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What is an Abyssal Plain?

An abyssal plain refers to a flat area in the seabed at an abyssal depth (10,000 to 20,000 feet). The larger abyssal plains may be thousands of kilometers in length and breadth, and are generally adjacent to a continent. Very little surface variation is observed in these abyssal plains, and they may vary in depth by only 10 to 100 centimeters per kilometer of horizontal distance.

Where are Abyssal Plains Found?

Approximately 40% of the Earth's ocean floor is made up of abyssal plains, while the rest of the ocean bed topography is comprises by underwater hills, deep trenches, and mountain chains. The abyssal plains are found in most major ocean basins of our planet, but are more common in the Atlantic Ocean, less common in the Indian Ocean, and quite rare in the Pacific. The Sohm Plain in the North Atlantic Ocean, covering an area of 900,000 square kilometers, is one of the largest abyssal plains in the world.

Formation and Composition of Abyssal Plains

Accumulation of land-derived sediments over long periods of time on the ocean floor gives rise to the flat surfaces characteristic of an abyssal plain. The accumulation of these deposits, which average 1 kilometer in thickness, smooth out the irregular topography on the ocean bed. However, in some areas where sediments incompletely bury the underlying topography, outcrops of hill groups or volcanic hills might mar the regularity of these abyssal plains. Sediments of silt, sand, and gravel, as well as volcanic ash, wind-blown dust, and chemical precipitates from continental margins, enter the oceanic waters to form dense sediment-laden slurries which are deposited on the ocean floor by turbidity-driven currents. Layers of such sediments accumulate over elongated periods of time, creating these abyssal plains. Besides inorganic matter, organic matter, including the microscopic remains of innumerable organisms, also become deposited as layers in these abyssal plains.

Biology of Abyssal Plains

Though initially estimated to be deserted habitats, scientists have more recently discovered a high microbial biodiversity in the abyssal plains. The oceanographic expeditions conducted by the Census of Diversity of Abyssal Marine Life have discovered the existence of about 2,000 bacterial, 250 protozoan, and 500 invertebrate species in the abyssal plains of the earth's oceans. The Abyssobrotula galatheae and the Pseudoliparis amblystomopsis are the two deepest marine-living fish species recorded up to the present date. While some of the abyssal zone species, like the protozoan foraminiferans, are virtually universal in their distribution, others are endemic to some specific abyssal plains or trenches, such as certain isopod crustaceans. However, due to the mind-boggling depths of the abyssal plains, exploration of such habitats demands great deals of time, effort, and budgeting, which leads to the generation of only a low volume of data regarding the abyssal plain ecosystems, at least for now.

Significance of the Abyssal Plains

The abyssal plains of the world are areas of high ecological, commercial, and strategic importance. As the fish in the upper zones of the ocean rapidly become depleted due to overfishing, marine fisheries are expected to exploit ever deeper living sea fishes, which, due to their slow turnover and longer life cycles, stand chances of becoming threatened in even quicker time periods than those currently commercially fished closer to the sea surface. The abyssal plains might also be exploited in the future for legal or illegal purposes, including the dumping of hazardous wastes like radioactive waste, being used as a burial ground for disposed ships and oil rigs, and for the emplacement of sewage and dredge spoils from coastal areas. The abyssal plains might also be the future sites of mineral, oil, and gas extraction, making the deep-lying ocean bed susceptible to environmental degradation already being seen having catastrophic effects on land and in shallower waters.

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An abyssal plain refers to a flat area in the seabed at an abyssal depth (10,000 to 20,000 feet). The larger abyssal plains may be thousands of kilometers in length and breadth, and are generally adjacent to a continent.

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The vast majority of the real estate at the bottom of the sea is a relatively flat expanse of level floor. Called the abyssal plain, these average over two miles deep and may account for as much 79% of the sea floor worldwide.

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Encyclopedic Entry Vocabulary

A plain is a broad area of relatively flat land. Plains are one of the major landforms, or types of land, on Earth. They cover more than one-third of the world's land area. Plains exist on every continent.

Grasslands

Many plains, such as the Great Plains that stretch across much of central North America, are grasslands. A grassland is a region where grass is the main type of vegetation.

In North America, temperate grasslands-those in places with warm summers and cold winters-are often called prairies. In areas with little rain and snow, short grasses grow. In areas that receive more rain and snow, tall grasses can grow 1.5 meters (5 feet) high. However, most tallgrass prairies have been plowed under and are now farmland or pasture.

The Great Plains have supported a wide variety of cultures for thousands of years. The so-called "Plains Indians" are actually more than two dozen tribes. Communities include Blackfoot, native to the Canadian province of Alberta; Arapaho, whose center today is in the U.S. state of Wyoming; and Kickapoo, many of whom live today in the Mexican state of Coahuila.

In Asia and eastern Europe, temperate grasslands are called steppes. Steppes usually do not receive enough rain for tall grasses and trees to grow.

Tropical grasslands are called savannas. Savannas exist in places that are warm throughout the year. They often have scattered trees. Savannas such as the Serengeti plains stretch across much of central Africa. They are also found in Australia, South America, and southern North America.

Not all plains are grasslands. Some, such as Mexico's Tabasco Plain, are forested. Forested plains have different types of trees, shrubs, and other vegetation.

Deserts can also be plains. Parts of the Sahara, a great desert in North Africa, are plains.

In the Arctic, where the ground is frozen, plains are called tundra. Despite the cold, many plants survive here, including shrubs and moss.

Plain Formation

Plains form in many different ways. Some plains form as ice and water erodes, or wears away, the dirt and rock on higher land. Water and ice carry the bits of dirt, rock, and other material, called sediment, down hillsides to be deposited elsewhere. As layer upon layer of this sediment is laid down, plains form.

Volcanic activity can also form plains. Lava plains form when lava pushes up from below ground and flows across the land. The earth in a lava plain is often much darker than the surrounding soil. The dark earth is a result of the lava, mostly a dark-colored mineral called basalt, broken down into tiny particles over millions of years.

