Deposit

Deposit, a term much used in Geology, to characterise those rocks which have been formed from matter that has settled from suspension or solution in water. Thus, sandstone and shale are rocks composed of materials which have settled from suspension in water; while stalactites and stalagmites have been precipitated from solution in water. Deposits are characterised according to the conditions under which they were formed, as marine, lacustrine, fluviatile, chemical, and so forth. See SEA, OOZE, ABYSMAL ACCUMULATIONS.