Formation Of New Ocean Floor Abyssal Plains

They are formed as sediments from coastal regions are transported far out to sea and settle to the ocean floor and as materials from the water column above settle to the bottom.

Formation of new ocean floor abyssal plains.

The ocean floor covers more than 70 percent of the planet s surface. Continuing your journey across the ocean basin you would descend the steep continental slope to the abyssal plain. Irregular in outline but generally elongate along continental margins the larger plains are hundreds of kilometres wide and thousands of kilometres long. The abyssal plains cover about 30 of the atlantic and nearly 75 of the pacific ocean floors.

Sunlight does not penetrate to the sea floor making these deep dark ecosystems less productive. They are the flattest most featureless areas on the earth and have a slope of less than one foot of elevation difference for each thousand feet of distance the lack of features is due to a thick blanket of sediment that covers most of the surface. Abyssal plains are the vast flat sediment covered areas of the deep ocean floor. Abyssal plain flat seafloor area at an abyssal depth 3 000 to 6 000 m 10 000 to 20 000 feet generally adjacent to a continent these submarine surfaces vary in depth only from 10 to 100 cm per kilometre of horizontal distance.

What is formed at mid ocean ridges. Abyssal plains are as irregular as the continental plains with submarine plateaus hills guyots and. The floor of the ocean basins abyssal plains is essentially basaltic crust that is covered by sediment settling from suspension of organic material such as foram tests radiolarian tests etc and also clay swept in from the rivers volcanic ash large ashclouds may circle the globe several times and material transported by winds from. At depths of over 10 000 feet and covering 70 of the ocean floor abyssal plains are the largest habitat on earth.

Abyssal plains are the extremely flat and featureless plains of the deep ocean floor. An abyssal plain is an underwater plain on the deep ocean floor usually found at depths between 3 000 metres 9 800 ft and 6 000 metres 20 000 ft lying generally between the foot of a continental rise and a mid ocean ridge abyssal plains cover more than 50 of the earth s surface. Formation and composition of abyssal plains accumulation of land derived sediments over long periods of time on the ocean floor gives rise to the flat surfaces characteristic of an abyssal plain. Like dry land the ocean floor has various features including flat plains sharp mountains and rugged canyons fig.

Abyssal plains are deep extremely flat features of the ocean floor. They are among the flattest smoothest and least explored regions on earth. The accumulation of these deposits which average 1 kilometer in thickness smooth out the irregular topography on the ocean bed. However the lowest point in the world ocean is much deeper than the highest point on land.

They cover a major portion of the ocean floors between the depths of 3000m to 6000m.