To complete a map of earth s ocean floor you ve got to take to the high seas by boat.
First map of the ocean floor.
Topographic maps of the sea floor produced at a 1 100 000 scale that contain loran c rates bottom sediment types and known bottom obstructions.
Each consist of three sheets a base bathymetric map.
Continental shelf 300 feet continental slope 300 10 000 feet abyssal plain 10 000 feet abyssal hill 3 000 feet up from the abyssal plain seamount 6 000 feet.
We ve come a long way in ocean exploration since the days of the hms challenger launched in 1858.
This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level.
Revealed to the world in 1977 this is the first map of the earth s ocean floor.
This is expensive and time consuming so sonar maps are mostly only made of places where ships spend the most time.
These early maps based on hundreds of thousands of hand picked depths provided the context for the plate tectonics revolution.
This product is intended to aid fishermen and those needing seafloor features and potential fishing grounds.
Typically finely wrought ocean maps have been the result of extensive sonar.
The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur.