Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Mercury can enter seas and the open ocean as a result of the down stream movement and re-deposition of contaminated sediments from urban estuaries. [12] For example, high total Hg content up to 5 mg/kg and averaging about 2 mg/kg occur in the surface sediments and sediment cores of the tidal River Mersey, UK, due to discharge from historical industries located along the banks of the tidal ...
The South Pacific garbage patch is an area of ocean with increased levels of marine debris and plastic particle pollution, within the ocean's pelagic zone. This area is in the South Pacific Gyre , which itself spans from waters east of Australia to the South American continent, as far north as the Equator , and south until reaching the ...
While marine pollution can be obvious, as with the marine debris shown above, it is often the pollutants that cannot be seen that cause most harm.. Marine pollution occurs when substances used or spread by humans, such as industrial, agricultural and residential waste, particles, noise, excess carbon dioxide or invasive organisms enter the ocean and cause harmful effects there.
Most of Earth's surface is ocean water: 70.8% or 361 million km 2 (139 million sq mi). [97] This vast pool of salty water is often called the world ocean, [98] [99] and makes Earth with its dynamic hydrosphere a water world [100] [101] or ocean world. [102] [103] Indeed, in Earth's early history the ocean may have covered Earth completely. [104]
A gyre is a circular ocean current formed by the Earth's wind patterns and the forces created by the rotation of the planet. [33] There are five main ocean gyres: the North and South Pacific Subtropical Gyres, the North and South Atlantic Subtropical Gyres, and the Indian Ocean Subtropical Gyre. There are significant garbage patches in each of ...
Anoxic waters are areas of sea water, fresh water, or groundwater that are depleted of dissolved oxygen.The US Geological Survey defines anoxic groundwater as those with dissolved oxygen concentration of less than 0.5 milligrams per litre. [1]
Soil particles picked up during wind erosion of soil are a major source of air pollution, in the form of airborne particulates—"dust". These airborne soil particles are often contaminated with toxic chemicals such as pesticides or petroleum fuels, posing ecological and public health hazards when they later land, or are inhaled/ingested.
It is estimated that 1.1 to 8.8 million tonnes of plastic waste enters the ocean from coastal communities each year. [8] It is estimated that there is a stock of 86 million tons of plastic marine debris in the worldwide ocean as of the end of 2013, with an assumption that 1.4% of global plastics produced from 1950 to 2013 has entered the ocean ...