Physiographic fearures in sea:

1. Continental Margin: Continental Shelf

Continental Slope

Continental Rise

Submarine Canyons

2. Deep Ocean Basin: Abyssal Plains

Oceanic ridges

3. Trenches

4. Seamounts and Guyots

5. Atolls.
Continental shelf

Much more similar to the continent that the deep ocean. They have hills, depressions, mineral and oil
deposits. In Atlantic Canada, the continental shelf hold the best fishing areas (Grand Banks and Scotia
Shelf)

Submarine Canyon: on the edge of the continental shelf:

Deep Ocean Basin:

• Abyssal plains: From the Greek meaning “without bottom”. They are flat, cold, dark, featureless
expanses of sediment-covered ocean floor. They are most common in the Atlantic

• Ocean Ridges

mountainous chains of actively spreading ocean floor. They can rise 2km from the ocean floor
and sometimes form islands such as Iceland, the Azores and Easter island.

Trenches:

• deep gap in ocean floor, formed by movement of plates.

• Example: Mariana Trench is 10,668 meters deep

• They are among the most active areas on Earth.

• They are the deepest areas of the Earth’s crust.

• 90% of trenches are found around the Pacific rim.

Seamounts and Guyots

Both are undersea volcanoes that originated at a hotspot or along a ridge

Guyots once reached the surface of the ocean and have flat, eroded tops

Seamounts never reached the surface, so they have pointy tops

Atolls:

• A ring shaped island of coral reefs and coral debris. These often form over sinking inactive
volcanoes.