The
Patagonian or
Argentine Shelf is part of the
South American continental shelf belonging to the Argentine Sea on the
Atlantic seaboard, south of about 35°S. It adjoinins the coasts of
Uruguay,
Argentina and the
Falkland Islands. Various authorities quote different dimensions of the shelf, depending on how they define its limits. Quoted statistics cites its area as being from 1.2 to 2.7 million square kilometres and its maximum width as being between 760 and 850 kilometres. The shelf itself can be divided into a 100 km band where the seabed slopes at about then a wide plain (250 to 450 km wide) where the seabed slopes gently to 200 m isobath. Apart from the Falklands Plateau (which lies to the east of the
Falkland Islands), the seabed then falls by up to to 2000 m and more.