Chapter 3 – Marine Provinces

Section 3.1 – Measuring Bathymetry (p. 81-86)

• Bathymetry -

o Measures the vertical distance from the ocean surface to mountains, valleys, plains, and other
sea floor features
• - measurements of ocean depth
• Fathom – = 1.8 m (6 feet)
o Fathme = outstretched arms
• The deep ocean floor has relief -
• Echo Soundings – reflection of sound signals (“pings”) – a good start, but it lacks - can
yield a “false bottom” effect
• Precision Depth Record (PDR), 1950s – used a focused
o The first reliable seafloor maps were produced; accuracy improved to a resolution of ~1 meter
• Modern bathymetry measuring: multibeam echo sounders, sonar (“sound navigation and ranging”)
o Instruments towed behind ships to map “strips” of seafloor, like mowing a lawn
• Seafloor mapping from space! Uses to measure gravitational bulges in
sea surface
o
o Reveals bathymetry where ships have not conducted research
• Seismic Reflection Profiles – air guns to produce strong, low-frequency, booming sounds
o

Section 3.2 – Continental Margins (p. 87-91)

• Three major provinces:
1.
•
2.
•
3.
• Submarine mountain range
•
• Continental Margins: the edges of continents
o Passive continental margins
▪
▪ No major tectonic activity; example: east coast of US
o Active continental margins
▪
▪ Lots of tectonic activity; example: west coast of US
• Convergent active margin – active continental volcanoes, narrow shelf, trench
• Transform continental margin – linear islands, banks, deep basins close to
shore. Example: coastal California along San Andreas Fault.
 • Continental shelf -
o Geologically part of the continent
o have wider shelves
o California’s transform active margin has a “continental borderland” – off-shore faults produce
(high degree of relief)

• Continental slope -
o Greater slope than continental shelf
o Marked by
▪ Narrow, deep, V-shaped in profile
▪
▪ Carved by turbidity currents
▪ Turbidity currents -
• Sediment from continental shelf moves under influence of gravity
▪ The result of turbidity currents? → at the base of the
slope, marked by (graded or “self-sorted” by size)
• Continental rise – transition between
o Marked by turbidite deposits, graded beds & deep-sea fans which taper into the abyssal plains
Section 3.3 – Features of Deep-Ocean Basins (p. 92-95)
• Abyssal plains – some of the deepest, flattest parts of Earth
o of very fine particles
o
• Ocean trenches and volcanic arcs
o Convergent margins generate
▪
▪ Most are in the
▪ Deepest trench is at 36,161 feet deep!
o The “Pacific Ring of Fire” – the margins of the Pacific Ocean contain the majority of the
world’s
▪ Subduction zones create deep-ocean trenches and volcanic arcs on the overlying plate
Section 3.4 – Features of Mid-Ocean Ridges (p. 95-101)
• Mid-Ocean Ridges
o Mid-Atlantic Ridge – the longest mountain chain on Earth! → a divergent plate boundary
o Features of mid-ocean ridges - or -
shapes formed when hot basaltic lava cools quickly under water
o Hydrothermal vents -
▪ Foster unusual deep-sea ecosystems that thrive in the darkness – more on this in
Chapter 15!
▪ Warm water vents (below 86° F)
▪ (86-662°F)
•

▪ (over 662°F!!!)
• Even hotter than white smokers!
•
• The Hypsographic Curve
▪ Shows the relationship between the height of land and depth of ocean
▪ Uneven distribution of areas of different depths/elevations
▪ Variations suggest plate tectonics at work