Bank (topography)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Also see Sandbank
A bank is a comparatively shallow area or an underwater hill on the continental shelf. It may be of volcanic nature. Seamounts, by contrast, rise from the deep sea, and are steeper, and higher in comparison to the surrouding seabed.
An example is Cordell Bank, northwest of the Farallon Islands, which has a least depth of 35 meters. In other cases, parts of a bank may reach above the water surface, thereby forming islands, as in the case of Pedro Bank.
