Wikipedia

Continental shelf

Acontinental shelfis a portion of acontinentthat is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as ashelf sea.Much of these shelves were exposed by drops insea levelduringglacial periods.The shelf surrounding anislandis known as an "insular shelf."

Anatomy of a continental shelf of the south eastern coast of the United States

Thecontinental margin,between the continental shelf and theabyssal plain,comprises a steep continental slope, surrounded by the flattercontinental rise,in whichsedimentfrom the continent above cascades down the slope and accumulates as a pile of sediment at the base of the slope. Extending as far as 500 km (310 mi) from the slope, it consists of thick sediments deposited byturbidity currentsfrom the shelf and slope.[1][2]Thecontinental rise'sgradientis intermediate between the gradients of the slope and the shelf.

Under theUnited Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,the name continental shelf was given a legal definition as the stretch of theseabedadjacent to the shores of a particular country to which it belongs.

Topography

edit

The shelf usually ends at a point of increasing slope[3](called theshelf break). The sea floor below the break is thecontinental slope.[4]Below the slope is thecontinental rise,which finally merges into the deep ocean floor, theabyssal plain.[5]The continental shelf and the slope are part of thecontinental margin.[6]

The shelf area is commonly subdivided into theinner continental shelf,mid continental shelf,andouter continental shelf,[7]each with their specificgeomorphology[8][9]andmarine biology.[10]

The character of the shelf changes dramatically at the shelf break, where the continental slope begins. With a few exceptions, the shelf break is located at a remarkably uniform depth of roughly 140 m (460 ft); this is likely a hallmark of past ice ages, when sea level was lower than it is now.[11]

The continental slope is much steeper than the shelf; the average angle is 3°, but it can be as low as 1° or as high as 10°.[12][11]The slope is often cut withsubmarine canyons.The physical mechanisms involved in forming these canyons were not well understood until the 1960s.[13][14]

Geographical distribution

edit
Bathymetryof the ocean floor showing the continental shelves andoceanic plateaus(red), themid-ocean ridges(yellow-green) and theabyssal plains(blue to purple)
Thecontinental shelf of Australia,which is proximate to the coasts ofNewcastleandSydney(bottom left)

Continental shelves cover an area of about 27 million km2(10 million sq mi), equal to about 7% of the surface area of the oceans.[15]The width of the continental shelf varies considerably—it is not uncommon for an area to have virtually no shelf at all, particularly where the forward edge of an advancingoceanic platedives beneathcontinental crustin an offshoresubduction zonesuch as off the coast ofChileor the west coast ofSumatra.

The largest shelf—theSiberian Shelfin theArctic Ocean—stretches to 1,500 kilometers (930 mi) in width. TheSouth China Sealies over another extensive area of continental shelf, theSunda Shelf,which joinsBorneo,Sumatra, andJavato the Asian mainland. Other familiar bodies of water that overlie continental shelves are theNorth Seaand thePersian Gulf.The average width of continental shelves is about 80 km (50 mi). The depth of the shelf also varies, but is generally limited to water shallower than 100 m (330 ft).[16]The slope of the shelf is usually quite low, on the order of 0.5°;vertical reliefis also minimal, at less than 20 m (66 ft).[17]

Though the continental shelf is treated as aphysiographicprovince of theocean,it is not part of the deep ocean basin proper, but the flooded margins of the continent.[18]Passive continental marginssuch as most of theAtlanticcoasts have wide and shallow shelves, made of thick sedimentary wedges derived from long erosion of a neighboring continent.Active continental marginshave narrow, relatively steep shelves, due to frequentearthquakesthat move sediment to the deep sea.[19]

Continental shelf widths[20](in km)
Ocean Active Margin Passive Margin Total Margin
Mean Maximum Mean Maximum Mean Maximum
Arctic Ocean 0 0 104.1 ± 1.7 389 104.1 ± 1.7 389
Indian Ocean 19 ± 0.61 175 47.6 ± 0.8 238 37 ± 0.58 238
Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea 11 ± 0.29 79 38.7 ± 1.5 166 17 ± 0.44 166
North Atlantic Ocean 28 ± 1.08 259 115.7 ± 1.6 434 85 ± 1.14 434
North Pacific Ocean 39 ± 0.71 412 34.9 ± 1.2 114 39 ± 0.68 412
South Atlantic Ocean 24 ± 2.6 55 123.0 ± 2.5 453 104 ± 2.4 453
South Pacific Ocean 214 ± 2.86 357 96.1 ± 2.0 778 110 ± 1.92 778
All Oceans 31 ± 0.4 412 88.2 ± 0.7 778 57 ± 0.41 778

