If you swim out into the ocean and touch the bottom below the water, are you touching the ocean floor? Not really. The land on which you live, the continent, extends into the ocean where it is submerged under seawater.

There is a transition between the continents and the bottom of the ocean called the continental margin. The margin consists of three parts: the shelf, slope, and the rise. Each of these parts has distinct features that you will examine in this topic. Once you have explored these features, you will be able to identify where the continents end and the ocean floor begins during your trip to the middle of the ocean.

As you explore the continental margin, you will also examine some of the features that you are likely to find there, such as submarine canyons.

Essential Questions

• What is bathymetry?
• What defines the continental margin?
• What is the difference between an active and passive margin?
• What is a submarine canyon?