Floor Of The Oceaan

It is the only intergovernmental organisation with a mandate to map the entire ocean floor.

Floor of the oceaan.

The ocean floor is literally the floor of the ocean. Exploration of the seafloor and the earth s crust. The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur. Other articles where ocean floor is discussed.

Not too many people have gone to the floor of the ocean as it requires special diving equipment. Continental shelf 300 feet continental slope 300 10 000 feet abyssal plain 10 000 feet abyssal hill 3 000 feet up from the abyssal plain seamount 6 000 feet. Mountains plains channels canyons exposed rocks and sediment covered areas. It is the bottom of the ocean when you dive.

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. The initiative that seeks to galvanize the creation of a full map of the ocean floor says one fifth of this task has now been completed. On average oceanic crust is only 6 to 7km thick compared to 35 to 40km for con tinental crust. The lack of weathering and erosion in most areas however allows geological processes to be seen more clearly on.

This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level.