Ocean floor - deb-or-ah

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Transcript Ocean floor - deb-or-ah

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The most part of the ocean floor is dark, and
boring. Just off the continental shelf, the ocean
floor is known as the abyssal plain. The depth
of the abyssal plain is between 2200 and 5500
meters. It cover roughly 40% of the ocean floor.
Less than one tenth of 1% of the abyssal plain
has been explored by man.
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Creatures near the ocean floor receive their
nutrients from:
Hydrothermal vents, Release minerals rich in
sulfides. Sulfides can be produced by
chemotrophic bacteria acting as an essential
part in small ecosystems.
Cold seeps, a Methane-filled brine leaks from
cracks. This brine also provides energy for
bacteria.
Whale Falls, carcasses of dead whales fall to the
ocean floor. Estimated to be one every 25 Km.
It may take up to a decade for a carcass to be
fully consumed as scavenger type fish as very
rare this deep.
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Organisms that receive their nutrients from the
oxidation of electron donating molecules in
their environments.
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Oceanic trenches are long, but narrow
topographic depressions in the ocean floor.
They are the deepest points of the ocean’s floor
Puerto Rico
Trench
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Guyots are underwater volcanic mountains
with flat tops.
200 Meters below the sea.
Diameter can exceed 10 Km