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Oceanography Vocab.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Continental Margin | |
| Continental Shelf | The gently sloping section of the continental margin located between the shoreline and the continental shelf. |
| Continental Slope | The steeply inclined section of the continental margin located between the continental rise and the continental shelf. |
| Continental Rise | The gently sloping section of the continental margin located between the continental slope and the abyssal plain. |
| Abyssal Plain | A large, flat, almost level area of the deep-ocean basin. |
| Mid-ocean Ridge | A long, undersea mountain chain that forms along the floor of the major oceans. |
| Rift Valley | A long, narrow valley that forms as tectonic plates separate. |
| Seamount | A submerged mountain on the ocean floor that is at least 1,000 meters high and that has a volcanic origin. |
| Ocean Trench | A steep, long depression in the deep-sea floor that runs parallel to a chain of volcanic islands or a continental margin. |
| Plankton | The mass of mostly microscopic organisms that float or drift freely in freshwater and marine environments. |
| Nekton | All organisms that swim actively in open water, independent of currents. |
| Benthos | The organisms that live at the bottom of the sea or ocean. |
| Benthic Environment | The region near the bottom of a pond, lake, or ocean. |
| Pelagic Environment | In the ocean, the zone near the surface and middle depths. It is beyond the sublittoral zone and above the abyssal zone. |
| Intertidal Zone | The shallowest zone, located between the low-tide and high tide limits. |
| Sublittoral Zone | The sublittoral zone begins where the intertidal zone ends, at the low tide limit. |
| Bathyal Zone | |
| Abyssal Zone | |
| Hadal Zone | |
| Holdfasts |