Definition of continental shelf Continental shelf
con•ti•nen•tal shelf
We found 3 definitions of continental shelf from 3 different sources.
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What does continental shelf mean?
Wiktionary 
OmegaWiki DictionaryOmegaWiki Dictionary Ω
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continental shelf
The gently sloping seabed of the shallow water nearest to a continent, covering about 45 miles from the shore and deepening over the sloping sea floor to an average depth of 400 ft.
Wikipedia 
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The planet earth is covered with seas. In those seas there are the continents: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America and Antarctica.
Every continent is put into the sea, like an island. Most of the island is above the water line, and we see it as a continent. Some of it though, is below the water line. It is like a shallow ocean. This is called the continental shelf.
