Мне представляется, что речь идет об этом:

Habitat utilization by Blainville’s beaked whales off Great Abaco, northern Bahamas, in relation to seabed topography
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The study area was approximately 35 km in length and up to 16 km in width, with the southern edge aligned with the 26o20'N parallel and the western edge aligned with the 77o00'W meridian, and included areas of coral reefs, shallow shelflike areas, steeply sloping shelf-edge-like areas, the upper reaches of a marine canyon (Little Abaco Canyon) and deep oceanic areas (Fig. 1).
https://www.google.ru/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd...


Primary productivity and nitrogen uptake in the subsurface chlorophyll maximum on the Eastern Agulhas Bank
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Dynamical upwelling at the steeply sloping shelf break probably ...
https://www.google.ru/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd...

Effects of stratification and shelf slope on nutrient supply in coastal upwelling regions
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In contrast, strong stratification and a steeply sloping shelf may produce a relatively small inner shelf region with less nutrient input to fuel potential production.
https://www.google.ru/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd...

Upwelling source depth in the presence of nearshore wind stress curl
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The greatest source depths reached were in a weakly stratified water column with steeply sloping shelf.
https://www.google.ru/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd...

И т.д. --> https://www.google.ru/#newwindow=1&tbs=li:1&q="steeply slopi...