Subsurface Topography Ocean Floor Features Continental Shelf The

Subsurface Topography Ocean Floor Features

Continental Shelf The gently sloping section of the continental margin located between the shoreline and the continental slope.

Continental Slope • The steeply inclined section of the continental margin located between the continental rise and the continental shelf.

Continental Rise • The gently sloping section of the continental margin located between the continental slope and the abyssal plain.

Abyssal Plain • A large, flat, almost level area of the deepocean basin.

Seamount • A submerged mountain on the ocean floor that is at least 1, 000 meters high and that has a volcanic origin.

Volcanic Island • A seamount that has grown above water level.

Mid Ocean Ridge • Mountain chains that form where tectonic plates pull apart. Magma rises to fill the space and new ocean crust is formed

Trench 1. These deep cracks in the ocean floor are formed when the denser oceanic plate slides beneath the less dense continental plate. •

Sonar • Acronym for Sound Navigation and Ranging. Used to determine the depth of the ocean.

Guyot • AKA- Tablemount, An isolated under water seamount at least 900 m tall with a flat top over 200 m below the surface of the ocean.

Atoll • Coral Atoll, a ring shaped coral reef including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon, partially or completely. Often sitting atop an extinct seamount or volcano

Island • Sub-continental land surrounded by water

Submarine Canyon • A steep-sided valley cut into the sea floor of the continental slope

Rift Valley • A crack in the ocean floor where magma rises and cools.

Continental slope Continental Shelf Volcanic island Seamount Continental rise Continental shelf Continental slope Abyssal plain mid-ocean ridge Rift valley trench