Bathymetry Visualizations

Compiled by Jen Millner at Montana State University

Click here to browse the complete set of Visualization Collections.

If you have a visualization that would be helpful for teaching about earth science, please contribute to our continually expanding collections.


International Bathymetric Chart of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico: These illustrations present three views of the bathymetry of the Gulf of Mexico. The first shows depth in colored relief, the second provides a much more detailed view of coastal and sea floor topography, and the third shows precise undersea features and provides the names of each. Images may be zoomed in and out for better viewing.

National Geophysical Data Center Coastal Relief Maps: This gridded database provides an interactive shaded relief map of the entire coastal zone of the conterminous US, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Click on an area of coastline for a more detailed map, then click on 1 degree square blocks for even greater detail. Images may be zoomed in and out depending on what scale the viewer requires.
Animated Tour of Monterey Bay: This interactive QuickTime movie allows viewers to zoom and pan 360 degrees to see the dramatic sea floor topography that underlies Monterey Bay.

Los Angeles Coastal Margin
This image by the USGS Pacific Sea Floor Mapping Project shows the complex and rugged nature of the continental margin off the coast of Los Angeles, CA. The image may be useful for examining erosiona and deposition on the continental shelf, as well as identifying sediment transport pathways or areas of potential mass movement.