C H A P T E R

2
Ocean Dimensions, Shapes,
and Bottom Materials

2.1. DIMENSIONS The shape, depth, and geographic location of

an ocean affect the general characteristics of its
The oceans are basins in the surface of the circulation. Smaller scale features, such as loca-
solid earth containing salt water. This chapter tions of deep sills and fracture zones, seamounts,
introduces some nomenclature and directs and bottom roughness, affect often important
attention to features of the basins that have details of the circulation and of mixing processes
a close connection with the ocean’s circulation that are essential to forcing and water properties.
and dynamical processes that are of importance The Atlantic has a very marked “S” shape while
to the physical oceanographer. More detailed the Pacific has a more oval shape. The Atlantic
descriptions of the geology and geophysics of and Indian Oceans are roughly half the east-
the ocean basins are given in Seibold and Berger west width of the Pacific Ocean, which impacts
(1982), Kennett (1982), Garrison (2001), and the way that each ocean’s circulation adjusts to
Thurman and Trujillo (2002), among others. changes in forcing. The Indian Ocean has no
Updated data sets, maps, and information are high northern latitudes, and therefore no possi-
available from Web sites of the National bility of cold, dense water formation. The edges
Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) of the of the Pacific are ringed with trenches, volca-
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- noes, and earthquakes that signal the gradual
tion (NOAA) and from the U.S. Geological descent of the ocean bottom crustal “plates”
Survey (USGS). under the surrounding continental plates. In
The major ocean areas are the Atlantic Ocean, contrast, the Atlantic is the site of dynamic
the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Arctic seafloor spreading as material added in the
Ocean, and the Southern Ocean (Figure 2.1). center of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) pushes
The first four are clearly divided from each the plates apart, enlarging the Atlantic Ocean
other by land masses, but the divisions between by a few centimeters each year.
the Southern Ocean and oceans to its north are Marginal seas are fairly large basins of salt
determined only by the characteristics of the water that are connected to the open ocean by
ocean waters and their circulations. The one or more fairly narrow channels. Those that
geographical peculiarities of each ocean are are connected by very few channels are some-
described in Section 2.11. times called mediterranean seas after the

Ó 2011. Lynne Talley, George Pickard, William Emery and James Swift.
Descriptive Physical Oceanography 7 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
8 2. OCEAN DIMENSIONS, SHAPES, AND BOTTOM MATERIALS

180˚ 120˚W 60˚W 0˚ 60˚E 120˚E 180˚

80˚N Arctic Ocean 80˚N

60˚N 60˚N

40˚N 40˚N

20˚N 20˚N

Pacific Ocean
0˚ 0˚

Atlantic Indian
20˚S Ocean 20˚S
Ocean
40˚S 40˚S

60˚S Southern Ocean Southern Ocean 60˚S

80˚S 80˚S
180˚ 120˚W 60˚W 0˚ 60˚E 120˚E 180˚

−6000 −4000 −2000 0 2000 4000 6000

FIGURE 2.1 Map of the world based on ship soundings and satellite altimeter derived gravity at 30 arc-second reso-
lution. Data from Smith & Sandwell (1997); Becker et al. (2009); and SIO (2008).

prototype, the (European) Mediterranean Sea. More of the earth’s surface is covered by sea
The Mediterranean provides an example of than by land, about 71% sea to 29% land. (The
a negative water balance in a sea with less most recent elevation data for the earth’s surface,
inflow (river runoff and precipitation) than used to construct Figure 2.2, show that 70.96% of
evaporation. An excellent example of a positive the earth is ocean; see Becker et al., 2009.)
water balance marginal sea (with net precipita- Furthermore, the proportion of water to land in
tion) is found in the Black Sea, which connects the Southern Hemisphere is much greater (4:1)
with the Mediterranean Sea. Both of these seas than in the Northern Hemisphere (1.5:1). In
are discussed further in Chapters 5 and 9. Other area, the Pacific Ocean is about as large as the
examples of marginal seas that are separated Atlantic and Indian Oceans combined. If the
from the open ocean by multiple straits or island neighboring sectors of the Southern Ocean are
chains are the Caribbean Sea, the Sea of Japan, included with the three main oceans north of it,
the Bering Sea, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Pacific Ocean occupies about 46% of the total
and so forth. world ocean area, the Atlantic Ocean about 23%,
The term sea is also used for a portion of an the Indian Ocean about 20%, and the rest,
ocean that is not divided off by land but has combined, about 11%.
local distinguishing oceanographic characteris- The average depth of the oceans is close to
tics; for example the Norwegian Sea, the Labra- 4000 m while the marginal seas are generally
dor Sea, the Sargasso Sea, and the Tasman Sea. about 1200 m deep or less. Relative to sea level,
 PLATE TECTONICS AND DEEP-SEA TOPOGRAPHY 9
Maximum (Mt. Everest)
8000
Elevation (m)
6000

4000

2000
Mean height (743 m)
Sea level

−2000

Mean depth (3734 m)

−4000
Median depth (4093 m)
Depth (m)

−6000

−8000

0.04%
−10000
Maximum (Mariana Trench)
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
Area %
FIGURE 2.2 Areas of Earth’s surface above and below sea level as a percentage of the total area of Earth (in 100 m
intervals). Data from Becker et al. (2009).

