Evaporite sedimentation occurs only in situations where a body of water becomes partly isolated from the ocean realm and salinity increases to supersaturation point and there is chemical precipitation of minerals. This can occur in epicontinental seas or small ocean basins that are connected to the open ocean by a strait that may become blocked by a fall in sea level or by tectonic uplift of a barrier such as a fault block. These are called barred basins and they are distinguished from lagoons in that they are basins capable of accumulating hundreds of metres of evaporite sediment. To produce just a metre bed of halite a column of seawater over 75m deep must be evaporated, and to generate thick succession of evaporite minerals the seawater must be repeatedly replenished (Warren 1999). Deposition of the thick succession can be produced in three ways (Warren 1999) each of which will produce characteristic patterns of deposits (Fig. 15.19). 1 A shallow-water to deep-basin setting exists where a basin is well below sea level but is only partly filled with evaporating seawater, which is periodically replenished. The deep-water setting will be evident if the basin subsequently fills with seawater and the deposits overlying the evaporites show deep marine characteristics such as turbidites. 2 A shallow-water to shallow-basin setting is one in which evaporites are deposited in salterns but continued subsidence of the basin allows a thick succession to be built up. The deposits will show the characteristics of shallow-water deposition throughout.