6 THE OCEAN 



of the sea be exposed to view we would see a 

 stupendous slope twelve thousand feet in 

 height stretching for seven hundred miles and 

 forming the precipitous edge of an immense 

 triangular plateau five hundred miles in 

 length and two hundred miles in width, cut 

 by deep canons and with its southern edge 

 crowned with the Sierra Maestra of Cuba 

 which would rise twenty-eight thousand feet 

 above the ocean floor. 



As a rule the ocean near the coast of the 

 continents is comparatively shallow and the 

 depth increases very gradually for some dis- 

 tance from land. This broad, shallow area is 

 known as the "Continental Shelf" and with 

 the shore islands, which are portions of the 

 shelf that rise above sea level, it forms a part 

 of the continent it borders. The continental 

 shelf varies in width and depth in different 

 parts of the ocean, but as a rule it corresponds 

 more or less with the character of the shore 

 above the sea. Thus, on the Atlantic coast of 

 America, the shelf is broad and level like the 

 slope of the continent itself, whereas on the 

 Pacific side it is narrow and steep like the 



