What caused the continental shelf?
Continental shelves were formed in between glacial periods as the ocean flowed over the continents forming shallow areas along the coasts. Turbidity currents are also responsible for the continental rise or the gradual slope of the continental shelf into the abyssal plain.
What animals live in the continental shelf?
Lobster, Dungeness crab, tuna, cod, halibut, sole and mackerel can be found. Permanent rock fixtures are home to anemones, sponges, clams, oysters, scallops, mussels and coral. Larger animals such as whales and sea turtles can be seen in continental shelf areas as they follow migration routes.
What is the difference between continental shelf and continental slope?
A continental shelf extends from the coastline of a continent to a drop-off point called the shelf break. From the break, the shelf descends toward the deep ocean floor in what is called the continental slope. The actual boundary of a continent is not its coastline, but the edge of the continental shelf.
What resources can be found in the continental shelf?
Continental shelves contain valuable resources, such as oil and gas and minerals. Oil and gas are formed from organic material that accumulates on the continental shelf. Over time the material is buried and transformed to oil and gas by heat and pressure.
What are the three parts of the continental margin?
The continental margins consist of three portions: (1) the continental shelf which has shallow water depths rarely deeper than 650 ft) and extends seaward from the shoreline to distances ranging from 12.3 miles to 249 miles, (2) the continental slope where the bottom drops off to depths of up to 3.1 miles, and (3) the …
What is the underlying rock for the continental shelf quizlet?
A gently sloping, shallow area of the ocean floor that extends outward from the edge of a continent; The underlying rock is granitic continental crust, so the continental shelf is geologically part of the continent.
What’s Earth’s thickest layer?
core
What are the seven major plates?
There are major, minor and micro tectonic plates. There are seven major plates: African, Antarctic, Eurasian, Indo-Australian, North American, Pacific and South American.