Bottom Relief of the Atlantic Ocean

Shape and Size

Atlantic Ocean is the most widely studied ocean. It occupies an area of 82 million km2 which
is about one-sixth of the total area of the world or one-half of the extent of the Pacific Ocean.

The shape of the ocean is rather unusual in the form of the letter ‘S’ indicating that the
continents on either side were once a part of a single land mass now separated.

The Atlantic Ocean was formed due to drifting of North and South Americas to the west
due to plate tectonics.

It is wider towards the south (5950 km, east to west at 35◦S latitude) where it opens into
Antarctica Ocean and narrows down towards equator (African coast is only 2575 km from
Cape Sao Roque) between South America and Africa.

It again widens in the north (4800 km at 40◦N latitude) and finally it narrows down in the
extreme north where it maintains its contact with the Arctic Ocean through Norwegian
Sea, Denmark Strait and Davis Bay.

Out of the total area of the Atlantic Basin, 25.7 % area is less than 2000 m in depth (including
adjacent seas) due to the shallowness of many enclosed and marginal seas and the extensive
width of the continental shelf.

 The average depth of the ocean is less than the Pacific Ocean because of extensive
continental shelves and marginal and enclosed seas.
 About 24 per cent of the Atlantic Ocean is less than 915m deep.
 The Atlantic Ocean was first formed about 700 million years ago due to seafloor
spreading (see fig. 5.13) and westward movement of the Eurasian and African
plates from the mid-Atlantic ridge.
 About 300 million years BP (before present) the Atlantic Ocean was closed due to
convergence of the American and Eurasian-African plates.
 The ocean again started to open about 150 million years BP due to the movement
of aforesaid plates in opposite directions.
 The widening of the ocean still continues which is evidenced through seafloor
spreading at an average rate of 4 cm per year.
The bottom features of the Atlantic reveal four salient features as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Bottom Relief of the Atlantic Ocean

Continental Shelf:

 Continental shelves have developed along both the coasts of the Atlantic
Ocean and the width ranges from 2-4 km to more than 80 km.
  In fact, the width of continental shelves has been largely controlled by the
reliefs of the coastal lands.
 These become significantly narrow where mountains and hills border the
coasts e.g., the African shelves between Bay of Biscay and Cape of Good
Hope and Brazilian shelves between 5°S and 10°S latitudes.
 The shelves become 200 to 400 km wide along the north-eastern coast of
North America and the north-western coast of Europe.
 Extensive shelves are found around Newfoundland (Grand Bank) and British
Islands (Doggar Bank).
 Similarly, the continental shelves around Greenland and Iceland are quite
wide.
 Very extensive continental shelves are found in the South Atlantic Ocean
mainly between Bahia Blanca and Antarctica .
 Many marginal seas are located on the continental shelves in the North
Atlantic but such seas are practically absent in the South Atlantic.
 Among the continental shelf-seated seas significant are the Hudson Bay, the
Baltic Sea, the North Sea, the Davis Strait, the Denmark Strait etc.
 The Caribbean and Mediterranean seas represent enclosed seas.
 There are several islands which are located on the continental shelves e.g.
British Isles, Iceland, Faeroes, Azores, Ascension, Tristan da Cuncha,
Newfoundland, West Indies, Maderia, St. Helena, Trinidad, Falkland, South
Orkneys, Shetlands,Georgia, Sandwitch, Canaries, Cape Verde etc. are
significant islands representing different locations and origin.

Mid-Atlantic Ridge:

