Transcript Geological Components of the ocean

The Ocean
 The Ocean is the main depository for nearly all the
earths H2O in Liquid form. The Earths oceans cover
most of the Earths surface from the lowest point to sea
level. The ocean is also made up of several chemical
elements such as hydrogen and oxygen. The ocean
water is 96.5% pure water and dissolved solids make
up about 3.5% of the ocean
The Deep Sea
 The bottom of the ocean is divided into three major areas: the
continental shelf, continental slope and the deep ocean basin.
 Continental shelf: the continental shelf extends underwater to
each of the major land masses. It is the part of the continent that
is submerged under water. The shelf has similar features to the
land we live on such as canyons, ridges, and hills.
 The size of the shelf varies though. In some areas it can be
virtually non-existent but else were it can extend for several
hundred miles. The continental shells average distance is about
64 kilometers. The shelf ends at a depth of about two hundred
meters (660 ft), giving way to the continental slope which is
about 3700 meters, to the deep ocean basin. Here, the ocean
floor deepens sharply and its features again resemble those on
land, only on a much larger scale, with great-plains and
mountains.
The Mid-Ocean Ridge
 The Mid-Ocean Ridge marks the areas where the
Earth's crustal plates are moving apart. It is one of the
most geologically active areas on Earth. It is where new
seafloor is being born, giving rise to hydrothermal
vents and volcanoes.
 The mid-ocean ridges of the world are connected and
form a single global mid-oceanic ridge system that is
part of every ocean, making the mid-oceanic ridge
system the longest mountain range in the world, with a
total length of about 60,000 km.
Plate Tectonics
 In the 1960's the unifying theory of plate tectonics was proposed
to explain many regional and global geologic phenomena,
including drifting continents, spreading seafloors, and the
worldwide distribution of mountains, earthquakes, and
volcanoes. According to the plate tectonic model, the Earth's
outer crust is a mosaic of gigantic continental and oceanic
crustal plates, all of which are in motion relative to each other.
Over hundreds of millions of years, these plates have collided
with each other to form deep trenches and they are periodically
broken along the rift zones by processes acting deep within the
Earth's mantle so that the huge fragments then spread away from
each other. Marine geologists are making major contributions to
this new explanation of the Earth's history by studying the
trenches and spreading zones, most of which lie beneath the
oceans.
Bibliography
 http://books.google.ca/books?id=8qCQwJQ75oC&pg=PA330&lpg=PA330&dq=primary+components+of+the+ocean+floo
r&source=bl&ots=4SXXGQEBDa&sig=BAvIwaR14hBR9pDT0DKjxihqvYA&hl=e
n&ei=v0O4TK62HoOglAf_0ZCHDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum
=1&ved=0CBcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=primary%20components%20of%20th
e%20ocean%20floor&f=false
 http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/pubinfo/margeol.html