A UNIVERSAL GEOGRAPHY. 



THE NORTH-EAST ATLANTIC. 



Depth and Currents. 



HE portion of the Atlantic wliich waters the northern and north- 

 western shores of Europe and its islands is little more than a 

 narrow basin when compared with the vast size and depth of the 

 southern section flowing between the Old and New "Worlds. The 

 northern seas cover an area which geological record clearly shows 

 has for countless ages been the battle-ground of the rival elements of land and 

 water. Islands, archipelagos, banks, and submarine shoals here divide the abyss 

 into secondary basins, while the English Channel, North Sea, and Baltic may be 

 regarded as flooded plains, belonging geologically to the mainland. 



Even on the mainland itself it is not easy to determine the limits of the 

 natural regions, the transitions in altitude and climate being very seldom sharply 

 marked, while on the ocean it becomes impossible to draw any imaginar}^ lines of 

 separation. Not only are the climatic changes freely produced on the unbroken 

 surface of the waters, but the liquid mass is constantly displaced by the action of 

 storms, tides, and conflicting currents. Hence the oceanic areas can only be 

 indicated in a very approximate manner. 



Nevertheless the soundings that have been carried on since the middle of this 

 century have determined certain transitional zones between the various basins. 

 The British and Scandinavian waters are separated from the American waters by 

 depths of more. than 2,000 fathoms, forming a hollow trough between the two 

 continental masses. A lateral valley of this trough off the Newfoundland bank 

 runs eastwards to mid- Atlantic, towards another deep basin stretching to the west 

 of the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian peninsula ; while between these two cavities 

 the plateau of the Azores is connected by a ridge with those of the European seas. 

 Altogether the European section of the North Atlantic is comparatively very 

 shallow, so that an upheaval of even 300 feet would almost efface its eastern 

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