Map Of The Ocean Floor Features

Northwest passage northern sea route.

Map of the ocean floor features.

The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur. The under water topography maps have been developed by the study of ocean floor topography. 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. Topographic maps of the sea floor.

This is expensive and time consuming so sonar maps are mostly only made of places where ships spend the most time. The map serves as a tool for performing scientific engineering marine geophysical and environmental studies that are required in the development of energy and marine resources. This study is extensive and it has been established that the ocean floor has similar features of mountains and valleys as on the earth. Ocean floor topography involves the study of ocean bottom features including the outer continental shelf continental slopes and ocean waves desktops.

Typically finely wrought ocean maps have been the result of extensive sonar. The northwest passage and northern sea route are two important seasonal waterways that connect the atlantic and pacific oceans. This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level. Detailed depth contours provide the size shape and distribution of underwater features.

An international scientific team recently published a new map of the ocean floor based on earth s gravity field and it is a particularly useful tool. In recent years the polar ice pack has thinned allowing for increased navigation through these routes and raising the possibility of future.