The movement of rivers sometimes forms plains. Many rivers run through valleys. As rivers move from side to side, they gradually erode the valley, creating broad plains.

As a river floods, it overflows its bank. The flood carries mud, sand, and other sediment out over the land. After the water withdraws, the sediment remains. If a river floods repeatedly, over time this sediment will build up into a flood plain. Flood plains are often rich in nutrients and create fertile farmland. The flood plain surrounding Africa's Nile River has helped Egyptian civilization thrive for thousands of years.

Alluvial plains form at the base of mountains. Water carrying sediment flows downhill until it hits flat land. There, it spreads out, depositing the sediment in the shape of a fan. The Huang He River in China has created an alluvial plain that covers about 409,500 square kilometers (158,000 square miles). Because much of the sediment the Huang He carries is yellowish in color, it is also called the Yellow River.

Many rivers deposit their sediment in the ocean. As the sediment builds up, it might eventually rise above sea level, forming a coastal plain. The Atlantic Coastal Plain stretches along much of the eastern coast of North America. These broad underwater plains slope gently down beneath the water.

Abyssal plains are found at the bottom of the ocean. These plains are 5,000 to 7,000 meters (16,400 to 23,000 feet) below sea level, so scientists have a hard time studying them. But scientists say abyssal plains are among the flattest, smoothest places on Earth.

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Writers

Kim Rutledge
Tara Ramroop
Diane Boudreau
Melissa McDaniel
Santani Teng
Erin Sprout
Hilary Costa
Hilary Hall
Jeff Hunt

Illustrators

Mary Crooks, National Geographic Society
Tim Gunther

Editors

Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing
Kara West

Educator Reviewer

Nancy Wynne

Producer

Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society

Sources

Dunn, Margery G. (Editor). (1989, 1993). "Exploring Your World: The Adventure of Geography." Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.

Last Updated

Jan. 21, 2011

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This lists the logos of programs or partners of NG Education which have provided or contributed the content on this page. Powered by Encyclopedic Entry Vocabulary A plain is a broad area of relatively flat land. Plains are one of the major landforms, or types of land, on Earth.

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We all know that one - fourth of the earth's surface is covered by land. The portion which forms land on earth's surface is not the same everywhere. At some places the land may be too high, at some places very low, some areas would be lush green and certain areas are dry and barren. Our planet earth is a beautiful collaboration of various physical features.

These different physical features are called the various landforms on the surface of the earth. These are geographical features that control the ecosystem, climate, weather and the essence of life on earth. In simple terms, we say that any shape on the earth's surface is known as a landform. The various landforms that we have, came into existence due to natural processes such as erosion, wind, rain, weather conditions such as ice, frost and chemical actions. Natural events and disasters such as earthquakes (the tectonic plates) and eruption of volcanoes created the various shapes of the land that we see.
The different major landforms are mountains, hills, valleys, plateaus, plains and deserts.
Facts about Mountains

A mountain is the highest landform on the surface of the earth. It is usually found to be conical in shape with steep sides and a pointed tip called a peak.

As compared to their surroundings, mountains are high points on the surface of the earth.

Mountain range is a series of mountains.

Mountains could be steep and snow covered or they could be gently sloping having rounded tops.

The highest mountain range in the world is the Himalayas. Some mountains are found under the sea and could be taller than the Mount Everest, which is the highest mountain peak in the world.

3 Types of Mountains

1. Volcanic mountains

2. Fold mountains

3. Block mountains

Mountains could be formed when molten rocks from deep within the earth rise to the surface, pouring out in the form of lava from volcanoes.

Sometimes the tectonic plates on the earth's crust move towards each other, the sediments deep below the earth's surface are squeezed up to form mountain ranges.

There are many mountains that remain covered with snow throughout the year. These mountains are very cold and hence there is not much vegetation or life found in these hills. Trees like pine and conifer are found in the lower ranges or foothills.

Animals that have a thick fur coat can survive the extreme cold in the high mountain regions. The yak, the mountain puma, snow leopard or the male goat called the ibex are some of the animals found in the mountain areas.

Houses in the mountains have sloping roofs to enable the snow slide off easily. The houses are made of wood so that they remain warm. People usually work in small industrial units, farming and animal rearing form their main occupations.

Even besides harsh conditions, mountains are very useful to us as they act as shields for the country blocking the cold winds and also protect us from invading enemies.

Trees provide us with commercial and medicinal value.

Melting snow from the snow capped mountains fills the rivers and they are a source of water.

They make beautiful tourist destinations.

Hills are lower than mountains but are higher than their surrounding areas.

Hills are lower in height than mountains, but they are higher than the surrounding areas. A number of hills together form a 'range of hills'. Hills are usually covered with grass.

The climate in the hills is more pleasant than the climate in high snow covered mountains. It is usually neither too hot nor too cold. They make perfect tourist destinations.

The vegetation is thick, beautiful fruit orchards are found in the hills and it is good for crop cultivation like tea and coffee.

Facts about Hills

Valleys are the low-lying areas between two mountains or hills.

When rivers flow down the mountainsides and hillsides, it wears off the rocks and soil. Over a period of time, the water carves out v- shaped grooves. These grooves get deeper and wider, finally forming low land areas called valleys.

Valleys formed by glaciers are U- shaped valleys.

Valleys formed due to the effect of erosion are V - shaped valleys.

The valleys formed (that is V shaped or U shaped), depend upon the rate at which deepening and widening takes place.

Narrow valleys are called canyons.

The climate in the valleys is pleasant and favourable for living, hence many civilizations in ancient times were found in valleys where there were rivers flowing making water available for the people.

For example The Indus Valley Civilization that came up near the River Indus.

Due to ample water that is provided by the rivers and fertile soil, the vegetation is thick and valleys look green and beautiful.

They make great tourist destinations as well.

