Lecture X The Sea Floor

Origin of the Ocean

According to a widely accepted theory, about 4.5 billion years ago, Earth began to
form by the accretion of small, cold chunks of rock and metal that surrounded the
Sun. As Earth grew, it began to heat up because of the heat of collisional impact,
gravitational compaction, and radioactive decay of elements such as uranium. The
temperature of Earth rose until the accretions that made up Earth melted and the
iron “fell” to the center to form its core.
Violent volcanic activity occurred at this time, releasing great quantities of water
vapor and other gases from Earth’s interior and perhaps even covering the surface
with a thick, red-hot sea of lava. Earth began to cool as its growth and internal
reorganization slowed down and as the amount of radioactive material was reduced
by decay. Eventually, Earth’s surface became solid rock, cool enough to permit
the condensation of billowing clouds of volcanic water vapor to form liquid water,
which fell as rain.

Continental Shelves and Continental Slopes

Almost all continental edges are marked by a gently sloping continental shelf near
shore and a steeper continental slope that leads down to the deep ocean floor. A
continental shelf, a shallow submarine platform at the edge of a continent, inclines
very gently seaward, generally at an angle of 0.1°. Continental shelves vary in
width. Continental shelves are topographic features, defined by their depth,
flatness, and gentle seaward tilt. The continental shelves of the world are usually
covered with relatively young sediment, in most cases derived from land.
The outer part of a wide shelf is often covered with coarse sediment that was
deposited near shore during a time of lower sea level. Marine seismic surveys and
drilling at sea have shown that the young sediments on many continental shelves
are underlain by thick sequences of sandstone, shale, and less commonly
limestone.

A continental slope is a relatively steep slope that extends from a depth of 100 to
200 meters at the edge of the continental shelf down to oceanic depths. The
average angle of slope for a continental slope is 4° to 5°, although locally, some
parts are much steeper. Because the continental slopes are more difficult to study
than the continental shelves, less is known about them.

Submarine Canyons
Submarine canyons are V-shaped valleys that run across continental shelves and
down continental slopes (figure 10.1). Abyssal fans are made up of land-derived
sediment that has moved down the submarine canyons. Along continental margins
that are cut by submarine canyons, many coalescing abyssal fans may build up at
the base of the continental slope.

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Lecture X The Sea Floor

Figure 10.1 Submarine canyon and abyssal fan.

Turbidity Currents
Turbidity currents are great masses of sediment-laden water that are pulled
downhill by gravity. The sediment-laden water is heavier than clear water, so the
turbidity current flows down the continental slope until it comes to rest on the flat
abyssal plain at the base of the slope. Turbidity currents are thought to be
generated by underwater earthquakes and landslides, strong surface storms, and
floods of sediment laden rivers discharging directly into the sea on coasts with a
narrow shelf. Although large turbidity currents have not been directly observed in
the sea, small turbidity currents can be made and studied in the laboratory.

Passive Continental Margins

A passive continental margin includes a continental shelf, continental slope, and
continental rise, and generally extends down to an abyssal plain at a depth of about
5 kilometers. It is called a passive margin because it usually develops on
geologically quiet coasts that lack earthquakes, volcanoes, and young mountain
belts.

The Continental Rise

Along the base of many parts of the continental slope lies the continental rise, a
wedge of sediment that extends from the lower part of the continental slope to the
deep-sea floor. The continental rise, which slopes at about 0.5°, more gently than
the continental slope, typically ends in a flat abyssal plain at a depth of about 5
kilometers.

Types of Deposition
Sediments appear to be deposited on the continental rise in two ways by turbidity
currents flowing down the continental slope and by contour currents flowing along
the continental slope.

Cores of sediment recovered from most parts of the continental rise show layers of
fine sand or coarse silt inter bedded with layers of fine-grained mud. The mineral
grains and fossils of the coarser layers indicate that the sand and silt came from the
shallow continental shelf. Some transporting agent must have carried these
sediments from shallow water to deep water.

