Sub-Environments on Continental Margins Continental shelf smooth, gently dipping (less than 0.1 degrees) land surface during lowstand of sea level glacial ice melted and flooded portion of continent Continental slope steep (more than 4 degrees), rough topography edge of continental crust submarine canyons, larger than canyons on land not eroded by rivers directly (too deep), but by slurry of sediment Continental rise more gentle gradient and relief sediment from land piled on ocean crust Trenches (collision of plates, deepest places in ocean) Abyssal plains (sediment from land buries abyssal hills)
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