Ocean Basin Floor Facts

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.

Ocean basin floor facts. On average oceanic crust is only 6 to 7km thick compared to 35 to 40km for con tinental crust. Other articles where ocean floor is discussed. Within the areas of the pacific ocean basin there is a ridge that forms from the gulf of california right down to the west of the southern part of south america. Eventually the continental shelf or continental rise leads to a deep ocean basin.

The ocean floor covers 70 of the earth s surface. The lack of weathering and erosion in most areas however allows geological processes to be seen more clearly on. It also causes magma to rise up from the mantle of the earth forming crusts. Mountains plains channels canyons exposed rocks and sediment covered areas.

Abyssal plains are about 2 5 miles 4 kilometers below sea level. In fact it has been said that we know more about the surface of the moon than about the deeper ocean trenches. Here are 15 crazy facts about the ocean floor. 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.

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. In fact it will. The philippine islands of luzon samar and mindanao are on the southwest. Philippine sea section of the western north pacific ocean lying east and north of the philippines the floor of this portion of the ocean is formed into a structural basin by a series of geologic folds and faults that protrude above the surface in the form of bordering island arcs.

The ocean floor has the same general character as the land areas of the world. The crust overlies the solidified and uppermost layer of the mantle the crust and the solid mantle layer together constitute oceanic lithosphere. All of the world s continents could fit into the pacific basin. Comprising 30 percent of the earth s surface the deep ocean basins contain flat abyssal plains deep ocean trenches and submerged volcanoes known as seamounts.

At depths of over 10 000 feet and covering 70 of the ocean floor abyssal plains are the largest habitat on earth. The pacific is the oldest of the existing ocean basins. Covering approximately 63 million square miles and containing more than half of the free water on earth the pacific is by far the largest of the world s ocean basins. Sunlight does not penetrate to the sea floor making these deep dark ecosystems less productive than those along.

It causes a rise of the ocean floor around 2 130 metres. Exploration of the seafloor and the earth s crust.