Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The ocean's surface acts like a skin between the atmosphere above and the water below, and hosts an ecosystem unique to this environment. This sun-drenched habitat can be defined as roughly one metre in depth, as nearly half of UV-B is attenuated within this first meter. [ 2 ]
Temperatures in the Mesopelagic zone range from 5 to 4 °C (41 to 39 °F). The pressure is higher here, it can be up to 10,100 kilopascals (1,460 psi) and increases with depth. [1] 54% of the ocean lies in the Bathypelagic (aphotic) zone into which no light penetrates. This is also called the midnight zone and the deep ocean.
The pelagic zone contrasts with the benthic and demersal zones at the bottom of the sea. The benthic zone is the ecological region at the very bottom, including the sediment surface and some subsurface layers. Marine organisms such as clams and crabs living in this zone are called benthos. Just above the benthic zone is the demersal zone.
Ocean photosynthesis also produces half of the oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. [13] Light can only penetrate a few hundred more meters; the rest of the deeper ocean is cold and dark (these zones are called mesopelagic and aphotic zones). The continental shelf is where the ocean meets dry land. It is more shallow, with a depth of a few hundred ...
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. [28] The ocean's surface acts like a skin between the atmosphere above and the water below, and harbours an ecosystem unique to this environment.
The Earth captured in the Pacific Ocean side. The hydrosphere (from Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (húdōr) 'water' and σφαῖρα (sphaîra) 'sphere') [1] [2] is the combined mass of water found on, under, and above the surface of a planet, minor planet, or natural satellite.
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 ...
The presence of an oxygenated atmosphere-hydrosphere surrounding an otherwise highly reducing solid earth is the most striking consequence of the rise of life on earth. Biological evolution and the functioning of ecosystems, in turn, are to a large degree conditioned by geophysical and geological processes.