The thermocline is the layer below the mixed layer in which the temperature falls quickly with depth. The layer in which the salinity changes quickly with depth is a halocline; the layer in which the density increases quickly with depth is the pycnocline. Below them lies the deep ocean, cold and slowly changing.
Earth and Space Sciences · Glossary
What is Thermocline; halocline; pycnocline; deep ocean?
Also known as: thermocline · halocline · pycnocline · deep ocean