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Ocean Land Forms

This document provides an overview of key features found along the ocean floor from the shoreline to the deepest parts of the ocean. It describes continental shelves, slopes, and rises that extend from beaches into the ocean. It then outlines mid-ocean ridges, abyssal plains, seamounts, guyots, trenches, and rifts found at varying depths. Volcanic island arcs and the Mariana Trench are highlighted as examples. Comparisons are made between continental and oceanic landforms.

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Devsamridhi Arora
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86 views16 pages

Ocean Land Forms

This document provides an overview of key features found along the ocean floor from the shoreline to the deepest parts of the ocean. It describes continental shelves, slopes, and rises that extend from beaches into the ocean. It then outlines mid-ocean ridges, abyssal plains, seamounts, guyots, trenches, and rifts found at varying depths. Volcanic island arcs and the Mariana Trench are highlighted as examples. Comparisons are made between continental and oceanic landforms.

Uploaded by

Devsamridhi Arora
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Journey to Bottom of the Ocean

Continent
Asia

A continent is a large landmass.


There are seven continents on the Earth

Africa
North America

South America
Antarctica

Europe
Australia
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Click on a feature to go there or click next to continue with the journey

We will begin our journey where land meets the ocean. Do you know where we are? Yes. At the beach.
Beaches are the fastest changing part of the ocean. They change with every wave.
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Continental Shelf
The edge of the continents slope down from the shore into the ocean. The part of the continent located under water is known as the Continental Shelf.

There are several part


to the continental shelf.

The continental break


The continental shelf is rich in resources such as marine life, minerals and oil. For this reason, countries around the world claim the bordering continental shelf as part of their territories.

The continental slope The continental rise


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Continental Slope
The continental slope is a steep slope that connects the continental- shelf to the bottom of the ocean floor. The slope begins at a depth of around 460 feet (140 meters).
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Volcanic Island Arc


Volcanic island arcs are a

series of seamount tall enough to break the sea surface and form an island.
The Augustine Island Volcano in Alaska is an example of a volcanic arc.
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Abyss
The deepest point in the ocean is called the abyss The Mariana Trench is the deepest known point in the ocean. It is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean near the fourteen Mariana Islands. The Mariana Trench is a semi-circle that extends from the northeast to the southwest for about two thousand five hundred fifty meters and is seventy kilometers wide.

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Mid Ocean Ridge


The mid ocean ridge is a series of mountain ranges on the ocean floor.

They are more than 84,000 kilometers (52,000 miles) in length and they extend through the North and South of the Atlantic ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the South Pacific ocean.
According to the plate tectonics theory, volcanic rock is added to the sea floor as the mid-ocean ridge spreads apart.
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Abyssal Plain
Abyssal plains are the vast, flat, sediment-covered areas of the deep ocean floor. They are the flattest, most featureless areas on Earth. These flat abyssal plains occur at depths of over 6,500 ft (1,980 m) below sea level.
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Seamount
Seamounts are undersea volcanic mountains rising from the bottom of the sea that do not break the water's surface Seamounts are usually isolated and coneshaped, often volcanic in origin.

Smaller volcanoes are called sea knolls, and flat-topped seamounts are called guyots.
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Guyot
Guyots are seamounts that have built above sea level. Over time erosion by waves destroyed the top of the seamount resulting in a flattened shape

Seamount rises above water

Erosion by waves flattens the top of the mount

The seamount becomes submerged to form a Guyot


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Ocean Trench
A deep-sea trench is a narrow, elongate, v-shaped depression in the ocean floor.

Trenches are the deepest parts of the ocean, and the lowest points on Earth.
They reach depths of nearly 7 mi (10 km) below sea level. They can be thousands of miles in length, yet as little as 5 mi (8 km) in width.

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Rift
A rift valley is formed where two tectonic plates pull apart from one another creating a deep valley. Rifts are the opposite of mountain ranges like the Alps or the Himalayas where the plates push together to create a mountain.

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Compare continental and oceanic landforms


Continental landform Oceanic landform
Trench

Canyon

Valley
Volcanic mountain Mountain Range Low hills or plains

Rift
Seamount Mid-ocean ridge Ocean basin (abyssal plains)

Sources
http://www.utdallas.edu/~pujana/oceans/guyot.html http://www.enotes.com/earth-science/abyssal-plains http://www.answers.com

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1T4ADBF_enUS279US 280&q=ocean+trench+pictures
http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/02galapagos/logs/jun04/jun04.ht ml

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