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Atlantic Abyssal Plain

30°N, 40°W (approx.) — Floor of the North Atlantic — vast, largely unmapped abyssal terrain

What's documented

The Atlantic abyssal plains are extensive flat areas of deep ocean floor lying between roughly 3,000 and 6,000 meters depth, on either side of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. They are among the flattest surfaces on Earth. Most of this terrain remains unmapped at land-equivalent resolution — as of 2026, a smaller fraction has been bathymetrically resolved than the surface of Mars.

Public-record imagery

Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the abyssal context.
Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the abyssal context.Wikipedia Commons · Public domain · Mangwanani · 2008
Bathymetric map of the Atlantic seafloor. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge runs the full length of the basin — a 16,000 km submarine mountain chain, only a fraction of which is mapped at land-equivalent resolution.
Bathymetric map of the Atlantic seafloor. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge runs the full length of the basin — a 16,000 km submarine mountain chain, only a fraction of which is mapped at land-equivalent resolution.Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · NOAA
Bruce Heezen and Marie Tharp's hand-painted World Ocean Floor map (Berann manuscript, 1977). Tharp first recognized the Mid-Atlantic Ridge's central rift valley in 1953 from echo-sounding profiles — a discovery initially dismissed as 'girl talk' by male colleagues.
Bruce Heezen and Marie Tharp's hand-painted World Ocean Floor map (Berann manuscript, 1977). Tharp first recognized the Mid-Atlantic Ridge's central rift valley in 1953 from echo-sounding profiles — a discovery initially dismissed as 'girl talk' by male colleagues.Wikimedia Commons · CC0 · Berann, Heinrich C., Heezen, Bruce C., Tharp, Marie. · 1977
Marie Tharp at Lamont-Doherty. Her bathymetric maps transformed plate tectonics from contested hypothesis to scientific consensus. Bob Ballard, who used her work to locate hydrothermal vents and the Titanic, stands at her left.
Marie Tharp at Lamont-Doherty. Her bathymetric maps transformed plate tectonics from contested hypothesis to scientific consensus. Bob Ballard, who used her work to locate hydrothermal vents and the Titanic, stands at her left.Wikimedia Commons · CC0 · Credit Line: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Gift of Bill Woodward, USNS Kane Collection · 1968