1. Ocean Features
SOL 5.6

2. Review
There are 4 ocean zones: Continental Shelf, Slope, and Rise and Ocean basin (Abyssal Plain).
The base of the ocean food web are Phytoplankton (plant) and Zooplankton (animal).

3. Ocean Features
There are many geographic and geological features on the ocean floor.
Four we will talk about are Seamounts, Trenches, Mid – Ocean Ridges and Undersea Volcanoes.

4. Seamounts Seamounts are “mountains under the sea”
They are the tallest mountains in the world.
They are formed by tectonic or volcanic activity.

5. Tectonic and Volcanic
Tectonic means a mountain or feature that was created by the movement of continental plates.
Volcanic means a feature that was created by a volcano or volcanic activity.

6. Trenches
Trenches are formed by the collision of continental plates. One plate goes under another, forming a trench.
Trenches are the deepest and lowest parts of the planet. The deepest one is the Marianas Trench.

7. Trenches
Trenches are formed by tectonic activity. The ocean crust is pushed under the other plate making that plate rise while the old plate falls.

9. Mid- Ocean Ridges
The Mid – Ocean Ridge runs right down the middle of the ocean.
Two plates spread out from one another. One pushes East, the other West. This crates HUGE mountains and canyons.

10. Mid - Ocean Ridge
The ridge that affects Virginia is called the Mid – Atlantic Ridge.

11. Did you know?
Iceland sits right on top of the Mid – Atlantic Ridge and grows about 1 mile each year?

12. Undersea Volcanoes
A volcano on land can be big and powerful. The ones under the ocean are even bigger!
The ocean with the most volcanoes is the Pacific Ocean. This feature is called the
“Pacific Ring of Fire.”

13. Undersea Volcanoes
Some of these volcanoes become the largest in the world.
Volcanoes discharge a lot of material and heat into the ocean water.

14. Undersea Volcanoes Volcanoes create and destroy.
Volcanoes make islands! Hawaii is actually a series of underwater volcanoes!
New islands happen every ten years or so when a volcano burst through the surface of the ocean.