The geometry of sedimentary basins in section, in terms of isochronous

surfaces, may be classified as either symmetrical or asymmetrical (Fig. 1-7).

These may be further subdivided on the basis of the nature of their margins,
that is, faulted or unfaulted (but it must be realized that the nature of the
margin of a sedimentary basin is not always determinable because
subsequent
geological events may have obscured it or it may be beyond the reach of
investigation).
The asymmetrical basin has received much attention in the literature,
and was called a “half-graben” by Weeks (1952) when the asymmetry
is due to a fault or fault system.
The term “structural basin” is sometimes used for basins bounded on one
or both sides by faults, but no clear meaning has become attached to the
term. It is sometimes used for a basin of simple, but large, synclinal form.
It must be emphasized that the symmetry of sedimentary basins in this
context relates to the geometrical symmetry of isochronous surfaces, not to
the symmetry of facies that accumulated in the basin. It is dangerously
fallacious
to suppose that deeper-water sediments belong to the deeper parts of
the sedimentary basin, and shallower-water sediments belong to the edges.