Planet Earth Ocean Floor

The rest of the water covered area comprises mainly shallow seas the continental shelves and lakes.

Planet earth ocean floor.

Away from the rocky slopes of the seamounts and midocean ridges the ocean floor is everywhere cold and muddy so scientists long assumed that fauna would be pretty much the same worldwide. Open ocean a vast biotope covering two thirds of the planet some shallow some as deep as the mountain ranges are high. They could be the oldest known organisms on planet earth. Make use of google earth s detailed globe by tilting the map to save a perfect 3d view or diving into street view for a 360 experience.

100 million year old life forms found on the ocean floor. Planet earth sweeping the ocean floor strange sea creatures caught on film for the first time. The left figure is a slice through the earth taken from. Bathymetry the shape of the ocean floor is largely a result of a process called plate tectonics the outer rocky layer of the earth includes about a dozen large sections called tectonic plates that are arranged like a spherical jig saw puzzle floating on top of the earth s hot flowing mantle.

Planet observer getty images. With david attenborough sigourney weaver doug anderson thomas anguti johnston. What the earth would look like stripped of oceans. First ever digital map of the sea floor reveals our planet s alien landscape half a century of research and 14 500 samples has been compiled.

Share your story with the world. Watch the latest in the ocean series how to stop plastics getting into the ocean. Scientists probing the earth s interior have found a large reservoir of water equal to the volume of the arctic ocean beneath eastern asia. The ocean has an immense precariously complex food chain varying from microscopic animals like krill to whales which ironically feed mainly on the former.

By robert kunzig june 13 2007 5 00 am. Plate tectonics and the ocean floor. The scientists work centred on a geological site in north western australia where a 3 2bn year old slab of ocean floor has been turned on its side.