What is the name for the shallow areas around continents?

What is the name for the shallow areas around continents?

continental shelf
Extending out from a continent’s edge is a gently sloping, shallow area called the continental shelf (F). At the edge of the shelf, the ocean floor drops off in a steep incline called the continental slope (A).

Are areas of a continent that are under shallow water?

A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water known as a shelf sea.

What is shallow area near the coast of a continent?

A continental shelf is the edge of a continent that lies under the ocean. Continents are the seven main divisions of land on Earth. A continental shelf extends from the coastline of a continent to a drop-off point called the shelf break.

What refers to the shallow water area found in proximity to continents?

A continental margin is the outer edge of continental crust abutting oceanic crust under coastal waters. It is one of the three major zones of the ocean floor, the other two being deep-ocean basins and mid-ocean ridges. The continental shelf is the relatively shallow water area found in proximity to continents.

What is gently sloping underwater land called?

Abyssal plain: Flat or very gently sloping area of the deep ocean basin floor. Accretion: Deposition of material by sedimentation, which increases land area.

Was the ocean floor flat?

Before scientists invented sonar, many people believed the ocean floor was a completely flat surface. Now we know that the seafloor is far from flat. In fact, the tallest mountains and deepest canyons are found on the ocean floor; far taller and deeper than any landforms found on the continents.

Which region of the ocean would be the shallow end?

The neritic zone is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately 200 meters (660 ft) in depth.

What is the average depth of the global oceans?

about 12,100 feet
The average depth of the ocean is about 12,100 feet . The deepest part of the ocean is called the Challenger Deep and is located beneath the western Pacific Ocean in the southern end of the Mariana Trench, which runs several hundred kilometers southwest of the U.S. territorial island of Guam.

What is the shallowest part of the continental margin called?

The continental shelf
The continental shelf is the shallowest part of the continental margin. Although they only make up 8% of the Earth’s ocean surface area, they are the most biologically rich part of the ocean containing the majority of the sea life.

Which best describes the shallow water Ocean Zone?

Which best describes the shallow water ocean zone? The long water column protects small organisms from being eaten by large predators. Hydrothermal vents provide heat and dissolved minerals needed by some organisms to survive.

Where are some shallow areas of the ocean?

I can recall several surveys where we encountered very shallow offshore features in otherwise deep water. To the north of Mitrofania Island, out near the Aleutian Chain, there is a rock with a least depth of 20-ft in the middle of 23-ftm (140-ft) of water and a rock awash with 28-ftm (160-ft) surrounding it.

What’s the average depth of the North Sea?

Dogger Bank in the North Sea is a moraine (a big pile of rock, gravel and sand left behind by glaciers). The average depth of the ocean is about 3.7 kilometers (2.3 miles). 8% of the ocean is the continental shelves, the underwater part of the ever-drifting continents.

Which is the shallowest seamount in the Gulf of Alaska?

It is one end of the Kodiak-Bowie Seamount Chain that stretches across the Gulf of Alaska (image courtesy of NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration). The shallowest example of which I am aware, is the Banua Wuhu near Indonesia, which rises over 400-m (about 1,400-ft) off the surrounding seafloor to a depth of approximately 16-ft from the surface.

Is there a rock in the middle of the ocean?

To the north of Mitrofania Island, out near the Aleutian Chain, there is a rock with a least depth of 20-ft in the middle of 23-ftm (140-ft) of water and a rock awash with 28-ftm (160-ft) surrounding it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4ZSMDWNXTg