Some of the sediments found in lagoon areas are things like Salt marshes. This is where muddy sediment, rich in organic material, collects. This muddy sediment may eventually form a rock like shale. Sometimes there are little layers in the shale called laminations that form when the sediment settled down to the bottom of the lagoon. Other times, plant roots disrupt the laminations and they are very hard to see.

a)      A tidal flat is a nearly flat coastal area, alternately covered and exposed by the tides, and consisting of unconsolidated sediments.

b)      If the coastal sediments are fine grained, a tidal flat or mud coastline is developed. Tidal flats have such low slope that the sedimentation is greatly affected by the tides. Organism interaction with sediments and evaporitic influences may be strong in this environment.

a)      A coral reef is strip or ridge of rocks, sand, or coral that rises to or near the surface of a body of water.

b)      Sediments found in a coral reef can be things such as the earliest coral reef researchers recognized that coral reefs were strongly inhibited wherever muddy freshwater enters the sea. The best known carbonate environment is the coral reef.

a)      A continental Shelf is a submerged border of a continent that slopes gradually and extends to a point of steeper descent to the ocean bottom.

b)      Shelf sediments decrease in grain size while the distance from the shore increases. At high latitudes, glacial ice moving into water makes icebergs, which move large sediments of different sizes out onto the shelf. Grain size decreases with distance from the shore. Shallow water, near shore sediments form thick sand blankets with many ripple marks. As depth increases and water movement decreases, the average grain size decreases, and sand, silt, and clay occur joined together.

a)      The continental Rise is a transitional part of the continental margin; a gentle slope with a generally smooth surface, built up by the shedding of sediments from the continental block, and located between the continental slope and abyssal plain. The continental slope is the fall from the continental shelf to the ocean bottom.

b)       The continental slope or rise is an underwater hill that is made of tons of accumulated sediments. As rivers and streams travel over land, they pick up sediment, silt, and a variety of other material, which is gradually carried out to sea.

a)      An Abyssal plain is an extremely flat area of the sea floor which is also deep. The abyssal plain holds many unique life forms which are adapted to survival in its cold, high pressure, and dark conditions. The flatness of the abyssal plain is interrupted by underwater mountain chains.

b)      Abyssal plains are mostly covered by fine-grained sediments, like clay and silt. Much of this sediment is taken from currents that have been driven from the continental margins along  canyons down into deeper water. The leftover of the sediment is dominated mostly of dust, clay particles blown out to sea from land, and the remains of small marine plants and animals.