ocean basin
Deep sea floor
An ocean basin is the large depression in Earth's surface that holds an ocean.
The term refers to the entire seafloor structure—including the abyssal plains, mid-ocean ridges, and trenches—bounded by continents or underwater ridges.
The Pacific Ocean basin is the largest and deepest.
Geologists study ocean basins to understand plate tectonics and Earth's history.
- bathymetrySubaqueous topographical measurement
- volcanic arcCurved line of volcanoes
- accretionary wedgeSediment pile at subduction zones
- subduction zoneWhere one plate slides under another
- hydrothermal ventOcean floor hot spring
tidal flow · sea level · isostasy · silty · coral reef · depths · water column · upwelling · seafloor · submarine canyon · rift · plate tectonics · ring of fire · tectonic · crust · underwater · canyon · fathom
- ocean featurestrench, atoll, coral reef, continental shelf, barrier reef
- underwater placesunderwater cave, underwater canyon, underwater tunnel, seabed, sea bed
- deep seaabyss, seabed, seafloor, deep sea, depth
- basinswashbasin, bowl, graben, sink, kitchen sink
- ocean floorseafloor, deep sea floor, seamount, seamounts, submarine canyon
- ocean geologyseafloor, seabed, seamount, deep-sea trenches, continental shelf
ocean basinmountain range
Series of connected peaks
highland · mountain peak · continental shelf · ridge · seamount
ocean basinlake basin
Depression holding standing water
inland sea · freshwater lake · river valley · watershed · drainage basin