Structure of Ocean Floor — Geography STD 8 — Question

1. The land near the seacoast and submerged under the sea is called continental shelf. The depth of continental shelf is about 200 metres below the sea level.

2. Continental shelf is found to be narrow along the coasts of some continents and broad along the coasts of some other continents.

3. Being a shallowest part of the ocean bed, sunlight reaches up to continental shelf easily. As its effect, the food for fish like algae, plankton, etc. grows on a large scale on continental shelf. Therefore, continental shelf is useful for fishing occupation.

4. Various minerals, natural gas and mineral oil, etc. can also be obtained from mining the continental shelf. For example, Mumbai High located on the continental shelf of the Arabian Sea is a source from where the mineral oil and natural gas is obtained.