Underwater Ridge Relief

Underwater Ridge Relief

 

underwater relief arising through the action of powerful (0.5–2 m/sec) inflow-outflow currents on a sandy bottom. These ridges consist of long (up to 50 km), narrow (up to 5 km), more or less parallel accumulation elevations up to 30 m high and are found in continental and island shallows, mainly at banks (along the eastern coast of the USA and around the Bahamas), at straits and parts of the sea adjacent to them (the English Channel, the southern part of the North Sea, the Irish Sea, the Straits of Malacca and Torres Strait, and the White Sea depression), in bays (West Korea Bay, Gulf of Cambay), and in front of the mouths of rivers (Ganges, Shattal Arab, Amazon).

In a coastal zone, abrasion underwater ridge relief is also found, represented by narrow rocky beds; it is produced by sea swell and is composed of inhomogeneous stratified rocks (Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Mediterranean Sea).

V. F. KANAEV