4. Such installations and devices, though under the jurisdiction of the coastal State, do not possess the status of islands. They have no territorial sea of their own, and their presence does not affect the delimitation of the territorial sea of the coastal State.

5. Due notice must be given of the construction of any such installations, and permanent means for giving warning of their presence must be maintained. Any installations which are abandoned or disused must be entirely removed.

6. Neither the installations or devices, nor the safety zones around them, may be established where interference may be caused to the use of recognized sea lanes essential to international navigation.

7. The coastal State is obliged to undertake, in the safety zones, all appropriate measures for the protection of the living resources of the sea from harmful agents. 8. The consent of the coastal State shall be obtained in respect of any research concerning the continental shelf and undertaken there. Nevertheless, the coastal State shall not normally withhold its consent if the request is submitted by a qualified institution with a view to purely scientific research into the physical or biological characteristics of the continental shelf, subject to the proviso that the coastal State shall have the right, if it so desires, to participate or to be represented in the research, and that in any event the results shall be published.

ARTICLE 6

1. Where the same continental shelf is adjacent to the territories of two or more States whose coasts are opposite each other, the boundary of the continental shelf appertaining to such States shall be determined by agreement between them. In the absence of agreement, and unless another boundary line is justified by special circumstances, the boundary is the median line, every point of which is equidistant from the nearest points of the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of each State is measured.

2. Where the same continental shelf is adjacent to the territories of two adjacent States, the boundary of the continental shelf shall be determined by agreement between them. In the absence of agreement, and unless another boundary line is justified by special circumstances, the boundary shall be determined by application of the principle of equidistance from the nearest points of the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of each State is measured.

3. In delimiting the boundaries of the continental shelf, any lines which are drawn in accordance with the principles set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 of the article should be defined with reference to charts and geographical features as they exist at a particular date, and reference should be made to fixed permanent identifiable points on the land.

ARTICLE 7

The provisions of these articles shall not prejudice the right of the coastal State to exploit the subsoil by means of tunneling irrespective of the depth of water above the subsoil.

ARTICLE 8

This Convention shall, until 31 October 1958, be open for signature by all States Members of the United Nations or of any of the specialized agencies, and by any other State invited by the General Assembly to become a Party to the Convention.

ARTICLE 9

This Convention is subject to ratification. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

APPENDIX M

PROFILES OF U.S. CONTINENTAL MARGINS

Continental margin is a term generally used to indicate a zone separating the submerged part of the continents from the deep-sea bottom. The continental margin can generally be subdivided into the continental shelf, continental slope and continental rise. The 200 meter depth contour is the present legal limit of the continental shelf as defined by the 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf. This arbitary depth was agreed to because of its nearness to a world wide geomorphic feature between 135 and 160 meters in depth that can be recognized on most bathymetric maps. This feature usually is marked by an increased seaward gradient of the shelf surface in tectonically stable areas at this depth. Or stated in another way, this submarine topographic feature was the result of the world sea level and coastal erosion during the Pleistocene or ice age. This arbitrary boundary for the legal shelf is not meaningful today. Whereas the continental margin is a geologic province, the geographic shelf is simply a physiographic feature within the geologic province and would have no relation to the presence or absence of mineral resources beneath the surface of the seabed. Mineral resource potential can, in a geologic sense, be considered locally favorable in all parts of the continental margin to the base of the continental rise.

RESOURCE POTENTIAL OF THE U.S. CONTINENTAL MARGIN

The submerged parts of the U.S. continental margins bears geologically the same relationship to the continental land block as do submerged margins of other continents. Their mineral resource potential is of the same general character as that known from the U.S. land mass, regardless of water depth. In particular, the occurrence of petroleum in the deeper parts of the continental margin seems just as probable as its occurence in shallower parts of the continental shelf. These geologic boundary or seaward limit of the continental margins is in many places irregular or gradational, but generally it lies near the base of the continental slope which throughout much of the world is at or below the 2500 meter depth contour. Petroleum potential of the U.S. continental margins is subdivided in the following table in accordance with the various depth ranges of the continental margin below the 200 meter contour.

U.S. POTENTIAL RESOURCES OF PETROLEUM

(Oil and nautral gas liquids in billions of barrels; natural gas in trillions of cubic feet]

1 Paramarginal resources, recoverable at costs up to 1.5 current costs; submarginal resources, recoverable at costs exceeding 1.5 current costs.

(220)

WORLDWIDE RESOURCE POTENTIAL OF THE CONTINENTAL MARGINS The accompanying map of the world shows the continental land masses and islands and the major topographic divisions of the submerged continental margins. For convenience of showing relative areas of the sea floor covered by major components of the continental margin, they will be referred to here as the inner and outer continental margins. The inner continental margins, commonly known as the continental shelves, shown in medium gray (yellow) on this map are by definition, those parts of the submerged continental margin that lie between the shoreline and the 200 meter depth contour. This depth contour approximates the position of a relatively abrupt steepening of the gradient of the sea floor. The area beyond the shelf the outer continental margin, shown in black, is variable in topographic form and makeup from place to place, and includes the marginal plateaus, the continental slope and the continental rise.

The total area covered by the inner and outer continental margins on a worldwide basis is not accurately known. Estimated areas are 10.46 million square miles for the inner continental margin (shelf) and 18.88 million square miles for the outer continental margin. The estimated area for the inner continental margin is approximately 7.7 percent of the total area of the sea floor and approximately 5 percent of the earth's surface; that of the outer continental margin is approximately 13 percent of the sea floor and about 9 percent of the earth's surface.

Geologically, the rocks beneath the entire continental margin are so similar in composition and structure to the rocks of adjoining land areas that the margin can be considered a submerged extension of the continent. Petroleum and other minerals are currently being produced from the inner continental margin (shelf). Subsea petroleum offshore from 25 countries presently contributes 17 percent of the world's output. Geological conditions (structure, composition, thickness) are locally favorable for similar occurrence of mineral resources in the outer continental margin.

No complete estimates of potential world subsea petroleum have been made, but enough is known to be certain that they are large, perhaps even larger than those of the continents. World subsea proved recoverable reserves are 90 billion barrels, and Weeks (1969) estimates the world "offshore petroleum resources" (including proved reserves) beneath a water depth of as much as 300 meters (inner continental margin) amount to 700 billion barrels of petroleum liquids plus 350 billion barrels recoverable by secondary methods, and the equivalent of 350 billion barrels in natural gas. All of this would be in the known, undiscovered recoverable and paramarginal categories.