An ocean basin s size shape and features such as islands trenches mid ocean ridges rift valleys vary due to the movement of earth s lithospheric plates.
The sea floor profiles and scales.
The red line shows the sea floor depths and the green is the geoid anomaly.
After many profiles are made they can be assembled to create complex maps or three dimensional models of the seafloor by filling the spaces between the profiles using computer models or modeling.
This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level.
Ohaus vx series standard floor scale vx32xw10000x.
The mid atlantic ridge for instance separates the north american plate from the eurasian plate and the south american plate from the african plate the east pacific rise is a mid ocean ridge that runs through the eastern pacific ocean and separates the pacific plate from the north american.
Samples collected from the ocean floor show that the age of oceanic crust increases with distance from the spreading centre important evidence in favour of this process.
Ocean literacy fundamental concept.
Science 277 1956 1962 1997 cas google scholar.
As upwelling of magma continues the plates continue to diverge a process known as seafloor spreading.
Global sea floor topography from satellite altimetry and ship depth soundings.
Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor.
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.
The earth has one big ocean with many features.
Seafloor mapping also called seabed imaging is the measurement of water depth of a given body of water bathymetric measurements are conducted with various methods from sonar and lidar techniques to buoys and satellite altimetry various methods have advantages and disadvantages and the specific method used depends upon the scale of the area under study financial means desired measurement.
These age data also allow the rate of seafloor spreading to be.
The landscape of the seafloor would best be described as.
The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur.
Plate tectonics plate tectonics seafloor spreading.
Long wavelength large anomalies 100 meters from the ellipsoid over thousands of km due to mass differences in the mantle many of which reflect older plate tectonics and remnants of subducted plates.
To map the seafloor research vessels cross the ocean making sonar profiles along carefully navigated parallel courses called transect lines.
