Submarine canyon
Topic: Oceans: Hydrological Cycle, Relief of the Ocean Floor, Temperature and Salinity · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 12 "Water (Oceans)"
Meaning
A submarine canyon is a deep valley with steep sides that cuts across the continental shelf and slope. Canyons are often found off the mouths of large rivers. Currents loaded with sediment flow down them and carry mud and sand from the land into the deep ocean. Some are as large as the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River.
Example
The Hudson Canyon off New York is the best-known submarine canyon. In India, the "Swatch of No Ground" is a canyon off the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta in the Bay of Bengal. It feeds the Bengal Fan, the world's largest fan of sediment under the sea.
Don't confuse with
- Oceanic trench: a trench is a deep, narrow trough that forms where one plate sinks under another. A canyon is a valley cut into the edge of a continent by currents carrying sediment.