ocean basin: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Photos and Videos

World map highlighting major features of the ocean basins, including trenches, ridges, basins, and plateaus labeled throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, and Arctic Oceans. Continents are shown with shaded terrain, and prominent undersea features such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Mariana Trench, and Kerguelen Plateau are marked across the map.

gravity map of Earth's oceans

A world map uses color bands to show the age of Earth's oceanic crust in millions of years, with red marking the youngest crust along mid-ocean ridges and blue representing the oldest crust farther from spreading centers.

How does plate tectonics change Earth's surface?

See All Videos and Images →

Topics

interarc basin ocean floor submarine volcano oceanic ridge deep-sea trench marine sediment submarine canyon abyssal plain continental rise abyssal hill oceanic crust back-arc basin submarine slump iceberg Today in History—October 21: Magellan Finds a Route to the Pacific Who owns the oceans?ocean current sea ice Just How Many Oceans Are There?Which ocean is deeper: The Atlantic or the Pacific?

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

default image

Marcia McNutt

American geophysicist

Murray, Sir John

Sir John Murray

Scottish Canadian oceanographer

default image

Maurice Ewing

American geophysicist