Chapter 3
Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Caroline flopped down in a chair in front of a library computer. She logged on to the Internet and typed "continental slope" into a search engine. The search brought back hundreds of hits, and Caroline sighed. She started searching for Web sites about movie stars. Then she saw Tad browsing the shelves behind her, and she quickly went back to oceans. Research is annoying, she thought, taking a look around the library. She spied a sign on the ceiling that pointed to another roo
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Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Caroline flopped down in a chair in front of a library computer.She logged on to the Internet and typed "continental slope" into a search engine.The search brought back hundreds of hits, and Caroline sighed.She started searching for Web sites about movie stars.Then she saw Tad browsing the shelves behind her, and she quickly went back to oceans.Research is annoying, she thought, taking a look around the library.She spied a sign on the ceiling that pointed to another room."Videos," it read.
The librarian helped Caroline find a stack of tapes about the oceans,even stuff on animals and fishing and things that she didn't think she'd need.She chose one about deep ocean submarines that explore the continental slope,popped it in the VCR, and began to take notes.
The continental slope was like an underwater cliff,sometimes dropping from 200 meters (660 feet) down to 5,000 meters (3 miles).At the top of the slope was Maggie's area, the continental shelf.Rivers deposited sediment onto the shelf until the sediment pushed to the edge of the slope and rained down the cliff wall.The sediment landed at the bottom, forming a soft, sloping pile called the continental rise.The rise could stretch across the ocean floor for 1,000 kilometers (600 miles).
In the video, scientists launched the submarine in the water above the continental slope.Once it got to the edge of the slope, it began to descend, shining a floodlight on the cliff wall.All along the slope grew the sun-loving ocean plants and animals Caroline was familiar with.She spotted brain coral and sea pens, sea urchins, anemone, shrimp and lobster, even an octopus.Sharks and other fish swam by.
