shelf is already in place according to Article 77 of UNC- LOS13. States do not lose their rights over the continental shelf by not making a submission, but the area over which they have entitlement will continue to be undefined and by definition so will the boundaries of the Area.


Areas of extended continental shelf are predominantly as- sociated with broad passive continental margins, which by their nature are often wider than 200 M. There are far fewer extensive areas of extended continental shelf associated with the generally narrow active continental margins, such as the Ring of Fire bordering the Pacific Ocean. Islands


in the South West Pacific, the southern Indian Ocean and scattered in the Atlantic Ocean could also generate sub- stantial areas of outer continental shelf due to factors such as isolation and the lateral continuity of underwater fea- tures related to micro-continents, oceanic plateaus, hot spot ridges and island arc ridges. Another contributing factor in the distribution of areas of outer continental shelf is the presence of large rivers and their deltas as they con- trol in large part the distribution of the thickest sediment sequences covering the continental margins. In the Polar Regions, thick packages of glacial sediment contribute to the formation of extended continental shelf.


The Last Maritime Zone 19


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