24 Marine Systems

Oceanic ridges

at diverging plate boundaries

Oceanic trenches

at converging plate boundaries

bathymetric features

Continental Shelf (underlain by thinning continental crust)

Continental Slope (transitional between crustal types)

Continental Rise (transitional between crustal types)

Abyssal Plains (underlain by oceanic crust)

carbonate-dominated Continental Shelf

has corals, needs sunlight and clear, warm, clean, salt water

Fringing Reefs

grow seaward directly from the shore

Barrier Reefs

linear reefs that parallel shore

separated from shore by lagoon

Atolls reef

No exposed central landmass (made around an volcano which eroded)

Platform/Patch Reefs

More abundant during past, Grow in isolated oval patches

seamount

a volcano that does not reach the surface of the ocean

guyot

eroded flat toped underwater volcano

Terrigenous Sediments

sediments from land brought into ocean by streams, wind, glaciers, Submarine Canyons and Sea level changes

Submarine Canyons

Major incisions into continental shelf, continental slope and rise, dumps sediment into basin floor in a submarine fan

turbidity currents (sediment gravity flows)

mass failure, high-velocity erosive events that carve submarine canyons

Cosmogenous Sediment

from space; includes Tektites (small glassy pebble-like objects) and Microtektites

low latitudes near the Equator

area with the lowest ocean salinity because precipitation exceeds evaporation

continental

The continental shelf is underlain by ______ crust

Corals need their zooxanthellae (algae) friends - the algae needs sunlight for photosynthesis

Why are corals found primarily in shallow water?

The water is too dirty (it's not clean and clear)

Why don’t we have carbonate reefs off the Texas coast?

Fringing reef

What type of reef is this? (attached to the landmass)

atoll reef

What type of reef is this? (no central landmass)

guyot

What is this (completely submerged) abyssal plain feature?

aeolian dust (brought from continents by wind)

the most-likely source of the red clay in the ocean

submarine canyons

What are these (A, B, C)?

hydrogenous

What type of deposit is this?