Ocean Floor Topography

What is ocean topography?

​Ocean topography is the deviation of the ocean surface to the geoid.

​Ocean topography flashcards

​​Ocean topography flashcards

​ What is oceanography?

​Study of Earth's oceans and phenomena that occur in them.

​What is a geoid?

​A geoid is if one were to remove the tides and currents from the ocean, it would settle onto a smoothly undulating shape (rising where gravity is high, sinking where gravity is low). This irregular shape is called "the geoid," a surface which defines zero elevation.

​​Ocean topography flashcards

​What is deviation?

​​Ocean topography flashcards

​​ Used to calculate how far the values fall from the middle of the data set.

​​Ocean topography flashcards

​What is an abyssal plain

​An abyssal plain is an underwater plain on the deep ocean floor.

​Ocean topography flashcards

​What is a seamout?

​A seamount is a large submarine land form that rises from the ocean floor without reaching the water surface.

​​Ocean topography flashcards

​A gently sloping, shallow area of the ocean floor that extends outward from the edge of a continent.

​What is a continental shelf?

​​Ocean topography flashcards

​What is sonar?

​ Scientists use sonar to determine the oceans depths by sending sound pulses from the ship that bounce off the ocean floor. Kind of like echolocation!

​​Ocean topography flashcards

​What is a Mid-ocean ridge?

​chain of volcanic islands that form when two oceanic plates converge and the denser plate is forced beneath the other plate.

​​Ocean topography flashcards

​What is a oceanic trench?

​a deep canyon in the ocean floor.