In young Mountain areas the valleys found are steep sided.

Facts about Valleys

A plateau is a flat topped highland with steep sides. Since it looks like a table, it is also called a tableland. They are basically areas of high flat land.

Plateaus are usually surrounded by steep rock faces called cliffs.

Some plateaus like the Plateau of Tibet lies between mountain ranges.

Plateaus are usually good for growing certain crops.

Plateaus are formed when magma pushes up towards the surface of the earth's crust. This magma does not break through but it raises a portion of the crust up creating a plateau.

There are certain kinds of plateaus like the butte and the mesa. These are special kinds of plateaus.

Facts about Plateaus

Plains as you all are familiar with are areas of flat land.

The plains usually meet the oceans or seas, these are called coastal plains.

In India, we have the Eastern Coastal Plains and the Western Coastal Plains.

Some plains are formed by the action of rivers, these are called river plains.

In India the Northern Gangetic Plain is a river plain.

River plains are very fertile and good for growing crops.

You will find most big cities are located in plains. This is because it is easier to build houses, buildings, roads and other structures in the plains. Hence they are heavily populated.

Facts about Plains

An island is a piece of land surrounded by water on all sides.

The continent of Australia is an island.

Islands are formed due to volcanic activity or due to hot spots in the lithosphere.

Coral islands are formed when the skeletal material of the corals piles up over a long period of time. These look beautiful.

A large group of islands close to each other together form an archipelago. The Lakshadweep islands are an example of an archipelago. The largest archipelago in the world is Indonesia.

Facts about Islands

Deserts are large, dry and hot areas of land which receive little or no rainfall throughout the year. The vegetation is scanty due to the shortage of water. Deserts are covered with sand.

Sand dunes are formed in deserts. Sand dunes are huge hills of sand formed by the winds.

Deserts have extreme weather conditions, days could be very hot and nights very cold. This is because the sand absorbs heat fast during the day and gives off heat quickly at night.

The main vegetation found in the deserts are the cacti and the baobab trees.

The baobab tree can store nearly up to 1000 litres of water in its trunk which enables it to survive the harsh conditions.

Deserts : Facts and Types

There are two types of deserts - Hot Deserts and Cold Deserts.

As the name suggests, hot deserts are vast areas of land that are covered with sand and dust. These areas receive little or no rainfall and are very dry.

The animals found in the hot deserts are camels, snakes, lizards and rats.

Thar Desert in India is a hot desert.

Hot Deserts

The cold deserts are large areas of land covered with snow. These deserts receive little or no rainfall. They receive snowfall during the winters. Animals such as penguins, whales and fur seals survive in the cold deserts.

The Antarctica is the world's biggest cold desert.

Life in these cold deserts is impossible.

There are some rocky deserts like the Gobi desert in Asia.

Cold Deserts

Some other Landforms

A peninsula is a piece of land that is surrounded by water from three sides. For example the southern part of India is a peninsula as it is surrounded by the Arabian sea, Bay of Bengal and the Indian ocean and is joined to land on the fourth side.

Another example is the State of Florida.

Peninsula

A cape is a part of land extending in to a water body

Cape

An isthmus is a narrow stretch of land which joins to large land masses.

Example the Isthmus of Panama.

Isthmus

1. Camels are called the ship of the desert as they carry people and their loads from one place to another.

2. An oasis is a place in the desert where a pool of water is found, surrounded by trees.

3. A huge mass of snow that suddenly breaks loose and crashes down a mountain is called an avalanche.

4. Mountain animals have sharp hooves that help them climb mountains.

5. The Deccan Plateau in India is good for growing cotton because of the black soil present.

5 Interesting Facts

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Types of Landforms and Facts - Geography for Kids | Mocomi

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We all know that one - fourth of the earth's surface is covered by land. The portion which forms land on earth's surface is not the same everywhere. At some places the land may be too high, at some places very low, some areas would be lush green and certain areas are dry and barren.

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national oceanic and atmospheric administration

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The nearly continuous, global Mid-Ocean Ridge system snakes across the Earth's surface like the seam on a baseball. It is clearly visible on this map of global topography above and below sea level. The ridge system forms the longest and largest mountain range on Earth, winding its way between the continents.

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Introduction
The mid ocean ridge is a mountain range on the floor of the world's oceans. Rift valleys in the center of the mountain range runs down its spine. It sometimes reaches 3,128 (1000 m) above the seafloor.

Length of global mid-ocean ridge system
The entire global mid-ocean ridge system in the oceans is 49,700 miles (80,000 km) long. It has a continuous mountain system that is 40,400 miles (65,000 km) long making it the longest mountain range on Earth.

Section of the mid-ocean ridge system
on the ocean floor, NOAA

Rift valleys
The youngest rocks on the ocean floor are located in the rift valleys where magma pushes up the crust as it move from the upper mantle to vents on the ocean floor. The molten lava cools and forms parallel lines of basalt rocks on each side of the rift valley during an eruption.

Ocean floor movement
Each subsequent lava eruption causes the older rocks to move away from the spreading center. All across the ocean the seafloor moves from spreading ridges to subduction zones where the oceanic crust is recycled.

Worldwide mid-ocean ridges, NOAA
Click for More Information and to Order
Surveying the ocean floors
Research ships began surveying the ocean floors in the 1950s using sonar as they traversed the oceans worldwide. A Columbia University ship, Vema, recorded information on the Atlantic Ocean seafloor. Prior surveys had shown a rise on the ocean floor but it was thought to be a small area.

Atlantic Ocean mountain range
The full extent of the mountain range in the Atlantic Ocean was discovered by researchers when the data from the ship was analyzed. The submarine mountain range was named the Mid Atlantic Ridge.

Global mid-ocean system
New surveys by other ships discovered that the Mid Atlantic Ridge was in fact just one segment of the global mid ocean ridge system that is found in all the oceans on Earth.

More Plate Tectonic Links

Earthquake Epicenter The epicenter of an earthquake is a point on the Earth's surface, not where the earthquake originates.

