Atlantic Ocean Floor Topography

The atlantic ocean is the second largest of the earth s oceans.

Atlantic ocean floor topography.

The topography of the northern atlantic ocean is shown in figure 18 2. The atlantic ocean is the second largest of the world s oceans with an area of about 106 460 000 km 2 41 100 000 sq mi. Covering approximately 20 percent of globe s surface the atlantic is second only to the pacific ocean in size. Ocean topography off the southeast portion of the united states.

The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur. It separates the old world from the new world the atlantic ocean occupies an elongated s shaped basin extending longitudinally between europe and africa to the east. This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level. Sea surface temperature readings.

Because the continents bordering its waters in the north are offset to the west of those in the south the atlantic appears as an elongated northsouth s shaped channel. It covers approximately 20 percent of earth s surface and about 29 percent of its water surface area. 18 1 the topography of the sea floor we examined the topography of the sea floor from the perspective of plate tectonics in chapter 10 but here we are going to take another look at the important features from an oceanographic perspective. Topographic maps of the sea floor produced at a 1 100 000 scale that contain loran c rates bottom sediment types and known bottom obstructions.

A marine gravity map of the north atlantic ocean red dots show locations of earthquakes with magnitude 5 5 and they highlight the present day location of the seafloor spreading ridges and. The outstanding feature of the atlantic floor is the mid atlantic ridge an immense median mountain range extending throughout the length of the atlantic claiming the centre third of the ocean bed and reaching roughly 1 000 miles 1 600 km in breadth. A topographic representation of the sea floor around the charleston bump. Scientists used multibeam bathymetric data to create a 3 d view of a portion of the charleston bump.