The process of particles settling to the bottom of a body of water is called sedimentation. In lakes and rivers, sedimentation can sometimes cause problems for the organisms living there.
The best thing about sedimentation is that it can tell geologists a lot about lakes, rivers, and rocky areas from the clues it leaves behind. Layers of sediment in rocks from past sedimentation show the action of currents, reveal fossils, and give evidence of human activity. Sedimentation can be traced back to the Latin sedimentum, "a settling or a sinking down."