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    Ocean Basins: Grade 8 Science 2012

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    Jungitte Gabieta
    The document summarizes key features of ocean basins, including continental shelves, slopes, abyssal plains, trenches, and seamounts. It explains that these features are formed mainly by tectonic plate movements and can be vastly larger than landforms, with underwater mountains taller than the Himalayas and trenches deeper than the Grand Canyon. Much of the ocean floor remains unmapped due to the difficulty of exploring over 70% of Earth's surface that lies beneath the ocean's surface.

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    Ocean Basins: Grade 8 Science 2012

    Uploaded by

    Jungitte Gabieta
    20 views15 pages
    The document summarizes key features of ocean basins, including continental shelves, slopes, abyssal plains, trenches, and seamounts. It explains that these features are formed mainly by tectonic plate movements and can be vastly larger than landforms, with underwater mountains taller than the Himalayas and trenches deeper than the Grand Canyon. Much of the ocean floor remains unmapped due to the difficulty of exploring over 70% of Earth's surface that lies beneath the ocean's surface.

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    The document summarizes key features of ocean basins, including continental shelves, slopes, abyssal plains, trenches, and seamounts. It explains that these features are formed mainly by tectonic plate movements and can be vastly larger than landforms, with underwater mountains taller than the Himalayas and trenches deeper than the Grand Canyon. Much of the ocean floor remains unmapped due to the difficulty of exploring over 70% of Earth's surface that lies beneath the ocean's surface.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    20 views15 pages

    Ocean Basins: Grade 8 Science 2012

    Uploaded by

    Jungitte Gabieta
    The document summarizes key features of ocean basins, including continental shelves, slopes, abyssal plains, trenches, and seamounts. It explains that these features are formed mainly by tectonic plate movements and can be vastly larger than landforms, with underwater mountains taller than the Himalayas and trenches deeper than the Grand Canyon. Much of the ocean floor remains unmapped due to the difficulty of exploring over 70% of Earth's surface that lies beneath the ocean's surface.

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    OCEAN BASINS

    Grade 8 Science 2012


    OCEAN BASINS

     Oceans form the largest ecosystem on Earth.


     Much remains to be discovered about what lies
    below the ocean’s surface.
     Only about 1% of the ocean floor has been
    mapped
     Most of the ocean (100 metres and below) is
    pitch-black.
     Continental Shelf – the gradual slope between the
    coastline and the edge of the ocean basin
     Continental Slope – a steep drop dividing the
    continental slope and the ocean basin
     Abyssal Plain – wide, open, flat plains that stretch out
    along the ocean basin
     Oceanic Trench – narrow, deep, and steep sided
    canyons running along some ocean floors. Some of
    the deepest places on Earth
    A JOURNEY ON THE OCEAN FLOOR
     The formation of the ocean landscape are due
    mainly to the movements of Earth’s tectonic
    plates.
     Features in the ocean basins are much bigger than
    on land.
     There are mountain ranges taller than the
    Himalayas.
     Steep valleys deeper than the Grand Canyon.
     Plains wider than the Canadian Prairies.
    CONTINENTAL SHELVES & SLOPES
     Ocean basins do not begin at the coastline. They begin may km out
    at sea.
     The area between the coast and the edge of the ocean basin is
    actually a submerged part of the continent, called the continental
    shelf.
     Continental Slopes exist at the edge of the shelves and plunge at
    steep angles to the sea floor.
    SEAMOUNTS
     Large underwater
    mountain peaks called
    seamounts exist at the
    edges of mid-ocean
    ranges.
     Seamounts are most
    often found in clusters
    and are most common
    in the Pacific Ocean.
    TRENCHES
     Along the sea floor are narrow,
    steep-sided canyons, called
    trenches.
     They are formed where the edge
    of an ocean plate pushes against
    the edge of a continental plate.
    As the plates move together, the
    ocean plate is forced to bend
    steeply down beneath the
    heavier continental plate.
    TRENCHES (CONT.)
     The deepest trench,
    Marianas Trench, extends
    11 km below sea level.
     Nearly SEVEN times
    deeper than the Grand
    Canyon and deep enough
    to submerge an object as
    tall as Mount Everest.
    ABYSSAL PLAINS
     Between the high mountains
    and the deep trenches, the ocean
    floors are very flat.
     These wide open features are
    called abyssal plains.
     They are formed of thick
    deposits of sediment, up to 1
    km deep in places.
     As tectonic plates move
    apart or together, some
    oceans expand, while
    other shrink. Precise
    measurements show that
    the Atlantic Ocean is
    expanding, carrying North
    America and Europe
    farther part at a rate of 3
    cm per year.
    MID-OCEAN RIDGES
     Long undersea mountain chains
    called mid-ocean ridges run along
    the ocean floor
     These ridges are the youngest areas
    of the sea floor and are still being
    formed by volcanic eruptions.
     Molten lava flows from these ridges,
    quickly hardening into new plate
    material that pushes tectonic plates
    further apart.
     Mid-ocean ridges are more than
    1000 km wide and rise over 1000-
    3000 m above the sea floor.
    VIDEOS
    MAPPING OUT THE OCEAN FLOOR

     Please get a textbook and open to page 361.

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