What are the major parts of the ocean floor and how do they differ from each other?

What are the major parts of the ocean floor and how do they differ from each other?

Features of the ocean include the continental shelf, slope, and rise. The ocean floor is called the abyssal plain. Below the ocean floor, there are a few small deeper areas called ocean trenches. Features rising up from the ocean floor include seamounts, volcanic islands and the mid-oceanic ridges and rises.

Why is the ocean floor not flat?

Just as the surface of the Earth is not flat, the surface of the ocean is not flat. For instance, the absolute water level height is higher along the West Coast of the United States than the East Coast. The surface of the sea changes at different rates around the globe.

How would you describe the ocean floor?

The ocean floor is literally the floor of the ocean. The landscape of the ocean floor is much like what you see on land, just way more dramatic and without all that life. You’ll see underwater mountains called seamounts, cliffs, trenches, and abysses. These are so deep that no sunlight penetrates.

What is the difference between an ocean and a sea?

In terms of geography, seas are smaller than oceans and are usually located where the land and ocean meet. Typically, seas are partially enclosed by land. Seas are found on the margins of the ocean and are partially enclosed by land. Here, you can see that the Bering Sea is part of the Pacific Ocean.

What happens during sea floor spreading?

Seafloor spreading occurs at divergent plate boundaries. As tectonic plates slowly move away from each other, heat from the mantle’s convection currents makes the crust more plastic and less dense. The less-dense material rises, often forming a mountain or elevated area of the seafloor. Eventually, the crust cracks.

What is the ocean floor made of?

The seafloor contains deposits of minerals that we use in everyday life such as copper, zinc, nickel, gold, silver, and phosphorus. These deposits occur as crusts on volcanic and other rocks and as nodules on abyssal plain sediment that are typically about 3 to 10 centimeters (1 to 4 inches) in diameter.

What is the bottom or floor of the ocean?

seabed
The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as ‘seabeds’.

Is the ocean floor considered land?

Assorted References. The ocean floor has the same general character as the land areas of the world: mountains, plains, channels, canyons, exposed rocks, and sediment-covered areas. The lack of weathering and erosion in most areas, however, allows geological processes to be seen more clearly on the seafloor than…

What are the different oceans?

Historically, there are four named oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic. However, most countries – including the United States – now recognize the Southern (Antarctic) as the fifth ocean. The Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian are the most commonly known. The Southern Ocean is the ‘newest’ named ocean.

What is the difference between an ocean and a sea quizlet?

There is no difference between oceans and seas. Seas are smaller and shallower bodies of saltwater, somewhat enclosed by land, but directly connected to the world ocean. Seas are smaller and shallower bodies of saltwater, somewhat enclosed by land, but directly connected to the world ocean.

Does sea-floor spreading cause earthquakes?

Volcanic activity causes the seafloor to spread along oceanic ridges, forming new areas of crust and mantle. This contraction can trigger oceanic earthquakes.

What is the bottom of the sea called?

How is the ocean floor different from dry land?

Image courtesy of US Navy, Wikipedia Commons The ocean floor covers more than 70 percent of the planet’s surface. Like dry land, the ocean floor has various features including flat plains, sharp mountains, and rugged canyons (Fig. 7.1). However, the lowest point in the world ocean is much deeper than the highest point on land.

Is the surface of the ocean the same around the world?

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.

What makes up two thirds of the earth’s surface?

The oceanic crust covers two-thirds of the Earth’s surface, and makes up the ocean floor. Two types of crust make up the land on Earth and its ocean floor.

Why are there so many features on the ocean floor?

Convection currents in the molten mantle cause the plates to slowly move about the Earth a few centimeters each year. Many ocean floor features are a result of the interactions that occur at the edges of these plates. The shifting plates may collide (converge), move away (diverge) or slide past (transform) each other.