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by Ciodens on November 20th, 2009
The continental margin is the zone of the ocean floor that separates the thin oceanic crust from thick continental crust. Continental margins constitute about 28% of the oceanic area.The transition from continental to oceanic crust commonly occurs within the outer part of the margin, called continental rise. Oceanwards beyond the edge of the rise lies the abyssal plain. The underwater part of the continental crust is called continental shelf, which usually abruptly terminates with the continental slope, which in turn terminates with the foot of the slope. The under-ocean part constitutes about 20% of the continental crust.
A rift is a place where the Earth's crust and lithosphere are being pulled apart, and is an example of extensional tectonics. Typical rift features are a central linear downdropped fault segment, called a graben, with parallel normal faulting and rift-flank uplifts on either side forming a rift valley, where the rift remains above sea level. The axis of the rift area commonly contains volcanic rocks and active volcanism is a part of many, but not all active rift systems.
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