Ocean Basin Floor Definition
Sunlight does not penetrate to the sea floor making these deep dark ecosystems less productive than those along.
Ocean basin floor definition. At depths of over 10 000 feet and covering 70 of the ocean floor abyssal plains are the largest habitat on earth. The only exception are the crests of the spreading centres where new ocean floor has not existed long enough to accumulate a sediment cover. Start your free trial today and get unlimited access to america s largest dictionary with. The ocean basin floor is everywhere covered by sediments of different types and origins.
Ocean basin definition is basin. Ocean basin any of several vast submarine regions that collectively cover nearly three quarters of earth s surface. In fact it will. It occupies approximately one third of the atlantic and indian ocean floors and three quarters of the pacific ocean floor.
Ocean basin ocean basin deep sea sediments. Together they contain the overwhelming majority of all water on the planet and have an average depth of almost 4 km about 2 5 miles. You must there are over 200 000 words in our free online dictionary but you are looking for one that s only in the merriam webster unabridged dictionary. About 70 of the planet s surface is made up of ocean basins which are the regions that are below sea level these areas hold the majority of the planet s water.
Older references e g littlehales 1930 consider the oceanic basins to be the complement to the continents with erosion dominating the latter and the sediments so derived ending up in the ocean basins. Continuing your journey across the ocean basin you would descend the steep continental slope to the abyssal plain. More modern sources e g floyd 1991 regard the ocean basins more as basaltic plains than as sedimentary depositories since most sedimentation occurs on the continental shelves. Magma rising in a conduit beneath the seafloor may meet a layer of unconsolidated wet sediment and in most cases the magma will be more dense than the wet sediment.
Ocean basins are depocenters for sediment derived from the continents as well as from intrabasinal sources. A number of major features of the basins depart. Ocean basin floor the ocean floor in those parts of the oceans that are more than 2000 m deep.