Oceans

Oceans cover over 71% of the Earth's surface.

1. the Pacific Ocean

2. the Atlantic Ocean

3. the Indian Ocean

4. the Arctic Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the biggest ocean of the world. Pacific Ocean means 'peaceful ocean'. However, the Pacific is not really calm and peaceful. The 'ring of fire' is located in the Pacific Ocean. There is a string of volcanoes in the Pacific basin which are still active and therefore many of the world's major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions happen in this region.

The lowest known point on earth is called Challenger Deep. It is located in the Pacific Ocean near Guam in the Philippine Sea at the end of the Mariana Trench. The largest coral reef in the world is located off the Australian coast and is called the Great Barrier Reef.

Atlantic Ocean

The 'S' shaped Atlantic is the second biggest ocean in the world and is between the continents of America and Europe and Africa. The man-made Panama Canal links the Atlantic and Pacific. It has a maximum depth in the Puerto Rico Trench, north of the island of Puerto Rico. Mediterranean Sea communicates with the Atlantic through the Strait of Gibraltar.

Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean is the third largest ocean of the world which lies adjacent to the continents of Asia, Africa, and Australia. The Indian Ocean’s deepest point, is in the Sunda Deep of the Java Trench. The narrow, volcanic, and seismically active Java Trench is the world’s second longest. The Indian Ocean has the fewest marginal seas of the major oceans. To the north are the inland Red Sea and Persian Gulf. The Arabian Sea is to the northwest, and the Andaman Sea to the northeast.

Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean, the smallest ocean, located entirely within the Arctic Circle and occupying the region around the North Pole.Once called the Frozen Ocean, the Arctic Ocean is covered with ice throughout the year in most of its central and western portions, though since the 1980s the extent of the summer ice has been significantly reduced.