The Ocean Floor
Exploring the seafloor:

• sonar
• seismic profiling
• submersibles
• drilling

Shape of the ocean floor:

• Continental shelves: from coastline to the edge of the continental slope
• Submarine canyons: funnel sediment to deep ocean.
•   turbidity current: sediment/water mixture that moves down the continental slope

Passive continental margin

• broad continental shelf
• sediment carried down continental slope by turbidity currents to submarine fans
• abyssal plains: flat, sediment-covered

Active continental margin: along subduction zones

• narrow continental shelf
• continental slope drops into ocean trench
• sediments scraped off subducting crust are folded to form accretionary wedge