Ocean Water Edge Vocabulary

a large underwater area on the ocean floor that is flat

• Abyssal plain

• Continental shelf

• Neritic Zone

• Mid-ocean ridge

The ability to float

• Buoyancy

• Salinity

• Upwelling

• Trench

the area of ocean floor around a large landmass where the sea is relatively shallow

• Continental shelf

• Continental slope

• Mid-ocean ridge

• Intertidal zone

the area where the ocean floor descends between the outer edge of the continental shelf and the deep ocean floor

• Continental slope

• Continental shelf

• Neritic Zone

• Open ocean zone

the area of the ocean floor that is exposed to the air at low tide and submerged at high tide

• Intertidal zone

• Neritic Zone

• Open ocean zone

• Continental shelf

an area in the ocean that has an upwelling of molten material associated with seafloor spreading

• Mid-ocean ridge

• Continental slope

• Abyssal plain

• Trench

the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf

• Neritic Zone

• Open ocean zone

• Intertidal zone

• Abyssal plain

the zone of the ocean where water is deep and cold

• Open ocean zone

• Abyssal plain

• Continental slope

• Upwelling

the concentration of dissolved salts in water

• Salinity

• Buoyancy

• Upwelling

• Neritic concentration

a long but narrow depression on the ocean floor

• Abyss

• Trench

• A reef

• Guyot