How do continental rises form along the Atlantic Ocean basin?

Continental rises in the Atlantic Ocean basin are broad, sloping embankments of sediment that accumulate between the continental slope and the abyssal plain. Their formation is the result of millions of years of weathering, erosion, and riverine sediment deposition.12

These features are primarily built through three sedimentary processes:

• Mass Wasting: Sediments are transported downslope by gravity-driven events, including submarine landslides, slumps, and high-velocity turbidity currents. These events can be triggered by earthquakes, storm waves, or the oversteepening of deposits on the continental slope.13
• Contour Currents: Bottom currents flowing parallel to the slope may redistribute sediments, creating accumulations known as contourites.1
• Vertical Settling: Fine-grained clastic and biogenic particles—such as wind-blown dust, organic detritus, and the remains of plankton—settle through the water column to the seafloor.1

Ultimately, these processes create massive sediment sequences that can reach thicknesses of 10,000 to 50,000 feet.2