Atlantic Ocean Floor Profile

The second largest ocean on earth the atlantic drives our weather patterns including hurricanes and is home to many species from sea turtles to dolphins.

Atlantic ocean floor profile.

Continental shelf 300 feet continental slope 300 10 000 feet abyssal plain 10 000 feet abyssal hill 3 000 feet up from the abyssal plain seamount 6 000 feet. The atlantic ocean is the second largest of the world s oceans with an area of about 106 460 000 km 2 41 100 000 sq mi. 1 continental margin 2 abyssal plain and 3 mid atlantic ridge. The data table shows a record of the depth of the atlantic ocean measured by a research vessel travelling on course due east along 39on latitude.

The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur. In 1922 a historic moment in cartography and oceanography occurred. The outstanding feature of the atlantic floor is the mid atlantic ridge an immense median mountain range extending throughout the length of the atlantic claiming the centre third of the ocean bed and reaching roughly 1 000 miles 1 600 km in breadth. It separates the old world from the new world the atlantic ocean occupies an elongated s shaped basin extending longitudinally between europe and africa to the east.

A topographic profile of the pacific ocean floor between japan and british columbia is shown in figure 18 3. Be careful when interpreting this diagram and others like it because in order to show the various features clearly the vertical axis is exaggerated in this case by about 200 times. A marine gravity map of the north atlantic ocean red dots show locations of earthquakes with magnitude 5 5 and they highlight the present day location of the seafloor spreading ridges and. This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level.

Coast to europe showing the major features of the ocean floor. Suppose you took a trip across the atlantic ocean and were able to check the depth of the water under your boat at regular intervals. The diagram above is a drawing of the bottom profile of the north atlantic ocean basin from the u s. The spreading however is generally not uniform causing linear features perpendicular to the divergent boundaries.

It covers approximately 20 percent of earth s surface and about 29 percent of its water surface area. Atlantic ocean floor topography lab. This involved little guesswork because the idea of sonar is straight forward with pulses being sent from the vessel which bounce off the ocean floor then return to the vessel. The sea floor can be subdivided into three major features.