Key:seamark:sea_area:category

Categories sea areas (CATSEA)

Values

Classification of an area based on its physical characteristics.

Category	seamark:sea_area:category	Definition
Gat	gat	A natural or artificial passage or channel through shoals or steep banks, or across a line of banks lying between two channels.
Bank	bank	An elevation over which the depth of water is relatively shallow, but normally sufficient for safe surface navigation. See also subsea=bank.
Deep	deep	In oceanography, an obsolete term which was generally restricted to depths greater than 6,000 m
Bay	bay	An indentation in the coastline. See also natural=bay.
Trench	trench	A long narrow, characteristically very deep and asymmetrical depression of the sea floor, with relatively steep sides.
Basin	basin	A depression, characteristically in the deep sea floor, more or less equidimensional in plan and of variable extent.
Flat	flat	A level tract of land, as the bed of a dry lake or an area frequently uncovered at low tide. Usually in plural.
Reef	reef	Rock lying at or near the sea surface that may constitute a hazard to surface navigation. See also natural=reef
Ledge	ledge	A rocky formation continuous with and fringing the shore.
Canyon	canyon	A relatively narrow, deep depression with steep sides, the bottom of which generally has a continuous slope, developed characteristically on some continental slopes.
Narrowa	narrows	A navigable narrow part of a bay, strait, river, etc.
Shoal	shoal	An offshore hazard to surface navigation that is composed of unconsolidated material.
Knoll	knoll	A relatively small isolated elevation of a rounded shape.
Ridge	ridge	(a) A long, narrow elevation with steep sides. (b) A long, narrow elevation often separating ocean basins. (c) The linked major mid-oceanic mountain systems of global extent.
Seamount	seamount	A large isolated elevation, greater than 1000m in relief above the sea floor, characteristically of conical form.
Pinnacle	pinnacle	Any high tower or spire-shaped pillar or rock or coral, alone or cresting a summit. It may extend above the surface of the water. It may or may not be a hazard to surface navigation.
Abyssal plain	abyssal_plain	An extensive, flat, gently sloping or nearly level region at abyssal depths.
Plateau	plateau	A flat or nearly flat area of considerable extent, dropping off abruptly on one or more sides.
Spur	spur	A subordinate elevation, ridge or rise projecting outward from a larger feature.
Shelf	shelf	A zone adjacent to a continent (or around an island) and extending from the low water line to a depth at which there is usually a marked increase of slope towards oceanic depths.
Trough	trough	A long depression of the sea floor characteristically flat bottomed and steep sided and normally shallower than a trench.
Saddle	saddle	A broad pass, resembling in shape a riding saddle, in a ridge or between contiguous seamounts.
Abyssal hills	abyssal_hills	A tract, on occasion extensive, of low (100-500m) elevations on the deep sea floor.
Apron	apron	A gently dipping featureless surface, underlain primarily by sediment, at the base of any steeper slope.
Archipelagic apron	archipelagic_apron	A gentle slope with a generally smooth surface on the sea floor, characteristically found around groups of islands or seamounts.
Borderland	borderland	A region adjacent to a continent, normally occupied by or bordering a shelf, that is highly irregular with depths well in excess of those typical of a shelf.
Continental margin	continental_margin	The zone, generally consisting of shelf, slope and rise, separating the continent from the abyssal plain or deep sea floor.
Continental rise	continental_rise	A gentle slope rising from the oceanic depths towards the foot of a continental slope.
Escarpment	escarpment	An elongated and comparatively steep slope separating or gently sloping areas.
Fan	fan	A relatively smooth, fan-like, depositional feature normally sloping away from the outer termination of a canyon or canyon system.
Fracture zone	fracture_zone	An extensive linear zone of irregular topography of the sea floor, characterized by steep-sided or asymmetrical ridges, troughs or escarpments.
Gap	gap	A narrow break in a ridge or a rise.
Guyot	guyot	A seamount having a comparatively smooth flat top.
Hill	hill	A small isolated elevation (see also abyssal hills).
Hole	hole	A local depression, often steep sided, of the sea floor.
Levee	levee	A depositional embankment bordering a canyon, valley or deep-sea channel.
Median valley	median_valley	The axial depression of the mid-oceanic ridge system.
Moat	moat	An annular depression that may not be continuous, located at the base of many seamounts, islands and other isolated elevations.
Mountains	mountains	A large and complex grouping of ridges and seamounts.
Peak	peak	A prominent elevation either pointed or of a very limited extent across the summit.
Province	province	A region identifiable by a group of similar physiographic features whose characteristics are markedly in contrast with surrounding areas.
Rise	rise	(a) A broad elevation that rises gently and generally smoothly from the sea floor. (b) The linked major mid-oceanic mountain systems of global extent.
Sea channel	sea_channel	A continuously sloping, elongated narrow depression commonly found in fans or abyssal plains and customarily bordered by levees on one or both sides.
Seamount chain	seamount_chain	Several seamounts in linear or orcuate alignment.
Shelf-edge	shelf-edge	A narrow zone at the seaward margin of a shelf along which is a marked increase of slope.
Sill	sill	A sea floor barrier of relatively shallow depth restricting water movement between basins.
Slope	slope	The slope seaward from the shelf edge to the upper edge of a continental rise or the point where there is a general reduction in slope.
Terrace	terrace	A relatively flat horizontal or gently inclined surface, sometimes long and narrow, which is bounded by a steeper ascending slope on one side and by a steeper descending slope on the opposite side.
Valley	valley	A relatively shallow, wide depression, the bottom of which usually has a continuous gradient. This term is generally not used for features that have canyon-like characteristics for a significant portion of their extent.
Canal	canal	An artificial water course used for navigation.
Lake	lake	A large body of water entirely surrounded by land.
River	river	A relatively large natural stream of water.
Reach	reach	A straight section of a river, especially a navigable river between two bends or an arm of the sea extending into the land.

See also

• Sea areas