what are the major ocean basins

What are the names of the four ocean basins?

World's four oceans from smallest to largest are as follows :

• Pacific Ocean.
• Atlantic Ocean.
• Indian Ocean.
• Southern Ocean ( The Southern Ocean is the world's newest and fourth-largest ocean)
• Arctic Ocean.

What is the largest ocean basin on Earth?

• the Pacific Ocean.
• the Atlantic Ocean.
• the Indian Ocean.
• the Arctic Ocean.
• the Mediterranean Sea.
• the Caribbean Sea.
• the Gulf of Mexico.

What ocean basin is the most trenches found?

• National Geographic News: Life is Found Thriving at Ocean’s Deepest Point
• AGU Geojourneys blog: Geology Word of the Week: A is for Accretionary Wedge
• NOAA: How Does Pressure Impact Animals in the Ocean?

How can ocean basins change in size?

• rifting of tectonic plates at divergent plate boundaries;
• assembly of micro-continents, volcanic terrains, continents - especially supercontinents like Rodinia, Pangea, etc.;
• subduction of tectonic plates at ocean trenches at convergent plate boundaries;

More items...

What are the 5 major ocean basins?

The five ocean basins from largest to smallest are: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, and Arctic.

What are the 4 major basins the ocean is divided into?

-There are 4 major ocean basins. These include The Pacific (deepest) Atlantic Indian and Arctic (shallowest). They are connected to one another through the Mediterranean Gulf of Mexico and South China Sea. You just studied 58 terms!

What are the 6 ocean basins?

Ocean BasinsPacific Ocean Basin. ... Atlantic Ocean Basin. ... Indian Ocean Basin. ... Southern Ocean. ... Arctic Ocean Basin.

What are the three ocean basins?

The continents, which cover 29.2% of the earth's surface, break up the ocean into the three basins, which we call the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. The ocean basins, which cover 70.8% of the earth's surface, can be viewed as northward-projecting gulfs of the world-circling ocean around Antarctica (Fig.

Which of the four ocean basins is the largest?

The Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the world ocean basins. Covering approximately 63 million square miles and containing more than half of the free water on Earth, the Pacific is by far the largest of the world's ocean basins. All of the world's continents could fit into the Pacific basin.

What are the ocean basins quizlet?

Abyssal plains.Abyssal hills.Oceanic Ridges (Mid-ocean Ridges)Hydrothermal Vents.Seamounts and Guyots.Oceanic (Deep sea) trenches.Island Arcs (Volcanic Arcs)

What are the 6 stages of ocean basin evolution?

A Wilson cycle consists of six stages: embryonic, juvenile, mature, declining, terminal, and suturing. The cycle begins because thick continental crust does not conduct heat as readily as thinner oceanic crust.

Why are there ocean basins?

All ocean basins are formed from plate tectonic activity, weathering, and erosion. Seafloor spreading and subduction are the primary forms of plate tectonic activity that provide a pathway for molten rock to leave the earth's mantle and create a new oceanic crust.

What is the smallest ocean basin?

The Arctic OceanThe Arctic Ocean is the smallest of the world's five ocean basins. A polar bear walks on the frozen surface of the Arctic Ocean.

What are the 3 features of the ocean basin floor?

Underwater landformsContinental shelf. Starting from land, a trip across an ocean basin along the seafloor would begin with crossing the continental shelf. ... Abyssal plains. Continuing your journey across the ocean basin, you would descend the steep continental slope to the abyssal plain. ... Mid-ocean ridge. ... Ocean trenches.

Where is Atlantic Ocean basin?

The Atlantic Ocean lies between North and South America on the west and Europe and Africa on the east. Up north, the Atlantic connects to the Arctic Ocean and to the Southern Ocean to the south. Scientists often divide the Atlantic into two basins: the North Atlantic and the South Atlantic.

What forms oceanic basins?

All ocean basins are formed from plate tectonic activity, weathering, and erosion. Seafloor spreading and subduction are the primary forms of plate tectonic activity that provide a pathway for molten rock to leave the earth's mantle and create a new oceanic crust.

What are the 3 features of the ocean basin floor?

