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The Ocean Floor

The Ocean Floor. Pgs 41 - 45. Exploring the Ocean Floor. How can scientists study the ocean floor? What did they find? With state of the art technology, scientists have discovered a wide variety of landforms and sea life on the ocean floor. Underwater Explorers.

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The Ocean Floor

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  1. The Ocean Floor Pgs 41 - 45

  2. Exploring the Ocean Floor • How can scientists study the ocean floor? • What did they find? • With state of the art technology, scientists have discovered a wide variety of landforms and sea life on the ocean floor.

  3. Underwater Explorers • Some parts of the ocean are too deep for humans and so they must use special underwater equipment. • One piece is a minisub called Alvin. • Alvin has been used to search for sunken ships, recover lost hydrogen bombs, and explore landforms on the ocean floor.

  4. New Equipment • Other than Alvin, scientists have developed a new vessel called Deep Flight, an under water airplane. • It moves through the water like a plane.

  5. Revealing the Ocean Floor • The ocean floor is divided into two main areas: the continental margin and the deep-ocean basin. • The continental margin is broken into three depth zones. • The continental shelf starts at the shore and slopes gently toward the open ocean. • The continental slope dives down toward the ocean floor from 200m to 4000m. • The continental rise is made of large piles of sediment at the base of the continental slope.

  6. The Deep-ocean Basin is filled with several features. • The abyssal plain is the broad flat portion of the basin. It is covered with mud and organisms. • Mid-ocean ridges are mountain chains formed where tectonic plates pull apart. • Rift valleys form where tectonic plates pull apart. • Seamounts are individual mountains of volcanic material. • Ocean trenches are cracks in the deep-ocean basin.

  7. Viewing the ocean floor with sonar • SONAR (sound navigation and ranging) is a technology based on the echo-ranging behavior of bats. • We can measure the ocean’s depth with SONAR by sending high frequency sound waves to the ocean floor. • The sound bounces off the ocean floor and back to the boat. • The time it takes to get back to the boat can be use to find the depth. Depth = t/2x1500m/s

  8. Satellite Ocean Tracking • Scientists can use satellites to gain information on the oceans. • One satellite, Geosat, measures changes in the height of the ocean’s surface. • Using the height of the ocean’s surface can help scientists create detailed maps of the ocean floor.

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