Shallow water marine environment refer to the area between the shore and the beginning of the reef wall. This environment is host to many organisms that leave their trace in the form of ooids, trace fossils, bore holes and many other ways.
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The vast majority of the fossil record has been found after the shallow water marine environment has been lithified. Many of these fossils were deposited in a time when much of Earth was covered with shallow seas.
The sediment itself is often composed of limestone, which forms readily in shallow, warm calm waters. The shallow marine environments are not exclusively composed of siliciclastic or carbonaceous sediments. While they cannot always coexist, it is possible to have a shallow marine environment composed solely of carbonaceous sediment or one that is composed completely of siliciclastic sediment. Shallow water marine sediment is made up of smaller grain sizes, because these smaller grains have been washed out of higher energy areas.