Caribbean Plate This plate is small but very complex. It has a subduction zone, transform fault, and triple junction.

What is an Earthquake Find out what causes the Earth to shake, rattle and roll during an earthquake.

Convergent Boundary There are two types of boundaries where plates converge. They produce great mountain ranges and large earthquakes.

Transform Boundary These boundaries are found all around our ocean floors where oceanic plates are separating.

Mid Ocean Ridge The global mid-ocean-ridge system is the longest chain of mountains on Earth and was not discovered until the 20th Century.

Plate Tectonics Find out lots of fascinating facts and interesting trivia on plate tectonics.

Kids Fun Science The links on our home page include information about volcanoes, science activities, plate tectonics, the rock cycle and much more.

KIDS FUN Science Bookstore

Check out Myrna Martin's award winning textbooks, e-books, videos and rock sets. The Kids Fun Science Bookstore covers a wide range of earth science topics. Click here to browse.

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Introduction The mid ocean ridge is a mountain range on the floor of the world's oceans. Rift valleys in the center of the mountain range runs down its spine. It sometimes reaches 3,128 (1000 m) above the seafloor. Length of global mid-ocean ridge system The entire global mid-ocean ridge system in the oceans is 49,700 miles (80,000 km) long.

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Kids learn about the geography of the world's mountain ranges such as the Himalayas, Rockies, Andes, and Alps.

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Mountains rising from the ocean seafloor that do not reach to the water's surface.

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Hawaiian Volcanoes

Mauna Loa volcano is located on the island of Hawaii with four other volcanoes that make up the island. Loihi is a seamount that is growing just off the coast of Kilauea that is the newest member of the Hawaiian Volcanoes chain. The island sits above the Hawaiian hot spot that feeds the three active Hawaiian volcanoes on the island.

Hawaiian hot spot

The Hawaiian hot spot is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean plate that has been there for millions of years. As the Pacific Ocean plate slowly moves northwestward relative to North America and other hot spots beneath the plate the plume of molten rock has created a string of submarine volcanoes that reach from Loihi north all the way to the Aleutian Trench. The Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain is over 3,600 miles long. The Hawaiian ridge is the southern section where the islands of the Hawaiian chain have formed. They are the only volcanoes that reach above the surface of the ocean in the chain.

Mauna Loa facts

Mauna Loa volcano is the second largest volcano on Earth. Recently discovered Tamu Massif is larger but it does not reach the surface of the ocean. Mauna Loa is the largest volcano that is subaerial, which means that part of the volcano lies above the ocean's surface. Mauna Loa covers about half the surface area of the island of Hawaii. The part of the volcano that makes up the island that people visiting the island walk on the upper part of the volcano and its summit which reaches 13,680 feet (4,170 m).

Mauna Loa Volcano

Mauna Loa covers 2,035 square miles (5,271 sq km) and has erupted between 15,600 to 19,200 cubic miles (65,000 to 80,000 cubic km) of lava that has turned into solid rock. The volcano is so massive the bottom of the volcano has sunk down 5 miles (8 km) beneath the ocean floor. If you add the height of the island plus the height of the volcano from the ocean floor it reaches 30,085 feet (9,170 m). Now add all the lava that forms a bowl shape depression beneath the ocean floor the TRUE height of Mauna Loa volcano is 56,000 feet (17,170 m).

Mauna Loa eruptions

Mauna Loa is one of the most active volcanoes on our planet. It is also considered one of the most dangerous. The volcano has two cycles to its eruptions that are unique to Mauna Loa. The volcano will erupt from its summit for 1,500 to 2,000 years then it switches to fissure eruptions on its flank. Typical of all Hawaiian eruptions they are considered quiet because of the hot fluid basalt lava they erupt. At the start of an eruption lava fountains known as curtains of fire blown into the air along a rift in the volcano that is several kilometers long. Over time the eruption flows from a single volcano vent. Mauna Loa does not erupt as often as Kilauea but it erupts a greater volume of lava during a shorter period of time.

More Volcano Links

RING OF FIRE SCIENCE BOOKSTORE

Check out Myrna Martin's award winning textbooks, e-books, videos and rock sets. The Ring of Fire Science Bookstore covers a wide range of earth science topics. Click here to browse.

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Hawaiian Volcanoes Mauna Loa volcano is located on the island of Hawaii with four other volcanoes that make up the island. Loihi is a seamount that is growing just off the coast of Kilauea that is the newest member of the Hawaiian Volcanoes chain.

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The research ship Atlantis carries the Alvin submersible, which we will use for our geological sampling program. Very little is known about the shape of the Gulf of Alaska seamounts, and we need to find good rock outcrops to sample, so our first step is to create a map of a seamount so we will know where to go.

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national oceanic and atmospheric administration

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Seamount is an underwater mountain formed by volcanic activity

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Enjoy our awesome range of Earth facts for kids. Check out the cool trivia and have fun learning about some of our planet's most amazing features.

Fun Volcano Facts

Check out these fun volcano facts for kids. Learn about hot magma, famous eruptions, volcanoes on other planets, volcanic gases, flowing lava and more. Enjoy our wide range of strange and interesting facts about volcanoes.

Volcanoes are openings in the Earth's surface. When they are active they can let ash, gas and hot magma escape in sometimes violent and spectacular eruptions.

The word volcano originally comes from the name of the Roman god of fire, Vulcan.

Volcanoes are usually located where tectonic plates meet. This is especially true for the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area around the Pacific Ocean where over 75% of the volcanoes on Earth are found.

While most volcanoes form near tectonic boundaries, they can also form in areas that contain abnormally hot rock inside the Earth. Known as mantle plumes, these hotspots are found at a number of locations around the globe with the most notable being in Hawaii.

Hot liquid rock under the Earth's surface is known as magma, it is called lava after it comes out of a volcano.

