Blake Plateau

The Blake Plateau lies in the western Atlantic Ocean off the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida in the southeastern United States. The Blake Plateau lies between the North American continental shelf and the deep ocean basin extending about 145 kilometers (90 miles; 78 nautical miles) east and west by 170 kilometers (110 miles; 92 nautical miles) north and south, with a depth of about 500 meters (1,640 feet) inshore sloping to about 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) about 375 kilometers (233 miles; 202 nautical miles) off shore, where the Blake Escarpment drops steeply to the deep basin. The Blake Plateau and the associated Blake Ridge and Blake Basin are named for the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey steamer USC&GS George S. Blake, in service from 1874 to 1905, which was the first ship to use steel cable for oceanographic operations and pioneered deep ocean and Gulf Stream exploration. George S. Blake′s hydrographic survey lines first defined the plateau that now bears the ship's name.

Blake Plateau has the world's largest known deep-water coral reef, comprising a 6.4 million acre reef that stretches from Miami to Charleston, S. C.

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