Different Surfaces Of Oceans Floor

Features of the ocean include the continental shelf slope and rise.

Different surfaces of oceans floor.

Due to the differing depths of the ocean an approximation is made. Ocean floor topography refers to the different forms in which the ocean floor bottom can exist. The ocean floor is continually being formed and destroyed. Pressure is also minimal and increases with depth.

As scientific knowledge has advanced the capability to envisage these remote sites has increased significantly. Most people are surprised to learn that just as the surface of the earth is not flat the surface of the ocean is not flat and that the surface of the sea changes at different rates around the globe. The ocean floor covers more than 70 percent of the planet s surface. Features rising up from the ocean floor include seamounts volcanic islands and the mid oceanic ridges and rises.

You may perceive the ocean floor to be flat and sandy like the beach but the truth is there are many different surfaces. The ocean floor is called the abyssal plain. The east pacific rise is a mid ocean ridge that runs through the eastern pacific ocean and separates the pacific plate from the north american plate the cocos plate the nazca plate and the antarctic plate. The general shape of the earth is spherical but flattened out at the north and south pole.

There is plenty of light and heat within this layer although both decrease as the depth increases. Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor. Below the ocean floor there are a few small deeper areas called ocean trenches. Ocean floor mid ocean ridges.

For instance the absolute water level height is higher along the west coast of the united states than the east coast. Plate tectonics and the ocean floor. The mid ocean ridges are the most extensive fea tures of the earth s surface. Like dry land the ocean floor has various features including flat plains sharp mountains and rugged canyons fig.

The mid atlantic ridge for instance separates the north american plate from the eurasian plate and the south american plate from the african plate. Arbitrary reference surface is an estimated surface that is calculated to factor in the shape of the earth. The epipelagic zone is known as the surface layer or the sunlight zone of the ocean ranging from the surface to 656 feet. Recall from the chapter on plate tectonics that the ocean floor is not flat.

Another major structural feature of. Not only is oceanic crust continually created at mid ocean ridges but it is also continually. Consisting of a nar row. This is called the arbitrary reference surface.

In fact earth s tallest mountain is mauna kea volcano which rises 10 203 m 33 476 ft meters from the pacific ocean floor to become one of the volcanic mountains of hawaii.