Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The deep sea is broadly defined as the ocean depth where light begins to fade, at an approximate depth of 200 m (660 ft) or the point of transition from continental shelves to continental slopes. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Conditions within the deep sea are a combination of low temperatures, darkness, and high pressure . [ 3 ]
The hadal zone, also known as the hadopelagic zone, is the deepest region of the ocean, lying within oceanic trenches.The hadal zone ranges from around 6 to 11 km (3.7 to 6.8 mi; 20,000 to 36,000 ft) below sea level, and exists in long, narrow, topographic V-shaped depressions.
It is the region of open sea beyond the edge of the continental shelf and includes 65% of the ocean's completely open water. The oceanic zone has a wide array of undersea terrain, including trenches that are often deeper than Mount Everest is tall, as well as deep-sea volcanoes and basins. While it is often difficult for life to sustain itself ...
Layers of the pelagic zone. The bathypelagic zone or bathyal zone (from Greek βαθύς (bathýs), deep) is the part of the open ocean that extends from a depth of 1,000 to 4,000 m (3,300 to 13,000 ft) below the ocean surface.
The deepest region of the ocean is at the Mariana Trench, located in the Pacific Ocean near the Northern Mariana Islands. [88] The maximum depth has been estimated to be 10,971 meters (35,994 ft). The British naval vessel Challenger II surveyed the trench in 1951 and named the deepest part of the trench the " Challenger Deep ".
The mesopelagic region plays an important role in the global carbon cycle, as it is the area where most of the surface organic matter is respired. [8] Mesopelagic species also acquire carbon during their diel vertical migration to feed in surface waters, and they transport that carbon to the deep sea when they die. [8]
This region also contains a much higher concentration of nutrient salts, like nitrogen, phosphorus, and silica, due to the large amount of dead organic material that drifts down from the ocean zones above and decomposes. [3] The region below the abyssal zone is the sparsely inhabited hadal zone. [1] The region above is the bathyal zone. [1]
The continental shelf is a gently sloping benthic region that extends away from the land mass. At the continental shelf edge, usually about 200 metres (660 ft) deep, the gradient greatly increases and is known as the continental slope. The continental slope drops down to the deep sea floor. The deep-sea floor is called the abyssal plain and is ...