Continental Slope

At the continental slope, the seafloor drops steeply into the deep. It connects the shallow shelf to the dark deep sea. Here the water quickly gets colder and darker.

For scientists

Sediment piles up on the slope over millennia until it slides: such turbidity currents thunder down as mud avalanches and can even snap deep-sea cables. The slope is the true boundary between continental and oceanic crust. It drops at about three degrees on average, far steeper than the flat shelf.

Source: NOAA

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