The Ocean

• EARTH: The only planet w/ Oceans (or liquid

water)
• Covers 71% of earth’s surface
• “Divided” into 4 large basins
– Pacific (largest, deepest)
– Atlantic
– Indian
– Arctic (smallest, shallowest)
– A fifth? The Antarctic…
Ocean basins
 Continental Continent
Continen slope Volcanic al shelf
tal
Seamou island Continental
Shelf
nt slope

Continental Abyssal
rise plain trenc
mid-ocean Rift
h
 The Wilson Cycle
Rift valley forms as continent
begins to split. Example:
African Rift Lakes.

Sea-floor basalts begin forming and

continents diverge.
Example: Red Sea.

Broad ocean basins widen, trenches

develop, subduction
begins. Example: Atlantic Ocean.
Subduction eliminates much of sea-
floor and oceanic ridge.
Example: Pacific Ocean.

Last of sea-floor is eliminated,

continents collide forming mountain
chain. Example: Mediterranean
Sea.

Convergence of continental plates

and uplifting to form mountain
range. Example: Himalayas.
Ocean Basin Depths
Interior of Earth
 The Difference Between an Ocean
and a Continent…ROCKS!
• Continent: very thick, very old, less dense
and made up of Granite
• Ocean (floor): younger, more dense, not as
thick and made up of Basalt
• Thus, the “Ocean Floor” “sinks” below the
continent(s) and provides the habitats of
marine organisms
 Continental Drift
• If we know the Continental Crust and
Oceanic Crust have different
densities…how did they “separate” to
become 7 continents and 4 oceans?
• We start (Pangea) 210 mya!
 PANGEA (the super continent)
• 180 million yrs. ago – all continents were
attached together and have slowly moved
apart over time
• Discovered (S. F. Bacon, 1600’s) “Coasts of
continents fit together like a puzzle.”
• Lead to theory of continental drift and plate
techtonics.
Pangea (reptile fossils)
• So…WHERE DID WE
START AND WHERE ARE
WE NOW?
Figure 2.14a
Figure 2.14e
 PLATE TECTONICS
• Continental drift leads to the theory of Plate
tectonics
• Although Bacon discussed it in the 1600’s,
it was not understood until the 1960’s.
 The Ocean Floor (P. Tectonics)
• Mid-Ocean Ridges
– Underwater mountain ranges
– Fault: Crack in earths crust
– Rift: Ocean crust separates & creates “cracks”
– Earthquakes are common
• Trenches
– Deep depressions in the seafloor
– Mostly in Pacific, Volcanoes common
Major features of Sea Floor
 CO 2

Mid-Atlantic Ridge (above sea surface in Iceland)

Sea-Floor Spreading (plate tectonics)
• New sea-floor forms at mid-ocean ridges
(where the edge of these “plates” meet)
• Continental Drift: If the plate (as it spreads
away from the ridge) contains continental
crust (on top) the continents “drift” (move)
apart.
How? Convection and Density!
Sea Floor Spreading:
Figure 2.08
X-section of sea floor @
Mid ocean ridge
 Figure 2.07

Paleomagnetism:
Normal magnetism
@ ridge crests (but
Reversed in other
locations)
 We get:
• Plate boundaries
• With geologic activity, such as earthquakes,
that (may) correspond w/ these plate
boundaries
Earthquake and Volcano distribution
Lithospheric plate boundaries
 How does everything move? Plate
Tectonics!
• The earth’s upper layer, the lithosphere, is
divided into plates
• Plates may contain sea-floor, continents, or
both
• Plates are moving (few cm per year),
floating on top of the earth’s molten mantle
 Subduction (plate techtonics)
• sea-floor is destroyed by plunging back into the earth’s
interior at trenches
• When 2 plates collide, 1 dips below the other (in to the
mantle) and 1 is destroyed (causing, sometimes,
earthquakes)
• Ocean vs. Cont. plate: ocean plate destroyed, can get
coastal mountain ranges
• Ocean vs. Ocean plate: 1 dips = volcano or earthquake
• Cont. vs. cont: none destroyed, mnt. Ranges fold
• 2 plates, no collision, lock/shear/earthquake (S. Andreas F)
 Figure 2.10

Continental + Oceanic plate collision = trench, earthquake

 Figure 2.11

2 oceanic plates collide = trench/earthquake

San
Andreas
Fault
(CA) Figure 2.13
 Sea Floor Regions
• All of this “plate” movement and geologic
activity that occurs under the water yields
different sea floor regions
• Each dependent upon depth, width, slope
etc.
 Regions of the sea-floor
• Continental Margins contain continental
shelf, slope and rise
• Cont. shelf = shallow, most “rich” (diverse)
• Deep Ocean Floor, “Abyssal Plain”
• The Ocean “floor” (on average) is 2-3.5
miles BELOW the oceans (water) surface!
(Passive Margin) Continental Shelf (19 mi. off of Atlantic City, NJ)

Figure 2.18
Tom’s Canyon

Shelf break
The California Coast

Monterey
Canyon
Active Coast (CA)
Major features of Sea Floor