He theorized that with the use of watercraft, people gradually colonized unglaciated refuges and areas along the continental shelf exposed by the lower sea level.

他的理论是，随着船只的使用，人们沿着因海平面下降而暴露的大陆架逐渐移居到未冻结成冰的区域。

youdao

It had been assumed that the ice extended westward from the Alaskan/Canadian mountains to the very edge of the continental shelf, the flat, submerged part of the continent that extends into the ocean.

人们过去曾猜测，冰山从阿拉斯加和加拿大山脉向西延伸到大陆架的最边缘，也就是大陆架扁平的、延伸到海洋中的水下大陆那部分。

youdao

Topographically, we may consider the coastal plain to be a terrestrial analog of the continental shelf.

从地形角度讲我们可以把沿岸平原看成是大陆架在陆上的类似构造。

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"There are billions of barrels of oil in the Outer Continental Shelf,".

VOA: standard.2009.05.23

But China says its zone extends to the edge of the continental shelf, almost to Japan.

ECONOMIST: China, Japan and Taiwan

In his first week as president, Obama rescinded a Bush executive order that permitted drilling on the continental shelf.

FORBES: A "Mean Green", Obama Wages War Against Cheap Energy

As reserves from the continental shelf decline, the big oil companies can't afford to sit out the riskier game farther offshore.

FORBES: An oilman's last hurrah