GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -A continental shelf extends from the coastline of a continent to a drop-off point called the shelf break. From the break, the shelf descends toward the deep ocean floor in what is called the continental slope. Even though they are underwater, continental shelves are part of the continent.

Detailed explanation-2: -The term “continental shelf” is used by geologists generally to mean that part of the continental margin which is between the shoreline and the shelf break or, where there is no noticeable slope, between the shoreline and the point where the depth of the superjacent water is approximately between 100 and 200 metres.

Detailed explanation-3: -The continental margin, between the continental shelf and the abyssal plain, comprises a steep continental slope, surrounded by the flatter continental rise, in which sediment from the continent above cascades down the slope and accumulates as a pile of sediment at the base of the slope.

Detailed explanation-4: -At the edge of the shelf, the ocean floor drops off in a steep incline called the continental slope (A). The continental slope marks the true edge of the continent, where the rock that makes up the continent stops and the rock of the ocean floor begins.

Detailed explanation-5: -Definition of Shelf break: The steepening of the bottom that marks the seaward limit of the continental shelf and the beginning of the continental slope.