Chapter 4 Continental Margins and Ocean Basins. Continental Margins and Ocean Basins. Bathymetry: a map of the ocean floor. Bathymetry of Sea Floor

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1 Chapter 4 Margins and Ocean Basins Bathymetry of Sea Floor Margins and Ocean Basins Submarine Canyons Hydrothermal Vents Trenches Bathymetry: a map of the ocean floor Early bathymetric studies were often performed using a weighted line to measure the depth of the ocean floor. Echo sounding LIDAR Multibeam Systems Satellite Altimetry Echo Sounders Bounce Sound off the Seabed Vw ~= 1500 m/s (Pres, Temp, Salinity) 1 2 LIDAR: Light Imaging Detection And Ranging Vw ~= 1500 m/s (Pres, Temp, Salinity) Va ~= 344 m/s (Pres, Temp, other) h, ft Shinnecock Inlet Moriches Inlet 3 4 Multi-beam echo sounder Using satellite measurements to map the ocean floor 5 6 1

2 Gravitational Anomalies: Bathymetry of ocean floor-ridges, ridges, shelves Topography of Ocean Floors Cross section of the Atlantic ocean basin and the continental United States, showing the range of elevations. Ocean depth is clearly greater than the average height of the continent, but general range of contours is similar. 7 8 Deep-ocean basin Sediment shelf slope Oceanic ridge Sediment rise crust (granitic) Oceanic crust (basaltic) Asthenosphere Submarine canyon profile (cut through continental shelf) Oceanic crust (basaltic) crust (granitic) 9 Peru Chile Trench Pacific Ocean Nazca An active boundary movement Subduction zone (deep and shallow earthquakes) Narrow continental shelf Andes Mountains South America South American A passive Broad continental shelf movement Deep basin Atlantic = Passive Margin little/no geologic activity Pacific = Active Margin geologic activity boundary Atlantic Ocean African movement Mid-Atlantic Ridge (spreading centers, shallow earthquakes) 10 The ocean floor can be classified as (a) Margins the submerged outer edge of a continent (b) Ocean Basin the deep seafloor beyond the continental There are two types of continental Margins (a) passive or trailing s: of continent that moves away from spreading center Atlantic-style s (also Artic Ocean, Antarctica and Indian Ocean). Very little volcanic or earthquake activity is associated with passive s. (b) active or leading s: plate boundary located along a continental ocean trenches where there is subduction of oceanic lithosphere narrow, steep, with volcanic mountains (West Coast of the Americas). Active Margins Region where continental crust meets oceanic crust Shelf Shelf Break Slope Rise s are the site of volcanic and earthquake activity

3 Shelves Gently sloping (~0.5 degrees) Depositional environments Average width 65 km (40 miles) Average depth 130 m (430 feet) Narrow along Active s Wide along Passive s Shelves: broad shallow extension of the continents (~75km wide) Regions of deposition (rivers, glaciers, scrapped marine deposits, calcium carbonate) Large bedform features, reworked by tides, storms, waves The Flandrian Transgression Shoreline Retreat During The Flandrian Transgression Current sea level rise which began approximately 18-19,000 years ago (during latest Pleistocene time and continuing progressively during Holocene time to the present). This rise in sea level is directly related to the melting of continental polar and mountain piedmont glaciers. During the "climax" of the Wisconsin glacial advance (lowstand) sea level was anywhere between 70 to 150 meters below its current level -50 m -40 m -30 m Shelf Break = the outer edge of the continental shelf -20 m -10 m 0 m kilometer wide band of sand ridges on the middle continental shelf represent a broad band of degraded and submerged barrier islands formed between 14,000 and 8,000 years before present (Stubblefield, et al. 1983) Shelf currents are actively reworking the barrier sands into ridges It has been in the last years that the majority of modern coastal barrier islands and tidal wetlands have developed. 109,868 to 517,948 yd 3 /yr of sediment may be coming from offshore, however the exact mechanism for the material transport into the littoral zone has not been determined (Schwab et al., 1999)

