Underwater Topology (OSS)

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: Despite common belief, the contours of the sea floor are as varied as our own surface world. Adventurers pay heed! Outfit yourself for a dangerous journey across hills and through valleys. Only the dead underestimate the geologic challenges of the deep.
: -Norkhan Rad, Caveat Aquar
Far from being uniformly flat, the ocean bottom displays a wide variety of features-including ridges, trenches, plains, and mountains. This geologic diversity provides Dungeon Masters with any number of adventure settings.
For example, a small underwater mountain range might have a series of dark, forbidding caverns which the PCs must explore. These caves might be the home of a long-forgotten race of underwater dwarves who labor in solitude to produce works of unsurpassed craftsmanship, or they might house something more dangerous.
The information that follows details the most notable geologic formations found underwater. Dungeon Masters are by no means limited to these formations. DMs interested in using these geologic areas in an adventure or ongoing campaign can find encounter tables for them in the next chapter.
Although the emphasis here is on undersea features, the DM can easily use similar topography for large lakes.
* Continental Margins
** Continental Shelves
** Continental Slopes
** Submarine Canyons
** Continental Rise
* Deep-Sea Floor
** Abyssal Plains and Hills
** Seamounts and Guyouts
** Oceanic Plateaus
** Trenches
** Oceanic Ridges
* Other Areas of Interest
** Coral Reefs
** Hydrothermal Vents