The Ocean Floor

The landscape and landforms of the ocean floor

Students will be able to describe and explain the
composition, properties, and structures of the
oceans’ zones, layers, and landforms and how it
relates to the compositions and interactions
between the Earth’s structure and its atmosphere.

Learning Goal
 The topography of
the ocean is more
varied and with
larger elevation
changes than on
the Earth’s surface.

https://youtu.be/K-UXrpAjyl0
Oceanography

The branch of science that deals with the

physical and biological properties and
phenomena of the sea
Studying the Ocean Floor
Sonar –
Echo Sounding –
Satellite –
Sonar
Sound Navigation and Ranging
Scientists send sound waves to the bottom of the ocean by ship.
The sound waves bounce off the ocean floor and return to the ship.
The deeper the ocean, the longer it takes for the sound waves to return.
Measures water depth
Echo Sounding
Shapes can be determined by measuring the time it takes
for the sound to “bounce back”
Some marine life also uses this method.
Satellites

Satellites send images to Earth that measure

direction and speed of ocean waves
Seasat

Seasat was the first Earth-orbiting satellite designed for

remote sensing of the Earth's oceans and had on board
the first spaceborne synthetic aperture radar.
https://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/missions/seasat-1
Geosat
Military satellite
Measures height of the ocean
surface.
Different underwater features
affect the height of the water
above them.
 https://science.nasa.gov/missions/geosat
How do earth landforms
compare with ocean
landforms?

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/landform/
continent sea mount

continental shelf

trench
continental slope rift valley

continental rise abyssal

plain

mid-ocean
ridge
Features of the Ocean Floor
Continent/Land
Deep Ocean Basin
Shore/Shoreline
• Seamounts
Continental Margin
• Abyssal Plain
• Continental Shelf
• Mid-ocean ridge
• Continental Slope
• Rift valley
• Continental Rise • Volcanic Islands
• Ocean Trench
Continent

Land mass area not under water

 Seven continents on Earth
Shore/Shoreline

A narrow, gently sloping strip of land

that lies along the edge of an ocean
 A beach, a coastline
Continental Shelf

Part of a continent that extends

underwater to the deep-ocean floor
Begins at the shoreline
Continues until the ocean floor starts to slope
Continental Slope

The (sometimes-steep) descent of a

continental shelf to the ocean floor
Begins at edge of continental shelf
Continues down to the flat part of the ocean floor
Continental Rise

Large piles of sediment at the base of the

continental slope
Continental Margin
 Made up of
• Continental shelf
• Continental slope
• Continental rise
Continental Margin
Deep Ocean Basin
Made up of
• Seamounts
• Abyssal plain
• Mid-ocean ridge
• Rift valleys
• Volcanic Islands
• Ocean trenches
Seamounts
Underwater mountains made of
volcanic material
Formed when magma pushes it way through or between tectonic plates
If seamounts build up they can become volcanic islands; Example: Hawaiian
Islands
Seamounts are usually 25 miles (40 kilometers) in diameter and can be 10,000 to
15,000 feet (3000 to 4500 meters) tall.
Seamounts
Less than 0.1 percent of the world's seamounts have been explored to
learn what species live on them, but many of the species that have been
found so far are new to science.
It has been estimated that more than 30,000 seamounts reaching more
than 1,000 meters tall are found in the Pacific Ocean. Approximately
800 are in the Atlantic Ocean, and an unknown number exist in the
Indian Ocean.
Abyssal Plain
Huge, flat, sediment-covered areas
of the deep ocean floor
oCovered in mud and remains of tiny marine organisms
oOccur in depths 6500m below sea level or lower
Mid-Ocean Ridge

Underwater mountain ranges, formed

by plate tectonics
Rising magma between the plates creates the ridge
http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/05galapagos/background/
mid_ocean_ridge/mid_ocean_ridge.html
Rift Valley
A lowland in the ground caused by
the seafloor spreading apart.
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/rift-valley/
Hydrothermal vents were discovered in rift valleys.
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/vents.html
Volcanic Islands
An island that was made from
volcanoes erupting from the ocean floor
An island is a solitary mountain formed by volcanic activity. Lava erupting from the sea
floor builds up on the sea bed over thousands, or even millions of years. The lava cools
rapidly as it reaches the ocean water and forms solid rock. Each eruption of the sea floor
volcano builds up the volcano a little bit higher. Until one day, the eruptions have built the
top of the undersea mountain so high, that it rises above the ocean’s surface.
 http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2015/02/28/pkg-orig-volcano-forms-new-island-
japan.cnn
 https://oceantoday.noaa.gov/deepoceanvolcanoes/
Ocean Trench
A long, deep depression in the ocean floor
Huge cracks on ocean floor
Created by oceanic plate pushing beneath continental plate or another oceanic
plate
Deep-sea trenches are the deepest parts of the ocean.
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/ocean-trench/
Ocean Trench
The deepest one, the Marianas Trench in the South Pacific
Ocean, is more than 35,000 feet (10,668 meters), or almost 6.6
miles (10.6 kilometers) deep.
A Navy-owned submarine, the Trieste, still holds the record for
diving to the bottom of the deepest part of the Marianas
Trench, the Challenger Deep, on January 23,1960.
 https://youtu.be/Y2tm40uMhDI
continent sea mount

continental shelf

trench
continental slope rift valley

continental rise abyssal

plain

mid-ocean
ridge