Dynamic Planet basic vocabulary

scioly 25-26 oceanography

Active Margins

The edge of a continent at a plate boundary, where earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountains are common, and the continental shelf is narrow.

Passive Margins

The edge of a continent away from plate boundaries, where it is quiet with little tectonic activity, and the continental shelf is wide and gently sloping.

Fringing Reef

The coral starts forming because it is attracted to the heat from the hydrothermal vents, because those are its best conditions. Soon more animals move in creating a coral reef. This reef connects to the island hence the name "Fringing Reef".

Barrier Reef

a coral reef that runs parallel to the shoreline but is separated from the land by a wide, deep lagoon. It forms when corals keep growing upward as the land slowly sinks or sea level rises, leaving a body of water between the reef and the coast.

Atoll Reef

A ring-shaped coral reef that encircles a lagoon, formed from the sinking of volcanic islands, eventually creating a barrier around the lagoon.