Continental slope
Topic: Oceans: Hydrological Cycle, Relief of the Ocean Floor, Temperature and Salinity · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 4 "Distribution of Oceans and Continents"; Class 11, Ch 12 "Water (Oceans)"
Meaning
The continental slope is the steeper part of the ocean floor beyond the edge of the continental shelf. It begins at the shelf break, where the shelf ends, and drops from about 200 m to about 3,000 m deep. Its slope is 2–5°, which is much steeper than the shelf's 1° or less. It marks the true edge of the continent. Deep valleys called submarine canyons often cut into it.
Example
In the Bay of Bengal, off the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta, the "Swatch of No Ground" is a submarine canyon cut across the shelf and slope. It carries sediment down to the Bengal Fan, the world's largest underwater fan of sediment.
Don't confuse with
- Continental rise: this is the gentle wedge of sediment at the foot of the slope. The slope itself is the steep drop above it.
Related concepts
- Relief of the ocean floor
- Continental margin
- Continental shelf
- Abyssal plain
- Oceanic trench
- Mariana Trench
- Puerto Rico Trench
- Sunda Trench