Continental Margins and Ocean Basins Chapter 4

Bathymetry Bathy=deep Meter=measure Discovery and study of the ocean floor

Echo sounding The sinking of the Titanic in 1912 finally ended the use of ropes with weights 1914 Reginald Fessenden developed and iceberg detector and echo depth sounder Directs a sound pulse and listen for a return echo The amount of time it takes to return can be used to calculate distance

Multibeam echo sounders Single echo sounders were not accurate…multibeam can send as many as 112 beans at one time for more accurate readings

Satellite Altimetry Cannot measure ocean depths directly but can measure small alterations in the elevation of surface water sending thousands of radar pulses per second and measuring how long it takes to return to calculate height differences The average height of the ocean surface can be known with great accuracy

Read Trieste

Topography of Ocean Floor Vocabulary Continental margin Ocean basin Continental shelf Continental slope Continental rise Ocean ridges Hydrothermal vents Transform faults

More vocabulary Abyssal plains Seamounts Island arcs Submersible Alvin Shinkai FLIP Other vessels Trieste

Notes Ocean Floor see Ocean Basins other powerpoint