Download Ocean/Water movements Marguerite Blum and Courtney Varvel

Oceanography
Courtney Varvel & Marguerite Blum
How did Oceans Form?
• CONTINENTAL DRIFT
Pangaea broke up with part of the
continent drifting north and part south.
The continents continue to drift. Today the
oceans are still changing shape; the
Atlantic Ocean gets wider by a few inches
each year.
Oceans
• Oceans cover ¾ of the
earth’s surface
• The three major
subdivisions of the world
ocean are the Atlantic
Ocean, the Pacific Ocean,
and the Indian Ocean,
which are conventionally
bounded by the
continental masses or by
ocean ridges or currents
Ocean water
• Seawater is a dilute solution of several
salts derived from weathering and erosion
of continental rocks.
Waves
• The surface currents of the ocean are
characterized by large gyres, or currents that are
kept in motion by prevailing winds, but the
direction of which is altered by the rotation of
the earth
The Ocean Floor
• The bedrock of ocean floors has many
features.
Facts about oceans
• Area: about 140 million square miles (362
million sq km), ore nearly 71% of the
Earth's surface.
• Deepest point: 36,198 feet (11,033 m) in
the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific.