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The entire ocean, containing 97% of Earth's water, spans 70.8% of Earth's surface, [8] making it Earth's global ocean or world ocean. [ 23 ] [ 25 ] This makes Earth, along with its vibrant hydrosphere a "water world" [ 43 ] [ 44 ] or " ocean world ", [ 45 ] [ 46 ] particularly in Earth's early history when the ocean is thought to have possibly ...
Nature is an inherent character or constitution, [1] particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life.
Thermohaline circulation. 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.
Previous land-based life would probably have required other chemicals to attenuate ultraviolet radiation. [42] 580–542 Ma Ediacaran biota, the first large, complex aquatic multicellular organisms. [64] 580–500 Ma Cambrian explosion: most modern animal phyla appear. [65] [66] 550–540 Ma
One of the reasons for interest in the early atmosphere and ocean is that they form the conditions under which life first arose. There are many models, but little consensus, on how life emerged from non-living chemicals; chemical systems created in the laboratory fall well short of the minimum complexity for a living organism. [73] [74]
These were some of the first records of the mid-ocean ridge system. [citation needed] Prior to World War II, marine geology grew as a scientific discipline. During the early 20th century, organizations such as the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) were created to support efforts in the field.
Beginning in 1947 research provided new evidence about the ocean floor, and in 1960 Bruce C. Heezen published the concept of mid-ocean ridges. Soon after this, Robert S. Dietz and Harry H. Hess proposed that the oceanic crust forms as the seafloor spreads apart along mid-ocean ridges in seafloor spreading. [39]
In the 1960s and 1970s, ecological research into the life of the ocean was undertaken at institutions set up specifically to study marine biology. Notable was the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in America, [ 24 ] [ 25 ] which established a model for other marine laboratories subsequently set up around the world.