the oceans are much deeper than the land is high. but the 100 m bins allow much more differentia-
While only 11% of the land surface of the earth is tion of topographic forms.)
more than 2000 m above sea level, 84% of the sea Although the average depth of the oceans,
bottom is more than 2000 m deep. However, the 4 km, is a considerable distance, it is small
maxima are similar: the height of Mt. Everest is compared with the horizontal dimensions of
about 8848 m, while the maximum depth in the the oceans, which are 5000 to 15,000 km. Rela-
oceans is 11,034 m in the Mariana Trench in the tive to the major dimensions of the earth, the
western North Pacific. Figure 2.2 shows the oceans are a thin skin, but between the sea
distributions of land elevations and of sea depths surface and the bottom of the ocean there is
relative to sea level in 100 m intervals as the a great deal of detail and structure.
percentage of the total area of the earth’s surface.
This figure is based on the most recent global
elevation and ocean bathymetry data from 2.2. PLATE TECTONICS AND
D. Sandwell (Becker et al., 2009). (It is similar to DEEP-SEA TOPOGRAPHY
Figure 2.2 using 1000 m bins that appeared in
previous editions of this text, based on data The most important geophysical process
from Kossina, 1921 and Menard & Smith, 1966, affecting the shape and topography of the ocean
10 2. OCEAN DIMENSIONS, SHAPES, AND BOTTOM MATERIALS

basins is the movement of the earth’s tectonic The 14,000 km long MAR is a tectonic
plates, described thoroughly in texts such as spreading center. It is connected to the global
Thurman and Trujillo (2002). The plate bound- mid-ocean ridge, which at more than 40,000 km
aries are shown in Figure 2.3. Seafloor spreading long, is the most extensive feature of the earth’s
creates new seafloor as the earth’s plates spread topography. Starting in the Arctic Ocean, the
apart. This creates the mid-ocean ridge system; mid-ocean ridge extends through Iceland
the mid-ocean ridges of Figure 2.1 correspond down the middle of the Atlantic, wraps around
to plate boundaries. The ocean plates spread the tip of Africa, and then winds through the
apart at rates of about 2 cm/year (Atlantic) to Indian and Pacific Oceans, ending in the Gulf
16 cm/year (Pacific), causing extrusion of of California. In all oceans, the mid-ocean ridge
magma into the surface at the centers of the and other deep ridges separate the bottom
ridges. Over geologic time the orientation of waters, as can be seen from different water
the earth’s magnetic field has reversed, causing properties east and west of the ridge.
the ferromagnetic components in the molten Deep and bottom waters can leak across the
new surface material to reverse. Spreading at ridges through narrow gaps, called fracture
the mid-ocean ridge was proven by observing zones, which are lateral jogs in the spreading
the reversals in the magnetic orientations in center. The fracture zones are roughly vertical
the surface material. These reversals permit planes, perpendicular to the ridge, on either
dating of the seafloor (Figure 2.3). The recur- side of which the crust has moved in opposite
rence interval for magnetic reversals is approxi- directions perpendicular to the ridge. There
mately 500,000 to 1,000,000 years. are many fracture zones in the mid-ocean

FIGURE 2.3 Sea floor age (millions of years). Black lines indicate tectonic plate boundaries. Source: From Müller, Sdrolias,
Gaina, and Roest (2008).
 PLATE TECTONICS AND DEEP-SEA TOPOGRAPHY 11
ridges. One example that is important as causes it to be deeper (Sclater, Parsons, & Jau-
a pathway for abyssal circulation in the Atlantic part, 1981). Ocean bottom depths range from 2
is the Romanche Fracture Zone through the to 3 km for the newest parts of the mid-ocean
MAR close to the equator. Another example is ridges to greater than 5 km for the oldest, as
the pair of fracture zones in the South Pacific can be seen by comparing the maps of seafloor
(Eltanin and Udintsev Fracture Zones, age and bathymetry (Figures 2.1 and 2.3).
Figure 2.12) that steer the Antarctic Circumpolar The rate of seafloor spreading is so slow that it
Current (ACC). has no impact on the climate variability that we
At some edges of the tectonic plates, one plate experience over decades to millennia, nor does it
subducts (moves under) another. Subduction is affect anthropogenic climate change. However,
accompanied on its landward side by volcanoes over many millions of years, the geographic
and earthquakes. Subduction creates deep layout of Earth has changed. The paleocircula-
trenches that are narrow relative to their length tion patterns of “deep time,” when the conti-
and have depths to 11,000 m. The deepest parts nents were at different locations, differed from
of the oceans are in these trenches. The majority the present patterns; reconstruction of these
of the deep trenches are in the Pacific: the Aleu- patterns is an aspect of paleoclimate modeling.
tian, Kurile, Tonga, Philippine, and Mariana. By studying and understanding present-day
There are a few in other oceans such as the circulation, we can begin to credibly model the
Puerto Rico and the South Sandwich Trenches paleocirculation, which had the same physical
in the Atlantic and the Sunda Trench in the processes (such as those associated with the
Indian Ocean. Trenches are often shaped like earth’s rotation, wind and thermohaline
an arc of a circle with an island arc on one side. forcing, boundaries, open east-west channels,
Examples of island arcs are the Aleutian Islands equatorial regions, etc.), but with different
(Pacific), the Lesser Antilles (Atlantic), and the ocean basin shapes and bottom topography.
Sunda Arc (Indian). The landward side of Ocean bottom roughness affects ocean mix-
a trench extends as much as 10,000 m from the ing rates (Sections 7.2.4 and 7.3.2). The overall
trench bottom to the sea surface, while the other roughness varies by a factor of 10. Roughness
side is only half as high, terminating at the is a function of spreading rates and sedimenta-
ocean depth of about 5000 m. tion rates. New seafloor is rougher than old
Trenches can steer or impact boundary seafloor. Slow-spreading centers produce
currents that are in deep water (Deep Western rougher topography than fast spreading
Boundary Currents) or upper ocean boundary centers. Thus the slow-spreading MAR is
currents that are energetic enough to extend to rougher than the faster spreading East Pacific
the ocean bottom, such as western boundary Rise (EPR; Figure 2.4). Slow-spreading ridges
currents of the wind-driven circulation. Exam- also have rift valleys at the spreading center,
ples of trenches that impact ocean circulation whereas fast-spreading ridges have an elevated
are the deep trench system along the western ridge at the spreading center. Much of the
and northern boundary of the Pacific and the roughness on the ridges can be categorized as
deep trench east of the Caribbean Sea in the abyssal hills, which are the most common land-
Atlantic. form on Earth. Abyssal hills are evident in
Younger parts of the ocean bottom are shal- Figures 2.4 and 2.5b, all along the wide flanks
lower than older parts. As the new seafloor of the mid-ocean ridge.
created at seafloor spreading centers ages, it Individual mountains (seamounts) are widely
cools by losing heat into the seawater above distributed in the oceans. Seamounts stand out
and becomes denser and contracts, which clearly above the background bathymetry. In
12 2. OCEAN DIMENSIONS, SHAPES, AND BOTTOM MATERIALS

