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What features are found on the ocean floor near continental margins?

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Map graphic showing the boundaries of the five oceans-Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern-using color-coded regions. Four different map projections are included: North Pole view, South Pole view, International Date Line view, and Greenwich Meridian view, each displaying the oceans' extents around the continents. — ocean Earth's oceans and their marginal seas cover nearly 71 percent of the planet's surface.

The ocean floor near continental margins is characterized by a collective area known as the continental margin, which encompasses three primary features:

Continental Shelf: A broad, relatively shallow submarine terrace that extends from the coast to a seaward edge called the shelf break. Its surface often features small hills, ridges, and shallow depressions.12
Continental Slope: A much steeper zone that descends from the shelf break toward the deep ocean basins. It is often indented by submarine canyons, which are narrow, steep-sided valleys that can cut into both the shelf and the slope.13
Continental Rise: A major depositional area located between the continental slope and the abyssal plain. It is formed by the accumulation of thick sequences of sediment transported downslope by gravity-driven processes, such as turbidity currents, and redistributed by bottom currents.34

These features are shaped by tectonic settings, sea-level fluctuations, and the volume of sediment delivered by rivers.5