Discovering Ocean Floor Features

1. Exploring the Ocean EQ: What are some features of the ocean floor?

2. What factors make ocean floor research difficult? • Because of darkness, cold, and extreme pressure, scientists had to develop new technology to enable them to study the deep ocean floor. • SONAR stands for sound navigation and ranging. • Oceanographers study the oceans by: -sonar -satellite

3. What are some of the features of the ocean floor? • The eight features of the ocean floor are: • Continental shelf: a gentle sloping, shallow area of the ocean floor that extends outward from the edge of the continent. • Continental slope: marks the true edge of a continent, a steady slope where rock that makes up the continent stops and the rock that makes up the ocean floor begin. • Seamounts: mountains completely under water; extinct volcanoes

4. What are some of the features of the ocean floor? • Abyssal plain: smooth, flat region of the ocean floor • Mid-ocean ridge: a continuous range of mountains that wind around Earth’s ocean floor. • Volcanic Island: very tall mountains created by the cooling and hardening of erupting volcanoes on the ocean floor. • Deep-sea Trench: canyons on the ocean floor that are the deepest spots on Earth. • Guyot- flat-top mountain flattened by the action of waves • SONAR stands for sound navigation and ranging. It is a system that uses sound waves to calculate the distance to an object.

5. Quick Check A smooth, nearly flat region of the ocean floor is call a(n) A. trench. B. mid-ocean ridge. C. abyssal plain. D. sea mount.

6. Quick Check Which ocean floor feature makes up the deepest parts of the ocean? A. abyssal plain B. mid-ocean ridge. C. deep-sea trench. D. sea mount

7. Quick Check What three (3) factors make ocean floor research difficult? • _______ • ______ • ______

8. Quick Check What are some features of the ocean floor? • __________ • __________ • __________ • __________ • __________ • __________