FIGURE 2.4 Seafloor topography for a portion of (a) the fast-spreading EPR and (b) the slow-spreading MAR. Note the
ridge at the EPR spreading center and rift valley at the MAR spreading center. This figure can also be found in the color
insert. (Sandwell, personal communication, 2009.)

the maps in Figure 2.4b there are some include the Hawaiian Islands/Emperor Sea-
seamounts on the upper right side of the panel. mounts chain, Polynesian island chains, the
In the vertical cross-section in Figure 2.5b, Walvis Ridge, and the Ninetyeast Ridge in the
seamounts are distinguished by their greater Indian Ocean.
height compared with the abyssal hills. The Seamounts affect the circulation, especially
average height of seamounts is 2 km. when they appear in groups as they do in
Seamounts that reach the sea surface form many regions; for instance, the Gulf Stream
islands. A guyot is a seamount that reached passes through the New England Seamounts,
the surface, was worn flat, and then sank again which affect the Gulf Stream’s position and
below the surface. Many seamounts and variability (Section 9.3). Seamount chains also
islands were created by volcanic hotspots refract tsunamis, which are ocean waves
beneath the tectonic plates. The hotspots are generated by submarine earthquakes that react
relatively stationary in contrast to the plates to the ocean bottom as they propagate long
and as the plates move across the hotspots, distances from the earthquake source (Section
chains of seamounts are formed. Examples 8.3.5).
 PLATE TECTONICS AND DEEP-SEA TOPOGRAPHY 13

(a) SHORE
HIGH WATER SEA LEVEL

CONTINENT
LOW WATER

ISLAND ARC
SHELF
(GRAVEL,
OCEAN
SAND

BACK ARC BASIN

S L OP
Ave. Slope

TRENCH
1 in 500)

E
(MUD Spreading

SEAMOUNT
Ave. Slope Center
1 in 20) RIS
E MID-OCEAN
BASIN
CLAY & OOZES RIDGE
Mineral Organic
DEEP SEA

(b) 0

500
seamount
slope slope
1000

seamount
1500

2000

2500

abyssal hills
3000

3500
abyssal hills
spreading center
sin

4000
back arc ba
back arc ridge

4500

5000
mid-ocean ridge

5500

6000

trench trench
6500

(c)
20˚S 20˚S

30˚S 30˚S

40˚S
South Pacific 40˚S
140˚E 160˚E 180˚ 160˚W 140˚W 120˚W 100˚W 80˚W

FIGURE 2.5 (a) Schematic section through ocean floor to show principal features. (b) Sample of bathymetry, measured
along the South Pacific ship track shown in (c).
14 2. OCEAN DIMENSIONS, SHAPES, AND BOTTOM MATERIALS

2.3. SEAFLOOR FEATURES south to fill the basin east of the ridge. At shal-
lower depths the sills (shallowest part of
The continents form the major lateral bound- a channel) defining the marginal seas strongly
aries to the oceans. The detailed features of the influences both the mid-level currents and the
shoreline and of the sea bottom are important distribution of water masses associated with
because of the way they affect circulation. Start- the sea. Coastal upwelling is a direct conse-
ing from the land, the main divisions recognized quence of the shape of the coast and its related
are the shore, the continental shelf, the conti- bottom topography. Alongshore currents are
nental slope and rise, and the deep-sea often determined by the coastal bottom topog-
bottom, part of which is the abyssal plain raphy and the instabilities in this system can
(Figure 2.5a, b). Some of the major features of depend on the horizontal scales of the bottom
the seafloor, including mid-ocean ridges, tren- topography. Near the shore bottom topography
ches, island arcs, and seamounts, are the result dictates the breaking of surface gravity waves
of plate tectonics and undersea volcanism and also directly influences the local tidal
(Section 2.2 and Figure 2.3). expressions.
In some of the large basins the seafloor is very Much of the mixing in the ocean occurs near
smooth, possibly more so than the plains areas the boundaries (including the bottom). Micro-
on land. Sedimentation, which is mostly due structure observations in numerous regions,
to the incessant rain of organic matter from the and intensive experiments focused on detection
upper ocean, covers the rough bottom and of mixing and its genesis, suggest that flow of
produces large regions of very smooth topog- internal tides over steep bottom slopes in the
raphy. Stretches of the abyssal plain in the deep ocean is a major mechanism for dissipating
western North Atlantic have been measured to the ocean’s energy. Ocean bottom slopes
be smooth within 2 m over distances of 100 km. computed from bathymetry collected along
The ocean bottom in the northeast Indian ship tracks show that the largest slopes tend to
Ocean/Bay of Bengal slopes very smoothly occur on the flanks of the fastest spreading
from 2000 m down to more than 5000 m over mid-ocean ridges. With bathymetric slopes
3000 km. This smoothness is due to sedimenta- computed from the most recent bathymetric
tion from the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers data (Figure 2.6) and information about the
that drain the Himalayas. Bottom sediments ocean’s deep stratification, it appears the flanks
can be moved around by deep currents; forma- of the mid-ocean ridges of the Atlantic,
tion of undersea dunes and canyons is common. Southern Ocean, and Indian Ocean could be
Erosional features in deep sediments have the most vigorous dissipation sites of ocean
sometimes alerted scientists to the presence of energy (Becker & Sandwell, 2008).
deep currents.
Bottom topography often plays an important
role in the distribution of water masses and the 2.4. SPATIAL SCALES
location of currents. For instance, bottom water
coming from the Weddell Sea (Antarctica) is Very often some of the characteristics of the
unable to fill the eastern part of the Atlantic ocean are presented by drawing a vertical
basin directly due to the height of the Walvis cross-section of a part of the oceans, such as
Ridge (South Atlantic Ocean). Instead, the the schematic depiction of ocean floor features
bottom water travels to the north along the in Figure 2.5a. An illustration to true scale
western boundary of the South Atlantic, finds would have the relative dimensions of the
a deep passage in the MAR, and then flows edge of a sheet of paper and would be either
 SHORE, COAST, AND BEACH 15

