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The continental shelf is the relatively shallow water area found in proximity to continents; it is the portion of the continental margin that transitions from the shore out towards to ocean. Continental shelves are believed to make up 7% of the sea floor. [3] The width of continental shelves worldwide varies in the range of 0.03–1500 km. [4]
The shelf area is commonly subdivided into the inner continental shelf, mid continental shelf, and outer continental shelf, [7] each with their specific geomorphology [8] [9] and marine biology. [10] The character of the shelf changes dramatically at the shelf break, where the continental slope begins.
Slope: A sloped area seaward from the shelf edge to the upper edge of a continental rise or the point where there is a general reduction in slope. Trench; saddle: Long narrow, characteristically very deep and asymmetrical depression of the sea floor, with relatively steep sides;
The border between the continental slope and the abyssal plain usually has a more gradual descent, and is called the continental rise, which is caused by sediment cascading down the continental slope. [citation needed] The mid-ocean ridge, as its name implies, is a mountainous rise through the middle of all the oceans, between the continents.
It is occasionally recorded among the fauna of the seabed on the continental shelf or the upper continental slope, for example off northwest Africa where it is commonly found between 350–700 metres. [3] This species undertakes migrations for feeding and as it matures in the North Atlantic.
This ocean depth spans from the edge of the continental shelf down to the top of the abyssal zone, and along continental slope depths. [2] [4] The bathymetry of the bathypelagic zone consists of limited areas where the seafloor is in this depth range along the deepest parts of the continental margins, as well as seamounts and mid-ocean ridges. [5]
At this point the canyon is as much as 12 km (7.5 mi) wide (from east rim to west rim) and as much as 1.1 km (3,600 ft) deep from canyon rim to canyon floor across the continental slope. The floor of the canyon is less than 500 m (1,600 ft) wide across the upper part of the slope and broadens to about 900 m (3,000 ft) at the base of the slope.
The Continental Divide in North America in red and other drainage divides in North America The Continental Divide in Central America and South America. The Continental Divide of the Americas (also known as the Great Divide, the Western Divide or simply the Continental Divide; Spanish: Divisoria continental de las Américas, Gran Divisoria) is the principal, and largely mountainous ...