Myth vs Reality: Topography of the Ocean Floor

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with the NASA Earth Observatory.

All images, illustrations, and videos courtesy of NASA except:

·       Alfred Wegener photo courtesy of Bildarchiv Foto Marburg

·       Drawings of continental drift by Alfred Wegener from The Movements of the Continents and the Oceans

·       Lystrosaurus illustration courtesy of Nobu Tamura

·       Sea creature illustration copyright The National Library of Israel, Shapell Family Digitization Project _and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Geography – Historic Cities Research Project

·       Photo of Half Dome courtesy of D.L. Peck, U.S. Geological Survey

·       Photo of Kanchenjunga Mountain courtesy of Wikimedia user Anirban c8

·       Mountain formation illustrations by Marc Lussier (STScI)

·       Aerial photo of the Himalayan Mountains courtesy of Wikimedia user Pipimaru

 

Music courtesy of Associated Production Music

Written by Andrea Gianopoulos

Designed by Marc Lussier

(SPEECH)

[UPTEMPO MUSIC]

 

(DESCRIPTION)

Title, Myth vs Reality, An illustration with sea serpents surrounding a ship is above Myth, A mountain peak is above reality, A dark, rotating planet floats in the background at the bottom, The Myth side is highlighted, Text, The entire ocean floor is flat like a sandy beach.

 

The reality side is highlighted, Text, Although some portions are flat, the ocean floor also contains long mountain chains, isolated hills and mountains, and deep trenches. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge rises about a mile above the ocean floor, while the Mariana Trench plunges to 36,000 feet (11,000 meters) at its deepest—farther below sea level than Mount Everest ascends above sea level.