FIGURE 2.6 Mean slope of the ocean bottom, calculated from shipboard bathymetry and interpolated to a 0.5 degree
grid. Source: From Becker and Sandwell (2008).

too thin to show details or too long to be conve- than they appear on the cross-section drawings;
nient. Therefore, we usually distort our cross- for instance, a line of constant temperature
section by making the vertical scale much larger (isotherm) with a real slope of 1 in 10,000 would
than the horizontal one. For instance, we might appear as a slope of 1 in 10 on the plot.
use a scale of 1 cm to represent 100 km horizon-
tally while depths might be on a scale of 1 cm
to represent 100 m (i.e., 0.1 km). In this case 2.5. SHORE, COAST, AND BEACH
the vertical dimensions on our drawing would
be magnified 1000 times compared with the The shore is defined as that part of the land-
horizontal ones (a vertical exaggeration of mass, close to the sea, that has been modified
1000:1). This gives us room to show the detail, by the action of the sea. The words shore and
but it also exaggerates the slope of the sea coast have the same meaning. Shorelines (coasts)
bottom or of contours of constant water pro- shift over time because of motion of the land
perties (isopleths) drawn on the cross-section over geologic time, changes in sea level, and
(Figure 2.5b). In reality, such slopes are far less erosion and deposition. The sedimentary record
16 2. OCEAN DIMENSIONS, SHAPES, AND BOTTOM MATERIALS

shows a series of marine intrusions and retreats deltas. This type of erosion is fastest on high-
corresponding to layers that reflect periods energy coasts with large waves, and slowest on
when the surface was above and below sea low-energy coasts with generally weak wave
level. Variations in sea level between glacial fields. Erosion occurs more rapidly in weaker
and interglacial periods have been as much as materials than in harder components. These
120 m. The ability of the coast to resist the variations in materials allow erosive forces to
erosional forces of the ocean depends directly carve characteristic features on coastlines such
on the type of material that makes up the coast. as sea cliffs and sea caves, and to create an alter-
Sands are easily redistributed by the ocean nation between bays and headlands.
currents whereas granitic coasts are slow to Beaches result when sediment, usually sand,
erode. Often sea level changes are combined is transported to places suitable for continued
with the hydrologic forces of an estuary, which deposition. Again these are often the quiet
dramatically change the dynamical relationship bays between headlands and other areas of
between the ocean and the solid surface. low surf activity. Often a beach is in equilibrium;
The beach is a zone of unconsolidated particles new sand is deposited to replace sand that is
at the seaward limit of the shore and extends scoured away. Evidence for this process can be
roughly from the highest to the lowest tide seen by how sand accumulates against new
levels. The landward limit of the beach might structures built on the shore, or by how it is
be vegetation, permanent sand dunes, or human removed from a beach when a breakwater is
construction. The seaward limit of a beach, built that cuts off the supply of sand beyond it.
where the sediment movement on- and offshore On some beaches, the sand may be removed
ceases, is about 10 m deep at low tide. by currents associated with high waves at one
Coasts can be classified in many different season of the year and replaced by different
ways. In terms of long timescales (such as those currents associated with lower waves at another
of plate tectonics; Section 2.2), coasts and conti- season. These currents are influenced by
nental margins can be classified as active or seasonal and interannual wind variations.
passive. Active margins, with active volcanism, Sea level, which strongly affects coasts, is
faulting, and folding, are like those in much of affected by the total amount of water in the
the Pacific and are rising. Passive margins, like ocean, changes in the containment volume of
those of the Atlantic, are being pushed in front the world’s ocean, and changes in the tempera-
of spreading seafloor, are accumulating thick ture/salinity characteristics of the ocean that
wedges of sediment, and are generally falling. alter its density and hence cause the water to
Coasts can be referred to as erosional or deposi- expand or contract. Changes in the total amount
tional depending on whether materials are of water are due primarily to changes in the
removed or added. At shorter timescales, waves volume of landfast ice, which is contained in
and tides cause erosion and deposition. At ice sheets and glaciers. (Because sea ice floats
millennial timescales, changes in mean sea level in water, changes in sea ice volume, such as
cause materials to be removed or added. that in the Arctic or Antarctic, do not affect sea
Erosional coasts are attacked by waves and level.) Changes in containment volume are
currents, both of which carry fine material that due to tectonics, the slow rebound of continents
abrades the coast. The waves create alongshore (continuing into the present) after the melt of
and rip currents (Section 8.3) that carry the landfast ice after the last deglaciation, and
abraded material from the coastline along and rebound due to the continuing melt of glacial
out to sea. This eroded material can be joined ice. Changes in heat content cause seawater to
by sediments discharged from rivers and form expand (heating) or contract (cooling).
 DEEP OCEAN 17
Sea level rose 20 cm from 1870 to 2003, steeper than the slopes from lowland to high-
including 3 cm in just the last 10 years land on land. The material of the slope is
(1993e2003). Because good global observations predominantly mud with some rock outcrops.
are available for that last 10 years, it is possible The shelf and slope typically include submarine
to ascribe 1.6 cm to thermal expansion, 0.4 cm canyons, which are of worldwide occurrence.
to Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet melt, and These are valleys in the slope, either V-shaped
0.8 cm to other glacial melt with a residual of or with vertical sides, and are usually found
0.3 cm. Sea level is projected to rise 30  10 cm off coasts with rivers. Some, usually in hard
in the next 100 years mainly due to warming granitic rock, were originally carved as rivers
of the oceans, which absorb most of the anthro- and then submerged, such as around the Medi-
pogenic heat increase in the earth’s climate terranean and southern Baja, California. Others,
system. (See Bindoff et al., 2007 in the 4th assess- commonly in softer sedimentary rock, are
ment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on formed by turbidity currents described in the
Climate Change.) next paragraph. The lower part of the slope,
where it grades into the deep-sea bottom, is
referred to as the continental rise.
2.6. CONTINENTAL SHELF, SLOPE, Turbidity currents (Figure 2.7) are common on
AND RISE continental slopes. These episodic events carry
a mixture of water and sediment and are driven
The continental shelf extends seaward from by the unstable sediments rather than by forces
the shore with an average gradient of 1 in 500. within the water. In these events, material builds
Its outer limit (the shelf break) is set where the up on the slope until it is no longer stable and
gradient increases to about 1 in 20 (on average) the force of gravity wins out. Large amounts of
to form the continental slope down to the deep sediment and bottom material crash down the
sea bottom. The shelf has an average width of slope at speeds up to 100 km/h. These events
65 km. In places it is much narrower than this, can snap underwater cables. The precise condi-
while in others, as in the northeastern Bering tions that dictate when a turbidity current
Sea or the Arctic shelf off Siberia, it is as much occurs vary with the slope of the valley and
as ten times this width. The bottom material is the nature of the material in the valley. Turbidity
dominantly sand with less common rock or currents carve many of the submarine canyons
mud. The shelf break is usually clearly evident found on the slopes. Some giant rivers, such as
in a vertical cross-section of the sea bottom the Congo, carry such a dense load of sus-
from the shore outward. The average depth at pended material that they form continuous
the shelf break is about 130 m. Most of the density flows of turbid water down their
world’s fisheries are located on the continental canyons.
shelves for a multitude of reasons including
proximity of estuaries, depth of penetration of
sunlight compared with bottom depth, and 2.7. DEEP OCEAN
upwelling of nutrient-rich waters onto some
shelves, particularly those off western coasts. From the bottom of the continental slope, the
The continental slope averages about 4000 m bathymetric gradient decreases down the conti-
vertically from the shelf to the deep-sea bottom, nental rise to the deep-sea bottom, the last and
but in places extends as much as 9000 m verti- most extensive area. Depths of 3000e6000 m
cally in a relatively short horizontal distance. are found over 74% of the ocean basins with
In general, the continental slope is considerably 1% deeper. Perhaps the most characteristic
18 2. OCEAN DIMENSIONS, SHAPES, AND BOTTOM MATERIALS

