Seabed

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The seabed is the bottom of an ocean. Alternatively, it is known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, or ocean bottom. The floor of all the world's oceans is known as the seabed. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of the ocean is very deep, where the seabed is known as the abyssal plain. Seafloor spreading creates mid-ocean ridges along the center line of major ocean basins, where the seabed is slightly shallower than the surrounding abyssal plain. From the abyssal plain, the seabed slopes upward toward the continents and becomes, in order from deep to shallow, the continental rise, slope, and shelf. The depth within the seabed itself, such as the depth down through a sediment core, is known as the "depth below seafloor". The ecological environment of the seabed and the deepest waters are collectively known, as a habitat for creatures, as the "benthos". Most of the seabed throughout the world's oceans is covered in layers of marine sediments...

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