Ocean Floor Depth

Little or no light penetrates this part of the ocean and most of the organisms that live there rely for subsistence on falling organic matter produced in the photic zone for this reason scientists once assumed that life would be sparse.
Ocean floor depth. The outstanding feature of the atlantic floor is the mid atlantic ridge an immense median mountain range extending throughout the length of the atlantic claiming the centre third of the ocean bed and reaching roughly 1 000 miles 1 600 km in breadth. This feature though read more. Researchers today published the most detailed map of the ocean floor ever produced. Lying along the top of the abyssal plain is the abyssal zone whose lower boundary lies at about 6 000 m 20 000 ft.
You may need to update your browser or use a different browser. Territorial island of guam. Detailed depth contours provide the size shape and distribution of underwater features. Please see our system requirements for more.
The problem with that approach is that our oceans are vast and ships are small meaning only a tiny percentage of the ocean floor between 5 15 percent nasa estimates was mapped. The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur. Topographic maps of the sea floor. Google earth isn t supported on your browser.
Measuring the greatest ocean depth. The average depth of the ocean is about 12 100 feet the deepest part of the ocean is called the challenger deep and is located beneath the western pacific ocean in the southern end of the mariana trench which runs several hundred kilometers southwest of the u s. In 2010 the united states center for coastal ocean mapping measured the depth of the challenger deep at 10 994 meters 36 070 feet below sea level with an estimated vertical accuracy of 40 meters. 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.
The challenger deep in the mariana trench is the deepest known point in earth s oceans. Deep ocean water is divided into layers or zones each with typical features of salinity pressure temperature and marine life according to their depth. The deep sea or deep layer is the lowest layer in the ocean existing below the thermocline and above the seabed at a depth of 1000 fathoms 1800 m or more. This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level.