FIGURE 2.7 Turbidity current evidence south of Newfoundland resulting from an earthquake in 1929. Source: From
Heezen, Ericson, and Ewing (1954).

aspect of the deep-sea bottom is the variety of its view is exclusively correct, for we now know
topography. Before any significant deep ocean that there are mountains, valleys, and plains
soundings were available, the sea bottom was on the ocean bottom, just as on land. With the
regarded as uniformly smooth. When detailed advent of satellite altimetry for mapping ocean
sounding started in connection with cable topography, we now have an excellent global
laying, it became clear that this was not the view of the distribution of all of these features
case and there was a swing to regarding the (e.g., Figure 2.1; Smith & Sandwell, 1997), and
sea bottom as predominantly rugged. Neither can relate many of the features to plate tectonic
 METHODS FOR MAPPING BOTTOM TOPOGRAPHY 19
processes (Section 2.2) and sedimentation sour- on a measured line until the weight touched
ces and processes. bottom, as discussed in Chapter S1, Section
S1.1 located on the textbook Web site http://
booksite.academicpress.com/DPO/; “S” denotes
2.8. SILLS, STRAITS, AND supplemental material. This method was slow;
PASSAGES in deep water it was uncertain because it
was difficult to tell when the weight touched
Sills, straits, and passages connect separate the bottom and if the line was vertical.
ocean regions. A sill is a ridge, above the average Since 1920 most depth measurements have
bottom level in a region, which separates one been made with echo sounders, which measure
basin from another or, in the case of a fjord the time taken for a pulse of sound to travel
(Section 5.1), separates the landward basin from from the ship to the bottom and reflect back to
the sea outside. The sill depth is the depth from the ship. One half of this time is multiplied by
the sea surface to the deepest part of the ridge; the average speed of sound in the seawater
that is, the maximum depth at which direct under the ship to give the depth. With present-
flow across the sill is possible. An oceanic sill is day equipment, the time can be measured very
like a topographic saddle with the sill depth accurately and the main uncertainty over a flat
analogous to the saddlepoint. In the deep ocean, bottom is in the value used for the speed of
sills connect deep basins. The sill depth controls sound. This varies with water temperature and
the density of waters that can flow over the ridge. salinity (see Section 3.7), and if these are not
Straits, passages, and channels are horizontal measured at the time of sounding an average
constrictions. It is most common to refer to a strait value must be used. Research and military ships
when considering landforms, such as the Strait of are generally outfitted with echo sounders and
Gibraltar that connects the Mediterranean Sea routinely report their bathymetric data to data
and the Atlantic Ocean, or the Bering Strait that centers that compile the information for bathy-
connects the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. metric mapping. The bathymetry along the
Passages and channels can also refer to subma- research ship track in Figure 2.5b was measured
rine topography, such as in fracture zones that using this acoustic method.
connect deep basins. Straits and sills can occur The modern extension of these single echo
together, as in both of these examples. The sounders is a multi-beam array, in which many
minimum width of the strait and the maximum sounders are mounted along the bottom of the
depth of the sill can hydraulically control the ship; these provide two-dimensional “swath”
flow passing through the constriction. mapping of the seafloor beneath the ship.
Great detail has been added to our knowledge
of the seafloor topography by satellite measure-
2.9. METHODS FOR MAPPING ments. These satellites measure the earth’s
BOTTOM TOPOGRAPHY gravity field, which depends on the local mass
of material. These measurements allow mapping
Our present knowledge of the shape of the of many hitherto unknown features, such as frac-
ocean floor results from an accumulation of ture zones and seamounts in regions remote
sounding measurements (most of which have from intensive echo sounder measurements,
been made within the last century) and, more and provide much more information about these
recently, using the gravity field measured by features even where they had been mapped
satellites (Smith & Sandwell, 1997). The early (Smith & Sandwell, 1997). Echo sounder
measurements were made by lowering a weight measurements are still needed to verify the
20 2. OCEAN DIMENSIONS, SHAPES, AND BOTTOM MATERIALS

