Sea Sediment Types and Their Distribution For ages mankind has struggled to map the geologic features of its surroundings, scaling tall peaks to measure elevation and traversing deadly deserts to expand the horizons of cartography, but the exploration of land typically ended where the sand met the sea. Although seafaring ships have allowed humanity to navigate the ocean's surface for millennia, the ability to accurately map and analyze the seafloor is

" Hamilton explains that while Continental Lithosphere is as much as 93 miles thick, the "Oceanic Lithosphere" is much thinner - up to perhaps six miles. Indeed, the oceanic crust makes up only 0.099% of earth's mass, according to Hamilton. Oceanic lithosphere is a product of the volcanic magma that pushes up to force tectonic plates aside. As new oceanic lithosphere is actually formed the heat that comes up with the

Continental tropical (cT) air masses are hot, dry, unstable at low levels and generally stable aloft (upper-level ridge); they originate in northern Mexico. Continental polar (cP) or continental arctic (cA) air masses are cold, dry, and stable originating over northern Canada and Alaska as a result of radiational cooling. (Oklahoma Climatological Survey, 2004)" The greenhouse effect has been in the news for the last several decades especially with the resulting

Features of the Ocean Floor Continental Margins As one travels away from the continents, water depths increase in a systematic manner. Closest to the continents are continental shelves with water depth typically less than 1000 m. Continental shelves were formed as rivers carried tons of particles of sand and soil from the land out to sea. This sand and soil then settled as layers of sediments, or layers of particles of rock

This entity follows the California Clean Air Act and the Federal Clean Air Act so that it is responsible for air monitoring, permitting, enforcement, long-range air quality planning, regulatory development, and education and public information activities with regard to air pollution. A more recent concern has developed as the first cruise ship to enter Monterey Bay since 1966 caused environmental groups to demand increased protection for marine sanctuaries and to

plate tectonics is responsible for changing continental landmasses through geological occurrences. Thousands of years ago the earth's surface has been hypothesized as one big landmass. The Earth's surface has been constant motion. "Fragmented into giant sheets of solid rock that glide atop a layer of hotter, more pliable material, the globe's appearance is forever changing." [Cowen, 1999]. These plates are semi-rigid, floated on flow of mantle. The plates measured around