continental slope

American  

noun

Physical Geography.

1. a steep slope separating a continental shelf and a deep ocean basin.

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continental slope Scientific  

1. The sloping region between a continental shelf and a continental rise. A continental slope is typically about 20 km (12.4 mi) wide, consists of muds and silts, and is often crosscut by submarine canyons.

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Etymology

Origin of continental slope

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

continental slope

This ancestor lived on the continental slope before transitioning to the open waters of the bathypelagic zone in a transition that set the stage for rapid evolutionary change.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 2, 2024

It even provided the first complete picture of a massive 375-kilometer-long slide off North Carolina’s Cape Fear, which tumbled down the continental slope 10,000 to 27,000 years ago.

From Science Magazine ● Jan. 8, 2024

This would extend the Bering Sea boundary west and south to Alaska’s Fox Islands, through Unimak Pass to the edge of the continental slope, the agency said in a statement.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 11, 2022

The mud was deposited in the quiet water of a continental slope environment, and the large clasts were dropped from floating ice derived from glaciers on Laurentia.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

Rough-toothed dolphins occur in small groups of 50 animals or fewer and are usually found off the edge of the continental slope.

From Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises of the Western North Atlantic A Guide to Their Identification by David Caldwell