CONTINENTAL SHELF Definition & Meaning

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continental shelf

noun

Physical Geography.

the part of a continent that is submerged in relatively shallow sea.

continental shelf

noun

the sea bed surrounding a continent at depths of up to about 200 metres (100 fathoms), at the edge of which the continental slope drops steeply to the ocean floor

continental shelf

The part of the edge of a continent between the shoreline and the continental slope. It is covered by shallow ocean waters and has a very gentle slope.

continental shelf

The region adjoining the coastline of a continent , where the ocean is no more than a few hundred feet deep. The shelf is built up from sediments washed down to the sea by rivers.

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Notes

The continental shelves are often valuable because of the mineral resources and abundant marine life found there. ( See offshore drilling .)

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of continental shelf¹

First recorded in 1940–45

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Tides will now be lifting it up and down, and where it is touching the continental shelf, it will grind backwards and forwards, eroding the rock and ice.

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"He says that he will call it the Gulf of America on its continental shelf," Sheinbaum previously said when Trump signed the executive order.

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"He says that he will call it the Gulf of America on its continental shelf," Sheinbaum said last week.

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In 2004 one called A38 grounded on its continental shelf, leaving dead penguin chicks and seal pups on beaches as massive ice chunks blocked their access to feeding grounds.

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Their fossils have been found in several areas of Texas, but this fossil shows for the first time that the big cat roamed the now-submerged continental shelf that connects Texas and Florida.

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