The Seafloor and

Continental Margins

Learning Goals

Introduce main features of the seafloor

Learn how we study the surface and subsurface
of the seafloor
Understand what the various features tell us
about Earth processes
History of the oceans and some smaller seas

Observe the seafloor around Monterey Bay, California

10.00.a1

Monterey Bay

Monterey
submarine
canyon

Fault
cutting
seafloor

Observe this geologic map

of the Monterey Bay
area

Cenozoic marine
sediments in
yellow, tan,
brown

10.00.a2

Faults cut
across seafloor
Deep part of canyon is
hard Mesozoic granite

How We Study the Seafloor

Use sound waves
to map depths

Use submersibles to observe

and collect rocks

Use ships to drill

holes in ocean floor
10.01.a

What We Can Learn from Drilling

Type of sediment or rock

Fossils (age and environment)

Determine isotopic ages and can get rate of deposition =
thickness/time span
10.01.b

Observe this seismic-reflection profile of the ocean

floor. Can you see each feature that is labeled?

10.01.d1

Earths Magnetic Field

Normal magnetic field

10.02.a

Liquid outer core contains

convection currents

Reversed magnetic field

Time 1:
normal
polarity

Observe how
magnetic
reversals are
recorded by a
mid-ocean ridge

10.02.c

Time 2:
reversed
polarity

Build series
of magnetic
stripes over
time

Magnetic Stripes on Seafloor

10.02.d

Observe what features are present in mid-ocean ridges

Fissure eruptions
in rift

Dikes
Form a consistent
sequence of rocks in
oceanic crust

Magma
chamber

Lithospheric
mantle
Asthenosphere

10.03.a1

Observe important features of the deep seafloor

Seamount
Abyssal plain
Mid-ocean
ridge

Accretionary
prism

10.04.a1

Observe sediment thicknesses on the ocean floor (red is

thickest; white is thinnest). What settings have the
thickest or thinnest sediment?
10.04.a2

Thickest along
passive continental
margins

Thinnest near
mid-ocean
ridges

Thick
offshore of
large rivers

Observe a map showing depth of the seafloor

Compare the relationship between depth and age

10.04.a

Deepest seafloor
is oldest
Mid-ocean ridges
less deep
because young

Depth (dark is deep)

Age increases
systematically
out from ridge
Age patterns
truncated at
trenches

Age (orange is young)

10.05.a

Observe how flat-topped

seamounts form
Volcano rises above
the sea as
an island

Eruptions of
lava onto seafloor

Top of mountain
beveled off by
waves; island
subsides below sea

Oceanic Plateaus
10.05.b

Kerguelen oceanic
plateau

Rising mantle
plume at hot
spot

Submarine flood
basalts pour onto
seafloor

Plateau forms
over several
million years

Observe the processes that form island arcs

Asthenosphere
Melting of
mantle

Lithospheric
mantle
Asthenosphere
10.06.a1

Observe what happens in front of

and behind an island arc

10.06.b1

Why Are Island Arcs Curved?

Siberia

Alaska

Aleutian island arc

Aleutian
trench

10.06.c

Earth is a sphere,
not a flat plane
More surface
area on
outside than
at depth

Observe the location of the main island arcs

Aleutian

Aegean

Japan
Mariana
Philippines

Lesser
Antilles

SumatraJava
Tonga

Scotia

10.06.d1

Observe some smaller seas of the Pacific

Bering Sea: New subduction
farther from coast

Philippine Sea:
Back-arc spreading

Asia
Sea of Japan:
Back-arc rifting

Australia

10.07.a

Observe how smaller seas near Eurasia formed

North Sea: Continental
rifting during formation of
Atlantic

Persian Gulf:
Loading by
thrust sheets
during collision
Red Sea: Rifting then
early stages of
seafloor spreading

10.08.a

Observe where coral reefs form

Barrier reef

10.09.a

Fringing reef
Great Barrier Reef
Atoll

Observe one way an atoll forms

10.09.b1-3

Volcanic island
forms, followed
by formation of
fringing reef

Island cools
and sinks but
reef continues
to build upward
toward light

Volcano sinks
below sea
level, leaving
reef as atoll

Observe the location of reefs around the world

Florida and
Bahamas

Red Sea
Indonesia

Hawaii

Yucatan

Polynesia

Lesser
Antilles

East
Africa

Philippines

Micronesia
Indian
Ocean
Great Barrier
Reef
10.09.c1

10.10.a

Observe the
features and
structures of
continental
margins

Sediment

Continental
shelf

Submarine
canyon

Thick
sediment

Continental
slope
Continental
rise

Normal
faults
Continental
slope

Abyssal
plain

Underwater Slope Failures

Turbidity current

Graded beds

10.10.c

Deposition in
submarine fans

Underwater
landslides on
continental slope
and flanks of
islands

Submarine Canyons
Turbidity currents erode into
continental slope

10.10.c

River and turbidity

currents eroded into
continental shelf

Observe some settings that can deposit salt

Broad flat areas
adjacent to sea

Bodies of water
with evaporation

Behind barrier that

restricts influx of
seawater
10.11.a1

What Structures Do Salt Deposits Form?

Salt Domes

10.11.c

Faulting and
folding over
weak salt
layer

Observe the setting of salt structures along the Gulf

Coast of the United States. Salt is shown in black.
Thick layer of salt deposited
during evaporation of seawater

Subsurface flow of
salt disrupts surface

Pressure of overlying
rocks causes salt to
flow up and sideways

10.11.d1

200 m.y. Ago: End of Pangaea

Central Atlantic forms

as NAM-Africa rift

One global
ocean

Gondwana
intact

10.12.a1

150 m.y. Ago: New Oceans Open

Central
Atlantic
open

Gondwana
starts rifting
10.12.a2

120 m.y. Ago: Dispersal of Gondwana

NAM Europe still joined

Southern
continents
mostly
outlined
10.12.a3

90 m.y. Ago: Atlantic Ocean Open

NAM rifts from
Europe, forming
North Atlantic

Gondwana
continents isolated
10.12.a4

30 m.y. Ago: Closing Tethys Sea

Tethys nearly
closed

India collides Asia

10.12.a5

Present Day

10.12.a6

Predict what will happen in the future to each ocean

Investigation: How Did These Ocean Features and

Continental Margins Form?

10.14.a1

Location of Cross Section

Location of
cross section
A'
10.14.a