Ocean basin in the context of "Structural basin"

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⭐ Core Definition: Ocean basin

In hydrology, an oceanic basin (or ocean basin) is anywhere on Earth that is covered by seawater. Geologically, most of the ocean basins are large geologic basins that are below sea level.

Most commonly the ocean is divided into basins following the continents distribution: the North and South Atlantic (together approximately 75 million km/ 29 million mi), North and South Pacific (together approximately 155 million km/ 59 million mi), Indian Ocean (68 million km/ 26 million mi) and Arctic Ocean (14 million km/ 5.4 million mi). Also recognized is the Southern Ocean (20 million km/ 7 million mi). All ocean basins collectively cover 67% of the Earth's surface, and together they contain almost 97% of all water on the planet. They have an average depth of almost 4 km (about 2.5 miles).

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In this Dossier

Ocean basin in the context of Drin (river)

The Drin (/drn/; Albanian pronunciation: [dɾin], Albanian definite form: Drini, pronounced [ˈdɾini]) or Drim (Serbian and Macedonian: Дрим, pronounced [drim]), is a river in Southeastern Europe with two major tributaries – the White Drin and the Black Drin and two distributaries – one discharging into the Adriatic Sea, in the Gulf of Drin and the other into the Buna River. Its catchment area extends across Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and North Macedonia and is home to more than 1.6 million people. The river and its tributaries form the Gulf of Drin, an ocean basin that encompasses the northern Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast.

At 285 kilometres (177 miles) long, the Drin is the longest river of Albania and its tributaries cross through both Kosovo and North Macedonia. Its northern tributary, the White Drin starts from the foothills of Žljeb, at White Drin Waterfall in west Kosovo, and flows generally south, whereas its southern tributary, the Black Drin originates from Ohrid lake in the town of Struga, North Macedonia and flows north. Both tributaries' confluence occurs near Kukës in northeast Albania and Drin then flows westwards through the Albanian Alps and Dukagjin Highlands, where three successive dams were erected between 1960s and late 1980s, forming 3 large artificial lakes. The Drin then passes Vau i Dejës and drains into the Adriatic Sea through its two distributaries in Buna river and west of Lezhë.

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Ocean basin in the context of Solid earth

Solid earth refers to "the earth beneath our feet" or terra firma, the planet's solid surface and its interior. It excludes the Earth's fluid envelopes, the atmosphere and hydrosphere (but includes the ocean basin), as well as the biosphere and interactions with the Sun.

Solid-earth science refers to the corresponding methods of study, a subset of Earth sciences, predominantly geophysics and geology, excluding aeronomy, atmospheric sciences, oceanography, hydrology, and ecology.

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Ocean basin in the context of Mid-ocean ridge

A mid-ocean ridge (MOR) is a seafloor mountain system formed by plate tectonics. It typically has a depth of about 2,600 meters (8,500 ft) and rises about 2,000 meters (6,600 ft) above the deepest portion of an ocean basin. This feature is where seafloor spreading takes place along a divergent plate boundary. The rate of seafloor spreading determines the morphology of the crest of the mid-ocean ridge and its width in an ocean basin.

The production of new seafloor and oceanic lithosphere results from mantle upwelling in response to plate separation. The melt rises as magma at the linear weakness between the separating plates, and emerges as lava, creating new oceanic crust and lithosphere upon cooling.

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Ocean basin in the context of Celebes Sea

The Celebes Sea (/ˈsɛlɪbz, səˈlbiz/ SEL-ib-eez, sə-LEE-beez; Filipino: Dagat Selebes) or Sulawesi Sea (Malay: Laut Sulawesi; Indonesian: Laut Sulawesi; pronounced [ˌlaʊt̪̚ sulaˈwesi]) of the western Pacific Ocean is bordered on the north by the Sulu Archipelago and Sulu Sea and Mindanao Island of the Philippines, on the east by the Sangihe Islands chain, on the south by Sulawesi's Minahasa Peninsula, and the west by northern Kalimantan in Indonesia. It extends 605 km (376 mi) north-south by 780 km (485 mi) east-west and has a total surface area of 472,000 km (182,000 sq mi), to a maximum depth of 6,220 metres (20,406 ft). South of the Cape Mangkalihat, the sea opens southwest through the Makassar Strait into the Java Sea.

The Celebes Sea is a piece of an ancient ocean basin that formed 42 million years ago in a locale removed from any landmass. By 20 million years ago, the earth's crust movement had moved the basin close enough to the Indonesian and Philippine volcanoes to receive emitted debris. By 10 million years ago the Celebes Sea was inundated with continental debris, including coal, which was shed from a growing young mountain on Borneo and the basin had docked against Eurasia.

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Ocean basin in the context of Thermohaline circulation

Thermohaline circulation (THC) is a part of the large-scale ocean circulation driven by global density gradients formed by surface heat and freshwater fluxes. The name thermohaline is derived from thermo-, referring to temperature, and haline, referring to salt content—factors which together determine the density of sea water.

Wind-driven surface currents (such as the Gulf Stream) travel polewards from the equatorial Atlantic Ocean, cooling and sinking en-route to higher latitudes - eventually becoming part of the North Atlantic Deep Water - before flowing into the ocean basins. While the bulk of thermohaline water upwells in the Southern Ocean, the oldest waters (with a transit time of approximately 1000 years) upwell in the North Pacific; extensive mixing takes place between the ocean basins, reducing the difference in their densities, forming the Earth's oceans a global system. The water in these circuits transport energy - as heat - and mass - as dissolved solids and gases - around the globe. Consequently, the state of the circulation greatly impacts the climate of Earth.

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Ocean basin in the context of Hudson Canyon

39°39′54″N 72°28′26″W / 39.665°N 72.474°W / 39.665; -72.474

The Hudson Canyon is a submarine canyon that begins from the shallow outlet of the estuary at the mouth of the Hudson River. It extends out over 400 miles (640 km) seaward across the continental shelf, finally connecting to the deep ocean basin at a depth of 1.9–2.5 mi (3–4 km) below sea level. It begins as a natural channel of several kilometres width, starting as a 66–131-foot (20–40 m) depression at Hudson Channel southward from Ambrose Light, then carving through a deep notch of about 0.62 mi (1 km) depth in the shelf break, and running down the continental rise. Tidally associated flows of about 30 cm/s (1.1 km/h) up and down the deeper parts of the canyon have been recorded. As silt, sand and mud are carried down the Hudson River, they flow into the canyon and out into the deep sea.

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