Water science news, explainers, and statistics covering freshwater, hydrology, lakes, rivers, groundwater, ice, and Earth’s connected water systems.
Oceanic crust and continental crust are the two forms of solid rock at Earth’s surface, yet they differ in composition, thickness, density, age and fate. Oceanic crust is generally thin, dense and basalt-rich. Continental crust is usually much thicker, less dense and compositionally varied, with abundant rocks that resemble granite. Those properties help explain why…
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The continental slope is the steep seafloor that descends from the outer edge of the continental shelf toward the deep ocean basin. It begins near the shelf break and ends where the gradient becomes gentler at a continental rise, basin floor or trench. Across this band, depth can increase by several kilometers over a comparatively…
The continental shelf is the gently sloping seafloor that extends from the coast to the shelf break, where the bottom begins a steeper descent toward the deep ocean. Although submerged, it belongs geologically to the continent. Its shallow water, mobile sediment and close connection to land make the shelf one of the ocean’s most productive…
A continental margin is the submerged transition from a continent to the deep ocean basin. It begins near the coast and ordinarily includes the continental shelf, the steeper continental slope and a lower sediment-covered region called the continental rise. Together, those provinces record how continental crust meets oceanic crust and how material moves from land…
