continental shelf
the part of a continent that is submerged in relatively shallow sea.
Origin of continental shelf
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use continental shelf in a sentence
The almost 165,000 acres of land on the U.S. Outer continental shelf will be auctioned for lease in late July.
Interior Department Announces Plans for Renewable Energy Projects on Federal Lands | Miranda Green | June 7, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe state has also dedicated its share of money from oil production on the outer continental shelf to rebuilding the coast.
Why Do We Leave New Orleans Dangerously Exposed to the Next Big Storm? | John M. Barry | August 30, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTGeophysical Research Letters: Observed currents over the outer continental shelf during Hurricane Ivan.
Near the coast line the effect of the waves is continually to shove the detritus up the slopes of the continental shelf.
Outlines of the Earth's History | Nathaniel Southgate ShalerThis is the broadest portion of the continental shelf now known on the Atlantic border of the continent.
North America | Israel C. Russell
Throughout its entire extent, however, the continental shelf abounds in both plant and animal life.
North America | Israel C. RussellThe Pacific basin is deep close to the land bordering it, thus restricting the seaward extension of the continental shelf.
North America | Israel C. RussellIn this and in similar cases the progress of the estuary is indicated upon what is now the continental shelf.
British Dictionary definitions for continental shelf
the sea bed surrounding a continent at depths of up to about 200 metres (100 fathoms), at the edge of which the continental slope drops steeply to the ocean floor
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for continental shelf
The part of the edge of a continent between the shoreline and the continental slope. It is covered by shallow ocean waters and has a very gentle slope.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for continental shelf
The region adjoining the coastline of a continent, where the ocean is no more than a few hundred feet deep. The shelf is built up from sediments washed down to the sea by rivers.
Notes for continental shelf
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Browse