Distribution of topography and

Physiography of the Ocean Floor bathymetry

Bimodal
distribution
Average land
elevation 0.84 km
Average ocean
Take away the water and what do you see? depth 3.8 km
Deepest depth
(Mariana Trench)
more extreme than
highest height
(Mt. Everest)

Earth’s dominant topographic features lie beneath the ocean’s surface.

Ocean provinces Continental margins

submerged edges of
The submarine “landscape,” or sea floor, can be subdivided into the continents
three distinct provinces: massive wedges of
continental margins sediment eroded from
~22% of total area the land and deposited
deep ocean basins along continental edge
~42% of total area wide, flat in Atlantic
mid-ocean ridges thin, steep in Pacific
~31% of total area can be divided into
(remaining ~5% of total
three parts:
area occupied by deep-sea continental shelf – continuation of land below sea surface (slope < 1o)
trenches) continental slope – where margin breaks (slope ~ 4o); often contain
huge submarine canyons where sediment cascades down
continental rise – sedimentary wedge at base of slope (slope 1o or less)

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 Continental margins Deep ocean basins
submarine canyons

Monterey
between the
Canyon
continental
Grand
Canyon
margins and the
mid-oceanic ridge
- 6,672 ft. includes a variety
of features from
mountainous to
Submarine canyon
off Barcelona, Spain
flat plains:
abyssal plains – flattest parts of the world
abyssal hills – elongated dome-shaped hills of oceanic crust
seamounts – abyssal mountains, largely volcanic (active and extinct);
includes flat-topped guyots formed by wave erosion
deep sea trenches – deepest regions on Earth, found close to land

Mid-ocean ridges Mapping ocean depths

continuous Prior to the early 20th
submarine
mountain range century, “soundings”
extends for about were the only means to
60,000 km around
the Earth determine water depth
contains rift valley weighted lines lowered
in center of ridge from ships
site of new oceanic time-consuming, relatively
crust formation few, doubtful accuracy
flanked by HMS Challenger one of
transform faults and
the first to do this
fracture zones

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 Mapping ocean depths Mapping ocean depths

Matthew Maury (the “father of oceanography”) constructed

Seismic Reflection
the first ocean-wide bathymetric map (N. Atlantic, 1855).
Profiler (sound source
Echo Sounder and hydrophone)

Bathymetric maps
depict the topography
of the seafloor;
isobaths connect points
of equal elevation.

Mapping ocean depths Mapping ocean depths

echo sounders vs. seismic reflection

profilers
sound source and receiver
(hydrophone) on hull of ship sound source and
high frequency sound waves hydrophone towed by ship
travel through the water, reflect continuous but also only
off the seafloor (and off sub- 2-dimensional profile
bottom sediment layers), and are
lower frequency energy seismic
recorded by the hydrophone reflection survey
based on travel time (t) of sound source (stronger sound
waves with known velocity (v), source with fewer sound
get depth [d = v x (t/2)] waves per second) guyot
provide continuous depth profiles deeper penetration into seamount
along a ship’s cruise track sedimentary layers and ocean
but only 2-dimensional profile crust
(horizontal, vertical)

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 Mapping ocean depths
Multi-beam sonar
and
Side scan sonar
like echo sounder, but
images a 60 km swath
of seafloor
overlapping swaths =
complete coverage
(3-dimensional)
produces 3-dimensional
bathymetric map of
seafloor
Mapping ocean depths
bathymetric map based on a
seabeam survey for Deep
Sea Drilling Project sites isobaths
off northwest Africa
(contour interval = 50 m);
note the very steep
Mazagan Escarpment
dropping off to the deep-sea
Mapping ocean depths
Seabeam Multibeam bathymetry
Sea ice
keel scour
Mapping ocean depths
Satellites
Precise altimeters (using
microwaves) can map the relief
of the ocean surface with
centimeter-scale resolution.
Altimetry uses satellites to
determine bathymetry based
upon slight changes in the
elevation of the sea surface
Gravitational attraction of large
rock masses on the seafloor
distorts the ocean surface, very
slightly but enough to be
measured from space!
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 Mapping ocean depths

North
Atlantic
Ocean
relief
from
satellite
altimetry