Underwater landformsContinental shelf. Starting from land, a trip across an ocean basin along the seafloor would begin with crossing the continental shelf. ... Abyssal plains. Continuing your journey across the ocean basin, you would descend the steep continental slope to the abyssal plain. ... Mid-ocean ridge. ... Ocean trenches.

What are the features of ocean basins describe each?

A number of major features of the basins depart from this average—for example, the mountainous ocean ridges, deep-sea trenches, and jagged, linear fracture zones. Other significant features of the ocean floor include aseismic ridges, abyssal hills, and seamounts and guyots.

How many subdivisions is the world ocean split into?

A continuous body of water encircling Earth, the World/Global Ocean is divided into a number of principal areas. Five oceanic divisions are usually recognized: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern/Antarctic; the last two listed are sometimes consolidated into the first three.

How deep are ocean basins?

The largest ocean basins are 3 to 5 kilometers (2 to 3 miles) deep and stretch from the outer margins of the continents to the mid-ocean ridges. Ocean basins cover approximately 71 percent of Earth's surface or about 361 million square kilometers (140 million square miles). Their average depth is 5,000 meters (16,000 feet), ...

What is the oldest ocean basin?

The Pacific is the oldest of the existing ocean basins, its oldest rocks having been dated at about 200 million years. The major features of the basin have been shaped by the phenomena associated with plate tectonics .

What are the five oceans?

There are five major subdivisions of the world ocean: the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and Arctic Ocean. The Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans are conventional ocean basins and are bounded by the continental masses or by ocean ridges and currents; they merge below 40° South latitude in ...

What is the smallest ocean basin on Earth?

The smallest of Earth's five ocean basins is the Arctic. The Arctic Ocean extends south from the North Pole to the shores of Europe, Asia, and North America. The surface waters of the Arctic Ocean mingle with those of the Pacific Ocean through the Bering Strait, by way of a narrow and shallow channel, which has a depth of about 55 meters (180 feet). More importantly, the Arctic waters mix with those of the Atlantic Ocean across a system of submarine sills (shallow ridges) that reach from Scotland to Greenland and from Greenland to Baffin Island at depths of about 500 to 700 meters (1,640 to 2,300 feet).

How high is the East Pacific Rise?

The East Pacific Rise, a mid-ocean ridge, extends from the Gulf of California to a point west of the southern tip of South America, and rises an average of 2,130 meters (7,000 feet) above the ocean floor.

Why is the Atlantic Ocean important?

The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of Earth's five oceans, the most heavily traveled, and the most intensely studied, principally because of its importance in ship traffic between Europe and North America. This ocean's name is derived from Atlas, one of the Titans of Greek mythology.

How much of the Earth's surface is the Atlantic Ocean?

The Atlantic Ocean occupies about 20 percent of Earth's surface, representing approximately 75 million square kilometers (29 million square miles). This includes its marginal seas: the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caribbean Sea, Davis Strait, Denmark Strait, part of the Drake Passage, Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, Norwegian Sea, and almost all of the Scotia Sea.

Why do ocean basins change?

Active ocean basins undergo change mainly due to plate tectonics. Plate tectonics is the theory used to explain the dynamics of the earth's surface resulting from the interaction of the overlying rigid plates with the underlying mantle. According to the theory, the earth has a rigid outer layer called the crust.

What are the deepest parts of the ocean?

We have looked at some ocean basin features that rise up from the ocean floor, but we also see depressions in the ocean floor, such as oceanic trenches . These trenches extend down below the normal level of the ocean floor and are the deepest parts of the ocean.

How do oceanic trenches form?

Unlike oceanic ridges that form when plate boundaries separate, oceanic trenches form when plates push together. When plates abut up against each other, one plate subducts, or slides under the other, carrying rock down into the mantle where it is heated and can melt. This can increase volcanic activity near oceanic trenches.

What are the regions below sea level?

Let's review. Ocean basins are the regions that are below sea level. They can be either inactive and collect sediment or be active. Active ocean basins undergo changes mainly due to plate tectonics. Plate tectonics is the theory used to explain the dynamics of the earth's surface resulting from the interaction of overlying rigid plates with the underlying mantle. These plates, found on the outer layer of the earth, can move and meet with other plates at their boundaries. These boundaries are common areas of tectonic activity, including mountain building, earthquakes and volcanoes, and the areas where ocean bas in features are created.

