EESB15H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Maurice Ewing, Continental Crust, Uranium-238
13 Dec 2013
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Part of lecture 2 covered in lecture 3. A continental shelf is the edge of a continent that lies under the ocean. Continents are the seven main divisions of land on earth. A continental shelf extends from the coastline of a continent to a drop-off point called the shelf break. The continental shelf is not a permanent feature, but is composed of sedimentary deposits, piled high (up to. 3500 m) above the sloping basement of the ocean floor. The deeper the ocean the finer the particles deposited, the reason why continental shelf is not permanent because of the movement of the ocean, the tide and ebb. In the deeper oceans the clay settles down slowly and gets deposited slowly at the continental shelves. If the continental shelf is shallow, larger parts of the continental shelve is exposed. Think of a river, full of energy and can carry particles of larger size.
