The Laurentian Fan or Laurentian Abyss is an underwater depression off the eastern coast of
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
in the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
.
Not a trench, but more of an "underwater valley", it is estimated to be at most ~19,685 feet (3.7 miles; 6.0 km) in depth. The Laurentian Fan is a product of glaciation and water currents from the
Gulf of Saint Lawrence
, image = Baie de la Tour.jpg
, alt =
, caption = Gulf of St. Lawrence from Anticosti National Park, Quebec
, image_bathymetry = Golfe Saint-Laurent Depths fr.svg
, alt_bathymetry = Bathymetry ...
.
[Information gathered via a phone interview with Dr. Norm Catto of Memorial University - August 15, 2008] It is part of the Laurentian cone region, bound by the
Laurentian Channel
The Laurentian Channel is a deep submarine valley off the coast of eastern Canada in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
The channel is of glacial origin and is the submerged valley of the historic Saint Lawrence River, running from a sharp escarpment ...
and the
Sohm Abyssal Plain.
Towards the end of the 1980s, it was discovered unexpectedly that the fan is the site of
hydrothermal vents with their own
ecosystem
An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...
s functioning in the absence of sunlight. These supported organisms such as
vesicomyid and
thyasirid clam
Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two shel ...
s, as well as marine
gastropods
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. The ...
and other
epifauna
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zool ...
similar to those found in hydrothermal and
cold seep
A cold seep (sometimes called a cold vent) is an area of the ocean floor where hydrogen sulfide, methane and other hydrocarbon-rich fluid seepage occurs, often in the form of a brine pool. ''Cold'' does not mean that the temperature of the see ...
environments elsewhere.
The approximate coordinates are .
The Laurentian Fan plays an important role in the 1990 film ''
The Hunt for Red October
''The Hunt for Red October'' is the debut novel by American author Tom Clancy, first published on October 1, 1984, by the Naval Institute Press. It depicts Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius as he seemingly goes rogue with his country's cutt ...
''. It also appears at the end of the 2007 film ''
Transformers
''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms ...
'', with the United States government depicted dumping the remains of the defeated
Decepticons
The Decepticons are the main antagonists in the fictional continuities of the ''Transformers'' multimedia franchise. They are depicted as a faction of sentient robotic lifeforms led by Megatron, identified by a purple face-like insignia. Capa ...
into the fan, in hopes that the crushing depths and low temperature will destroy the remains. The fan later reappears in the film's 2008 sequel ''
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen''.
See also
*
Abyssal plain
An abyssal plain is an underwater plain on the deep ocean floor, usually found at depths between and . Lying generally between the foot of a continental rise and a mid-ocean ridge, abyssal plains cover more than 50% of the Earth's surface. ...
References
;Notes
External links
*
Landforms of the Atlantic Ocean
Oceanography of Canada
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