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Why does erosion have a smaller effect on the deep ocean floor than on continents?

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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.

Erosion has a significantly smaller effect on the deep ocean floor than on continents primarily because of the nature of deep-sea currents. Unlike the powerful forces of wind, ice, and flowing water that actively shape landforms on continents, deep ocean currents are generally slow, typically flowing at speeds of less than 50 cm (20 inches) per second. Because these currents lack sufficient power, they are unable to perform the same level of erosional work as the agents that sculpt the Earth's surface above sea level.1

While continents are subjected to continuous denudation through weathering and the transport of material by fluvial, glacial, and wind processes, the deep seafloor is governed more by sedimentation, volcanic activity, and plate tectonics. Over time, this sedimentation serves to blanket and bury features like abyssal hills and faulted mountains, rather than wearing them down through the aggressive erosive processes seen on land.12