 The mid-Atlantic ridge representing the zone of divergent or constructive

plate margins (American plates moving westward and Eurassian and African
plates moving to the east) is the most striking relief feature which having S
shape extends for 14,450 km from Iceland in the north and to Bouvet Island
in the south.
 Though swinging west and east it maintains its central position and nowhere
goes down more than 4000m below sea level.
 The ridge is known as Dolphin Rise to the north and Challenger Rise to
the south of equator.
 It is known as Wyville Thompson Ridge between Iceland and Scotland.
 The ridge becomes quite extensive to the south of Greenland and Iceland and
is called Telegraphic Plateau because first cabbies were laid down in this
area.
 A significant branch emerges from this central ridge near 50° latitude and
extends north-westward as Newfoundland Rise and continues upto New-
found-land.
 Another important branch known as Azores Rise bifurcates from the mid-
Atlantic Ridge to the south of 40°N latitude and extends up to Azores Islands.
 At the equator the ridge sends off two branches.
 Sierra Leone Rise extends towards north-east and Para Rise stretches in
northwest direction.
 Guinea Ridge, a minor branch of the central ridge, runs north-eastward and
extends up to Guinea coast.
 Two significant branches come out of the central ridge near 40°S latitude.
 The Walvis Ridge extends towards north-east and merges with African
continental shelf while Rio Grande Rise extends towards South American
coast.
 Though major part of the mid-Atlantic Ridge is submerged under oceanic
water but a host of peaks and sea mounts project well above the water
surface and form islands.
 The Pico Island of Azores is the highest peak which rises 8,229.6m (27,000
feet) above the sea floor and 213.36m to 243.84 m above sea level.
 Besides, the mid-Atlantic Ridge has several well-marked fracture zones e.g.
Gibbs Fracture Zone (near 40°N), Atlantis Fracture zone (near 30°N),
Oceanographic Fracture Zone (32°N), Kane Fracture Zone (25°N), Vema
Fracture Zone (10°N), Romancha Fracture Zone (near equator) etc.
 As regards the origin of this unique feature all the previous theories based on
compressive and tensional forces stand redundant due to advent of plate
tectonic theory.
 The mid-Atlantic Ridge is the result of westward movement of American
plate and eastward movement of Eurasian and African plates.
 This ridge represents the zone of the divergent or constructive plate margins
where basaltic lavas rise continuously, get solidified and are slided equally
on both sides of the ridge.
 Fig. 2. Atlantic Ocean: Ridges and Trenches

Ocean Basins:

The mid-Atlantic Ridge divides the Atlantic Ocean into two major basins viz. East and West
Atlantic Basins.

There are few important basins within these two major basins :

(1) Labrador basin extends between the continental shelf of Greenland in the north and
Newfoundland Rise in the south covering latitudinal extent of 40° N to 50°N where the depth
of the basin ranges from 4,000 to 4,500m.

(2) North American basin is the most extensive basin of the Atlantic Ocean and extends
between 12°N and 40° latitudes. The east-west section lies between the continental shelves
off the east coast of N. America and 50°W meridian. The depth of the basin is more than
5000m but a few deeps measure more than 6000m depth.

(3) Brazilian basin is confined between the equator and 30°S latitude and east coast of Brazil
in the west and Para Rise in the east. The depth is more than 4,000m.

(4) Spanish basin is located between the mid- Atlantic Ridge and Iberian Peninsula. It is
bordered by Azores Rise in the south and extends upto 50°N latitude. The average depth is
5,000m.

(5) North and South Canary basin is comprised of two almost circular basins and is
5,000m deep.

(6) Cape Verde basin is located between the mid- Altlantic Ridge and west African coast
and extends from 10° N to 23.° N. Average depth is 5000 m but at few places it becomes
5000 m or more.

(7) Guinea basin extends from north-east to southwest in elongated shape between Guinea
Ridge and Sierra Leone Rise and measures 4,000 to 5,000 m in depth.

(8) Angola basin is located between the equator and 30°S latitude. It stretches from the
African coast in the north-east to the knot of the mid-Atlantic Ridge and Walvis Ridge in the
south-west. The basin is most extensive near the African coast and narrows down towards
south-west. The average depth is 5,000m.

Cape Basin (25°S-45°S), Agulhas Basin (40°S- 50°S), Argentina Basin (35°S-50°S, depth
5,000m- 6,000m) and Atlantic-Antarctic Basin are the other significant basins of the Atlantic
Ocean.

Ocean Deeps:

 The number of deeps in the Atlantic Ocean is far less than in the Pacific
Ocean because of the absence of the effects of Tertiary orogenic movements
along the Atlantic coasts.
 Murray has identified 29 deeps upto the depth of 3,000 fathoms (5,486.4m)
in the Atlantic Ocean.
 Nares Deep (6,000m), Pureto Rico Deep (8,385m), Hatteras Deep
(5,445m), Columbia Deep (5,125m, south of Haiti), Valdivia Deep (3,134
 fathoms), Tizard or Romanche Deep (9,370m), Buchanan Deep (3,063
fathoms), Moseley Deep (3,309 fathoms), Vema Deep (4,900m) etc. are a
few important ocean deeps of the Atlantic Ocean.

Marginal Seas

 The Mediterranean Sea, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico are significant
marginal seas in the Atlantic Ocean.
 The Mediterranean Sea is divided into two major basins (East and West
Basins) by 4,000m deep mid-sea ridge which runs from the southern Italian
coast to the north African coast.
 The Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea are separated by a 1,600 m deep ridge
running between Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba Island.
 The prominent basins are Mexico basin and Caribbean basin.
 The latter is further divided into four sub-basins e.g. Yucatan basin, Cayman
trough, Columbia basin and Venezuela basin.