The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

A UNIVERSALGEOGEAPHY.THE NORTH-EAST ATLANTIC.Depth and Currents.HE portion of the Atlantic which waters the northern and northwesternshores of Europe and its islands is little more than anarrow basin when compared with the vast size and depth of thesouthern section flowing between the Old and New Worlds. Thenorthern seas cover an area which geological record clearly showshas for countless ages been the battle-ground of the rival elements of land andwater. Islands, archipelagos, banks, and submarine shoals here divide the abyssinto secondary basins, while the English Channel, North Sea, and Baltic may beregarded as flooded plains, belonging geologically to the mainland.Even on the mainland itself it is not easy to determine the limits of thenatural regions, the transitions in altitude and climate being very seldom sharplymarked, while on the ocean it becomes impossible to draw any imaginary lines ofseparation. Not only are the climatic changes freely produced on the unbrokensurface of the waters, but the liquid mass is constantly displaced by the action ofstorms, tides, and conflicting currents. Hence the oceanic areas can only beindicated in a very approximate manner.Nevertheless the soundings that have been carried on since the middle of thiscentury have determined certain transitional zones between the various basins.The British and Scandinavian waters are separated from the American waters bydepths of more than 2,000 fathoms, forming a hollow trough between the twocontinental masses. A lateral valley of this trough off the Newfoundland bankruns eastwards to mid- Atlantic, towards another deep basin stretching to the westof the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian peninsula ; while between these two cavitiesthe plateau of the Azores is connected by a ridge with those of the European seas.Altogether tbe European section of the North Atlantic is comparatively veryshallow, so that an upheaval of even 300 feet would almost efface its eastern