INTRODUCTION
Descriptions of physical features of the earth's surface are found in the earliest-known writings. However, the systematic classification of land forms is relatively recent and followed the development of the science of physical geology. The natural topographic divisions of the continents have been classified into physiographic provinces according to several similar systems (Lobeck, 1939; Fenneman, 1938; Atwood, 1940; and others). These systems take into account form and age of the relief, as well as the structure of the underlying rocks. Descriptions are usually given in terms of age, process, and structure, with the ultimate aim the understanding of the origin and history of topography. Detailed topographic maps at 1:50,000 or larger are available and are used in conjunction with direct field observations. More recently aerial photographs have greatly aided geomorphic studies.
The oceans, in contrast, have been subdivided by oceanographers merely into basins separated by ridges and swells. This was done on the basis of widely spaced discrete soundings shown on charts rarely of larger scale than 1:10 million. The basins were delimited by arbitrarily chosen and often crudely controlled isobaths. The development and installation of continuously recording deep-sea echo sounders and their extensive use in the deep sea provide for the first time detailed topographic information on the deep-sea floor and thus a new basis for description and classification.
It is perhaps presumptuous at this time to refer to the topographic divisions of the sea floor as physiographic provinces when we have only scant information concerning the structure of each province, the age, the physical processes, and, in fact, the details of topography. Therefore, the classification described in the following pages is presented as a first attempt, with the full knowledge that it will be modified and expanded by subsequent exploration.
We are only beginning to understand the structural significance of deep-sea physiographic provinces. We now think that the correlation of topography and structure will be better under the sea than on land because of less vigorous erosion at depth in the sea. If this is true, deep-sea structural patterns may eventually be quite simple to map.