A depocenter or depocentre in geology is the part of a
sedimentary basin
Sedimentary basins are region-scale depressions of the Earth's crust where subsidence has occurred and a thick sequence of sediments have accumulated to form a large three-dimensional body of sedimentary rock. They form when long-term subsidence ...
where a particular rock unit has its maximum thickness.
Depending on the controls on subsidence and the
sedimentary environment
In geology, depositional environment or sedimentary environment describes the combination of physical, chemical, and biological processes associated with the deposition of a particular type of sediment and, therefore, the rock types that will be ...
the location of basin depocenters may vary with time, such as in active
rift
In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics.
Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-grabe ...
basins as
extensional fault
An extensional fault is a
fault caused by stretching of the Earth's crust. Stretching reduces the thickness and horizontally extends portions of the crust and/or lithosphere. In most cases such a fault is also a normal fault, but may create a ...
s grow, link or become abandoned.
References
{{geology-stub
Geology terminology