Plate tectonics and the ocean floor.
Very flat part of ocean floor.
They are among the earth s flattest and smoothest regions and the least explored.
The abyssal plains are flat or very gently sloping areas of the deep ocean floor.
The ocean floor is sometimes called the final frontier of the modern era.
In recent years satellite images show a very clear mapping of the seabed and are used extensively in the study and exploration of the ocean floor.
Seabed contains several hundred years worth of cobalt and nickel.
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.
The process that continually adds new material to the ocean floor is seafloor spreading and the continental slope.
The ocean surface is vast and hides an entire world underneath it.
They are among the earth s flattest and smoothest regions and the least explored.
Though people have traveled on the ocean for millennia people have explored only a tiny fraction of the ocean floor.
We know very little about the vast expanse of our oceans.