Continental Margins in the Global Context

As highly significant features of major order at the lands–oceans edge, continental margins play an exceptional role in the Earth system. They are relevant for understanding the continental drift and the birth of oceans, the endogenous and exogenous processes that regulate the planet evolution, the present and past climatic and oceanographic changes, and the carbon cycle and biogeochemistry of the Earth. On this basis, the importance of those features at a global scale is discussed. This chapter also provides the basic definitions needed for understanding the concept of continental margins.