What is the Difference Between the Continental Shelf and the Deep Ocean?
In the world’s oceans, there are two distinct geographic areas — the continental shelf and the deep ocean, also known as the abyssal plain. The continental shelf is a large area of shallow (less than 150 m, 500 ft) sea extending about 50 mi (82 km) from the world’s continents. During Ice Ages, more water is locked up in the world’s ice caps, the sea level decreases, and the continental shelves are exposed. Famous areas of continental shelf include the Siberian Shelf, which humans once crossed into the Americas, the Sunda Shelf in the South China Sea, the North Sea Shelf, and the Persian Gulf Shelf, all of which are thought to have once been inhabited by humans. Outside the continental shelf, the continental crust gives way to the oceanic crust, usually a different tectonic plate. The depth increases, with the bottom sloping at an angle between 1° and 10°. Under a depth of about 0.9 km (3,000 ft), sunlight can no longer reach the ocean’s depths, and pressure is about 90 times greater th
In the world’s oceans, there are two distinct geographic areas — the continental shelf and the deep ocean, also known as the abyssal plain. The continental shelf is a large area of shallow (less than 150 m, 500 ft) sea extending about 50 mi (82 km) from the world’s continents. During Ice Ages, more water is locked up in the world’s ice caps, the sea level decreases, and the continental shelves are exposed. Famous areas of continental shelf include the Siberian Shelf, which humans once crossed into the Americas, the Sunda Shelf in the South China Sea, the North Sea Shelf, and the Persian Gulf Shelf, all of which are thought to have once been inhabited by humans. Outside the continental shelf, the continental crust gives way to the oceanic crust, usually a different tectonic plate. The depth increases, with the bottom sloping at an angle between 1° and 10°. Under a depth of about 0.9 km (3,000 ft), sunlight can no longer reach the ocean’s depths, and pressure is about 90 times greater
