Facts Of The Ocean Floor

The ocean floor covers 70 of the earth s surface.

Facts of the ocean floor.

Here are 15 facts about the ocean floor. In fact it is said that we know more about the moon than we know about the deeper ocean. Oceanographers use sonar to map the ocean floor. The research ship directs sound waves at the bottom and charts the echoes that bounce back to create a detailed map.

From the ocean floor it stands about 33 400 feet high. 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. In fact it has been said that we know more about the surface of the moon than about the deeper ocean trenches. We know very little about the deep ocean floor and the life it holds due to the depth and the difficulties this creates for scientists.

Here are 15 crazy facts about the ocean floor. The largest ocean on earth is the pacific ocean covering around 30 of the earth s surface. This makes the ocean very difficult for scientists to explore the deep sea and the life it holds because of its depth. This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level.

The ocean floor has the same general character as the land areas of the world. The lack of weathering and erosion in most areas however allows geological processes to be seen more clearly on. Basalt the once molten rock that makes up most new oceanic crust is a fairly magnetic substance and scientists began using magnetometers to measure the magnetism of the ocean floor in the 1950s what they discovered was that the magnetism of the ocean floor around. The farthest that a human wearing a diving suit can reach under the ocean is 2000 feet.

In fact the oceans hold about 96 5 of all water on earth. On average oceanic crust is only 6 to 7km thick compared to 35 to 40km for con tinental crust. Around 70 of the planet s surface is covered by oceans. The ocean floor is so vast that it covers around 70 of the earth s surface.

Because the water around these depressions contains more salt than normal seawater it s denser and sinks into the depressions creating. Other articles where ocean floor is discussed. Take a deep breath gang as we dive into our ocean facts top ten ocean facts. Sonar has revealed features such as seamounts submerged volcanic peaks which rise 1 000 m 3 300 ft from the sea floor and guyots flat topped seamounts.

Exploration of the seafloor and the earth s crust. The ocean is like an entirely separate world. There are a lot of sea creatures that were able to adapt their bodies to withstand the high pressure found at the deepest corners of the ocean. The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur.

Mauna kea is the highest mountain on the ocean. As seawater makes its way through layers of salt it forms little depressions on the ocean floor. Mountains plains channels canyons exposed rocks and sediment covered areas.