What is the structure of the ocean floor?

Bathymetry, the shape of the ocean floor, is largely a result of a process called plate tectonics. The outer rocky layer of the Earth includes about a dozen large sections called tectonic plates that are arranged like a spherical jig-saw puzzle floating on top of the Earth’s hot flowing mantle.

What are main features of the ocean floor?

Features of the ocean floor include the continental shelf and slope, abyssal plain, trenches, seamounts, and the mid-ocean ridge.

Does the ocean have a structure?

Most of the oceans have a common structure, created by common physical phenomena, mainly from tectonic movement, and sediment from various sources.

What is the ocean floor called?

The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, or ocean floor) is the bottom of the ocean.

What are the 4 types of ocean floor?

They are;

• Continental Shelf.
• Continental slope.
• Abyssal plains.
• The ocean deeps/ submarine trenches.

What’s at the bottom of the ocean floor?

The main features are mid-oceanic ridges, hydrothermal vents, mud volcanoes, seamounts, canyons and cold seeps.

What are the 8 features of the ocean floor?

There are nine main features of the ocean floor which include (1) continental shelf, (2) continental slope, (3) continental rise, (4) abyssal plains, (5) abyssal hill, (6) mid-ocean ridges, (7) seamounts, (8) deep ocean trenches, and (9) volcanic islands.

What type of feature makes up most of the ocean floor?

What type of feature makes up most of the ocean floor? The feature that forms most of the ocean floor is the abyssal plain.

Why ocean floor has submerged landforms?

Like there are landforms on land, ocean floor also has submerged landforms because Though land is continuous, its level is not the same everywhere like that of water. Though land is continuous, its level is not the same everywhere as that of water. Continental crust and oceanic constitute part of the lithosphere.

Which part of the ocean floor is most useful to the man answer?

The part of ocean floor that is most useful to the man is Continental Shelf. A continental shelf can be defined as a part of continent that is submerged in shallow water. These Continental Shelf are useful to man as it provides fishing grounds, gravel, minerals, sunlight, fossil fuels etc.

Are the deepest parts of the ocean?

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 land near the coast and submerged under the sea is called?

The land near the coast and submerged under the sea is called continental shelf.

Which landform of the ocean floor is useful for deep sea research?

(b) Trenches, abyssal plains etc are useful for deep sea research. Trenches are the some of the most seismically zones which are responsible for causing earthquakes. Rock sediments from ocean floor have helped the scientists to determine its age which subsequently led to the development of plate tectonics theory.

What is the land near the sea called?

The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake.

What is it called when the ocean meets the land?

Shore – place where ocean meets land Coast – refers to the larger zone affected by the processes that occur at this boundary.

What is it called when freshwater meets the ocean?

Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands are bodies of water usually found where rivers meet the sea. Estuaries are home to unique plant and animal communities that have adapted to brackish water—a mixture of fresh water draining from the land and salty seawater.

Are organisms that are attached to the bottom of the sea floor?

organisms that live on the ocean bottom, whether attached or not, are known as benthic organisms, and the ecosystem of which they are a part is called the benthic ecosystem. In shallow water, sunlight can penetrate the bottom, and a variety of attached photosynthetic organisms called seaweeds are common.

Where a body of water meets land?

shoreline

shoreline Add to list Share. The shoreline is the place where a large body of water, like an ocean, lake, or river, meets the land. There are a lot of fun beaches along the Atlantic shoreline.

What type of water is in the ocean?

saltwater

The water in the oceans is saline (saltwater), but, what do we mean by “saline water?” Saline water contains significant amounts (referred to as “concentrations”) of dissolved salts. In this case, the concentration is the amount (by weight) of salt in water, as expressed in “parts per million” (ppm).

What happens when the river meets the sea?

When river water meets sea water, the lighter fresh water rises up and over the denser salt water. Sea water noses into the estuary beneath the outflowing river water, pushing its way upstream along the bottom. Often, as in the Fraser River, this occurs at an abrupt salt front.

What happens when a river meets the ocean?

An estuary is an area where a freshwater river or stream meets the ocean. When freshwater and seawater combine, the water becomes brackish, or slightly salty.

Why can’t we drink sea water?

Human kidneys can only make urine that is less salty than salt water. Therefore, to get rid of all the excess salt taken in by drinking seawater, you have to urinate more water than you drank. Eventually, you die of dehydration even as you become thirstier.

How did the ocean get salty?

Salt in the ocean comes from two sources: runoff from the land and openings in the seafloor. Rocks on land are the major source of salts dissolved in seawater. Rainwater that falls on land is slightly acidic, so it erodes rocks.

Which ocean is not salt water?

The ice in the Arctic and Antarctica is salt free. You may want to point out the 4 major oceans including the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic. Remember that the limits of the oceans are arbitrary, as there is only one global ocean. Students may ask what are the smaller salty water areas called.

Why is the ocean blue?

The ocean is blue because water absorbs colors in the red part of the light spectrum. Like a filter, this leaves behind colors in the blue part of the light spectrum for us to see. The ocean may also take on green, red, or other hues as light bounces off of floating sediments and particles in the water.

Are any oceans Freshwater?

In a new survey of the sub-seafloor off the U.S. Northeast coast, scientists have made a surprising discovery: a gigantic aquifer of relatively fresh water trapped in porous sediments lying below the salty ocean. It appears to be the largest such formation yet found in the world.