The Pacific Ocean is the deepest ocean in the world
The Pacific Ocean is considered the deepest and largest ocean basin in the world. It covers an area of about 132 million square kilometers, an area in which all the world's continents can expand. The Pacific Ocean contains more than half the amount of water on Earth, and is considered the oldest water basin in the world. ; It contains rocks dating back to about 200 million years ago, and its basin is referred to as the “Ring of Fire.” This is due to intense seismic and volcanic activity near the subduction zones of tectonic plates, in which one plate slides under the other tectonic plate.
Pacific location
The Pacific Ocean consists of a large amount of salty water, and it extends from the Antarctic region in the south, to the Arctic in the north, and is located between the continents of Asia and Australia to the west and north, and between North and South America to the east. The “Mariana Trench” is considered the deepest point known in it, as it Its depth reaches about 11,034 metres, and it is the deepest trench found in the world's oceans.
The modern importance of the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean has great commercial importance, due to its important production of mineral resources and its importance in fishing. Both Australia and New Zealand monopolize its marine resources of oil and natural gas, and the Philippines, Panama, Papua New Guinea, and Nicaragua collect sea pearls along their coasts. While Japan hunts whales in its neighboring waters, many countries of the world catch salmon, tuna, herring, sardines, snapper, swordfish, and oysters in its temperate waters, and fishing vessels also collect shrimp and crabs from its deep sands.
Read also:What was the Dead Sea called in the past?Examples of minerals found on the ocean floor include manganese-iron deposits, gold, diamonds, tin, titanium, and magnesium. Many rare earth mineral deposits have been found on the ocean floor, but mining these elements using currently available technologies and practices is very expensive. It takes a long time and a large number of workers.
Ranking of the world's oceans by depth
The most important oceans on the Earth's surface and other bodies of water can be arranged according to their depth as follows:
body of water | Depth (in metres) |
---|---|
Pacific | 10,924 |
Atlantic Ocean | 9,219 |
Indian Ocean | 7,455 metres |
Antarctic Ocean | 7,236 |
Caribbean Sea | 6,946 |
Arctic Ocean | 5,625 |
South China Sea | 5,016 |
Bering Sea | 4,773 |
The Mediterranean Sea | 4,632 |
The Gulf Of Mexico | 3,787 |