Indian Ocean Floor Features

The relief features of the oceans are quite different from the continental features because the oceanic crust is less than 60 70 million years old.

Indian ocean floor features.

Winds water density and tides all drive ocean currents. Earth s rotation results in the coriolis effect which also influences ocean currents. The name originates from the location around the indian penisula. This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level.

It stretches for more than 6 200 miles 10 000 km between the southern tips of africa and australia and without its marginal seas has an area of about 28 360 000 square miles. The indian ocean the geology of its bordering lands and the configuration of its floor by james f. It is bounded by asia to the north africa to the west and australia to the east. In the indian ocean seamounts are particularly abundant between réunion and seychelles in the central indian basin and the vening meinesz group near.

The indian ocean is the world s third largest ocean and covers 20 of the earth s surface after the pacific and the atlantic oceans. 3 1 gives the relief features. How big is the indian ocean. The indian ocean is the third largest of the world s oceanic divisions covering 70 560 000 km 2 27 240 000 sq mi or 19 8 of the water on earth s surface.

Indian ocean body of salt water covering approximately one fifth of the total ocean area of the world. Everhart miscellaneous geologic investigations map i 380 published by the u. Cold and sediment covered ocean floor. Similar to a person trying to walk in a straight line across a spinning merry go round winds and ocean waters get deflected from a straight line path as they travel.

Since it is completely blocked in the north by the asian landmass it can be considered only half an ocean. Pepper and gail m. Continental shelf 300 feet continental slope 300 10 000 feet abyssal plain 10 000 feet abyssal hill 3 000 feet up from the abyssal plain seamount 6 000 feet. The indian ocean is actually the youngest of the major oceans.

It has few marginal seas. This ocean is smaller and less deep than the atlantic ocean. It is the smallest geologically youngest and physically most complex of the world s three major oceans. The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur.

Given below is a survey of typical relief features of the ocean floor. Indian ocean indian ocean seamounts. Geological survey washington d. Along its core the indian ocean has some large marginal.

They rise abruptly from the abyssal plain to heights at least 3 300 feet 1 000 metres above the ocean floor. Seamounts are extinct submarine volcanoes that are conically shaped and often flat topped. In size the.