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

The third site was the "wildly weird" Orca Basin, a hypersaline mini-basin nestled into the continental slope.

From Science Daily • Feb. 16, 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

Onshore groundwater that flows through the subsurface and offshore brings nutrients and chemicals that sustain delicate marine communities in places along the continental slope.

From Scientific American • Jun. 17, 2023

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 configuration of the continental slope has been treated in detail by Nansen in Scientific Results of Norwegian North Polar Expedition, vol. iv.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 6 "Geodesy" to "Geometry" by Various