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Oceanic basin. In hydrology, an oceanic basin (or ocean basin) is anywhere on Earth that is covered by seawater. Geologically, most of the ocean basins are large geologic basins that are below sea level. Most commonly the ocean is divided into basins following the continents distribution [clarification needed]: the North and South Atlantic ...
The Wilson Cycle is a model that describes the opening and closing of ocean basins and the subduction and divergence of tectonic plates during the assembly and disassembly of supercontinents. A classic example of the Wilson Cycle is the opening and closing of the Atlantic Ocean. It has been suggested that Wilson cycles on Earth started about 3 ...
Marine sediment. v. t. e. The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of the ocean is very deep, where the seabed is known as the abyssal plain.
Thermohaline circulation. Thermohaline circulation (THC) is a part of the large-scale ocean circulation that is driven by global density gradients created by surface heat and freshwater fluxes. [1][2] The adjective thermohaline derives from thermo- referring to temperature and -haline referring to salt content, factors which together determine ...
The largest ocean current is the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), a wind-driven current which flows clockwise uninterrupted around Antarctica. The ACC connects all the ocean basins together, and also provides a link between the atmosphere and the deep ocean due to the way water upwells and downwells on either side of it.
Ocean stratification. Ocean stratification is the natural separation of an ocean's water into horizontal layers by density, which is generally stable because warm water floats on top of cold water, and heating is mostly from the sun, which reinforces that arrangement. Stratification is reduced by wind-forced mechanical mixing, but reinforced by ...
A continental margin is the outer edge of continental crust abutting oceanic crust under coastal waters. It is one of the three major zones of the ocean floor, the other two being deep-ocean basins and mid-ocean ridges. The continental margin consists of three different features: the continental rise, the continental slope, and the continental ...
The fore-arc basin forms between the fore-arc ridge and the island arc; it is a region of undisturbed flat-bedded sedimentation. Trenches: These are the deepest features of ocean basins; the deepest being the Mariana trench (approximately 11,000 m or 36,000 ft). They are formed by flexing of the oceanic lithosphere, developing on the ocean side ...