What Are Some Main Features Of The Ocean Floor
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.
What are some main features of the ocean floor. You ll see underwater mountains called seamounts cliffs trenches and abysses. The under water topography maps have been developed by the study of ocean floor topography. Some features like canyons and seamounts might look familiar while others such as hydrothermal vents and methane seeps are unique to the deep. 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.
The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable. Look at figure 14 23. These areas are among the flattest and least explored on the earth s surface. 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. The ocean floor off the continental shelf is known as the abyssal plain. If you follow the ocean floor out from the beach at the top left the seafloor gently slopes along the continental shelf. 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.