The deepest ocean - on Earth and beyond

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:46

Despite centuries of research, the Earth is still full of mysteries and mysteries. Even on the continents, unexplored places remained, but the first place in terms of the number of mysterious mysteries is occupied, of course, by the oceans. Scientists have not even established the exact age of the earth's oceans, and we have a very vague idea of \u200b\u200bwhat is at the bottom of the deepest depressions. And the deepest ocean, and all the rest will give us many more amazing discoveries.

The smallest of the four oceans of the Earth is the Arctic Ocean. This mass of icy water bathes the Arctic, as well as the northern parts of Eurasia, Canada and the United States. Despite the cold, this ocean is rich in fish and krill. This is where the whales come to fatten up in a short summer. The third place in this ranking is occupied by the Atlantic Ocean - its average depth is 3926 meters. "Silver" went to the Indian Ocean with 3963 meters of average depth. Which ocean is the deepest is not difficult to guess: of course,Quiet. Its average depth reaches 4281 meters. But the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth, is not in the Pacific Ocean, but in the Atlantic, near the Guam Islands, and has 10,790 meters. The depth of the oceans is determined using a device that catches sound waves reflected from the bottom.

We know little about the bottom of the oceans. Oceanographers have found that the oceans, including the deepest, up to a depth of 3600 meters are covered with silt - soft deposits from the remains of small marine life. Silt deposits at a depth of six kilometers and below turn red. Oceanographers call them "red clay" because volcanic ash is mixed with biological sediments.

The deepest ocean of the Earth is surrounded by all five continents. The western border of the Pacific Ocean is marked by Australia, Eurasia and the Malay Archipelago located between them. Its eastern border runs along the shores of both Americas, and in the south, "quiet" waters wash the icy shores of Antarctica. The border between the Pacific and Arctic oceans is marked by the Bering Strait and lies between the Seward and Chukotka peninsulas. The deepest ocean is separated from the Atlantic by an imaginary line connecting Cape Horn and the Antarctic Peninsula. The most conditional is the border of the Pacific and Indian oceans. Starting on the Hindustan Peninsula, it passes through the islands of Java, Sumatra and New Guinea, and ends on the northern coast of Australia.

The Pacific Ocean leads not only in depth. Of all the earth's oceans, the Pacific occupies the largest area, equal toalmost 180 thousand square kilometers. At least ten thousand islands are scattered over this considerable area, and in the bowels of the ocean there is the greatest underwater ridge on the planet, dividing it into two unequal parts. Its western part is warmed by warm currents, while the eastern part is “frozen” by the Peruvian Current. The western part is much larger than the eastern one, so the Pacific Ocean is also considered the warmest on Earth. This vast expanse, covering several natural areas, is rich in flora and fauna.

The Pacific Ocean is the deepest on Earth, but there are oceans not only on our planet. The deepest ocean in the solar system is on the planet Europa. This small planet orbits the gas giant Jupiter. Europa is slightly smaller than the Moon. Its center is the iron core, and the surface is covered with an ice shell many kilometers thick. According to a recently confirmed hypothesis, under a layer of ice is a hundred-kilometer-deep ocean that occupies the entire planet. Scientists suggest that the Europian ocean consists of water that does not freeze thanks to powerful tides born from Jupiter's gravity. They do not exclude the existence of biological life in this ocean.