Geography & Travel
oceanic ridge
geology
Also known as: mid-oceanic ridge, mid-oceanic ridge system
Major features of the ocean basins
Category:
Geography & Travel
oceanic ridge, any of several continuous submarine mountain chains rising from the ocean floor. Individually, oceanic ridges are the largest features in ocean basins. Collectively, they form the oceanic ridge system, which extends approximately 80,000 km (50,000 miles) through all the world’s oceans and thus constitutes the most prominent feature on Earth’s surface after the continents and the ocean basins themselves. In the past the ridges were referred to as mid-ocean ridges, but, as will be seen, the largest oceanic ridge, the East Pacific Rise, is far from a mid-ocean location, and the nomenclature is thus inaccurate. Oceanic ridges are ...(100 of 2250 words)