ocean floors
Deep marine terrain
Ocean floors are the seabed—the ground beneath ocean waters.
The term emphasizes the floor-like flatness of much underwater terrain, though ocean floors include trenches, ridges, and volcanic formations.
Scientists study ocean floors for geological activity and marine ecosystems: Sonar mapping revealed previously unknown features of the ocean floor.
- manganese nodulesMineral accretions from ocean depths
- depthsLowest or innermost regions
- crushing pressureForce compacting from all sides
- seabedUnderwater terrain below
- sedimentParticles settling in liquid
trench · sunken ships · crust · plate tectonics · subduction zones · bottom feeders · black smokers · underwater volcanoes · seamount · deep-sea mining · volcanic activity · fathoms · coral · sand · mapping · submarines · sonar · bioluminescence
- oceanographysonar, marine science, thermocline, research vessel, downwelling
- geologybedrock, fault lines, faults, rock, basalt
- landformsmountain, cliff, valley, volcano, mountain ridge
- mollusksclams, mollusk, mollusks, snail, snails
- ocean zonesintertidal zone, twilight zone, midnight zone, tidal zone, thermocline
ocean floorsmountain peaks
Highest elevations of ranges
mountaintops · summits · peaks · alpine peaks · Himalayan peaks
ocean floorsdry land
Earth above water
landmasses · terra firma · continents · ground level · continental shelves
ocean floorssea surface
Water-air interface
ocean surface · water surface · surface waters · continental shelves · surface layer
floor, ocean, oceans, flooring, oceanic, oceanfront, oceanography, oceanographer, ocean floor