continental shelf
nounDefinition of continental shelf
: a shallow submarine plain of varying width forming a border to a continent and typically ending in a comparatively steep slope to the deep ocean floor
Illustration of continental shelf
continental shelf: 1 seashore, 2 continental shelf, 3 continental slope, 4 abyssal plain, 5 seamount
Examples of continental shelf in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
As planned, Davis ran the boat farther west, where the continental shelf, in the span of a few miles, drops from 200 feet deep to 3,000 feet deep. — Tom Stienstra, SFChronicle.com, "Humpbacks, killer whales, fin whales star in coastal spectacle," 28 Aug. 2019 Scientists think changing wind patterns are pushing a mass of middepth warm water, called circumpolar deepwater, up from the deep ocean and onto the continental shelf in front of Antarctica and toward Thwaites. — Adam Rogers, WIRED, "A Submarine Goes Under a Failing Glacier to Gauge Rising Seas," 6 Aug. 2019 In 2014, Denmark staked a claim to roughly 900,000 square kilometers of the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean based on its geological link to Greenland, according to a survey conducted by Danish authorities. — Christian Wienberg, Fortune, "Does Trump Really Want to Buy Greenland?," 16 Aug. 2019 In 2014, Denmark staked a claim to roughly 900,000 square kilometers of the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean based on its geological link to Greenland, according to a survey conducted by Danish authorities. — Morten Buttler, BostonGlobe.com, "Would Trump buy Greenland? Denmark isn’t selling," 16 Aug. 2019 But along the West Coast, where tall cliffs and a deep continental shelf tend to blunt the impact of rising seas, there were problems, too. — Kurtis Alexander, SFChronicle.com, "High-tide flooding poses big problem for U.S., California, federal scientists warn," 10 July 2019 The research showed that the deposits of the relatively fresh water start at the shoreline and extend out as far as 75 miles, near the edge of the continental shelf, Gustafson said. — Denise Chow, NBC News, "A vast water reservoir has been discovered deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean," 28 June 2019 Turkey, which doesn’t recognize Cyprus as a state, says parts of three blocks off the island’s west coast fall within its own continental shelf. — Washington Post, "Turkey launches new gas drillship amid tensions with Cyprus," 20 June 2019 Louisiana State University scientists predict that 8,717 square miles of bad water will be at the bottom of the continental shelf off Louisiana and Texas, making it about the same size as the state of New Jersey. — Jen Christensen, CNN, "The Gulf could see one of the largest dead zones in history this year," 10 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'continental shelf.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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