gravity-based measurements since the material 1000 years, and a large amount of information
on the ocean bottom is not uniform; for instance, on the past history of the oceans is stored in
a bottom shaped by extensive sediment cover them. Samples of bottom material are obtained
might not be detected from the gravity field. with a “corer,” which is a 2e30 m long steel
The bathymetry shown in Figure 2.5c, as well pipe that is lowered vertically and forced to
as in the global and basin maps of Figures 2.1 penetrate into the sediments by the heavy
and Figures 2.8e2.12, is a blended product of weight at its upper end. The “core” of sediment
all available shipboard measurements and satel- retained in the pipe may represent material
lite-based measurements. deposited from 1000 to 10 million years per
meter of length. Sometimes the material is
layered, indicating stages of sedimentation of
2.10. BOTTOM MATERIAL different materials. In some places, layers
of volcanic ash are related to historical records
On the continental shelf and slope most of the of eruptions; in others, organisms characteristic
bottom material comes directly from the land, of cold or warm waters are found in different
either brought down by rivers or blown by the layers and suggest changes in temperature of
wind. The material of the deep-sea bottom is the overlying water during the period repre-
often more fine-grained than that on the shelf sented by the core. In some places gradations
or slope. Much of it is pelagic in character, that from coarse to fine sediments in the upward
is, it has been formed in the open ocean. The direction suggest the occurrence of turbidity
two major deep ocean sediments are “red” currents bringing material to the region with
clay and the biogenic “oozes.” The former has the coarser material settling out first and the
less than 30% biogenic material and is mainly finer later.
mineral in content. It consists of fine material Large sediment depositions from rivers create
from the land (which may have traveled great a sloping, smooth ocean bottom for thousands of
distances through the air before finally settling miles from the mouths of the rivers. This is
into the ocean), volcanic material, and meteoric called a deep-sea sediment fan. The largest, the
remains. The oozes are over 30% biogenic and Bengal Fan, is in the northeastern Indian Ocean
originate from the remains of living organisms and is created by the outflow from many rivers
(plankton). The calcareous oozes have a high including the Ganges and Brahmaputra. Other
percentage of calcium carbonate from the shells examples of fans are at the mouths of the Yang-
of animal plankton, while the siliceous oozes tze, Amazon, and Columbia Rivers.
have a high proportion of silica from the shells Physical oceanographers use sediments to
of silica-secreting planktonic plants and ani- help trace movement of the water at the ocean
mals. The siliceous oozes are found mainly in floor. Some photographs of the deep-sea bottom
the Southern Ocean and in the equatorial show ripples similar to a sand beach after the
Pacific. The relative distribution of calcareous tide has gone out. Such ripples are only found
and siliceous oozes is clearly related to the on the beach where the water speed is high,
nutrient content of the surface waters, with such as in the backwash from waves. We
calcareous oozes common in low nutrient conclude from the ripples on the deep-ocean
regions and siliceous oozes in high nutrient bottom that currents of similar speed occur
regions. there. This discovery helped to dispel the earlier
Except when turbidity currents deposit their notion that all deep-sea currents are very slow.
loads on the ocean bed, the average rate of depo- Sediments can affect the properties of
sition of the sediments is from 0.1 to 10 mm per seawater in contact with them; for instance,
 OCEAN BASINS 21
silicate and carbonate are dissolved from sedi- Southern Ocean, the ACC (Chapter 13), encoun-
ments into the overlying seawater. Organic ters the ridge, the current is deflected.
carbon, mainly from fecal pellets, is biologically The Pacific has more islands than any other
decomposed (remineralized) into inorganic ocean. Most of them are located in the western
carbon dioxide in the sediments with oxygen tropical regions. The Hawaiian Islands and their
consumed in the process. The carbon dioxide- extension northwestward into the Emperor
rich, oxygen-poor pore waters in the sediments Seamounts were created by motion of the Pacific
are released back into the seawater, affecting oceanic plate across the hotspot that is now
its composition. Organic nitrogen and phos- located just east of the big island of Hawaii.
phorus are also remineralized in the sediments, The Pacific Ocean has numerous marginal
providing an important source of inorganic seas, mostly along its western side. In the North
nutrients for seawater. In regions where all Pacific these are the Bering, Okhotsk, Japan,
oxygen is consumed, methane forms from Yellow, East China, and South China Seas in
bacterial action. This methane is often stored the west and the Gulf of California in the east.
in solid form called a methane hydrate. Vast In the South Pacific the marginal seas are the
quantities (about 1019 g) of methane hydrate Coral and Tasman Seas and many smaller
have accumulated in marine sediments over distinct regions that are named, such as the
the earth’s history. They can spontaneously Solomon Sea (not shown). In the southern South
turn from solid to gaseous form, causing subma- Pacific is the Ross Sea, which contributes to the
rine landslides and releasing methane into the bottom waters of the world ocean.
water, affecting its chemistry. The Atlantic Ocean has an “S” shape
(Figure 2.9). The MAR, a spreading ridge
down the center of the ocean, dominates its
2.11. OCEAN BASINS topography. Deep trenches are found just east
of the Lesser Antilles in the eastern Caribbean
The Pacific Ocean (Figure 2.8) is the world’s and east of the South Sandwich Islands. The
largest ocean basin. To the north there is a phys- Atlantic is open both at the north and the south
ical boundary broken only by the Bering Strait, connecting to the Arctic and Southern Oceans.
which is quite shallow (about 50 m) and 82 km The northern North Atlantic is one of the two
wide. There is a small net northward flow sources of the world’s deep water (Chapter 9).
from the Pacific to the Arctic through this strait. One of the Atlantic’s marginal seas, the Mediter-
At the equator, the Pacific is very wide so that ranean, is evaporative and contributes high
tropical phenomena that propagate east-west salinity, warm water to the mid-depth ocean.
take much longer to cross the Pacific than across At the southern boundary, the Weddell Sea is
the other oceans. The Pacific is rimmed in the a major formation site for the bottom water
west and north with trenches and ridges. This found in the oceans (Chapter 13). Other
area, because of the associated volcanoes, is marginal seas connecting to the Atlantic are
called the “ring of fire.” The EPR, a major topo- the Norwegian, Greenland, and Iceland Seas
graphic feature of the tropical and South Pacific, (sometimes known collectively as the Nordic
is a spreading ridge that separates the deep Seas), the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Black
waters of the southeast from the rest of the Sea, and the Caribbean. The Irminger Sea is
Pacific; it is part of the global mid-ocean ridge the region southeast of Greenland, the Labrador
(Section 2.2). Fracture zones allow some Sea is the region between Labrador and Green-
communication of deep waters across the ridge. land, and the Sargasso Sea is the open ocean
Where the major eastward current of the region surrounding Bermuda. Fresh outflow
22 2. OCEAN DIMENSIONS, SHAPES, AND BOTTOM MATERIALS

