What Is Continental Shelf In Geography

Continents are the seven main divisions of land on earth.

What is continental shelf in geography.

A continental shelf extends from the coastline of a continent to a drop off point called the shelf break. Continental shield any of the large stable areas of low relief in the earth s crust that are composed of precambrian crystalline rocks. The geology of continental shelves is often similar to that of the adjacent exposed portion of the continent and most shelves have a gently rolling topography called ridge and swale. A continental shelf is the edge of a continent lying beneath the ocean.

Greenland 840 000 square miles 2 175 000 square km the largest island is composed of the same materials. Most of the platform is covered by shallow seas including the southern south china sea the gulf of thailand and the java sea with depths averaging less than 330 feet 100 metres. A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water known as a shelf sea. Physical geography the sea bed surrounding a continent at depths of up to about 200 metres 100 fathoms at the edge of which the continental slope drops steeply to the ocean floor.

From the break the shelf descends toward the deep ocean floor in what is called the continental slope. The shelf surrounding an island is known as an insular shelf. Notes for continental shelf. The shelf is built up from sediments washed down to the sea by rivers.

Continental shelf the region adjoining the coastline of a continent where the ocean is no more than a few hundred feet deep. Much of these shelves has been exposed during glacial periods and interglacial periods. Continental shelf a broad relatively shallow submarine terrace of continental crust forming the edge of a continental landmass. The age of these rocks is in all cases greater than 540 million years and radiometric age dating has revealed some that are as old as 2 to 3 billion years.

Continental island s are simply unsubmerged parts of the continental shelf that are entirely surrounded by water. A continental shelf is the edge of a continent that lies under the ocean. The shelf break is where the underwater edge of a continent shelf begins to rapidly slope downwards towards the ocean floor depths. Many of the larger islands of the world are of the continental type.

This shelf extends from the coastline of a continent to a drop off point called the shelf break. Sunda shelf stable continental shelf or platform a southward extension of mainland southeast asia.