Oceans In The World-A Large Water Body

OCEANS IN THE WORLD-

Have you ever seen Sea, Ocean, Bay, Gulf on the world map? Surely, you must have been heard about these terms. If not, So you should try to see on the map to increase your knowledge.

There are different forms of water bodies. Before telling about oceans in the world. I will focus on the knowledge about the following important terms.

oceans in the world

 

OCEAN-

An ocean is a large area of water between continents. Oceans are very big and they join smaller seas together. Oceans cover 72%of our planet. for example Atlantic, Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Indian ocean, Arctic, Antarctic Ocean.

SEA

oceans in the world

 

Seas are smaller than the ocean. It is usually located where oceans and land meets. It is entirely or partially surrounded by the land. for example the Caribbean sea, south china sea. In the picture, you can see the Baltic Sea, which is situated in the north part of Europe and surrounded by 9 countries.

 

BAY

Bay is the body of water which is partially surrounded by the land generally on three sides, with a wide mouth or inlet, which opens into the Ocean. It has an inward land curve that makes it circular or semi-circular in shape. It can be connected to an Ocean, Lake or River.

It is less enclosed by landmass. Bay is generally smaller than the gulf. for example bay of Bengal, Hudson bay, San Francisco bay. In this picture, you can see the Bay of Bengal, which is surrounded by landmasses on all 3 sides and its wide mouth opens into the Indian Ocean.

GULF-

It is a part of the sea that deeply penetrates the land. So that it is surrounded by land. It has a narrow opening and looks like a long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea. Its shape makes it an excellent harbour or trading centre.

A gulf is sometimes larger than the bay, so sometimes called a larger bay. It generally connects to the ocean and more enclosed by the landmass. for example the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of California, Gulf of Mannar.

A strait is a channel of water that lies between the two landmasses.it is a navigable waterway that connects two large bodies of water.

oceans in the world

 

DELTA- 

Delta is a wetland when rivers empty their water and sediment into another body of water. A delta is where the river meets the ocean or any other water body.

oceans in the world

 

 

 

LAKES-

A lake is always landlocked. This means this water body is completely surrounded by land.

oceans in the world

 

RIVER-

A River is a course of water that originates in the mountains and flows downwards until it reaches the Sea/Ocean/Lake/another river. It is a natural flowing watercourse.

POND-

A Pond is an area filled with water either natural or artificial. That is smaller than a lake.

oceans in the world

 

 

CHANNEL-

A channel is a waterway between two landmasses that lie close to each other. A channel can also be the deepest part of a waterway or a narrow body of water that connects two larger bodies of water.

 

THE GROUPING OF THE OCEANS-

Humans have divided and named the interconnected oceans of the world into three groups –the Atlantic( including the Arctic sea), the Indian and the Pacific.

a)

The Atlantic is a relatively narrow body of water that twists between nearly parallel continental masses. The Atlantic Ocean contains the majority of the Earth’s shallow seas but relatively few islands.

Some of the shallow seas found in the basin include the  Caribbean, Mediterranean, Baltic and Arctic seas and the Gulf of Mexico.

Many streams and rivers discharge into the Atlantic Oceans. This basin also drains some of the world’s largest rivers including the Amazon, Mississippi, St Lawrence and Congo.

The surface area of the Atlantic ocean is about 1.6 times greater than the terrestrial area, discharging into it.

As a result, the Atlantic ocean receives more freshwater from continental runoff than any other ocean basin.

b)

The Indian Ocean is the smallest of the three major ocean basin. It is bordered by the landmasses of Africa and Asia. The basin has few islands and limited shallow seas.

The surface area of the Indian Ocean is approximately 400% larger than the area draining into it.

Because of the close proximity to the equator, this basin has the warmest surface ocean temperature.

c)

The Pacific is the largest ocean basin. It has an average depth of 4.3 km. and has few shallow marginal seas, but many islands. Only a few rivers discharge into this ocean basin.

This lack of rivers can be explained by the fact that the surface area of the Pacific is about 1000 per cent greater than the land area that drains into it.

 

PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SEAWATER-

Seawater is a mixture of various salts and water. Most of the water, in the ocean basin, is believed to originate from the condensation of the water found in the early atmosphere, as the earth cooled after its formation.

This water was released from the lithosphere as the Earth’s crust solidified. Additional water has also been added to the Oceans over geological time from periodic volcanic actions.

Some scientists have recently speculated that comets entering the Earth’s atmosphere may be another important source of water for the Oceans.

 

Most of the dissolved chemical constituents or salts found in seawater have a continental origin. It seems that these chemicals were released from continental rocks through weathering and then carried to the oceans by stream runoff.

Over time the concentration of these chemicals increased until an equilibrium was met.

This equilibrium occurred when the Ocean’s water could not dissolve any more material in solution. Similarities between fossilized sea life and organisms living today indicate that the composition of seawater stopped changing drastically about 6oo million years ago.

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CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The density of seawater generally increases with decreasing temperature, increasing salinity and increasing the depth of the oceans.

The density of the seawater at the surface of the oceans varies from 1020 to 1029 kg/m3.

The highest densities are achieved with depth because of the overlying weight of the water. In the deepest part of the oceans, seawater densities can be as high as 1050kg/m3.

Seawater freezes at a temperature that is slightly colder than freshwater(0 degrees). The freezing temperature of seawater also varies with the concentrations of the salts.

The greater the amount of the salts, the lower the initial freezing temperature. Sea ice normally contains considerably less salt than seawater.  

Most of the salts found in liquid seawater are forced out of it. When freezing occurs, the reasons for the exclusion is because the molecules of the various salts do not fit well in the highly orderly molecular structure of frozen water.

Because of the density difference between ice and seawater. Ice floats on the surface on the Oceans. Seawater also contains small amounts of dissolved gases.

Many of these gases are added to seawater from the atmosphere through the constant stirring of the sea surface by wind and waves.

The concentration of gases that can be dissolved into seawater from the atmosphere is determined by the temperature and salinity of the water.

 Increasing the temperature or salinity reduces the amount of gas that ocean water can dissolve. Nitrogen, Oxygen, Carbon dioxide(in the form of bicarbonate), Helium, Argon, Neon are some of the atmospheric gases which are found in seawater.

The amount of Carbon dioxide dissolved in saturated Seawater is usually large.

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Some gases found within seawater are also involved in oceanic organic and inorganic processes that are indirectly related to the atmosphere. For example.

Oxygen and Carbon dioxide may be temporarily generated or depleted by such processes at varying concentrations at specific locations within the Oceans. 

CONCLUSION-

I hope oceans in the world have given you enough knowledge about Oceans. In addition to this, Oceans in the world article has helped you to make understand the main topic and different water bodies through images. 

Thank you.

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