Sediments

edit

The continental shelves are covered byterrigenous sediments;that is, those derived from erosion of the continents. However, little of the sediment is from currentrivers;some 60–70% of the sediment on the world's shelves isrelict sediment,deposited during the last ice age, when sea level was 100–120 m lower than it is now.[21][11]

Sediments usually become increasingly fine with distance from the coast; sand is limited to shallow, wave-agitated waters, while silt and clays are deposited in quieter, deep water far offshore.[22]These accumulate 15–40 centimetres (5.9–15.7 in) every millennium, much faster than deep-seapelagic sediments.[23]

Shelf seas

edit

"Shelf seas" are the ocean waters on the continental shelf. Their motion is controlled by the combined influences of thetides,wind-forcing andbrackish waterformed fromriver inflows(Regions of Freshwater Influence). These regions can often be biologically highly productive due to mi xing caused by the shallower waters and the enhanced current speeds. Despite covering only about 8% of Earth's ocean surface area,[20]shelf seas support 15–20% of globalprimary productivity.[24]

In temperate continental shelf seas, three distinctive oceanographic regimes are found, as a consequence of the interplay between surface heating, lateral buoyancy gradients (due to river inflow), and turbulent mi xing by the tides and to a lesser extent the wind.[25]

  • In shallower water with stronger tides and away from river mouths, tidal turbulence overcomes the stratifying influence of surface heating, and thewater columnremains well mixed for the entire seasonal cycle.
  • In contrast, in deeper water, the surface heating wins out in summer, to produce seasonal stratification with a warm surface layer overlying the isolated deep water.[26]
(The well mixed and seasonally stratifying regimes are separated by persistent features called tidal mi xing fronts.)[27]
  • A third regime which linksestuariesto shelf seas, Regions of Freshwater Influence (ROFIs), is found where estuaries enter shelf seas, for example in the Liverpool Bay area of theIrish Seaand Rhine Outflow region of theNorth Sea.Here, stratification can vary on timescales from thesemidiurnaltidal cycle through to thesprings-neaptidal cycle due to a process known as "tidal straining".[28]While theNorth SeaandIrish Seaare two of the better studied shelf seas,[29]they are not necessarily representative of all shelf seas as there is a wide variety of behaviours to be found:

Indian Oceanshelf seas are dominated by major river systems, including theGangesandIndusrivers.[30]The shelf seas aroundNew Zealandare complicated because the submerged continent ofZealandiacreates wide plateaus.[31]Shelf seas aroundAntarcticaand the shores of theArctic Oceanare influenced bysea iceproduction andpolynya.[32]

There is evidence that changing wind, rainfall, and regional ocean currents in a warming ocean are having an effect on some shelf seas.[33]Improved data collection viaIntegrated Ocean Observing Systemsin shelf sea regions is making identification of these changes possible.[34]

Biota

edit

Continental shelves teem with life because of the sunlight available in shallow waters, in contrast to the biotic desert of the oceans'abyssal plain.Thepelagic(water column) environment of the continental shelf constitutes theneritic zone,and thebenthic(sea floor) province of the shelf is thesublittoral zone.[35]The shelves make up less than 10% of the ocean, and a rough estimate suggests that only about 30% of the continental shelf sea floor receives enough sunlight to allow benthic photosynthesis.[36]

Though the shelves are usually fertile, ifanoxicconditions prevail during sedimentation, the deposits may overgeologic timebecomesourcesforfossil fuels.[37][38]

Economic significance

edit
See also:Offshore drilling

The continental shelf is the best understood part of the ocean floor, as it is relatively accessible. Most commercial exploitation of the sea, such as extraction of metallic ore, non-metallic ore, andhydrocarbons,takes place on the continental shelf.