120°E 180° 120°W 60°W FIGURE 2.8 Map of

80°N 80°N the Pacific Ocean. Etopo2
Bering bathymetry data from
Strait
60°N a 60°N
NOAA NGDC (2008).
atk Bering
ch
Okhotsk am Sea
K
Sea Gulf of

ounts
Aleutian Islands Alaska
ds
an
Isl
Japan or ril

r Seam
East Sea Ku
40°N 40°N

se y
Yellow

Ri tsk

Empero
North Pacific
a
Sea
idge

Sh
East
Gulf of
R

China Sea Ha
wa
sawara

iian California
Isla
nds
20°N Philippine 20°N
.
Izu-Oga

Wake
aT

South Basin
Island Psg.
rian

China
Ma

Sea

Celebes
Sea
0° 0°
Galapagos
Banda
Sea So
lom
on
Se Samoan
a
Coral Fiji Psg.
Sea

Rise
20°S 20°S

acific
East P
South Pacific
Tasman
40°S Sea
40°S

Campbell
Plateau Bellingshausen
Basin
Southern Ocean
60°S Drake Passage 60°S

Ross Sea

80°S 80°S
120°E 180° 120°W 60°W

Depth (m)
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000

from large rivers such as the Amazon, Congo, where the Indian plate subducts beneath Indo-
and Orinoco Rivers form marked low-salinity nesia. The eastern boundary of the Indian Ocean
tongues at the sea surface. is porous and connected to the Pacific Ocean
The Indian Ocean (Figure 2.10) is closed off by through the Indonesian archipelago. Marginal
land just north of the tropics. The topography of seas for the Indian Ocean include the Andaman
the Indian Ocean is very rough because of the Sea, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf. The open
ridges left behind as the Indian plate moved ocean region west of India is called the Arabian
northward into the Asian continent creating Sea and the region east of India is called the Bay
the Himalayas. The Central Indian Ridge and of Bengal.
Southwest Indian Ridge are two of the slowest The differential heating of land and ocean in
spreading ridges on Earth. (As discussed previ- the tropics results in the creation of the monsoon
ously, seafloor roughness from abyssal hills and weather system. Monsoons occur in many pla-
fracture zones is highest at slower spreading ces, but the most dramatic and best described
rates, which is necessary in understanding the monsoon is in the northern Indian Ocean
spatial distribution of deep mixing in the global (Chapter 11). From October to May the North-
ocean.) The only trench is the Sunda Trench east Monsoon sends cool, dry winds from the
 OCEAN BASINS 23
60°W 0°
80°N 80°N
Baffin Nordic Seas
Bay Denmark Ic
Strait Fa elan
ro d-

d .
Irminger ll e R

lan R
B.
60°N ka u . 60°N

Ice nes
Hudson Bay Labrador Sea c Baltic
Ro atea all North

a
Sea

kj
Sea
Pl ock h Sea

ey
R oug

R
Charlie Gibbs FZ T r
Bay of
Grand Biscay Black
Ne Banks Sea
40°N Se w E 40°N
Cape am ng
Hatteras ou lan Azores Mediterranean Sea
nt d Strait of
s
Sargasso Gibraltar
Sea
North Atlantic Canary Isl.
Ba

G. Mexico
ha
m
as

20°N Mid-Atlantic 20°N

An

Cape Verde Isl.

Ridge
tille

Caribbean
s

Sea

Vema FZ
R.
oco
Orin

0° che FZ 0°
Roman

R.
R.

o
Amazon

ng
Co
Angola
Basin

Brazil B.
20°S 20°S
South Atlantic
Mid-Atlantic e
dg
Ridge
Ri
vis

Cape
al
W

Basin
40°S Argentine 40°S
Basin

Scotia Sea
60°S
Drake Passage Southern Ocean 60°S
Weddell
Sea

80°S 80°S
60°W 0°
Depth (m)
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000

FIGURE 2.9 Map of the Atlantic Ocean. Etopo2 bathymetry data from NOAA NGDC (2008).

continental land masses in the northeast over monsoon conditions are best known in India,
the Indian subcontinent to the ocean. Starting they also dominate the climate in the western
in June and lasting until September, the system tropical and South Pacific.
shifts to the southwest monsoon, which brings Most of the rivers that drain southward from
warm, wet rains from the western tropical the Himalayas d including the Ganges, Brah-
ocean to the Indian subcontinent. While these maputra, and Irawaddy d flow out into the
24 2. OCEAN DIMENSIONS, SHAPES, AND BOTTOM MATERIALS

20°E 40°E 60°E 80°E 100°E 120°E 140°E

40°N 40°N
Mediterranean Sea

Persian
Gulf
Gulf of

20°N
Red
Sea
Oman Pacific 20°N
Ocean
Gulf of Aden Arabian Bay of
Sea Bengal Andaman

Chagos-Laccadives Ridge
Ca Sea
rls
be
rg
Ri
dg
e
Somali Basin
0° Indonesian 0°
Central Indian
Am
Basin
Archipelago
ira Banda Sea
nt
eP
a.

ge
Indian

Ninety-East Rid
N. Australia Basin
Ce
Mascarene ntr
Basin
Ocean
al I

Mozambique
nd

20°S W. Australia Basin

ian

Channel 20°S
R idg

Madagascar
e
Mozambique

Basin
Perth
Basin

Basin
Broken Plateau
d ge Naturaliste
Ri
d ian Crozet Plateau
t In Basin
40°S es 40°S
t hw Sou
thea
Agulhas Basin SouCrozet Plateau S. Australia Basin
st In
dian
Ridg
e
Ke

Southern Ocean
rg
ue
len

Agulhas
Pla

Enderby Basin Plateau Australian-Antarctic Basin

60°S 60°S
tea
u

80°S 80°S
10°E 40°E 80°E 120°E 150°E

Depth (m)
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000

FIGURE 2.10 Map of the Indian Ocean. Etopo2 bathymetry data from NOAA NGDC (2008).

