1. Beth Roland Eighth Grade Science Team 5 Mountaineers
Ocean Floor Features
Beth Roland
Eighth Grade Science
Team 5 Mountaineers

2. Regions of the Ocean Floor
2 Major Regions
Continental Margin – consists of the continental crust (shallow end of the pool!)
Continental shelf- begins at the shore line and slopes gently to the open ocean. (surface to a depth of 200 m)
Continental slope- steep slope that begins with the continental shelf and ends at the ocean floor (200 m – 4,000m)
Continental rise-base of the continental slope. Consists of piles of sediment.

3. Regions of the Ocean Floor
Deep-ocean basin is made of the oceanic crust (deep end of the pool!)
Abyssal plain- broadest and flattest section of the deep ocean basin. Home to many unique life forms which are adapted to survival in its cold, high pressure, and dark conditions
Mid-ocean ridges- underwater mountain chains formed where tectonic plates pull apart from one another.
Pulling creates cracks or rift zones. Magma will fill open spaces causing the sides to expand and create ridges

4. Regions of the Ocean Floor
Rift Valley-forms between the ridges of mountains.
Ocean Trenches- Huge cracks in the deep ocean basin that form when one oceanic plate is pushed beneath a continental or other oceanic plate.
Seamounts- individual mountains made of volcanic material that are formed where magma pushes through tectonic plates. Can build up above land and would become a volcanic island.

5. Continental Margin and Deep Ocean Basin