Some famous volcanic eruptions of modern times include Mount Krakatoa in 1883, Novarupta in 1912, Mount St Helens in 1980 and Mt Pinatubo in 1991.

While we certainly have some big volcanoes here on Earth, the biggest known volcano in our solar system is actually on Mars. Its name is Olympus Mons and it measures a whooping 600km (373 miles) wide and 21km (13 miles) high.

The object with the most volcanic activity in our solar system is Io, one of Jupiter's moons. Covered in volcanoes, its surface is constantly changing to the large amount of volcanic activity.

Most people think of volcanoes as large cone shaped mountains but that is just one type, others feature wide plateaus, fissure vents (cracks were lava emerges) and bulging dome shapes.

There are also volcanoes found on the ocean floor and even under icecaps, such as those found in Iceland.

Volcanoes can be active (regular activity), dormant (recent historical activity but now quiet) or extinct (no activity in historical times and unlikely to erupt again). While these terms are useful, scientists are more likely to describe volcanoes by characteristics such a how they formed, how they erupt and what their shape is.

Common volcanic gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen sulfide.

Volcanic eruptions can send ash high into the air, over 30km (17 miles) above the Earth's surface.

Large volcanic eruptions can reflect radiation from the Sun and drop average temperatures on Earth by around half a degree. There have been several examples of this over the last century.

Pumice is a unique volcanic rock ( igneous) that can float in water. It can also be used as an abrasive and is sometimes used in beauty salons for removing dry skin.

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Fun Volcano Facts for Kids - Interesting Facts about Volcanoes

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Enjoy our awesome range of Earth facts for kids. Check out the cool trivia and have fun learning about some of our planet's most amazing features. Fun Volcano Facts Check out these fun volcano facts for kids. Learn about hot magma, famous eruptions, volcanoes on other planets, volcanic gases, flowing lava and more.

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Volcano facts | National Geographic Kids

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Check out these fascinating volcano facts with National Geographic Kids! What is a volcano? Why does it erupt? And where can you find the world's biggest?

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The following is a list of the most popular Grand Canyon Fun Facts for kids and adults. Included are many cool Grand Canyon science facts, such as the lizards that shoot blood from their eyes.

1. Most of the Grand Canyon consists of rock that is 1 mile deep, 18 miles wide and 277 miles long.

2. There are more than 20 layers of rocks throughout the Grand Canyon.

3. The Grand Canyon is considered to be one of the 7 wonders of the world.

4. Over the course of millions of years, the Grand Canyon was formed in four major steps.

5. Sedimentary rocks form the middle and top layers of the Grand Canyon.

6. More than 5 million people visit this large attraction every year. According to National Geographic this makes the Grand Canyon the second most visited park after the Great Smoky Mountains.

7. Major John Wesley was the first person to explore the Grand Canyon in 1869 by the way of the Colorado River.

8. Erosion is the main reason that the Grand Canyon was formed.

9. As hikers walk through the Grand Canyon, they experience different ecosystems.

10. Every plant and animal that lives in the Grand Canyon has a specialized adaptation that allows them to survive in different ecosystems.

11. On the Grand Canyon fun facts list this next fact may be the coolest. If you didn't see the picture you would think we are making this up. But it's true, the short-horned lizards that live in the Grand Canyon are known to shoot blood from their eyes to scare away predators. (To be honest, I think it would scare most humans as well.)

12. Scorpions avoid the heat of the summer by being nocturnal.

13. There are more than 1,750 plant species throughout the different ecosystem.

14. The different waters in the Grand Canyon are the home of 17 different fish species. One of the more interestingly "created" fish (seen on the right) is the Humpback Chub. The Humback Chub is a native Grand Canyon fish that can be found along the banks on Colorado River.

15. More than 2,000 people live in the Grand Canyon. (That is all year round.)

16. This large attraction is the home of 91 mammal species and 47 reptile species.

17. In order to prevent large canopy fires, wildland firefighters create small fires called prescribed burns.

18. Fires that burn low are actually good for the forest ecosystem.

19. The desert ecosystem is located 4,500 to 1,500 feet above sea level and is home to scorpions, cacti, snakes, bighorn sheep, agave and Mormon tea plants.

20. 7,300 to 4,000 feet above sea level is the Pinyon-Juniper Woodland ecosystem. This system is inhabited by pinyon pine trees and juniper.

21. The Boreal and Ponderosa Pine Forest is located 10,000 to 7,000 above sea level and consists of aspen, pine, spruce and fur trees along with deer, mountain lions and squirrels.

If you feel we may have missed something on our Grand Canyon fun facts list please let us know by contacting us.

Other Grand Canyon Fun Facts Categories that may be of Interest:

Grand Canyon Most Dangerous Places - Because there are so many trails, cliffs, mountain edges and deadly wild life, the Grand Canyon has some very dangerous places that every visitor must be aware of. If you are planning a trip on one of these dangerous excursions, you should always be aware of where the closest ranger station is along with the best course of emergency action... READ MORE

Grand Canyon Fun Facts about Hollywood Movies - As one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon has been the host of some of the biggest Blockbuster movies that have ever been filmed. With breathtaking scenic views, various hiking terrains, unpredictable weather and miles of wilderness, the enormous canyon proves to be the perfect backdrop for a wide range of movie genres...READ MORE

Grand Canyon Skywalk Fun Facts - The Skywalk was completed on March 20, 2007, costing around $31 million to build. However, the general public was not allowed to preview this masterpiece until... READ MORE

Grand Canyon South Rim Fun Facts - The first European, while searching for the seven cities of gold, viewed the Grand Canyon in 1540... READ MORE

Grand Canyon University Fun Facts - Coming Soon.

