Bathyal zone

Learning objectives

To understand how sedimentary particles resulting from erosion of soils end up in the ocean.
To understand the origin of the submarine relief that borders the continents (the passive continental margin).
To understand the evolution of a landscape (model of a landscape) under the action of water (agent of transport).

This animation presents a coastal relief, with a river carrying sediments that arrive in the ocean at a delta. It illustrates sedimentation of particles at the continental margin: continental plateau, continental talus and abyssal plain.

Sedimentation at the continental margin is primarily terrigenous, meaning that the material derives from the erosion of continents.