What does a continental shelf look like?

Continental shelves are usually covered with a layer of sand, silts, and silty muds. Their surfaces exhibit some relief, featuring small hills and ridges that alternate with shallow depressions and valleylike troughs.

What is the largest continental shelf?

Siberian Shelf
The largest shelf – the Siberian Shelf in the Arctic Ocean – stretches to 1,500 kilometers (930 mi) in width. The South China Sea lies over another extensive area of continental shelf, the Sunda Shelf, which joins Borneo, Sumatra, and Java to the Asian mainland.

Where is the continental shelf in North America?

“The Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem (NES LME) encompasses an area of approximately 260,000 km2 from Cape Hatteras in the south to the Gulf of Maine in the north.

Do we walk on the continental shelf?

Continental crust is made of a mix of felsic and granitic types of rock. You keep walking into the sea. The water gets gradually deeper as you go, but only at a super slow rate; it’s still practically flat and shallow with no sharp drops. This is because you’re actually walking on the continental shelf.

What color is the continental shelf?

light blue color
The light blue color depicts a large continental shelf of shallow ocean extending to the southeast of Zealandia’s largest land masses, the South and North islands of New Zealand, and northwest towards the islands that make up New Caledonia. A continental shelf is the edge of a continent that lies under the ocean.

Where is the continental shelf the narrowest?

The widest shelves are in the Arctic Ocean off the northern coasts of Siberia and North America . Some of the narrowest shelves are found off the tectonically active western coasts of North and South America .

Where can you find a continental shelf?

A continental shelf extends from the coastline of a continent to a drop-off point called the shelf break. From the break, the shelf descends toward the deep ocean floor in what is called the continental slope. Even though they are underwater, continental shelves are part of the continent.

Which state has largest continental shelf?

India’s Tamil Nadu has the largest continental shelf. The edge of a continent which lies under the ocean is a continental shelf.

What state has the largest continental shelf?

Outer Continental Shelf

• The Alaska OCS Region, which is the largest, has diverse geography, the longest coastlines, and the deepest water.
• The Pacific OCS Region is shaped by an active geological margin.

Where are the continental shelves?

Why are continental shelves poorly developed in Africa?

Strong river currents cut deeply into the soft material of the continental shelf, just like they erode rocks above ground. The Congo Canyon, extending from the mouth of the Congo River, is 800 kilometers (497 miles) long and 1,200 meters (3,900 feet) deep. The Congo Canyon is part of Africa.

What is the continental shelf?

The continental shelf is an undersea extension of a continent that can stretch a great distance out to sea in some cases. Many nations have asserted mineral and land rights to their associated continental shelves, since this region of the ocean is rich in natural resources such as marine life.

How were the continental shelves between North America and Asia exposed?

The continental shelves between North America and Asia were probably exposed during the Ice Age. Some scientists say that the shelves provided a “ land bridge ” between the two continents. People may have used this land bridge—now the Bering Strait—to migrate from Siberia to what is now Alaska, becoming the first human beings in North America.

What happens to the shelf after the continental break?

After the continental break, the shelf takes a sharp downward turn, creating a geological feature called the continental slope. This feature transitions into the continental rise, a deposit of sediments that forms as a result of river and stream run off from the neighboring continent.

How deep is the ocean floor on the continental shelves?

Water depth over the continental shelves averages about 60 meters (200 feet). Sunlight penetrates the shallow waters, and many kinds of organisms flourish—from microscopic shrimp to giant seaweed called kelp. Ocean currents and runoff from rivers bring nutrients to organisms that live on continental shelves.