Subsurface Topography Ocean Floor Features

Continental Shelf * The gently sloping section of the continental margin located between the shoreline and the continental slope.

Continental Slope * The steeply inclined section of the continental margin located between the continental rise and the continental shelf.

Continental Rise The gently sloping section of the continental margin located between the continental slope and the abyssal plain.

Abyssal Plain * A large, flat, almost level area of the deep-ocean basin.

Seamount * A submerged mountain on the ocean floor that is at least 1,000 meters high and that has a volcanic origin.

Volcanic Island * A seamount that has grown above water level.

Mid Ocean Ridge * Mountain chains that form where tectonic plates pull apart. Magma rises to fill the space and new ocean crust is formed

Trench * These deep cracks in the ocean floor are formed when the denser oceanic plate slides beneath the less dense continental plate.  

Sonar Acronym for Sound Navigation and Ranging. Used to determine the depth of the ocean.

Guyot AKA- Tablemount, An isolated under water seamount at least 900m tall with a flat top over 200m below the surface of the ocean.

Atoll Coral Atoll, a ring shaped coral reef including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon, partially or completely. Often sitting atop an extinct seamount or volcano

Island Sub-continental land surrounded by water

Submarine Canyon A steep-sided valley cut into the sea floor of the continental slope

Rift Valley A crack in the ocean floor where magma rises and cools.

Continental slope Continental shelf Continental Shelf Volcanic island Seamount Continental slope Abyssal plain Continental rise trench mid-ocean ridge Rift valley