Bay of Bengal, east of India rather than into the kilometers. West of India, the Arabian Sea, Red
Arabian Sea, west of India. This causes the Sea, and Persian Gulf are very salty due to the
surface water of the Bay of Bengal to be quite dry climate and subsequent high evaporation.
fresh. The enormous amount of silt carried by Similar to the Mediterranean, the saline Red
these rivers from the eroding Himalayan Moun- Sea water is sufficiently dense to sink to mid-
tains into the Bay of Bengal creates the subsur- depth in the Indian Ocean and affects water
face geological feature, the Bengal Fan, which properties over a large part of the Arabian Sea
slopes smoothly downward for thousands of and western Indian Ocean.
 OCEAN BASINS 25
180˚

15
0˚W 0˚E
15
Bering
Strait

Chukchi
Sea
0˚W

12
East Siberian

0˚E
Beaufort
12

Mackenzie R. Sea Sea

Canada
Basin Canadian Lena R.
Basin Laptev Sea
Makarov
Basin
Arctic Ocean eEurasian
Lancaster Sound

dg
Canadian Ri Basin

sin
o v

Ba
Archipelago
os
90˚W

90˚E
on

en

sin
Severnaya

ds
Hudson m

Ba
Lo
un
Ellesmere I. Zemlya
Bay Fury &
Am

en
Hecla St. Nares St Yenisei R.

ns
rait
Kara
Na
Baffin Sea
Franz Josef
ait

Baffin I. Bay
on Str

Land
Fram Novaya Ob R.
Svalbard Zemlya
Huds

Davis Strait
Strait

Barents Sea
Greenland

˚E
60

60
Sea
˚W

Jan Mayen
Se

Denmark
ian

Iceland
Strait
eg

Sea
rw
No

Iceland-Faroe
30 lan
d
˚E
˚W Ridge het 30
e-S el
o
Far Chann

0˚
Depth (m)
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000

FIGURE 2.11 The Arctic Ocean. Etopo2 bathymetry data from NOAA NGDC (2008).

The Arctic Ocean (Figure 2.11) is sometimes Kara, and Barents Seas. The Arctic is connected
not regarded as an ocean, but rather as a medi- to the North Pacific through the shallow Bering
terranean sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean. Strait. It is connected to the Nordic Seas (Norwe-
It is characterized by very broad continental gian and Greenland) through passages on either
shelves surrounding a deeper region, which is side of Svalbard, including Fram Strait between
split down the center by the Lomonosov Ridge. Svalbard and Greenland. The Nordic Seas are
These shelf areas around the Arctic are called separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the
the Beaufort, Chukchi, East Siberian, Laptev, submarine ridge between Greenland, Iceland,
26 2. OCEAN DIMENSIONS, SHAPES, AND BOTTOM MATERIALS

90°W

60
0˚W ˚W
12

ific Rise
East Pac
Falkland Argentine
0˚W

South Pacific Plateau

30
Basin

˚W
15

e
Zon Drake Passage
ture Sc
F rac ot

Plain byssal
Eltanin ne ia
o Se
eZ

nin ic
tur

Pe arct
SW Pacific c a

.
Fra

en A

t
v

An
Basin intse Mid-Atlantic Ridge
Ud
nds
Weddell Sea
South
Amu

Atlantic
180˚

Ross Sea

0˚
C
a
Pl mp
at be
ea ll
u ge
Rid

in
rie
Cape

Bas
a
qu
Ad nd

c Basin
Ma
La
éli

erby
e

Wi
Tasman lke
sL

End
Au an
Sea s tra d
lia
n Prydz Bay
Ba -Ant

Ridge
sin arc
So tic Ke
uth r

˚E
gu
15

st Indian
ea el

30
st
0˚E

S. Ind en
Au ian Pl
s tra at
Ri ea
lia dg u Southwe
Ba e
sin
Crozet
Basin
12 Indian
0˚E ˚E
60

90°E
Depth (m)
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000

FIGURE 2.12 The Southern Ocean around Antarctica. Etopo2 bathymetry data from NOAA NGDC (2008).

and the UK, with a maximum sill depth of about Indian, and Pacific Oceans, but is often consid-
620 m in the Denmark Strait, between Green- ered separately since it is the only region
land and Iceland. Dense water formed in the outside the Arctic where there is a path for east-
Nordic Seas spills into the Atlantic over this ward flow all the way around the globe. This
ridge. The central area of the Arctic Ocean is occurs at the latitude of Drake Passage between
perennially covered with sea ice. South America and Antarctica and allows
The Southern Ocean (Figure 2.12) is not the three major oceans to be connected.
geographically distinct from the Atlantic, The absence of a meridional (north-south)
 OCEAN BASINS 27
boundary in Drake Passage changes the deflect northward before finding the only two
dynamics of the flow at these latitudes deep channels, the Udintsev and Eltanin Frac-
completely in comparison with the rest of the ture Zones.
ocean, which has meridional boundaries. The ocean around Antarctica includes
Drake Passage also serves to constrict the permanent ice shelves as well as seasonal sea
width of the flow of the ACC, which must ice (Figures 13.11 and 13.19). Unlike the Arctic
pass in its entirety through the passage. The there is no perennial long-term pack ice; except
South Sandwich Islands and trench east of for some limited ice shelves and all of the first-
Drake Passage partially block the open circum- year ice melts and forms each year. The densest
polar flow. Another major constriction is the bottom waters of the world ocean are formed in
broad Pacific-Antarctic rise, which is the the Southern Ocean, primarily in the Weddell
seafloor spreading ridge between the Pacific and Ross Seas as well as in other areas distrib-
and Antarctic plates. This fast-spreading ridge uted along the Antarctic coast between the
has few deep fracture zones, so the ACC must Ross Sea and Prydz Bay.