What Does The Deep Ocean Floor Consist Mainly Of

Exploration of the seafloor and the earth s crust.

What does the deep ocean floor consist mainly of.

What does the deep ocean floor consist mainly of. Providing habitats for deep ocean species. Oceanic ridge systems where new young basaltic oceanic crust is formed abyssal plains blanket of sediments hydrothermal vents vents that release energy and less dense material transform faults an active part of a fracture zone. Continental shelf 300 feet continental slope 300 10 000 feet abyssal plain 10 000 feet abyssal hill 3 000 feet up from the abyssal plain seamount 6 000 feet.

Those animals are called the benthic species or the bottom living species. The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur. These deposits mainly consist of organic remains of plants and animals. The ocean floor is divided into two main provinces the shallower continental margin and the deeper ocean basin.

Marine sediment any deposit of insoluble material primarily rock and soil particles transported from land areas to the ocean by wind ice and rivers as well as the remains of marine organisms products of submarine volcanism chemical precipitates from seawater and materials from outer space. Mountains plains channels canyons exposed rocks and sediment covered areas. What does the deep ocean floor consist mainly of. For instance the terrigenous deposits may not always consist of the fragmented rock material and may be carried deep into the sea.

The ocean floor has the same general character as the land areas of the world. But this distinction between the two types of deposits is not absolute. The lack of weathering and erosion in most areas however allows geological processes to be seen more clearly on. Oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of a tectonic plate it is composed of the upper oceanic crust with pillow lavas and a dike complex and the lower oceanic crust composed of troctolite gabbro and ultramafic cumulates.

Other articles where ocean floor is discussed. Cut into the continental shelf and slope often terminating on the deep sea floor in a fan shaped wedge of sediment. Ocean floor sediments provide a habitat and nutrients needed by deep sea animals and plants especially those plants cannot undergo photosynthesis due to the lack of sunlight. They are found on the periphery of all oceans.

This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level. The crust overlies the solidified and uppermost layer of the mantle the crust and the solid mantle layer together constitute oceanic lithosphere.