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| A lagoon is a body of comparatively shallow salt water separated from the deeper sea by a shallow or exposed barrier beach. Formed by the build-up of sandbanks or reefs along shallow coastal waters. |
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| A Tidal Flat is a leveled muddy surfacealternately submerged and exposed to the air by changing tidal levels. Waves are generally very small because of the shallow. |
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| A Reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water. Deposition of sand, wave erosion planning down rock outcrops, and other natural processes. |
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| The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain, and was part of the continent during the glacial periods, but is undersea during interglacial periods such as the current epoch by relatively shallow seas. The continental shelves are covered by terrigenous sediments; that is, those derived from erosion of the continents. |
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| A continental slope is the seafloor below the break and the rise is the land above the break. |
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| Abyssal plains are flat or very gently sloping areas of the deep ocean basin floor. They are among the Earth's flattest and smoothest regions and the least explored. They generally lie between the foot of a continental rise and a mid-oceanic ridge. |
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