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Glossary
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Below you will find key words and concepts that you should remember from this chapter.
abyssal fan  Great fan-shaped deposit of sediment on the deep-sea floor at the base of many submarine canyons.
(See page(s) 444)
abyssal plain  Very flat sediment-covered region of the deep-sea floor, usually at the base of the continental rise.
(See page(s) 447)
active continental margin  A margin consisting of a continental shelf, a continental slope, and an oceanic trench.
(See page(s) 447)
aseismic ridge  Submarine ridge with which no earthquakes are associated.
(See page(s) 452)
atoll  A circular reef surrounding a deeper lagoon.
(See page(s) 454)
barrier reef  A reef separated from the shoreline by the deeper water of a lagoon.
(See page(s) 454)
continental rise  A wedge of sediment that extends from the lower part of the continental slope to the deep sea floor.
(See page(s) 446)
continental shelf  A submarine platform at the edge of a continent, inclined very gently seaward generally at an angle of less than 1°.
(See page(s) 444)
continental slope  A relatively steep slope extending from a depth of 100 to 200 meters at the edge of the continental shelf down to oceanic depths.
(See page(s) 444)
contour current  A bottom current that flows parallel to the slopes of the continental margin (along the contour rather than down the slope).
(See page(s) 446)
fracture zone  Major line of weakness in Earth’s crust that crosses the mid-oceanic ridge at approximately right angles.
(See page(s) 450)
fringing reef  A reef attached directly to shore. (See barrier reef.)
(See page(s) 454)
guyot  Flat-topped seamount.
(See page(s) 451)
mid-oceanic ridge  A giant mountain range that lies under the ocean and extends around the world.
(See page(s) 448)
oceanic trench  A narrow, deep trough parallel to the edge of a continent or an island arc.
(See page(s) 447)
ophiolite  A distinctive rock sequence found in many mountain ranges on continents.
(See page(s) 457)
passive continental margin  A margin that includes a continental shelf, continental slope, and continental rise that generally extends down to an abyssal plain at a depth of about 5 kilometers.
(See page(s) 446)
pelagic sediment  Sediment made up of fine-grained clay and the skeletons of microscopic organisms that settle slowly down through the ocean water.
(See page(s) 454)
reef  A resistant ridge of calcium carbonate formed on the sea floor by corals and coralline algae.
(See page(s) 452)
rift valley  A tensional valley bounded by normal faults. Rift valleys are found at diverging plate boundaries on continents and along the crest of the mid-oceanic ridge.
(See page(s) 448)
seamount  Conical mountain rising 1,000 meters or more above the sea floor.
(See page(s) 450)
submarine canyon  V-shaped valleys that run across the continental shelf and down the continental slope.
(See page(s) 444)
terrigenous sediment  Land-derived sediment that has found its way to the sea floor.
(See page(s) 454)
turbidity current  A flowing mass of sediment-laden water that is heavier than clear water and therefore flows downslope along the bottom of the sea or a lake.
(See page(s) 445)







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