![]() ![]() Forty years ago, when I first went to study in the United States, I was fascinated by the debate whether basin subsidence is isostatically induced by sedimentary load. A systematic classification of basins depends upon recognition of the mutually exclusive causes of subsidence. Even though no two basins are exactly alike, subsidence is the common denominator of all. "A basin is a basin is a basin", paraphrasing Gertrude Stein. These qualifications describe the geography, tectonic setting, principal stresses, orogenic chronology, depositional environment or sedimentary association of a basin, but these all could be different aspects of one and the same. So, we have coastal basins, back-arc basins, extensionally rifted basins, successor basins, deep-sea basins, flysch basins, etc. Unfortunately, this prerequisite in dividing and subdividing is not always appreciated, and a common practice in geology has been to "classify" basins through reference to incidental attributes. ![]() ![]() The rise of the natural sciences in Europe could be traced back to Carl Linnaeus in 1750 when he used criteria of mutual exclusiveness to establish the taxonomy of living organisms. ![]() Scientific observations, with the help of modern equipments, have made leaps and bounds in our century, but taxonomy seems irrelevant. Science in German, Wissenschaft, is the art of observing whereas science in Chinese, koxue, is the study of classifying. SEDIMENTARY BASINS OF THE WORLD An Introduction to the SeriesĮtymology reveals much about the essence of a word. ![]()
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