How big is the continental shelf?

The average width of a continental shelf is 65 kilometers (40 miles). Most continental shelves are broad, gently sloping plains covered by relatively shallow water. Water depth over the continental shelves averages about 60 meters (200 feet).

1. How wide is the largest continental shelf in the world?
2. How many miles does the continental shelf slope out?
3. How do you measure a continental shelf?
4. How far does continental shelf extend in miles?
5. What has the widest continental shelf?
6. How deep are continental shelves?
7. Is the Deepest Indian Ocean Trench?
8. Why are continental shelves Good fishing areas?
9. What is continental shelf limit?
10. What is the average depth of the ocean?
11. What is Indian continental shelf?
12. How wide is the continental shelf at Cape May?
13. Which is the largest continental shelf?
14. What is the 200 nautical mile limit?
15. What is considered the Outer Continental Shelf?

How wide is the largest continental shelf in the world?

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.

How many miles does the continental shelf slope out?

The world's combined continental slope has a total length of approximately 300,000 km (200,000 miles) and descends at an average angle in excess of 4° from the shelf break at the edge of the continental shelf to the beginning of the ocean basins at depths of 100 to 3,200 metres (330 to 10,500 feet).

How do you measure a continental shelf?

According to the Convention, the continental shelf of a coastal State comprises the submerged prolongation of the land territory of the coastal State - the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles ...

How far does continental shelf extend in miles?

Also, while the maximum extent of the EEZ is 200 nautical miles, the continental shelf may extend beyond 200 nautical miles from the coastline, depending on the depth, shape, and geophysical characteristics of the seabed and sub-sea floor.

What has the widest continental shelf?

The widest continental shelf in the world extends 1,210 km (750 miles) off the coast of Siberia, Russia, into the Arctic Ocean. Continental shelves are an extension of coastal plains and are characterised by broadly-sloping submerged plains.

How deep are continental shelves?

The average width of a continental shelf is 65 kilometers (40 miles). Most continental shelves are broad, gently sloping plains covered by relatively shallow water. Water depth over the continental shelves averages about 60 meters (200 feet).

Is the Deepest Indian Ocean Trench?

The Indian Ocean's average depth is 12,274 feet (3,741 metres), and its deepest point, in the Sunda Deep of the Java Trench off the southern coast of the island of Java (Indonesia), is 24,442 feet (7,450 metres).

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.

What is continental shelf limit?

The continental shelf may not extend beyond 350 nautical miles (648 km) or, alternatively, more than 100 nautical miles (185 km) beyond the point at which the seabed lies at a depth of 2 500 metres.

What is the average depth of the ocean?

The average depth of the ocean is about 12,100 feet . The deepest part of the ocean is called the Challenger Deep and is located beneath the western Pacific Ocean in the southern end of the Mariana Trench, which runs several hundred kilometers southwest of the U.S. territorial island of Guam.

What is Indian continental shelf?

The continental shelf is the submerged prolongation of the land territory of coastal states. It includes the seabed and subsoil of the submerged areas that extend beyond its territorial sea to the outer edge of the continental margin—that is, up to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the coast.

How wide is the continental shelf at Cape May?

The continental shelf is wide (. 150 km) in this region and the water depth at the shelf– slope break averages about 135 m (Table 3.1) (Heezen et al. 1959). The shelf can be roughly divided into inner (0–40 m), middle (c.

Which is the largest continental shelf?

The largest shelf – the Siberian Shelf in the Arctic Ocean – stretches to 1,500 kilometers (930 mi) in width. The South China Sea lies over another extensive area of continental shelf, the Sunda Shelf, which joins Borneo, Sumatra, and Java to the Asian mainland.

What is the 200 nautical mile limit?

The U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extends no more than 200 nautical miles from the territorial sea baseline and is adjacent to the 12 nautical mile territorial sea of the U.S., including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands ...

What is considered the Outer Continental Shelf?

The term "outer Continental Shelf" refers to all submerged land, its subsoil and seabed that belong to the United States and are lying seaward and outside the states' jurisdiction, the latter defined as the "lands beneath navigable waters" in Title 43, Chapter 29, Subchapter I, Section 1301.