The Argentine Basin is a region of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

floor off the east coast of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, between the

Mid-Atlantic Ridge The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge (a Divergent boundary, divergent or constructive Plate tectonics, plate boundary) located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest mountai ...

to the east and the Scotia Basin to the west. To the north is the

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Basin, with the two basins being separated by the

Rio Grande Rise The Rio Grande Rise, also called the Rio Grande Elevation or Bromley Plateau, is an aseismic ocean ridge in the southern Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil. Together with the Walvis Ridge off Africa, the Rio Grande Rise forms a V-shaped str ...

. The southern edge of the Argentine Basin is formed by the Falklands/Malvinas Escarpment. The Argentine Basin has an average depth of and is characterized by low temperatures. The deepest point is the Argentine Abyssal Plain at the base of the Falkland Escarpment, which reaches a depth of . The

Antarctic Bottom Water The Antarctic bottom water (AABW) is a type of water mass in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica with temperatures ranging from −0.8 to 2 °C (35 °F) and absolute salinities from 34.6 to 35.0 g/kg. As the densest water mass of ...

current, which dominates the circulation in the abyssal layer of the southwest Atlantic, enters the southwest part of the Argentine Basin, then is deflected northward along the continental rise. It passes into the Brazil Basin through the Vema Channel (39° 30 W) to the west of the Rio Grande Rise. Here, the current reaches velocities of 20–25 cm/s.

References

Landforms of the Atlantic Ocean {{marine-geo-stub