What Is The Topography Of The Ocean Floor
All floors of the ocean are known as seabeds.
What is the topography of the ocean floor. Red and yellow colours indicate less than 2 000 m depth. There are singular mountains sea mounts and canyons. Like land terrain the ocean floor has ridges valleys plains and volcanoes.
From the late 19th century when the norwegian explorer fridtjof nansen first discovered an ocean in the central arctic until the middle of the 20th century it was believed that the arctic ocean was a single large basin. These variations are expressed in terms of average sea surface height ssh relative to the earth s geoid. See full answer below.
Bathymetry shows the depth of water in oceans rivers and lakes and they are set up very. Ocean floor topography refers to the different forms in which the ocean floor bottom can exist. The topography of the ocean floor is called bathymetry.
The main features of the pacific ocean floor are the continental slopes which drop from about 200 metres to several thousand metres over a distance of a few hundred kilometres the abyssal plains exceedingly flat and from 4 000 metres to 6 000 metres deep volcanic seamounts and islands and trenches at subduction zones that are up to 11 000 metres deep. There are valleys and mount ranges ocean ridges where the plates are move apart. Ocean surface topography or sea surface topography also called ocean dynamic topography are highs and lows on the ocean surface similar to the hills and valleys of earth s land surface depicted on a topographic map.
Bathymetry the shape of the ocean floor is largely a result of a process called plate tectonics. Blue 4 000 m to 5 000 m. You may perceive the ocean floor to be flat and sandy like the beach but the truth is there are many different surfaces.
Green less than 3 000 m. As scientific knowledge has advanced the capability to envisage these remote sites has increased significantly. The seabed also known as the seafloor sea floor or ocean floor is the bottom of the ocean no matter how deep.