The North American continent is bordered by passive and active margins. The western boundary is tectonically active. The eastern boundary and Gulf coast are tectonically inactive regions because they are not at the edge of one of the lithospheric plates.

• A folded carpet sediments covers the seafloor offshore of Oregon.
• The seafloor of the gulf coast is quite different with a thick layer of sediment.
• In other regions of the gulf however there are towering cliffs.

Much of what we know about the seafloor has come from the Ocean Drilling Program. The ODP is a world-wide cooperative effort of scientists and research institutions. The goal of the program is to explore the history and structure of the Earth through scientific ocean drilling.

• Take a 25 year tour of the Ocean Drilling Program.
• Let's have a look at today's drilling activity.

One of the largest collections of marine sediments is located at Florida State University. The Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility houses a collection of core material from the polar oceans.

The sediments of the seafloor have different origins. Some of the material consists of the calcareous remains of nannoplankton that once lived in the water column. Micropaleontology is a powerful tool for understanding the burial history of sedimentary basins like the Gulf of Mexico.