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Plate tectonics is a scientific theory developed in the 1960s that explains major land form events, such as mountain building, volcanoes, earthquakes, and mid-ocean ridge systems. [26] The idea is that Earth's most outer layer, known as the lithosphere , that is made up of the crust and mantle is divided into extensive plates of rock.
The first true ocean-going boats were invented by the Austronesian peoples, using technologies like multihulls, outriggers, crab claw sails, and tanja sails. This enabled the rapid spread of Austronesians into the islands of both the Indian and the Pacific Oceans , known as the Austronesian expansion .
The opening of the North Atlantic Ocean is a geological event that has occurred over millions of years, during which the supercontinent Pangea broke up. As modern-day Europe ( Eurasian Plate ) and North America ( North American Plate ) separated during the final breakup of Pangea in the early Cenozoic Era, [ 1 ] they formed the North Atlantic ...
The clockwise motion of Laurasia led much later to the closing of the Tethys Ocean and the widening of the "Sinus Borealis", which later became the Arctic Ocean. Meanwhile, on the other side of Africa and along the adjacent margins of east Africa, Antarctica and Madagascar , rifts formed that led to the formation of the southwestern Indian ...
The Pacific Ocean evolved in the Mesozoic from the Panthalassic Ocean, which had formed when Rodinia rifted apart around 750 Ma. The first ocean floor which is part of the current Pacific plate began 160 Ma to the west of the central Pacific and subsequently developed into the largest oceanic plate on Earth. [1]
While the majority of Earth's surface is covered by oceans, those oceans make up just a small fraction of the mass of the planet. The mass of Earth's oceans is estimated to be 1.37 × 10 21 kg, which is 0.023% of the total mass of Earth, 6.0 × 10 24 kg.
The Arabs were among the first to sail the Indian Ocean. [48] Long-distance trade allowed the movement of "armies, craftsmen, scholars, and pilgrims". [49] Sea trade was an important factor not just for the coastal ports and cities like Istanbul, but also for Baghdad and Iraq, which are further inland. Sea trade enabled the distribution of food ...
Oceanography (from Ancient Greek ὠκεανός (ōkeanós) 'ocean' and γραφή (graphḗ) 'writing'), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology.