442 



TABLE l.-DEPTH ZONES OF THE OCEANS 

 [Areas in millions of square miles] 



Under 200 meters 200 to 1,000 meters 1,000 to 2,000 meters 



Total 

 area Area Percent Area Percent Area Percent 



All oceans and seas 105.569 7.909 7.49 4.669 4.42 4.630 4.38 



Pacific Ocean plus seas 52. 880 



Pacific Ocean alone ' 48.476 



Asiatic Mediterranean 2 2. 648 



Bering Sea .659 



Sea of Okhotsk _. .406 



Yellow and East China Seas 351 



Sea of Japan 295 



Gulf of California 045 



Atlantic Ocean plus seas 27. 502 



Atlantic Ocean alone 3 25.240 



American Mediterranean * 1. 271 



Mediterranean Sea 5 . 732 



Black Sea .148 



BalticSea 11 



Indian Ocean plus seas 21 



Indian Ocean alone .' 21.411 



Red Sea 



Persian Gulf. 



Arctic Ocean plus seas.. 3.574 1.683 47.10 .623 17.45 .333 9.34 



Arctic Ocean alone « 2.766 1.125 40.67 .458 16.54 2.82 10.21 



Arctic Mediterranean > 808 .558 69.01 .165 20.45 .051 6.27 



1 Pacific Ocean includes Bass Strait. 



2 Asiatic Mediterranean includes Andaman Sea, South China Sea, Java Sea, Celebes Sea and Arafura Sea. 

 ' Atlantic Ocean includes North Sea, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, Kattegat and Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

 * American Mediterranean includes Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. 



5 Mediterranean Sea includes Sea of Marmara. 



" Arctic Ocean includes only North Polar Basin and Barents Sea. 



7 Arctic Mediterranean includes Hudson Bay, Baffin Bay and Canadian Straits Sea. 



Source: L. R. Heselton, Jr., "The Continental Shelf." (Institute of Naval Studies, CNA research contribution No. 106 

 December 1968), page 8. 



300 miles. This would increase the area by about 50,000 square miles, 

 most of which is at depths of between 300 and 500 fathoms. 



In the Gulf of Mexico, the shelf rarely exceeds 100 fathoms in 

 depth. To the west of the Mississippi River the edge of the shelf 

 is about 100 fathoms up to 120 miles offshore. The overall U.S. 

 portion of the Gulf contains about 135,000 square miles of shelf of 

 less than 100 fathoms, of which only 8,000 miles is within territorial 

 waters. 



On the West Coast, the apparent shelf off Southern California is 

 about 10 miles wide with an edge at about 50 fathoms. However, 

 the bottom is irregular, and there are shoals and rises beyond 100 

 miles offshore which geologically should be considered as part 

 of the continental shelf. The true shelf — as opposed to the legal 

 shelf— appears to terminate beyond 500 fathoms in many instances 

 off Southern California, and in the southern portion is as much as 

 150 miles offshore. 



For the remainder of North America, there would be little effec- 

 tive change in shelf area by assigning an outer shelf limit greater 

 than 100 fathoms. The shelf of the Bering Sea is very flat and has 

 a pronounced edge at around TO fathoms, attaining a maximum width 

 of 400 miles. 



