Abyssal Zone

abyssal zone, portion of the ocean deeper than about 2,000 m (6,600 feet) and shallower than about 6,000 m (20,000 feet). The zone is defined mainly by its extremely uniform environmental conditions, as reflected in the distinct life forms inhabiting it. The upper boundary between the abyssal zone and the overlying bathyal zone is conveniently defined as the depth at which the water temperature is 4° C (39° F); this depth varies between 1,000 and 3,000 m. Waters deeper than 6,000 m are treated separately as the hadal realm by ecologists.

The abyssal realm is the largest environment for Earth life, covering 300,000,000 square km (115,000,000 square miles), about 60 percent of the global surface and 83 percent of the area of oceans and seas.

Abyssal waters originate at the air-sea interface in polar regions, principally the Antarctic. There, the cold climate produces sea ice and residual cold brine. Because of its high density, the brine sinks and slowly flows along the bottom toward the Equator. Abyssal salinities range narrowly between 34.6 and 35.0 parts per thousand, and temperatures are mostly between 0° and 4° C (32° and 39° F). Pressure increases by about one atmosphere (approximately 14.7 pounds per square inch at sea level) with each 10-metre increment in depth; thus, abyssal pressures range between 200 and 600 atmospheres. Pressure presents few problems for abyssal animals, however, because the pressures within their bodies are the same as those outside them.

The concentrations of nutrient salts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and silica are very uniform in abyssal waters and are much higher than in overlying waters. This is because abyssal and hadal waters are the reservoir for the salts from decomposed biological materials that settle downward from upper zones, and the lack of sunlight prevents their uptake by photosynthesis.

The oxygen content of abyssal water depends entirely upon the amounts dissolved into it at its polar site of origin and the absence of photosynthesis, which precludes the introduction of new oxygen at depth. Abyssal waters retain several cubic centimetres of dissolved oxygen per litre, because the sparse animal populations do not consume oxygen faster than it is introduced into the abyssal zone. Abyssal life is concentrated at the seafloor, however, and the water nearest the floor may be essentially depleted in oxygen.

The abyssal realm is very calm, being far removed from storms that agitate the ocean at the air-sea interface. These low energies are reflected in the character of abyssal sediments. The abyssal realm is usually far enough from land that the sediment is composed predominantly of microscopic plankton remains produced in the food chain in the overlying waters, from which they settle. Abyssal sediment in waters shallower than 4,000 m in equatorial to temperate regions is composed primarily of the calcareous shells of foraminiferan zooplankton and of phytoplankton such as coccolithophores. Below 4,000 m, calcium carbonate tends to dissolve, and the principal sediment constituents are brown clays and the siliceous remains of radiolarian zooplankton and such phytoplankton as diatoms.

Abyssal fauna, though very sparse and embracing relatively few species, include representatives of all major marine invertebrate phyla and several kinds of fish, all adapted to an environment marked by no diurnal or seasonal changes, high pressures, darkness, calm water, and soft sediment bottoms. These animals tend to be gray or black, delicately structured, and unstreamlined. Mobile forms have long legs; and animals attached to the bottom have stalks, enabling them to rise above the water layer nearest the bottom, where oxygen is scarce. Abyssal crustaceans and fish may be blind. With increasing depth, carnivores and scavengers become less abundant than animals that feed on mud and suspended matter. Abyssal animals are believed to reproduce very slowly.