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16. The Central California Continental Margin

Expedition Menu

1. Introduction
2. Earth's Surface
3. Map of the World
4, Measuring the Surface
5. Mapping from Space
6. Painting a Picture
7. Water Depth
8. Speed and Distance
9. Sound in Water
10. Water Depth
11. Side Scan
12. Sea Floor Features
13. Atlantic Seafloor
14. Pacific Seafloor
15. Review
16. California Margin I
17. California Margin II

 
Image Produced by Norm Maher, formerly
of the USGS, now at MBARI

From what you have learned, see if you can label the following features on the diagram of the central California continental margin between San Francisco and Monterey (in your handout).

Optional: Click on image for expanded version (takes a while to download - check other browser window)

Label the following features on your sketch:

1. nearshore region,
2. continental shelf,
3. shelf break,
4. continental slope (with many canyons),
5. abyssal plain,
6. several examples of seamounts.
7. Also take note of the many of the large submarine canyons,  the largest one being the Monterey submarine canyon.

Let's look at these same data but from a different perspective