How Old Is the Atlantic Ocean?
ES0802  The Atlantic Ocean Seafloor

Matching shapes and other evidence has convinced scientists that the two continents were once joined. Today, there’s an ocean between them.

The waters of the Atlantic Ocean didn’t just flow over the land between the continents to separate them. New rocks formed the seafloor between the formerly joined continents. The shape of the ocean floor between the continents provides a clue about how the ocean formed.

  !   Examine this image showing the shape of the seafloor. Use the color code to interpret the shape of the seafloor and find shallow and deep areas. Click the red line to see a cutaway profile of the seafloor.

 
 

2. Along the profile line, where is the ocean generally the deepest? ...the shallowest? 



	

 	

		
			
	

	
	

		 
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