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Marine Geological Features
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Mid-Ocean Ridge
A submerged mountain range formed by plate tectonics, where new oceanic crust is created through volcanic activity.
Ocean Trench
A deep, narrow depression in the ocean floor formed by subduction of one tectonic plate beneath another.
Abyssal Plain
A flat, very deep ocean floor, usually found at depths between 3,000 and 6,000 meters, formed by the accumulation of sediment.
Seamount
A submerged mountain, often volcanic, rising from the ocean floor that does not reach the surface.
Atoll
A ring-shaped coral reef, island, or series of islets. It encircles a lagoon either partially or completely and is often formed from a submerged volcano.
Continental Shelf
The extended perimeter of each continent, which is submerged under shallow seas and gulf waters. It marks the area of the seabed around a large landmass where the sea is relatively shallow.
Hydrothermal Vent
A fissure in the planet's surface that releases geothermally heated water, typically found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart, ocean basins, and hotspots.
Guyot
A flat-topped, submerged extinct volcano, usually found in the deep ocean. It is shaped by erosional processes.
Coral Reef
Underwater ecosystems characterized by reef-building corals. Formed by the accumulation of coral skeletons and are found in tropical oceans near the surface where sunlight can reach the symbiotic algae living within the coral tissues.
Submarine Canyon
Deep valleys eroded into the continental slope, sometimes extending well onto the continental shelf, formed by turbidity currents and other erosional processes.
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