Sedimentary basins are, in a very broad sense, all those areas in which sediments can accumulate to considerable thickness and be preserved for long geological time periods. In addition, there also exist areas of long-persisting denudation, as well as regions where ero-sional and depositional processes more or less neutralize each other (creating what is known as non-deposition or omission).

The present book on Recentsediments is intended for all geologists studying sedimentary rocks and all scientific workers who are interested in contemporaneous geological processes on the Earth’s surface. The book has two main tasks: to give a concise survey of the composition and genesis of Recent sediments and the laws controlling  their deposition, and to point out such sedimentological data that could be applied with advantage to the study of sediments from earlier geological periods.

This Introduction - and its philosophies - are dedicated to the late Johann (Hans) Steiner (Canada) and John Elliston (Australia) for their respective concepts offered far ahead of most of their contemporary fellow scientists. That is, Steiner’s ideas in “The sequence of geological events and the dynamics of the Milky Way Galaxy - the present cosmic year; a preliminary study” (J. Geol. SOC. Aust., 1967, 14(1): 99 - 132)

1    Introduction to rifting and sediments in the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf regions
Najeeb M.A. Rasul and Ian C.F. Stewart
PART I Rifting and regional structure
2    Tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the northwestern Red Sea, Egypt - a review
Ken McClay, Samir Khalil, William Bosworth, and Marta Perez Gussinye
3    The Nubian-Arabian shield mantle and Cenozoic magmatism of western Arabia: New constraints from radiogenic isotopes and olivine geochemistry
Alessio Sanfilippo, Mattia Bonazzi, Yue Cai, Najeeb M.A. Rasul, Luigi Vigliotti, and Marco Ligi
4    Shield suture zones control positions of oceanic spreading segment discontinuities in the central Red Sea
A.Y. Izzeldin and Neil C. Mitchell

The Proceedings of the Coastal Sediments ’15 is dedicated to our dear friend, colleague, and mentor, Dr. Robert G. Dean (1930-2015). Dr. Dean was a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), an ASCE Diplomate in Coastal Engineering, the Coastal Award winner at Coastal Sediments ‘11, and the loving father of our conference co-chair Julie Dean Rosati. Dr. Dean’s tremendous contributions to coastal science and engineering have and continue to inspire us to be curious about the coast and find new solutions to complicated coastal problems. Throughout his over 50 years of teaching at the University of Florida, University of Delaware, University of Washington, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Dean mentored numerous students who are now leading researchers and practitioners in the fields of coastal engineering and science. It is with great honor and privilege that we dedicate these CS15 volumes in his memory. <...>

I define an evaporite as a salt rock that was originally precipitated from a saturated surface or nearsurface brine by hydrologies driven by solar evaporation (Figure 1.1). This simple definition encompasses a wide range of chemically precipitated salts and includes alkali earth carbonates (Table 1.1). Some workers restrict the term evaporite to those salts formed directly via solar evaporation of hypersaline waters at the earth's surface.

In theoretischen Modellrechnungen von partikelbeladenen Scherschichten (Martin und Meiburg [ 19941 sowie Rqju und Meiburg [ 19941) wurde eine Akkumulation von Teilchen an der Peripherie von Wirbelstrukturen und eine damit einhergehende Ausdünnung der Partikelkonzentration in den Wirbelzentren gefunden. Dieses Entmischungsphänomen ist der zentrale IJntersuchungsgegenstand der vorliegenden Arbeit. Damit diese Entrnischu~lgsphänomele experimentell untersucht werden konnte, mußte vorgängig eine entsprechende Strömung erzeugt werden.

The processes occurring in the upper several meters of marine sediments1 have a profound effect on the local and global cycling of many elements. For example, the balance between carbon preservation and remineralization represents the key link between carbon cycling in active surface reservoirs in the oceans, in the atmosphere, and on land, and carbon that cycles on much longer, geological time scales—in sedimentary rock, and in coal and petroleum deposits (Berner, 1989; Hedges, 1992).

The processes occurring in the upper several meters of marine sediments1 have a profound effect on the local and global cycling of many elements. For example, the balance between carbon preservation and remineralization represents the key link between carbon cycling in active surface reservoirs in the oceans, in the atmosphere, and on land, and carbon that cycles on much longer, geological time scales—in sedimentary rock, and in coal and petroleum deposits (Berner, 1989; Hedges, 1992).