Oceanic basin an active - and growing - oceanic basin include an elevated mid-ocean ridge, flanking abyssal hills leading down to abyssal plains. The elements of an active oceanic basin often include the oceanic trench associated with a subduction zone. The Atlantic ocean and the Arctic ocean are good examples of active, growing oceanic basins, whereas the Mediterranean Sea is shrinking. The Pacific Ocean is also an active, shrinking oceanic basin, even though it has both spreading ridge and oceanic trenches. Perhaps the best example of an inactive oceanic basin is the Gulf of Mexico, which formed in Jurassic times and has
Welsh Basin Welsh Basin The Welsh Basin was a northeast-southwest aligned back-arc depositional basin during the Cambrian, Ordovician and Silurian periods during which a considerable thickness of marine sediments was laid down in the area. To the southeast lay the Midland Platform (a part of the micro-continent of Avalonia) and to the northwest, within the Iapetus Ocean, through what is now Ireland and the Lake District, was an island arc; a northeast-southwest aligned Irish Sea landmass which was associated with volcanic activity. Examination of the sediments and associated fossils allows the deeper centre of the basin to be distinguished from shallower 'platform'