The distribution of the continental shelf is significant since it is the nursery ground for living resources and an important source of minerals and offshore petroleum.
Why are continental shelves important to the ocean ecosystem?
The continental shelf is one of the most productive parts of the ocean . Although shelf seas cover only 7.6% of the surface of the world’s oceans, they provide 15-30% of the oceanic primary production (Yool and Fashman, 2001).
Why is continental shelf important?
Economic significance. The relatively accessible continental shelf is the best understood part of the ocean floor . Most commercial exploitation from the sea, such as metallic ore, non-metallic ore, and hydrocarbon extraction, takes place on the continental shelf.
What do you understand by continental shelf .examine economic significance of the resources of the continental shelf of the Indian ocean?
Economic wealth of the Indian Ocean’s continental wealth includes: Oil Fields – This fuel treasure is plenty in the western part that includes red sea, gulf area and coasts of Indonesia. ... Placer Deposits – Vitally important, thorium resources in placer sands of Malabar coast are a promise to Nuclear Energy security.
What is an interesting fact about the continental shelf?
Every continent has a continental shelf surrounding it. Some are tiny most are about 50 miles wide, but the largest one on Earth is 930 miles wide. Continental shelves have plenty of sunlight and so contain a lot of plant and animal life . The continental shelf around an island is called an insular shelf.
What is called continental shelf?
The term “continental shelf” is used by geologists generally to mean that part of the continental margin which is between the shoreline and the shelf break or, where there is no noticeable slope, between the shoreline and the point where the depth of the superjacent water is approximately between 100 and 200 metres.
What are the characteristics of the continental shelf?
Continental shelves are usually covered with a layer of sand, silts, and silty muds. Their surfaces exhibit some relief, featuring small hills and ridges that alternate with shallow depressions and valleylike troughs.
What are the limits of the continental shelf?
Coastal countries have exclusive rights to resources located within the continental shelf, which legally is defined as the seabed up to roughly 370 km (200 nautical miles) from shore or to the outer edge of the continental margin, whichever is farther, subject to an overall limit of about 650 km (350 nautical miles) ...
What caused the continental shelf?
Over many millions of years, organic and inorganic materials formed continental shelves. Inorganic material built up as rivers carried sediment—bits of rock, soil, and gravel—to the edges of the continents and into the ocean. These sediments gradually accumulated in layers at the edges of continents.
What lives in the continental shelf?
Lobster, Dungeness crab, tuna, cod, halibut, sole and mackerel can be found. Permanent rock fixtures are home to anemones, sponges, clams, oysters, scallops, mussels and coral. Larger animals such as whales and sea turtles can be seen in continental shelf areas as they follow migration routes.
What is the difference between EEZ and continental shelf?
The continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) are distinct maritime zones . The continental shelf includes only the seabed and subsoil; whereas the EEZ includes the water column. ... The ECS is, therefore, not an extension of the EEZ.
Where is continental rise found?
The continental rise completely surrounds Antarctica covering 39.4% of the Southern Ocean (see Table), forming a halo of sediment surrounding the Antarctic continent.
What is the temperature of the continental shelf?
Sea surface temperature for the Northeast Shelf Ecosystem reached a record high of 14 degrees Celsius (57.2°F) in 2012, exceeding the previous record high in 1951. Average SST has typically been lower than 12.4 C (54.3 F) over the past three decades.
What is a continental shelf break?
Shelf break, submerged offshore edge of a shallow continental shelf, where the seafloor transitions to continental slope. A shelf break is characterized by markedly increased slope gradients toward the deep ocean bottom .
What is the ocean floor called?
The ocean floor is called the abyssal plain . Below the ocean floor, there are a few small deeper areas called ocean trenches. Features rising up from the ocean floor include seamounts, volcanic islands and the mid-oceanic ridges and rises.
Why are continental shelves Good fishing areas?
Continental shelves are shallower in relation to deep sea, this enables sunlight to penetrate through water . Thus, with sunlight marine flora grows abundantly, for instance grass, sea weds and planktons. Thus, continental shelves become good feeding grounds for fishes.
