Continental slope, seaward border of the continental shelf. The world’s combined continental slope has a total length of approximately 300,000 km (200,000 miles) and descends at an average angle in excess of 4° from the shelf break at the edge of the continental shelf to the beginning of the ocean

Feb 15, 2021 · A continental slope is the slope between the outer edge of the continental shelf and the deep ocean floor. The continental slope is cut by submarine canyons in many locations. The continental slope marks the seaward edge of the continental shelf.

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the name continental shelf was given a legal definition as the stretch of the seabed adjacent to the shores of a particular country to which it belongs. The shelf usually ends at a point of …

Mar 25, 2025 · Continuing your journey across the ocean basin, you would descend the steep continental slope to the abyssal plain. At depths of over 10,000 feet and covering 70% of the ocean floor, abyssal plains are the largest habitat on earth.

Profile illustrating the shelf, slope and rise. A continental margin is the outer edge of continental crust abutting oceanic crust under coastal waters. It is one of the three major zones of the ocean floor, the other two being deep-ocean basins and mid-ocean ridges.

Jul 31, 2018 · The continental slope connects the continental shelf and the ocean basins. It begins where the bottom of the continental shelf sharply drops off into a steep slope. The gradient of the slope region varies between 2-5°.

On average, the ocean’s continental slope descends into the sea at an angle of 4°. This may not seem like much, but over the course of 100km (60 miles) of the continental slope, the ocean depth will increase by 70 km (43 miles)!

The continental slope is steepest in the Pacific Ocean basin. There, it averages more than 5 degrees, while in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean basins, it averages about 3 degrees. The Pacific Ocean continental slope is associated with the geologic processes that form the coastal mountain ranges and the deep ocean trenches.

A continental rise is a wide, gentle incline from a deep ocean plain (abyssal plain) to a continental slope (Figure 15-13). A continental rise consists mainly of silts, mud, and sand, deposited by turbidity flows, and can extend for several hundreds of miles away from continental margins.

The continental slope (often referred to simply as “the slope”) is commonly dissected by submarine canyons; faulting, rifting and slumping of large blocks of sediment can form steep escarpments, relatively flat terraces and (under certain conditions) basins perched on the slope.