Concept in Definition ABC
Miscellanea / / July 04, 2021
By Victoria Bembibre, in Dec. 2008
Oceans are those parts of the planet's surface occupied by Water that surround the continents and currently cover about 71% of the Earth. There are five oceans on Earth: the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian, the Antarctic, and the Arctic.
These bodies of water were formed around 4 billion years ago, when the temperature the planet cooled enough to allow the water to be in a liquid state.
Ocean or marine water is made up of sodium, chlorine, magnesium, calcium, and potassium for the most part.
The depth of each ocean depends on its areas of ocean relief, but in general it does not exceed 4 kilometers. In turn, the oceans are divided into different strata according to their depth: a temperate zone that reaches up to 500 meters and that has a temperature between 12 ° and 30 ° C and then a colder area that has temperatures that can reach up to 1 ° C. Of course, these temperatures vary according to the season of the year and the location of the ocean relative to the poles.
Sea or ocean water moves in waves, seas and currents. The former are a direct reaction to the effect of wind above the water surface and its height is determined by the velocity of the wind, the period in which it has blown and the distance that the wave travels. Certain climatic phenomena contribute to the creation of “tsunamis”, which are waves of great magnitude and high destructive power on the coasts where they strike. On the other hand, the tides are related to the attraction gravitational force that both the Moon and the Sun exert on the Earth. Finally, the currents have a influence important about the weather and are driven by the winds and generated by others factors climatic.
Ocean themes