Is The Ocean Floor Flat

Like even the flattest grasslands the world s oceans have varied elevations.

Is the ocean floor flat.

Tides and ocean currents. Other articles where ocean floor is discussed. We have big news. A series of volcanic ridges cuts through all the oceans.

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. We re aren t just talking about the ocean floor but the actual surface of the ocean. 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. Deep ocean troughs occur in places where one of the earth s plates is being pulled down beneath another and destroyed.

Running through all the world s oceans is a continuous mountain range called the mid ocean ridge submarine ridge in figure 14 23. Seabed topography is flat where sedimentation is heavy and covers the tectonic features. The globe isn t flat and neither are the world s oceans. The smooth flat regions that make up 40 of the ocean floor are the abyssal plain.

Is the ocean floor flat. On average oceanic crust is only 6 to 7km thick compared to 35 to 40km for con tinental crust. Mountains plains channels canyons exposed rocks and sediment covered areas. The ocean floor or seabed refers to earth s top most layer of thin basalt rock that is submerged beneath seawater.

The difference is sea level is caused by two major factors. Regions of the ocean floor can be distinguished by topographical margins e g. The process that continually adds new material to the ocean floor is seafloor spreading and the continental slope. The floor of the ocean has a very varied topography.

These ridges mark the sites where the earth s surface plates are being created. The lack of weathering and erosion in most areas however allows geological processes to be seen more clearly on. The ocean basins are characterized not only by lying in deep water the ocean floor averages about 4km below sea level but also by being underlain by a thin layer of crust. Sediments comes from various sources.

The ocean floor has the same general character as the land areas of the world. Plate tectonics and the ocean floor.