What is the deformation of the Earth's crust due to the movement of tectonic plates?

These plates move very slowly and meet at their boundaries. These boundaries are common areas of tectonic activity , which is the deformation of the earth's crust due to movement of tectonic plates resulting in activity (such as earthquakes, volcanoes and mountain building). So, an area of the world that is tectonically active, whether it be on land or under the water, would be a mountainous area with earthquakes and volcanic activity. This creates many of the ocean basins features.

How do ocean basins spread apart?

Ocean Basin Features. Plates can spread apart by moving away from each other. This creates gaps where hot molten rock, called magma, from the earth's mantle can rise up. When the magma seeps through the gaps, it solidifies as it cools, creating a new layer of ocean crust.

How deep is an abyssal hill?

An abyssal hill has sharply-defined edges but will remain relatively small, generally growing not much larger than 500 feet in height and a few miles in width.

What are the features of the ocean basin?

The ocean basins are transient features over geologic time, changing shape and depth while the process of plate tectonics occurs. The surface layer of Earth, the lithosphere, consists of a number of rigid plates that are in continual motion. The boundaries between the lithospheric plates form the principal relief features of the ocean basins: the crests of oceanic ridges are spreading centres where two plates move apart from each other at a rate of several centimetres per year. Molten rock material wells up from the underlying mantle into the gap between the diverging plates and solidifies into oceanic crust, thereby creating new ocean floor. At the deep-sea trenches, two plates converge, with one plate sliding down under the other into the mantle where it is melted. Thus, for each segment of new ocean floor created at the ridges, an equal amount of old oceanic crust is destroyed at the trenches, or so-called subduction zones. It is for this reason that the oldest segment of ocean floor, found in the far western Pacific, is apparently only about 200 million years old, even though the age of Earth is estimated to be at least 4.6 billion years.

What are some examples of features of the ocean floor?

A number of major features of the basins depart from this average—for example, the mountainous ocean ridges, deep-sea trenches, and jagged, linear fracture zones. Other significant features of the ocean floor include aseismic ridges, abyssal hills, and seamounts and guyots.

Why do seamounts cause the ocean surface to bulge over them?

The measurements revealed that the shape of the ocean surface is warped by seafloor features: massive seamounts cause the surface to bulge over them because of gravitational attraction. Similarly, the ocean surface downwarps occur over deep-sea trenches.

How to determine depth of seafloor?

They operate on the principle that the depth (or distance) of the seafloor can be determined by multiplying one-half the elapsed time between a downgoing acoustic pulse and its echo by the speed of sound in seawater (about 1,500 metres [4,900 feet] per second).

Why are ocean maps important?

Because the ocean surface is deformed by the varying gravitational attraction of the underlying marine topography, such maps sensitively mirror seafloor features and have been valuable in identifying previously uncharted seamounts, ridges, and fracture zones.

Why is it so difficult to map the oceans?

Mapping the characteristics of the ocean basin has been difficult for several reasons. First, the oceans are not easy to travel over; second, until recent times navigation has been extremely crude, so that individual observations have been only loosely correlated with one another; and, finally, the oceans are opaque to light—that is, the deep seafloor cannot be seen from the ocean surface. Modern technology has given rise to customized research vessels, satellite and electronic navigation, and sophisticated acoustic instruments that mitigate some of these problems.

What happens to the crust at the deep sea trenches?

At the deep-sea trenches, two plates converge, with one plate sliding down under the other into the mantle where it is melted . Thus, for each segment of new ocean floor created at the ridges, an equal amount of old oceanic crust is destroyed at the trenches, or so-called subduction zones.

What are the elements of an active oceanic basin?

The elements of an active - and growing - oceanic basin include an elevated mid-ocean ridge, flanking abyssal hills leading down to abyssal plains. The elements of an active oceanic basin often include the oceanic trench associated with a subduction zone .

Which ocean is active and growing?

The Atlantic ocean and the Arctic ocean are good examples of active, growing oceanic basins, whereas the Mediterranean Sea is shrinking. The Pacific Ocean is also an active, shrinking oceanic basin, even though it has both spreading ridge and oceanic trenches.

