Shape and Size - The Atlantic Ocean has the shape of the letter S. It has 20% of the area of the earth or half of that of the Pacific. Its area is 82 million sq km. The broadest part is 6,000 km along 35oS. It is surrounded by Europe and Africa on the east and north and South Africa on the west. About 1/ 4 of the ocean is less than 1,000 meter deep. It is because of the shallowness of the marginal seas.
Islands. The British Islands are the raised portions of the continental shelf. The West Indies Islands are situated between the North and the South Americas. Greenland and the northern Scotland are situated on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Other important islands are Falkland, South Archaes, Shetland, Sandwich, Ascension, Tristan de Cunha, Bermuda, Madeira, Canaries, etc.
Marginal Seas. There are almost no marginal seas in South Atlantic Ocean but there are many in the north in European area. The Baltic and the North Sea are no more than 200 meter deep. The depth near Denmark Islands is not more than 20 meters.
The Mediterranean is thought to have originated due to the complex activities of subsidence of some parts of folded mountains. The depth of this sea is about 400 meters near Gibraltar strait. The sea is the deepest (5,066 Meters) between Greece and Crete. The Dardanelles the Marmara Sea and the Bosphorus are narrow water areas between the Black sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The Aegean, the Adriatic and the Black seas have been affected by the orogenetic movements of the Tertiary period.
On the American coast less than 200 metre deep are other marginal seas, like the Baffin Bay, Hudson Bay, Davis Strait, etc., and relate the Atlantic Ocean with the Arctic Ocean. The deepest deeps in Mexico Gulf and Caribbean seas are 4,160 and 7,907 metre deep respectively.
Continental Shelf. A continental shelf, about 200 meter deep, is situated along the continents. The breadth of the shelf is 250 to 400 km and is found along the north-eastern part of N. America and North-west of Europe. Dogger Banks and Grand Banks are situated on the shelf. The Adriatic Sea is almost wholly situated on the shelf.
The shelf spreads from South America towards Europe and the Antarctica. Patagonian shelf is conspicuous near the Argentinean coast.
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This submarine ridge is known by the name of Dolphin in North Atlantic and by Challenger in South Atlantic Ocean. It has a S-Shape and an average depth of 3,000 meters.
It starts from Iceland ends by 55 degrees S. It is known by different names at different places. It is Wyville-Thomson between Iceland and Scotland, Telegraph Plateau to the south of Greenland between Africa and America. It subsides at few places. Many branches leave this ridge at various places.
There are various hypothesis regarding the origin of this ridge. Compressional and tensional forces are thought to have caused the birth of this ridge.
Basins and Deeps. There are a number of basins situated in the ocean. Labrador, Northwest and North-east Pacific, Cape Verde, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Brazilian, Agulhas, Argentinean and other basins are well known Romanche Deep in Sierra Leone is the deepest (19,290.4 meters).
Trenches are few. West of the West Indies is Puerto Rico and to the west is Cayman trench. The south sandwich trench is situated in the southern part of the ocean.
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It starts from Iceland ends by 55 degrees S. It is known by different names at different places. It is Wyville-Thomson between Iceland and Scotland, Telegraph Plateau to the south of Greenland between Africa and America. It subsides at few places. Many branches leave this ridge at various places.