Sovereign rights over their continental shelves down to a depth of 100 m (330 ft) or to a distance where the depth of waters admitted ofresource exploitationwere claimed by the marine nations that signed theConvention on the Continental Shelfdrawn up by the UN'sInternational Law Commissionin 1958. This was partly superseded by the 1982United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea(UNCLOS).[39]The 1982 convention created the 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) exclusive economic zone, plus continental shelf rights for states with physical continental shelves that extend beyond that distance.

The legal definition of a continental shelf differs significantly from the geological definition. UNCLOS states that the shelf extends to the limit of thecontinental margin,but no less than 200 nmi (370 km; 230 mi) and no more than 350 nmi (650 km; 400 mi) from thebaseline.Thus inhabited volcanic islands such as theCanaries,which have no actual continental shelf, nonetheless have a legal continental shelf, whereas uninhabitable islands have no shelf.

See also

edit

Notes

edit
  1. ^Pinet 2003,p. 39.
  2. ^Gross 1972,p. 45.
  3. ^Encyclopædia Britannica.
  4. ^Jackson 1997,"Continental slope".
  5. ^Jackson 1997,"Continental rise".
  6. ^Jackson 1997,"Continental margin".
  7. ^Atkinson et al. 1983.
  8. ^Wellner, Heroy & Anderson 2006.
  9. ^Figueiredo et al. 2016.
  10. ^Muelbert et al. 2008.
  11. ^abcGross 1972,p. 43.
  12. ^Pinet 2003,p. 36.
  13. ^Pinet 2003,p. 98.
  14. ^Gross 1972,p. 44.
  15. ^Continental shelf – Blue Habitats
  16. ^Pinet 2003,p. 37.
  17. ^Pinet 2003,pp. 36–37.
  18. ^Pinet 2003,pp. 35–36.
  19. ^Pinet 2003,pp. 90–93.
  20. ^abHarris et al. 2014.
  21. ^Pinet 2003,pp. 84–85.
  22. ^Gross 1972,pp. 121–122.
  23. ^Gross 1972,p. 127.
  24. ^de Haas, van Weering & de Stigter 2002.
  25. ^Simpson, John H.; Sharples, Jonathan (2012).Introduction to the Physical and Biological Oceanography of Shelf Seas.doi:10.1017/CBO9781139034098.ISBN9780521877626.
  26. ^Rippeth, Tom P. (2005)."Mi xing in seasonally stratified shelf seas: A shifting paradigm".Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.363(1837):2837–2854.Bibcode:2005RSPTA.363.2837R.doi:10.1098/rsta.2005.1662.PMID16286293.S2CID45053190.
  27. ^Simpson, John H.; Sharples, Jonathan (2012).Introduction to the Physical and Biological Oceanography of Shelf Seas.doi:10.1017/CBO9781139034098.ISBN9780521877626.
  28. ^Verspecht, F.; Rippeth, T. P.; Howarth, M. J.; Souza, A. J.; Simpson, J. H.; Burchard, H. (2009)."Processes impacting on stratification in a region of freshwater influence: Application to Liverpool Bay".Journal of Geophysical Research.114(C11).Bibcode:2009JGRC..11411022V.doi:10.1029/2009jc005475.
  29. ^Guihou et al. 2018.
  30. ^Han & McCreary 2001.
  31. ^Stevens et al. 2021.
  32. ^Morley, Barnes & Dunn 2019.
  33. ^Montero-Serra, Edwards & Genner 2015.
  34. ^O’Callaghan et al. 2019.
  35. ^Pinet 2003,pp. 316–317, 418–419.
  36. ^Gattuso et al. 2006.
  37. ^Tyson & Pearson 1991.
  38. ^Ferriday, Tim; Montenari, Michael (2016)."Chemostratigraphy and Chemofacies of Source Rock Analogues: A High-Resolution Analysis of Black Shale Successions from the Lower Silurian Formigoso Formation (Cantabrian Mountains, NW Spain)".Stratigraphy & Timescales.1:123–255.doi:10.1016/bs.sats.2016.10.004– viaElsevier Science Direct.
  39. ^United Nations 1958,499:311.

References

edit
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Continental_shelf&oldid=1271895526"