Salt marshes like the one shown in (A) are often found in lagoons. Lagoons are very muddy! The muddy sediment may eventually form a rock like the shale shown in (B). Sometimes there are little layers in the shale that formed as the sediment settled down to the bottom of the lagoon. Other times, plant roots make the little layers impossible to see.
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(A) Bruce Molnia, Terra Photographics courtesy of Earth Science World Imagebank and (B) courtesy of State of New York.
Last modified January 6, 2004 by Lisa Gardiner.
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