Download Ocean Landforms - Net Start Class

Journey to Bottom of the
Ocean
Continent
•Asia
•A continent is a
large landmass.
•Africa
•There are seven
continents on the
Earth
•South America
•North 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.
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.
There are several part
to the continental shelf.
– The continental
break
– 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).
Steep Slope!
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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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• The deepest point in the ocean is
called the abyss
Abyss
• The Mariana
Trench is the
deepest known point in
the Pacific 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.
•Location of a DIVERGENT BOUNDARY.
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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 cone-
shaped, 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/Water. 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 KM in
length, yet as little as 5 mi (8 km) in
width.
• Formed often at Plate boundaries with
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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
Canyon
Trench
Valley
Rift
Volcanic mountain
Seamount
Mountain Range
Mid-ocean ridge
Low hills or plains
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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