Dynamic Planet pt. 1

Continental Shelf

an area of relatively shallow water, usually less than a few hundred feet deep, that surrounds land.

Abyssal Plains

At depths of over 10,000 feet and covering 70% of the ocean floor, these are the largest habitats on earth (not uniformly flat)

Ocean Trenches

long, steep depressions on the seafloor that mark the deepest parts of the Earth's oceans

Convergent boundary

Plates move toward each other

Divergent boundary

Plates move away from each other

Transform Boundary

Plates slide next to each other in opposite directions

What is continental crust made up of

Granitic rocks

What is oceanic crust made up of

Basaltic rocks

Does oceanic crust have a higher density or continental crust

Oceanic crust

Examples of divergent plate boundary

Rift zones, mid ocean ridges, and expanding ocean basins

Causes/examples of ocean-continent convergence

Trenches, earthquakes, volcanoes

Ocean-ocean convergence

Both ocean plates subduct

Continent-ocean convergence

Oceanic crust subducts under continental crust which forms a trench

Continent-continent convergence

Both plates heave up which creates a mountain range

At transform boundaries

Lithosphere is neither created nor destroyed

Active Margins

Concide with plate boundaries where the continental and oceanic crust are separated by a subduction zone

Passive Margins

Within plates and are separated from the oceanic ridge plate margin by an expanse of oceanic crust that was generated after rifting

Ridges

Ridges are seafloor mountain chains that are formed from plate tectonics. They typically have a depth of around 2,600 meters and rise around 2,000 meters above the deepest position of an ocean basin

Seamounts

large submarine landforms that rise from the ocean floor without reaching the water surface

The continental slope

the area between the continental rise and shelf, and is the area of the ocean with the steepest slope

Continental Rise

has a gentle slope and is located at the base of the continental slope and acts as a transition between the continental margin and the abyssal plain.

Lithogenous/Terrogenous sediment

is ocean sediment that is derived from a land-based origin

Biogenesis Sediment

ocean sediment that is derived from biological processes

Hydrogenous/Autochthonous Sediment

are sediments which are precipitated from the ocean water

Cosmogenous Sediment

sediments which are derived from space, such as meteorites or asteroids falling into the ocean