A very steep or overhanging land feature.Ĭoast. The word is sometimes used to name a broad strait.Ĭliff. A deeper part of a river or harbor that is navigable. A cape may be a peninsula or a hook of land.Ĭhannel. A large point or extension of land jutting into a body of water. An inlet of the sea an indentation in the shoreline, often between headlands or capes.Ĭape. A navigable shallow area of the ocean caused either by elevation of the seafloor or by submergence of a landmass.īay. Atolls rest on submerged volcanic islands.īank. A ring-shaped coral reef surrounding a lagoon. A broad, sloping deposit of sediments at the mouth of a river or at the foot of a submarine canyon or a river canyon.Ītoll. A flat region of deep ocean basins.Īlluvial fan. Common features of the seafloor and coastline Abyssal plain. Table 7.6 lists many of the common features of the seafloor and coastline. Oceanographers, geographers, mariners, and cartographers have a whole vocabulary for these features. Biologists, conservationists, economists, and fishermen are interested in features that support large populations of marine life. Geologists and oceanographers are interested in what the seafloor can tell them about the recent and ancient history of the planet, the formation of islands and ridges, and the movement of geologic plates. Marine archeologists and professional treasure hunters are interested in finding areas likely to have shipwrecks. Navigators of ships and submarines are interested in avoiding dangers or impediments to their progress. However, the ocean floor is not flat it has a wide variety of geological features (e.g., Fig. Early civilizations believed the ocean floor to be a smooth bowl, devoid of features or life. The broad size of the ocean floor, its depth and its combination of extreme conditions (cold, dark, with intense water pressure) all contribute to making its exploration difficult. Scientists know more about the surface of the moon than about the bottom of the ocean.
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