The mother Earth quite could be called the Ocean, a considerable part of its surface is occupied by extensive water open spaces. Ocean depths hide in themselves infinite riches to which not only the plant and animal life, but also valuable fossil resources belongs. But still scientists did not come to a consensus concerning that how many oceans are located on the planet.
Oceans on the Earth's surface
Oceans call the largest water spaces which make the main part of world water resources. These objects are located between continents, possessing the own system of currents and other features. Each ocean continuously interacts with the land, earth crust and the atmosphere. The special science called oceanology studies these water spaces.
Global reserves of the salty water which is contained in oceans make a considerable part of the hydrosphere. Ocean waters are not the continuous cover washing the planet. They surround land areas, different in the size, there are continents, archipelagoes and certain islands. All terrestrial ocean waters can be divided into parts taking into account a relative positioning of continents. Separate parts of oceans form the seas, passages and gulfs.
How many on the planet of oceans
Now most of experts are inclined to distinguish five oceans on Earth: Indian, Silent, Atlantic, Arctic and Southern. But before them totaled only four. The fact is that this time not all geographers and oceanologists recognize existence of the certain Southern ocean which is called still Antarctic. This huge tank of water surrounds Antarctica, and the line it most often is conditionally drawn on the sixtieth parallel south. The rank of the largest by right belongs to the Pacific Ocean which area is nearly 180 mln sq.km. Exactly here the deepest place on the planet – the Mariana hollow is located. Its depth is 11 km. The Pacific Ocean washing coast of East Asia, Australia, North and South America differs in abundance of islands most of which are located in the West and in the center. By the sizes ranks second the Atlantic Ocean. On the area of water open spaces it concedes Silent approximately twice. Waters of Atlantic wash Europe, the western part of Africa, eastern regions of two American continents, and in the north – Iceland and Greenland. The Atlantic Ocean is extremely rich with a food fish and underwater vegetation. The Indian Ocean is slightly less by the size, than Atlantic. As follows from its name, it is near India, washing also east coast of Africa, the western region of Australia and Indonesia. This ocean incorporates very small number of the seas. The Arctic Ocean is least of all studied. Its area is a little more than 14 mln sq.km. There is this water basin in a remote northern part of the planet. Almost all the year round its surface is covered by powerful ices. The shortage of light and oxygen in water depths resulted in scarcity of an animal and flora of this ocean.