We explain what a continental shelf is, its biological and geographical characteristics. Furthermore, its legal and economic importance.
What is the continental shelf?
In geology and oceanography, it is known as the continental shelf or continental plate. the region of underwater bottom that is very close to the coast and has depths of less than 200 meters although its amplitude can range from a few meters to tens of kilometers. In other words, it is the underwater continuation of the continent.
Continental platforms are made up of continental crust, but they usually contain an important layer of sediments. That's why present abundant animal and plant life and the majority of underwater oil and natural gas deposits are usually found in them, in the bedrock below these platforms. This, together with the coastal recreational activities, make them areas of great economic importance.
From an international legal point of view, continental platforms constitute part of the sovereign territory of each coastal country over which it exercises exclusive rights of economic exploitation and civil and military transportation. These limits are determined based on continental morphology and are usually a source of dispute between countries, since outside them there are so-called “international waters” that do not belong to anyone in particular.
The proportions of continental shelves can vary enormously: some geographic regions have little or no continental shelf, while others have large expanses of it. But its depth, as we said before, never exceeds 200 meters deep. To cite an example, the Siberian shelf, in northern Russia, extends 1,500 km wide over the Arctic Ocean.
In any case, continental platforms normally culminate in continental slopes, which are more or less pronounced and long descents towards the depths of the sea, at the end of which there are usually abyssal plains, oceanic depressions or even some elevations such as oceanic ridges, depending of the underwater geology of the region.
Continue with: Ocean relief
References
- “Continental shelf” in Wikipedia.
- “What is the continental shelf?” in the Foreign Ministry of Colombia.
- “What is the continental shelf?” in National Commission of the Outer Limit of the Continental Shelf (Argentina).
- “Continental Shelf (geology)” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
