The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, or ocean floor) is the bottom of the ocean. At the bottom of the continental slope is the continental rise, which is caused by sediment cascading down the continental slope. The seabed has been explored by submersibles such as Alvin and, to some extent, scuba divers with special apparatuses. The process that continually adds new material to the ocean floor is seafloor spreading and the continental slope.

[edit] See also

• Black smoker
• Bottom trawling
• Methane clathrate
• Manganese nodule
• Research vessel
• Seafloor massive sulfide deposits
• Sediment Profile Imagery (SPI)
• Abyssal plain

[edit] External links

Look up seabed in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Ocean Explorer (www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov) – Public outreach site for explorations sponsored by the Office of Ocean Exploration.
• NOAA, Ocean Explorer Gallery, Submarine Ring of Fire 2006 Gallery, Submarine Ring of Fire 2004 Gallery – A rich collection of images, video, audio and podcast.
• NOAA, Ocean Explorer YouTube Channel
• Submarine Ring of Fire, Mariana Arc – Explore the volcanoes of the Mariana Arc, Submarine Ring of Fire.
• The ocean floor
• "Age of the Ocean Floor Poster". NOAA. March 7, 2007. http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/ASK/plate-tectonics2.html. Retrieved 2007-03-14. 

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