Grand canyon fun facts on best places to take pictures - Because there are so many great places to take pictures throughout the Grand Canyon, it can be extremely difficult to narrow down the best places to take pictures. For anyone who has visited the beautiful canyon, it is very apparent that some spots in the magnificent canyon provide an uninterrupted, 360-degree, view of the incredible landscape... READ MORE

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Grand Canyon Fun Facts - Grand Canyon National Park

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The following is a list of the most popular Grand Canyon Fun Facts for kids and adults. Included are many cool Grand Canyon science facts, such as the lizards that shoot blood from their eyes. Most of the Grand Canyon consists of rock that is 1 mile deep, 18 miles wide and 277 miles long.

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(Image: © NASA/UNH Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center)

The Mariana Trench is a crescent-shaped trench in the Western Pacific, just east of the Mariana Islands near Guam. The region surrounding the trench is noteworthy for many unique environments. The Mariana Trench contains the deepest known points on Earth, vents bubbling up liquid sulfur and carbon dioxide, active mud volcanoes and marine life adapted to pressures 1,000 times that at sea level.

The Challenger Deep, in the southern end of the Mariana Trench (sometimes called the Marianas Trench), is the deepest spot in the ocean. Its depth is difficult to measure from the surface, but modern estimates vary by less than 1,000 feet (305 meters).

In 2010, the Challenger Deep was pegged at 36,070 feet (10,994 m), as measured with sounds pulses sent through the ocean during a 2010 survey by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

In 2012, film director and deep-sea explorer James Cameron descended to the bottom of Challenger Deep, briefly reaching 35,756 feet (10,898 m) during the 2012 expedition. But he could have gone a little deeper. A high-resolution seafloor mapping survey published in 2014 by researchers from the University of New Hampshire said the Challenger Deep bottoms out at 36,037 feet (10,984 m).

The ocean's second-deepest place is also in the Mariana Trench. The Sirena Deep, which lies 124 miles (200 kilometers) to the east of Challenger Deep, is a bruising 35,462 feet deep (10,809 m).

By comparison, Mount Everest stands at 29,026 feet (8,848 m) above sea level, meaning the deepest part of the Mariana Trench is 7,044 feet (2,147 m) deeper than Everest is tall.

Protected land

The Mariana Trench is 1,580 miles (2,542 kilometers) long - more than five times the length of the Grand Canyon. However, the narrow trench averages only 43 miles (69 km) wide.

Because Guam is a U.S. territory and the 15 Northern Mariana Islands are a U.S. Commonwealth, the United States has jurisdiction over the Mariana Trench. In 2009, President George W. Bush established the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument, which created a protected marine reserve for the approximately 195,000 square miles (506,000 square km) of seafloor and waters surrounding the remote islands. It includes most of the Mariana Trench, 21 underwater volcanoes and areas around three islands.

How the trench formed

The Mariana Trench was created by the process that occurs in a subduction zone, where two massive slabs of oceanic crust collide. At a subduction zone, one piece of oceanic crust is pushed and pulled underneath the other, sinking into the Earth's mantle, the layer under the crust. Where the two pieces of crust intersect, a deep trench forms above the bend in the sinking crust. In this case, the Pacific Ocean crust is bending below the Philippine crust. [ Infographic: Tallest Mountain to Deepest Ocean Trench]

The Pacific crust, also called a tectonic plate, is about 180 million years old where it dives into the trench. The Philippine plate is younger and smaller than the Pacific plate.

"At subduction zones, the cold, dense crust sinks back into the mantle and is destroyed," said Nicholas van der Elst, a seismologist at Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York.

As deep as the trench is, it is not the spot closest to the center of Earth. Because the planet bulges at the equator, the radius at the poles is about 16 miles (25 km) less than the radius at the equator. So, parts of the Arctic Ocean seabed are closer to the Earth's center than the Challenger Deep.

The crushing water pressure on the floor of the trench is more than 8 tons per square inch (703 kilograms per square meter). This is more than 1,000 times the pressure felt at sea level, or the equivalent of having 50 jumbo jets piled on top of a person.

(Image credit: www.freeworldmaps.net)

Unusual volcanoes

A chain of volcanoes that rise above the ocean waves to form the Mariana Islands mirrors the crescent-shaped arc of the Mariana Trench. Interspersed with the islands are many strange undersea volcanoes.

For example, the Eifuku submarine volcano spews liquid carbon dioxide from hydrothermal vents similar to chimneys. The liquid coming out of these chimneys is 217 degrees Fahrenheit (103 degrees Celsius). At the Daikoku submarine volcano, scientists discovered a pool of molten sulfur 1,345 feet (410 m) below the ocean surface, something seen nowhere else on Earth.

Life in the trench

Recent scientific expeditions have discovered surprisingly diverse life in these harsh conditions. Animals living in the deepest parts of the Mariana Trench survive in complete darkness and extreme pressure, said Natasha Gallo, a doctoral student at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography who has been studying the video footage from Cameron's 2012 expedition.

Food in the Mariana Trench is extremely limited, because the deep gorge is far from land. Leaves, coconuts and trees rarely find their way into the bottom of the trench, Gallo said, and dead plankton sinking from the surface must drop thousands of feet to reach Challenger Deep. Instead, some microbes rely on chemicals, such as methane or sulfur, while other creatures gobble marine life lower on the food chain.

The three most common organisms at the bottom of the Mariana Trench are xenophyophores, amphipods and small sea cucumbers (holothurians), Gallo said.

The single-celled xenophyophores resemble giant amoebas, and they eat by surrounding and absorbing their food. Amphipods are shiny, shrimplike scavengers commonly found in deep-sea trenches. The holothurians may be a new species of bizarre, translucent sea cucumber.

"These are some of the deepest holothurians ever observed, and they were relatively abundant," Gallo said.

Scientists have also identified more than 200 different microorganisms in mud collected from the Challenger Deep. The mud was brought back to labs on dry land in special canisters, and is painstakingly kept in conditions that mimic the crushing cold and pressure. [Video: Dive Deep: Virtual Tour of the Mariana Trench]

During Cameron's 2012 expedition, scientists also spotted microbial mats in the Sirena Deep, the zone east of the Challenger Deep. These clumps of microbes feed on hydrogen and methane released by chemical reactions between seawater and rocks.

