Pacific Ocean (world map allowsvisually understand where it is located) - a component of the global water area. He is the largest on Earth. In terms of water volume and area, the object described occupies half the volume of the entire water area. In addition, it is in the Pacific Ocean are the deepest depressions of the Earth. By the number of islands located in the waters, he also ranks first. It washes the shores of all the continents of the Earth, except Africa.
Characteristic
As mentioned earlier, the geographical position of the Pacific Ocean is determined in such a way that it occupies most of the planet. Its area is 178 million km2. In terms of water volume - 710 million km2. From north to south, the ocean stretches for 16 thousand km, and from east to west - for 18 thousand km. The entire land of the planet Earth will have an area of 30 million km less than the Pacific Ocean.2.
Boundaries
Географическое положение Тихого океана позволяет It occupies an impressive area both in the Southern and in the Northern Hemisphere. However, due to the large amount of land in the latter, the water area narrows considerably to the north.
The boundaries of the Pacific Ocean are as follows:
- In the east: washes the shores of two American continents.
- In the north: bordered by the southeastern part of Eurasia, the islands of Malaysia and Indonesia, and the eastern edge of Australia.
- In the south: the ocean rests on the ice of Antarctica.
- In the north: through the Bering Strait, which separates American Alaska and Russian Chukotka, merges with the waters of the Arctic Ocean.
- In the southeast: the Drake Pass connects with the Atlantic Ocean (conditional boundary from Cape Drake to Cape Sternek).
- In the southwest: it meets with the Indian Ocean (conditional border from Tasmania and to the shortest, meridional point located off the coast of Antarctica).
Challenger Abyss
Features of the geographical position of the PacificOcean allows us to talk about its unique mark, which characterizes the distance from the bottom to the surface of the waters. The maximum depth of the Pacific Ocean, as well as of the entire World Ocean as a whole, is almost 11 km. This trench is located in the Mariana Trench, which, in turn, is located in the western part of the water area, not far from the islands of the same name.
For the first time, try to die out the depth of the depressiontried in 1875 with the help of the English corvette "Challenger". For this, a deep-water lot was used (a special device for measuring the distance to the bottom). The first recorded indicator during the survey of the gutter was a mark of just over 8,000 m. In 1957, the Soviet expedition took the depth measurement. According to its results, the data of previous studies were changed. It is worth noting that our scientists crept closer to the real value. The depth of the gutter, according to the measurement results, was 11,023 m. This figure was considered correct for a long time, and was indicated in reference books and textbooks as the deepest point of the planet. However, already in the 2000s, thanks to the emergence of new, more accurate instruments that help determine different values, the real, most correct trench depth was established - 10,994 m (according to 2011 studies). This point of the Mariana Trench was called the "Challenger Abyss". So unique and especially the geographical location of the Pacific.
The trench itself extends along the islands by almost 1 500km It has sharp slopes and a flat bottom stretching for 1.5 km. The pressure at the depth of the Mariana Trench is several dozen times higher than at shallow oceanic depths. The depression is located at the junction of two tectonic plates - the Philippine and Pacific.
Other areas
Next to the Mariana Trench is a series oftransition areas from the mainland to the ocean: Aleutian, Japanese, Kuril-Kamchatka, Tonga-Kermadek and others. All of them are located along the fault of the tectonic plates. This area is the most seismically active. Together with the eastern transition regions (within the mountainous regions of the western margins of the American continents), they form the so-called Pacific volcanic ring of fire. Most of the existing and extinct geological formations located within it.
Seas
Description of the geographical position of the Pacific Oceanmust necessarily touch the seas. At the margins of the ocean coast, there is a fairly large number of them. They concentrated to a greater extent in the Northern Hemisphere, off the coast of Eurasia. There are more than 20 of them, with a total area (including straits and bays) of 31 million km2. Самые крупные моря Тихого океана:Okhotsk, Barents, Yellow, South and East China, Philippine and others. There are 5 Pacific waters (Ross, D'Urville, Somov, etc.) off the coast of Antarctica. The eastern coast of the ocean is uniform, the coast is poorly cut, it is difficult to reach and has no seas. However, there are 3 gulfs here - Panama, California and Alaska.
Islands
Of course, a detailed descriptionThe geographical position of the Pacific Ocean includes such a feature as a huge amount of land located directly on the territory of the water area. There are more than 10 thousand islands and island archipelagoes of various sizes and origins. Most of them are volcanic. They are located within the subtropical and tropical climatic zones. Formed by a volcanic eruption, many of the islands are overgrown with corals. Subsequently, some of them again went under water, and only the coral layer remained on the surface. Usually it has the shape of a circle or semicircle. Such an island is called an atoll. The largest is located on the border of Marshall Islands - Kwajlein.
In this area, except for small islandsof volcanic and coral origin, there are also the largest land areas of the planet. This is quite natural, given the geographical location of the Pacific Ocean. New Guinea and Kalimantan - islands of the western part of the water area. They respectively occupy 2 and 3 place on the area around the world. Also in the Pacific Ocean is the largest archipelago of the planet - the Great Sunda Islands, consisting of 4 large land areas and more than 1 000 small ones.
