Oceans The Ocean Basins The Water Planet Features

Oceans

The Ocean Basins • The Water Planet • Features of the Ocean Floor • Ocean Sediments

The Ocean Basins • The Water Planet – Divisions of the Global Ocean

Sonar • Sonar is an acronym: Sound Navigation And Ranging. • Sends out a continuous sound waves to the ocean floor they bounce back and the speed that it took for it to return is used to calculate the distance or depth of ocean floor. Similar to the pulse on a slinky

The Ocean Basins • The Water Planet – Exploration of the Ocean • Ocean floor can be divided into two major areas: – Continental margin: shallow parts of the ocean floor that are made of continental crust and a thick wedge of sediment – Deep ocean basin: oceanic crust and a thin sediment layer, deepest part of ocean beyond the continental margin.

The Ocean Basins • Features of the Ocean Floor – Continental Margins • Continental Shelf, Slope and Rise Can be caused by rivers or turbidity currents Boundary between continental crust and oceanic crust Turbidity currents form when earthquakes cause underwater landslides or when large sediment loads run down a slope. Accumulation of sediment from turbidity currents

Deep Ocean Basin – Broad flat plains, submerged volcanoes, gigantic mountain ranges, and deep trenches Layers of sediment cover. Sunken islands that are eroded by waves aka tablemounts Formed when plates move AWAY from each other. AKA abyssal hills Submerged volcanic mountains Earthquakes, volcanic mountain ranges, and volcanic islands form near here

The Ocean Basins • Ocean Floor Sediments – Sources of Deep Ocean Sediments • Inorganic Sediments: non living (rocks etc) • Biogenic Sediments: produced by living organisms. Ex. Silica and calcium carbonate • Chemical Deposits: when substances disolve in ocean water they crystalize. Nodules made of manganese, nickel, copper, and iron do this.

The Ocean Basins • Ocean Floor Sediments – Physical Classification of Deep ocean floor Sediments • Muds: ocean floor very fine silt and clay sized particles of rock • Ooze: soft fine sediment made mostly of biogenic material – Calcareous ooze: made mostly of calcium carbonate found only in deep cold ocean water. – Siliceous ooze, found at any depth is made mostly of silicon dioxide,

The Ocean Basins