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From shallow waters to the deep sea, the open ocean to rivers and lakes, numerous terrestrial and marine species depend on the surface ecosystem and the organisms found there. [1] The ocean's surface acts like a skin between the atmosphere above and the water below, and hosts an ecosystem unique to this environment.
Stratified layers are a barrier to the mixing of water, which impacts the exchange of heat, carbon, oxygen and other nutrients. [1] The surface mixed layer is the uppermost layer in the ocean and is well mixed by mechanical (wind) and thermal (convection) effects. Climate change is causing the upper ocean stratification to increase.
The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. [8] In English, the term ocean also refers to any of the large bodies of water into which the world ocean is conventionally divided. [9] The following names describe five different areas of the ocean: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Antarctic/Southern, and Arctic.
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.
Sima often takes the form of basalt when on the surface. In geology, sima (/ ˈ s aɪ m ə /) is an antiquated [1] blended term for the lower layer of Earth's crust. This layer is made of rocks rich in magnesium silicate minerals. Typically, when the sima comes to the surface, it is basalt, so sometimes this layer is called the 'ocean layer' of ...
The oceanic crust displays a pattern of magnetic lines, parallel to the ocean ridges, frozen in the basalt. A symmetrical pattern of positive and negative magnetic lines emanates from the mid-ocean ridge. [24] New rock is formed by magma at the mid-ocean ridges, and the ocean floor spreads out from this point.
A marine layer is an air mass that develops over the surface of a large body of water, such as an ocean or large lake, in the presence of a temperature inversion. The inversion itself is usually initiated by the cooling effect caused when cold water on the surface of the ocean interacts with a comparatively warm air mass.
Only 29 percent of the world surface is land. The rest is ocean, home to the marine habitats. The oceans are nearly four kilometres deep on average and are fringed with coastlines that run for nearly 380,000 kilometres. There are five major oceans, of which the Pacific Ocean is nearly as large as the rest put together. Coastlines fringe the ...