COLOMBIAN ABYSSAL PLAIN

submarine plain forming part of the floor of the south-central Caribbean Sea, and the deepest and flattest portion of the Colombian Basin. It rises to the southeast to form the Caribbean coast of Colombia, joins the Clark Basin and Central America's part of the continental shelf to the west, and stretches northward toward the island of Jamaica. The plain is separated from the Venezuelan Basin to the east by the Beta Ridge projecting southwestward from the island of Hispaniola. The maximum depth of the Colombian Abyssal Plain is 14,261 feet (4,347 m). The evenly distributed sediments on the plain are transported downslope from the shallow continental shelf areas by turbidity currents. The very flat topography of the plain, which slopes less than 1 part in 1,000, is accounted for by the deposition of these turbidites in typical fashion.