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Chapter 13 Section 2
The Ocean Floor
Objectives
• Describe technologies for studying the ocean floor.
• Identify the two major regions of the ocean floor.
• Classify subdivisions and features of the two main
regions of the ocean floor.
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Studying the Ocean Floor
Sonar
• Sound Navigation and
Ranging
– Sound pulses from the ship
move through the water
– Bounces off the ocean floor
– Returns to the ship
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Studying the Ocean Floor
Satellite
• Measure direction and speed of ocean
currents
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Studying the Ocean Floor
Geostat
• Satellite
• Measures changes in ocean surface
• Features
• Able to make maps
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Revealing the Ocean Floor
The Ocean is not just a flat
surface!
The longest mountain
chain is found in the ocean
- 40,000 miles long
Canyons deeper than the
grand canyon
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Studying the Ocean Floor
Regions of the Ocean floor
• Continental margin
– Continental crust
• Deep-ocean basin
– Oceanic crust
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Studying the Ocean Floor
Continental shelf
Continental slope
Continental rise
Abyssal plain
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Studying the Ocean Floor
Mid-Ocean ridges – mountain chains that form when
plates pull apart
Seamounts- mountains of volcanic activity
Ocean trenches – cracks in the deep-ocean basin that
form when one plate is pushed beneath another
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