A vast, extremely flat expanse of the deep ocean floor, typically lying several kilometres below the surface, built up where fine sediment settling from above has buried the underlying, more irregular oceanic crust beneath a smooth blanket. Abyssal plains are among the flattest and least explored landforms on Earth, covering a substantial share of the total ocean floor.
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Source Abyssal plain (Wikipedia)
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Abyssal plain (Wikipedia)
Shaped By: Seafloor Spreading, Lead paragraphQuote, Shaped By: Seafloor Spreading, Lead paragraph
The creation of the abyssal plain is the result of the spreading of the seafloor (plate tectonics) and the melting of the lower oceanic crust.
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