However, a deceptively vulnerable-looking fish is not only right at home here, it's also one of the region's top predators. In 2017, scientists reported they had collected specimens of an unusual creature, dubbed the Mariana snailfish, which lives at a depth of about 26,200 feet (8,000 m). The snailfish's small, pink and scaleless body hardly seems capable of surviving in such a punishing environment, but this fish is full of surprises, researchers reported in a new study. The animal appears to dominate in this ecosystem, going deeper than any other fish and exploiting the absence of competitors by gobbling up the plentiful invertebrate prey that inhabit the trench, the study authors wrote.

Pollution in the deep

Unfortunately, the deep ocean acts as a potential sink for discarded pollutants and litter. In a recent study, a research team led by Newcastle University shows that human-made chemicals that were banned in the 1970s are still lurking in the deepest parts of the ocean.

While sampling amphipods (shrimp-like crustaceans) from the Mariana and Kermadec trenches, the researchers discovered extremely high levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the organisms' fatty tissues. These included polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), chemicals commonly used as electrical insulators and flame retardants, according to a study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. These POPs were released into the environment through industrial accidents and landfill leakages from the 1930s until the 1970s when they were finally banned.

"We still think of the deep ocean as being this remote and pristine realm, safe from human impact, but our research shows that, sadly, this could not be further from the truth," said lead author Alan Jamieson of Newcastle University in a press release.

In fact, the amphipods in the study contained levels of contamination similar to that found in Suruga Bay, one of the most polluted industrial zones of the northwest Pacific.

Since POPs cannot degrade naturally, they persist in the environment for decades, reaching the bottom of the ocean by way of contaminated plastic debris and dead animals. The pollutants are then carried from creature to creature through the ocean's food chain, eventually resulting in chemical concentrations far higher than surface level pollutions.

"The fact that we found such extraordinary levels of these pollutants in one of the most remote and inaccessible habitats on earth really brings home the long term, devastating impact that humankind is having on the planet," said Jamieson in the press release.

The researchers say the next step will be to understand the consequences of this contamination and what it is doing to the ecosystem as a whole.

Humans and the trench

In 1875, the trench was discovered by the HMS Challenger using recently invented sounding equipment during a global circumnavigation.

In 1951, the trench was sounded again by HMS Challenger II. Challenger Deep was named after the two vessels.

In 1960, a "deep boat" named Bathyscaphe Trieste reached the bottom of Challenger Deep. It was the first vessel to do so and was manned by U.S. Navy Lt. Don Walsh and Swiss scientist Jacques Piccard.

In 1995, the Japanese unmanned submarine Kaiko gathered samples and useful data from the trench.

In 2009, the United States sent a hybrid remotely operated vehicle, Nereus, to the floor of Challenger Deep. The vehicle remained on the seabed for nearly 10 hours.

In 2012, Cameron manned the Deepsea Challenger and reached the seabed but was unable to capture any photos due to a hydraulic fluid leak. The submersible was later donated to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

- Additional reporting by Elizabeth Dohrer and Traci Pedersen, LiveScience contributors
Additional resources

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(Image: © NASA/UNH Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center) The Mariana Trench is a crescent-shaped trench in the Western Pacific, just east of the Mariana Islands near Guam. The region surrounding the trench is noteworthy for many unique environments.

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Ocean trenches are long, narrow depressions on the seafloor. These chasms are the deepest parts of the ocean-and some of the deepest natural spots on Earth. Ocean trenches are found in every ocean basin on the planet, although the deepest ocean trenches ring the Pacific as part of the so-called "Ring of Fire" that also includes active volcanoes and earthquake zones.

How Ocean Trenches Form
Subduction Zones
When the leading edge of a dense tectonic plate meets the leading edge of a less-dense plate, the denser plate bends downward. This place where the denser plate subducts is called a subduction zone.

Oceanic subduction zones almost always feature a small hill preceding the ocean trench itself. This hill, called the outer trench swell, marks the region where the subducting plate begins to buckle and fall beneath the more buoyant plate.

Some ocean trenches are formed by subduction between a plate carrying continental crust and a plate carrying oceanic crust. Continental crust is always much more buoyant than oceanic crust, and oceanic crust will always subduct.

Ocean trenches formed by this continental-oceanic boundary are asymmetrical. On a trench's outer slope (the oceanic side), the slope is gentle as the plate gradually bends into the trench. On the inner slope (continental side), the trench walls are much more steep. The types of rocks found in these ocean trenches are also asymmetrical. The oceanic side is dominated by thick sedimentary rocks, while the continental side generally has a more igneous and metamorphic composition.

Some of the most familiar ocean trenches are the result of this type of convergent plate boundary. The Peru-Chile Trench off the west coast of South America is formed by the oceanic crust of the Nazca plate subducting beneath the continental crust of the South American plate. The Ryukyu Trench, stretching out from southern Japan, is formed as the oceanic crust of the Philippine plate subducts beneath the continental crust of the Eurasian plate.

More rarely, ocean trenches can be formed when two plates carrying oceanic crust meet. The Mariana Trench, in the South Pacific Ocean, is formed as the mighty Pacific plate subducts beneath the smaller, less-dense Philippine plate.

In a subduction zone, some of the molten material-the former seafloor-can rise through volcanoes located near the trench. The volcanoes often build volcanic arcs-island mountain ranges that lie parallel to the trench. The Aleutian Trench is formed where the Pacific plate subducts beneath the North American plate in the Arctic region between the U.S. state of Alaska and the Russian region of Siberia. The Aleutian Islands form a volcanic arc that swings out from the Alaskan Peninsula and just north of the Aleutian Trench.

Not all ocean trenches are in the Pacific, of course. The Puerto Rico Trench is a tectonically complex depression in part formed by the Lesser Antilles subduction zone. Here, the oceanic crust of the enormous North American plate (carrying the western Atlantic Ocean) is being subducted beneath the oceanic crust of the smaller Caribbean plate.