4 19 20 Anatomy of a passive (~ 140 m) Margins Shelf Break Edge of the continental shelf Change in slope deep sediments accumulate here, thickness varies 21 Slope Extends from break to ocean basin Steep (3 6 degrees) As high as 25 degrees Little/no deposition 22 Slopes: continental crust thins into oceanic crust steep (~20km, 1-25 degrees), 5deg Pacific, 3deg Atlantic extend to depths between m Submarine Canyons Form at the Junction between Shelf and Slope These are features of some continental s. They cut into the continental shelf and slope, often terminating on the deep-sea floor in a fan-shaped wedge of sediment

5 Submarine Canyon Steep V shape channel, incised in the continental slope (and shelf) Created by Rivers during the last low stand (some) Turbidity currents 25 Turbidity Currents Fast moving avalanches of mud and sand scour slopes Form turbidite deposits 90 km/hr (56 mi/hr) Turbidite bed ancient deposit, exposed to erosion, graded deposits: largest particles at bottom 26 Margins Rise Base of the continental slope slope degree Depositional environment Formed by: Turbidity currents Underwater landslides Rise: Fan like deposit where the continental slope intersects the abyssal plains Formed by turbidity currents Features of the Sea floor Oceanic Ridges Hydrothermal Vents Abyssal Plains and Abyssal Hills Seamounts and Guyots Trenches and Island Arcs Seafloor: : m water depth, 30% of the Earth s surface Abyssal Plain: vast, flat plain extending from the base of the continental slope. Ocean Basins: sections of the abyssal plain separated by continental s, ridges, and rises. 29 5

6 Basins Sea floor features Seamounts are volcanic projections from the ocean floor that do not rise above sea level. Flat-topped topped seamounts eroded by wave action are called guyots Abyssal hills are flat areas of sediment-covered ocean floor found between the continental s and oceanic ridges. Abyssal hills are small, extinct volcanoes or rock intrusions near the oceanic ridges. 33 Hydrothermal vents are sites where superheated water containing dissolved minerals and gases escapes through fissures, or vents. Cool water (blue arrows) is heated as it descends toward the hot magma chamber, leaching sulfur, iron, copper, zinc, and other materials s from the surrounding rocks. The heated water (red arrows) returning to t the surface carries these elements upward, discharging them at hydrothermal springs on the seafloor. 34 Mid-Ocean Ridges and Rises Major ocean trenches An oceanic ridge is a mountainous chain of young, basaltic rock at an active spreading center of an ocean. 35 Trenches are arc-shaped depressions in the ocean floor caused by the subduction of a converging ocean plate. Most trenches are around the edges of the active Pacific. Trenches es are the deepest places in Earth s s crust, 3 to 6 kilometers (1.9 to 3.7 miles) deeper than the adjacent basin floor. The ocean s s greatest depth is the Mariana Trench where the depth reaches 11,022 meters (36,163 miles) below sea level. l 36 6

7 Chapter 4 - Summary Bathymetric devices used to study seabed features include multibeam echo sounder systems and satellites that use sensitive radar for altimetry. Seafloor features result from a combination of tectonic activity and the processes of erosion and deposition. Near shore, the features of the ocean floor are similar to those of the adjacent continents because they share the same granitic basement. The transition to basalt marks the edge of the continent and divides ocean floors into two major provinces, The submerged outer edge of a continent is called the continental. The deep-sea floor beyond the continental is called the ocean basin Features of the continental s include continental shelves, continental slopes, submarine canyons, and continental rises. Features of the deep-ocean basins include oceanic ridges, hydrothermal vents, abyssal plains and hills, seamounts, guyots, trenches, and island arcs. Good Stuff Construct a transect (cross-section) across the Atlantic Ocean starting from the east coast of the United States. Be sure to label all of the bathymetric features and type of. Construct a transect (cross-section) across the Pacific Ocean starting from the west coast of the United States. Be sure to label all of the bathymetric features and type of. What are the noticeable differences between the two types of s?, trenches, and island arcs