The Pacific Ocean (a world map makes it possible to visually understand where it is) is an integral part of the world's water area. It is the largest on the planet Earth. In terms of water volume and area, the described object occupies half the volume of the entire water area. In addition, it is in the Pacific Ocean that the deepest depressions of the Earth are located. By the number of islands located in the water area, it also ranks first. 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. By volume of water - 710 million km2. From north to south, the ocean stretches for 16 thousand km, and from east to west - for 18 thousand km. All landplanet Earth will have an area smaller than the Pacific Ocean by 30 million km2.
Borders
The geographical position of the Pacific Ocean allows it to occupy an impressive area in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. However, due to the large amount of land in the latter, the water area noticeably narrows to the north.
The borders of the Pacific Ocean are as follows:
- In the east: washes the shores of the two American continents.
- In the north: borders southeastern Eurasia, the islands of Malaysia and Indonesia, 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 south-east: through the Drake Strait it connects with the Atlantic Ocean (conditional border from Cape Drake to Cape Sternek).
- In the southwest: meets the Indian Ocean (conditional border from Tasmania to the shortest, meridional point off the coast of Antarctica).
Challenger Abyss
Features of the geographical position of the Pacific Ocean allow 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 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 timethey tried to measure the depth of the depression in 1875 with the help of the English Challenger corvette. For this, a deep-water lot (a special device for measuring the distance to the bottom) was used. The first recorded indicator during the study of the trench was a mark of just over 8,000 m. In 1957, a Soviet expedition took up the measurement of the depth. Based on the results of the work carried out, the data of previous studies were changed. It is worth noting that our scientists got closer to the real value. The depth of the gutter, according to the results of measurements, 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 on the planet. However, already in the 2000s, thanks to the emergence of new, more accurate instruments that help determine various values, the real, most accurate depth of the trench was established - 10,994 m (according to studies in 2011). This point of the Mariana Trench was called the "Challenger Deep". So unique and special is the geography of the Pacific Ocean.
The trench itself stretches along the islands for almost 1,500 km. It has sharp slopes and a flat bottom stretching for 1.5 km. The pressure at the depth of the Mariana Trench is several tens of times higher than at shallow ocean depths. A depression is located at the junction of two tectonic plates - the Philippine and Pacific.
Other areas
Next to the Mariana Trench there are a number of transitional areas from the mainland to the ocean: the Aleutian, Japanese, Kuril-Kamchatka, Tonga-Kermadek and others. All of them are located along the fault of tectonic plates. This area is the most seismically active. Together with the eastern transitional regions (within the mountainous regions of the western outskirts of the American continents), they form the so-called Pacific volcanic ring of fire. Most active and extinct geological formations are located within it.
Sea
Description of the geographical location of the Pacific Ocean must necessarily refer to the seas. Near the outskirts of the ocean coast there are quite a 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. The largest seas of the Pacific Ocean: Okhotsk, Barents, Yellow, South and East China, Philippine and others. Off the coast of Antarctica there are 5 Pacific reservoirs (Ross, D'Urville, Somov, etc.). The eastern coast of the ocean is uniform, the coast is slightly indented, difficult to access and has no seas. However, there are 3 bays here - Panama, California and Alaska.
Islands
Of course, a detailed description of the 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 archipelagos of different sizes and origins. Most of them -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. It usually has the shape of a circle or semicircle. Such an island is called an atoll. The largest is located on the border of the Marshall Islands - Kwajlein.
In this water area, in addition to small islands of volcanic and coral origin, there are also the largest land areas of the planet. This is quite natural, given the geographical position of the Pacific Ocean. New Guinea and Kalimantan are islands in the western part of the water area. They respectively occupy the 2nd and 3rd place in terms of area around the world. Also in the Pacific Ocean is the largest archipelago of the planet - the Greater Sunda Islands, consisting of 4 large land areas and more than 1,000 small ones.