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Lecture X The Sea Floor

A contour current is a bottom current that flows parallel to the slopes of the
continental margin along the contour rather than down the slope (figure 9.4). The
current is thickest along the continental slope and gets progressively thinner
seaward. The thick, landward part of the current carries and deposits the most
sediment. The thinner, seaward edge of the current deposits less sediment. As a
result, the deposit of sediment beneath the current is wedge shaped, becoming
thinner away from land.

Abyssal Plains
Abyssal plains are very flat regions usually found at the base of the continental
rise. Seismic profiling has shown that abyssal plains are formed of horizontal
layers of sediment.

Figure 10.2 A contour current flowing along the continental margin shapes the continental rise
by depositing fine sediment.

The gradual deposition of sediment buried an older, more rugged topography that
can be seen on seismic profiler records as a rock basement beneath the sediment
layers. Graded bedding within sediment layers suggests deposition by turbidity
currents. Abyssal plains are the flattest features on Earth. They generally have
slopes less than 1:1,000 and some have slopes of only 1:10,000. Most abyssal
plains are 5 kilometers deep.
Oceanic Trenches
An oceanic trench is a narrow, deep trough parallel to the edge of a continent or an
island arc. The continental slope on an active margin forms the landward wall of
the trench, its steepness often increasing with depth. The slope is typically 4° to 5°
on the upper part, steepening to 10° to 15° or even more near the bottom of the
trench. The elongate oceanic trenches, often 8 to 10 kilometers deep, far exceed the
average depth of abyssal plains on passive margins. Oceanic trenches are marked
by abnormally low heat flow compared to normal ocean crust. This implies that the
crust intrenches may be colder than normal crust.

The MID-Oceanic Ridge

The mid-oceanic ridge is a giant undersea mountain range that extends around the
world. A rift valley, where the crust is undergoing extension, runs down the crest
of the ridge. The rift valley on the crest of the mid-oceanic ridge is a unique feature
no mountain range on land has such a valley running along its crest.

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Lecture X The Sea Floor

Figure 10.3 Active continental margin with an oceanic trench.

Seamounts, Guyots, and Aseismic Ridges
Conical undersea mountains that rise 1,000 meters or more above the sea floor are
called seamounts. They are scattered on the flanks of the mid-oceanic ridge and on
other parts of the sea floor, including abyssal plains.

Guyots are flat topped seamounts found mostly in the western Pacific Ocean.
These flat tops are now many hundreds of meters below sea level, well below the
level of wave erosion. If the guyot tops were cut by waves, the guyots must have
subsided after erosion took place.
Many of the guyots and seamounts on the sea floor are aligned in chains. Such
volcanic chains, together with some other ridges on the sea floor, are given the
name aseismic ridges that is, they are submarine ridges that are not associated with
earthquakes. The name aseismic is used to distinguish these features from the
much larger mid-oceanic ridge, where earthquakes occur along the rift valley.
Reefs
Reefs are wave-resistant ridges of coral, algae, and other calcareous organisms.
They form in warm, shallow, sunlit water that is low in suspended sediment. Reefs
stand above the surrounding sea floor, which is often covered with sediment
derived from the reef. Three important types are fringing reefs, barrier reefs, and
atolls. Fringing reefs are flat, table like reefs attached directly to shore. The
seaward edge is marked by a steep slope leading down into deeper water. Barrier
reefs parallel the shore but are separated from it by wide, deep lagoons. The lagoon
has relatively quiet water because the reef shelters it by absorbing the energy of
large, breaking waves.
Sediments of the Sea Floor
The basaltic crust of the sea floor is covered in many places with layers of
sediment. This sediment is either terrigenous, derived from land, or pelagic,
settling slowly through seawater. Terrigenous sediment is land-derived sediment
that has found its way to the sea floor. The sediment that makes up the continental
rise and the abyssal plains is mostly terrigenous and apparently has been deposited
by turbidity currents or similar processes. Pelagic sediment is sediment that settles
slowly through the ocean water. It is made up of fine-grained clay and the
skeletons of microscopic organisms.

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