What features exist on continental margins?
The continental margin consists of three different features: the continental rise, the continental slope, and the continental shelf. Continental margins constitute about 28% of the oceanic area.
How are the continental margins of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans different?
Present day continental margins are of two types: those of ‘Atlantic type’ on the aseismic non volcanic margins of oceans expanding by ocean-floor spreading, and those of ‘Pacific type’ where the lithosphere of a spreading ocean descends beneath oceanic trenches.
How are continental margins formed?
Convergent continental margins develop when two crustal plates collide. When an ocean plate collides with a less dense continental plate a marginal basin forms between the island arc and the continent.
What is the continental margin quizlet?
continental margin. refers to the edge of the continent and includes the area from the true continental interior seaward to the deep ocean floor. coastal plain.
Where are continental margins found?
An active continental margin is found on the leading edge of the continent where it is crashing into an oceanic plate. An excellent example is the west coast of South America. Active margins are commonly the sites of tectonic activity: earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain building, and the formation of new igneous rock.
What type of continental margin is associated with the Atlantic Ocean?
Passive continental margins
Passive continental margins abutting the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico developed as a large continent, Pangea, ripped apart about 200 million years ago.
Is the oceanic crust part of the continental margin?
The oceanic crust is the part of the earth’s crust that underlies the oceans. The continental margin is the zone that separates the continental crust from the oceanic crust. Active continental margins are continental margins that are tectonically active.
How are passive continental margins different from active continental margins?
Passive continental margins are continental margins that are not tectonically active. So, instead of seeing mountainous areas prone to earthquakes and volcanoes, with passive continental margins, we see gently rolling flat land and a wide continental shelf that slopes slowly into the ocean.
How are the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans different?
Subduction zones rim the Pacific Ocean, while the Atlantic plate margins lack tectonic activity. b. Subduction zones rim the Atlantic Ocean, while the Pacific plate margins lack tectonic activity c. Both the Atlantic and Pacific are passive margins. d. Both the Atlantic and Pacific are active margins.
Why does a continent drop off along an active margin?
So, the continent drops off quickly along an active margin and meets up with the more dense oceanic crust. Because the oceanic crust is heavier, it gets forced underneath the continental crust, carrying lots of rock toward the hotter mantle of the earth, where it can melt.