Page 433 - (DK) Ocean - The Definitive Visual Guide

THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC 431

The Western ATLANTIC OCEAN B3 ATLANTIC OCEAN E2
Gulf of Maine Grand Banks
North Atlantic AREA 35,000 square miles (90,700 square km) AREA 108,000 square miles (280,000 square km)
MAXIMUM DEPTH 1,240 ft (377 m) AVERAGE DEPTH 330 ft (100 m)
IN THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC, the warm, fast-flowing INFLOWS Atlantic Ocean; St. John, Penobscott rivers
Gulf Stream pulls away from the North American coast and runs The Grand Banks is a large area of
Like much of the continental shelf off continental shelf, extending up to
northeastward as the North Atlantic Drift. The Labrador Current the east coast of North America, the 310 miles (500 km) off Newfoundland.
brings cold water south along the coast as far as the Gulf of Maine. Gulf of Maine was above sea level The area is renowned for dense sea
during the last ice age. Georges Bank fogs, which arise when warm, moist
freshwater input to the Atlantic from stands 330 ft (100 m) above the floor air from the south is chilled by the
ATLANTIC OCEAN C2
the North American east coast, and its of the Gulf, and was an island until cold Labrador Current, causing
Gulf of St. Lawrence mouth is the largest estuary of its type 6,000 years ago. Cape Cod and the condensation. The Labrador Current
in the world. The St. Lawrence Seaway, islands of Nantucket and Martha’s presents another shipping hazard by
AREA 60,000 square miles (155,000 square km) which was opened in 1959, gives vital Vineyard are the highest standing of a bringing icebergs to the area—the
MAXIMUM DEPTH 7,550 ft (2,300 m) shipping access to the Great Lakes. series of moraines left behind as the Titanic famously sank south of the
glaciers retreated and the sea level rose. Grand Banks in 1912.
INFLOWS Atlantic Ocean, St. Lawrence River
Occasionally, the Gulf Stream lies Although turbidity currents have
The gulf lies between the mouth of not far offshore and the temperature never been directly observed, their
the St. Lawrence River and the islands of the sea off Nantucket beaches can power was felt in 1929 when an
of Newfoundland and Cape Breton. be several degrees higher than it is off earthquake triggered a huge sediment
The Laurentian Trough, between the nearby Cape Cod. flow (submarine landslide) down the
two islands, was scoured out by the North of the Gulf of Maine, the Bay continental slope off the Grand Banks.
Laurentide Ice Sheet during the last of Fundy extends more than 120 miles Submarine telegraph and telephone
ice age. It channels sediment from the (200 km) inland. The bay acts like a cables were broken over a distance of
river over the edge of the continental funnel, producing a tidal range of 43 ft 500 miles (800 km)—from the timing
shelf and onto the Laurentian Fan. (13 m) at its northern end, which is of the breaks, the speed of the flow was
The St. Lawrence River is the largest SEA ICE IN THE GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE the highest in the world. estimated at 25–34 mph (40–55 km/h).

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80˚W 70˚W 60˚W 50˚W 40˚W
3,826m
(12,553ft) 2,273m West
(7,458ft) Thulean
Rise
119m
1 Belle Isle (390ft) Northwest Atlantic 1
CANAD A Strait of Belle Isle Cape Bauld Orphan Mid–Ocean Canyon 50˚N
50˚N Grey Islands Knoll
309m White
(1,014ft) Bay Notre Dame Bay
Île d’Anticosti Fogo Island
Gulf of
NANTUCKET ISLAND Honguedo Passage St. Lawrence
Péninsule
de Gaspé Newfoundland
Rocher Percé
St. John’s Flemish
Îles de la Cabot Strait ST. PIERRE Cap
Québec 13m
Cape
Madeleine North (43ft)
126m
2 St. Lawrence Prince Edward 466m AND Cape Race (413ft) 2
Island
Ottawa (1,529ft) MIQUELON
St. Lawrence Montréal Saint Placentia Bay Grand Banks Milne
Seaway Cape of Newfoundland Seamounts
Toronto John Breton
Nova Scotia
Lake Island Trough
Ontario Bay of Fundy
Laurentian
Sable
Buffalo Connecticut Portland Halifax Island Newfoundland
Seamounts
UNITED STATES Gulf of Cape Sable Emerald Laurentian 63m 3,883m
Maine
Basin
OF AMERICA Hudson Boston Murray Georges Bank 69m Fan (207ft) (12,740ft)
Browns
Basin
Susquehanna Delaware Providence Cape (10ft) Basin (226ft) Newfoundland
3m
40˚N Martha’s Cod Georges Basin
3 New York Long Vineyard Nantucket Bank 40˚N 3
Island
Island
Baltimore 6,492m N e w f o u n d l a n d R i d g e
(21,300ft)
Potomac
Washington
Delaware
Bay 903m
(2,963ft) 5,356m
ATLANTIC (17,573ft)
Chesapeake
Norfolk Bay OCEAN
Cape New England Seamounts ATLAS OF THE OCEANS
Hatteras SCALE
4 5,464m 4
Cape (17,927ft) 0 100 200 300 400 500 km
Hatteras Ridge Hatteras Nashville 0 100 200 300 400 500 miles
Lookout
Plain
70˚W 60˚W Seamount 50˚W
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