continental shelf

continental shelf, a broad, relatively shallow submarine terrace of continental crust forming the edge of a continental landmass. The geology of continental shelves is often similar to that of the adjacent exposed portion of the continent, and most shelves have a gently rolling topography called ridge and swale. Continental shelves make up about 8 percent of the entire area covered by oceans.

Structure

A continental shelf typically extends from the coast to depths of 100–200 metres (330–660 feet). It is gently inclined seaward at an average slope of about 0.1°. In nearly all instances, it ends at its seaward edge with an abrupt drop called the shelf break. Below this lies the continental slope, a much steeper zone that usually merges with a section of the ocean floor called the continental rise at a depth of roughly 4,000 to 5,000 metres (13,000 to 16,500 feet). A few continental margins—such as those off the Mediterranean coast of France and at Porcupine Bank, off the western coast of Ireland—do not have a sharply defined break in slope but rather maintain a generally convex shape to the seafloor.

The average width of continental shelves is about 65 km (40 miles). Almost everywhere the shelves represent simply a continuation of the continental landmass beneath the ocean margins. Accordingly, they are narrow, rough, and steep off mountainous coasts but broad and comparatively level offshore from plains. The shelf along the mountainous western coast of the United States, for example, is narrow, measuring only about 32 km (20 miles) wide, whereas that fringing the eastern coast extends more than 120 km (75 miles) in width. Exceptionally broad shelves occur off northern Australia and Argentina. The world’s largest continental shelf extends 1,500 km (about 930 miles) from the coast of Siberia into the Arctic Ocean.

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. In a few cases, steep-walled V-shaped submarine canyons cut deeply into both the shelf and the slope below.