Accretionary wedges form at the bottom of ocean trenches created at some convergent plate boundaries. The rocks of an accretionary wedge are so deformed and fragmented they are known as melange-French for "mixture."

Accretionary wedges form as sediments from the dense, subducting tectonic plate are scraped off onto the less-dense plate. Sediments often found in accretionary wedges include basalts from the deep oceanic lithosphere, sedimentary rocks from the seafloor, and even traces of continental crust drawn into the wedge. The most common type of continental crust found in accretionary wedges is volcanic material from islands on the overriding plate.

Accretionary wedges are roughly shaped like a triangle with one angle pointing downward toward the trench. Because sediments are mostly scraped off from the subducting plate as it falls into the mantle, the youngest sediments are at the bottom of this triangle and the oldest are at the more flattened area above. This is the opposite of most rock formations, where geologists must dig deep to find older rocks.

Life in the Trenches

Ocean trenches are some of the most hostile habitats on Earth. Pressure is more than 1,000 times that on the surface, and the water temperature is just above freezing. Perhaps most importantly, no sunlight penetrates the deepest ocean trenches, making photosynthesis impossible.

Organisms that live in ocean trenches have evolved with unusual adaptations to thrive in these cold, dark canyons. Their behavior is a test of the so-called "visual interaction hypothesis," which states that the greater an organism's visibility, the more energy it must expend to catch prey or repel predators. In general, life in dark ocean trenches is isolated and slow-moving.

Pressure at the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the deepest spot on Earth, is about 12,400 tons per square meter (8 tons per square inch). Large ocean animals, such as sharks and whales, cannot live at this crushing depth.

Many organisms that thrive in these high-pressure environments lack gas-filled organs, such as lungs. These organisms, many related to sea stars or jellies, are made mostly of water and gelatinous material that cannot be crushed as easily as lungs or bones. Many of these creatures navigate the depths well enough to even make a vertical migration of more than 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) from the bottom of the trench-every day.

Even the fish in deep trenches are gelatinous. Several species of bulb-headed snailfish, for example, dwell at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The bodies of these fishes have been compared to tissue paper.
Dark and Deep
Shallower ocean trenches have less pressure, but may still fall outside the photic or sunlight zone, where light penetrates the water.

Many fish species have adapted to life in these dark ocean trenches. Some use bioluminescence, meaning they produce their own "living light" in order to attract prey, find a mate, or repel a predator. Anglerfish, for instance, use a bioluminescent growth on the top of their heads (called an esca) to lure prey. The anglerfish then snaps up the little fish with its huge, toothy jaws.

Without photosynthesis, marine communities rely primarily on two unusual sources for nutrients.

Another source of nutrients for ocean-trench food webs comes not from photosynthesis, but from chemosynthesis. Chemosynthesis is the process in which producers in the ocean trench, such as bacteria, convert chemical compounds into organic nutrients. The chemical compounds used in chemosynthesis are methane or carbon dioxide ejected from hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, which spew these toxic, hot gases and fluids into the frigid ocean water. One common animal that relies on chemosynthetic bacteria for food is the giant tube worm.

Exploring Trenches

Ocean trenches remain one of the most elusive and little-known marine habitats. Until the 1950s, many oceanographers thought that these trenches were unchanging environments nearly devoid of life. Even today, most research on ocean trenches has relied on seafloor samples and photographic expeditions.

That is slowly changing as explorers delve into the deep-literally. The Challenger Deep, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, lies deep in the Pacific Ocean near the island of Guam. Only three people have visited the Challenger Deep, the deepest ocean trench in the world: a joint French-American crew (Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh) in 1960 and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence James Cameron in 2012. (Two other unmanned expeditions have also explored the Challenger Deep.)

Engineering submersibles to explore ocean trenches is presents a huge set of unique challenges. Submersibles must be incredibly strong and resilient to contend with strong ocean currents, no visibility, and intense pressure of the Mariana Trench. Engineering a submersible to safely transport people, as well as delicate equipment, is even more challenging. The sub that took Piccard and Walsh to the Challenger Deep, the remarkable Trieste, was an unusual vessel called a bathyscaphe.

The Deepsea Challenger, Cameron's submersible, successfully addressed engineering challenges in innovative ways. To combat deep-sea currents, the sub was designed to spin slowly as it descended. Lights on the sub were not incandescent or fluorescent bulbs, but arrays of tiny LEDs that illuminated an area of about 30 meters (100 feet). To adapt to the pressure of the deep, the sub was shaped like a sphere-the walls of a square or cylinder-shaped vessel would need to be at least three times thicker to avoid being crushed. The sub's fuel was augmented by seawater to prevent the oil from compressing. Perhaps most startlingly, the Deepsea Challenger itself was designed to compress. Cameron and his team created glass-based syntactic foam that allowed the vehicle to compress under the ocean's pressure-the Deepsea Challenger came back to the surface 7.6 centimeters (3 inches) smaller than when it descended.

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Ocean trenches are long, narrow depressions on the seafloor. These chasms are the deepest parts of the ocean-and some of the deepest natural spots on Earth.

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Iceland

Iceland is in a unique area on our planet where geologists study the global mid-ocean ridges and visitors can walk through a valley on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The valleys form a boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the North American Plate. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge runs down the center of the Atlantic Ocean.

It rises above sea level on Iceland because the island sits above a hot spot in addition to the sitting atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Visitors can walk along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge on the island.

The picture on the left is a rift valley on Iceland taken by Sarah Masters

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Iceland Iceland is in a unique area on our planet where geologists study the global mid-ocean ridges and visitors can walk through a valley on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The valleys form a boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the North American Plate. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge runs down the center of the Atlantic Ocean.

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A rift valley is a lowland region that forms where Earth’s tectonic plates move apart, or rift.