What is the crust of the ocean?

On land the crust is known as the continental crust while under the sea it is known as the oceanic crust . The latter is composed of relatively dense basalt and is some five to ten kilometres (three to six miles) thick.

What is the only planet in the solar system that has a hypsographical crust?

Earth is the only known planet in the solar system where hypsography is characterized by different kinds of crust, oceanic crust and continental crust. Oceans cover 70% of the Earth's surface. Because oceans lie lower than continents, the former serve as sedimentary basins that collect sediment eroded from the continents, known as clastic sediments, as well as precipitation sediments. Ocean basins also serve as repositories for the skeletons of carbonate - and silica -secreting organisms such as coral reefs, diatoms, radiolarians, and foraminifera .

How deep is the trench in Peru?

An even longer trench runs alongside the coast of Peru and Chile, reaching a depth of 8,065 metres (26,460 ft) and extending for approximately 5,900 kilometres (3,700 mi). It occurs where the oceanic Nazca Plate slides under the continental South American Plate and is associated with the upthrust and volcanic activity of the Andes.

What is the Earth's outer shell?

The Earth is composed of a magnetic central core, a mostly liquid mantle and a hard rigid outer shell (or lithosphere ), which is composed of the Earth's rocky crust and the deeper mostly solid outer layer of the mantle. On land the crust is known as the continental crust while under the sea it is known as the oceanic crust.

How deep is the Mariana trench?

The Earth's deepest trench is the Mariana Trench which extends for about 2,500 kilometres (1,600 mi) across the seabed. It is near the Mariana Islands, a volcanic archipelago in the West Pacific. Its deepest point is 10.994 kilometres (nearly 7 miles) below the surface of the sea. An even longer trench runs alongside the coast of Peru and Chile, reaching a depth of 8,065 metres (26,460 ft) and extending for approximately 5,900 kilometres (3,700 mi). It occurs where the oceanic Nazca Plate slides under the continental South American Plate and is associated with the upthrust and volcanic activity of the Andes.

How many ocean basins are there in the world?

Even though there is one world ocean, it has traditionally been divided into four major ocean basins: the Arctic, the Atlantic, the Indian, and the Pacific. For Exploring Our Fluid Earth’s purposes, continents are defined as large landmasses separated by natural barriers, mainly water, and islands are defined as smaller landmasses. The six continents are Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Eurasia, North America, and South America. When dividing the world into large geographical areas, islands are usually grouped with the continent closest to them.

Where is the ocean located on the globe?

The world ocean can best be visualized by viewing a globe from the South Pole (Fig. 1.2 A). From this perspective, Antarctica is at the center of the world ocean. Three ocean extensions reach northward from Antarctica and extend toward the South Pacific, South Atlantic, and Indian ocean basins between the continents.

How many continents are there?

are defined as smaller landmasses. The six continents are Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Eurasia, North America, and South America. When dividing the world into large geographical areas, islands are usually grouped with the continent closest to them.

How much of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans?

The ocean is composed of salt water; it covers 70 percent of the earth’s surface and contains 97 percent of the earth's water. The ocean is the most prominent feature on our planet. You can see this by tracing through the ocean on a map with your finger. On a globe, you can trace the ocean by moving your finger in a complete circle around ...

Where do the Atlantic and Pacific oceans meet?

The North Pacific and Atlantic ocean basins meet in the Arctic ocean basin at the North Pole (Fig. 1.2 B). In Fig. 1.2 C, the sea ice at the North Pole has been removed to show how the world ocean is connected, which is hard to see in most illustrations because of the North Pole ice (shown in Fig. 1.2 B). In contrast, if the ice were removed from the South Pole (e.g. from Fig. 1.2 A), rather than an ocean basin, the land of Antarctica would be visible.

Why are two dimensional maps more convenient to use than globes?

However, two-dimensional maps are more convenient to use than globes because they can be easily transported and stored, they allow ease of measurement, they can be viewed on flat-paneled electronics, and they are cheap to produce.

Atlantic Ocean Basin

See more on deepoceanfacts.com

Indian Ocean Basin

Southern Ocean Basin

Arctic Ocean Basin