What Are Some Main Features Of The Ocean Floor

The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable.

What are some main features of the ocean floor.

Together they contain the overwhelming majority of all water on the planet and have an average depth of almost 4 km about 2 5 miles. Ocean floor topography involves the study of ocean bottom features including the outer continental shelf continental slopes and ocean waves desktops. This study is extensive and it has been established that the ocean floor has similar features of mountains and valleys as on the earth. Look at figure 14 23.

The ocean floor off the continental shelf is known as the abyssal plain. The under water topography maps have been developed by the study of ocean floor topography. The abyssal plain has a depth between 2 200 and 5 500 m 7 200 and 18 000 ft and covers about 40 of the ocean floor. The landscape of the ocean floor is much like what you see on land just way more dramatic and without all that life.

This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level. A number of major features of the basins depart. The same tectonic forces that create geographical features like volcanoes and mountains on land create similar features at the bottom of the oceans. Some features like canyons and seamounts might look familiar while others such as hydrothermal vents and methane seeps are unique to the deep.

These areas are among the flattest and least explored on the earth s surface.