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1. Continental Shelf – 0-200 meters
deep.
Contains 8% of the oceans surface
area
Biologically richest part of the ocean
Contain submarine canyons – canyons
eroded by glaciers which channel
sediments to the ocean floor
2. Shelf Break – 120-200
meters deep (slope gets
steep!)
3. Continental slope –
(200-3000 meters)
descends all the way to the
deep sea floor.
4. Continental Rise –
consists of a thick layer of
sediments which
accumulate in a deposit
called a deep sea fan.
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Abyssal Plain – deep sea floor 3,000-5,000 meters
Contains seamounts - underwater volcanoes with a
pointy top
Contains guyots (tablemounts) - flat topped seamounts
that were once volcanic islands that eroded and sunk.
Trenches – where the ocean plate descends into the
continental plate. (subduction zone) converging
boundary
 Example – Mariana Trench – deepest place in the
ocean 11,022 meters. Found in the Western Pacific
(Compare to Grand Canyon at 1.6 km)
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Mid ocean ridge – Formed where plates are
diverging (moving apart). Molten rock from
the mantle pushes up the ocean crust.
BUT…the plates are pulling apart at the ridge
so this forms a rift valley in the middle of the
ridge.