The largest ocean on Earth

Until 1513, people did not know which ocean was the mostbig. The Spanish navigator Vasco Nunez de Balboa was lucky to be the first to see the huge water expanses. The largest ocean was named by them Great. Seven years later, in 1520, a seafarer from Portugal Fernand Magellan made a round-the-world trip. Thanks to him it became known about the passage from the Atlantic to the largest ocean in the world - Quiet.

It should be noted that until the end of the 19th centuryalmost no one could settle on the islands in the southern seas. But the largest ocean had (and is now) of special strategic importance. That is why the colonies conquered the islands mainly. From strategic considerations, today the states of the world are trying to maintain their positions in the Pacific zone. So, America owns the Mariana Islands, as well as the islands of Hawaii and Palau. Russia belongs to the Kurile Islands, France - New Caledonia, Futuna and Wallis Islands, French Polynesia. Some of the territories that Britain owns have been turned into military bases.

The largest ocean is twice as largeAtlantic. Closer to the outskirts of the continents, its water area is divided into seas. So, near the coastal zone of Southeast and East Asia Selebes and Banda, Japanese, Yellow, South-China and Southern Seas are formed. The Sea of ​​Okhotsk is formed off the coast of Kamchatka, above (to the north) - the Beringovo.

In the Pacific waters the mostdeep sea depressions on Earth. So, for example, the Mariana has a depth of eleven thousand thirty four meters. The territory on which the largest ocean is located includes thousands of scattered islands that are conditionally divided into two categories. The first group includes islands of volcanic origin (Japan, Hawaii, for example). Small Kuril and Aleutian islands form the "fiery belt" in the northern part of the water area. The second category includes coral reefs. They are located along the equator. The appearance of coral islands is due to the activity of polyps.

The area of ​​the largest ocean is about a hundredeighty million square kilometers. The maximum height of the wave, which was officially recorded, is thirty-four meters. The volume of water in the Pacific Ocean is over seven hundred twenty million cubic kilometers.

It should be noted that animal and plantthe world of the water area is developed quite well. In particular, this is noted between the Australian and Asian coasts. Here, the largest areas are inhabited by coral reefs, as well as mangroves. In shallow water, there are about thirty species of flowering plants and more than four thousand different algae. Among them there are even real giants, whose height is about two hundred meters.

Among more than two thousand species of fish you can see andthe most ancient representatives not found in other waters. In the Pacific waters are often found representatives of fauna. For example, here lives tridakna - a huge bivalve mollusk. Its weight reaches three hundred kilograms. You can meet giant oysters.

About sixty percent of the world'sfish catch is in the Pacific waters. Among the commercial ones it is necessary to note flounder, salmon, cod, perch, and herrings. In the Pacific Ocean, invertebrates (mollusks, oysters, crabs), mammals (sperm whales, sea lions), plants (sea cabbage, for example) are being mined. At the bottom of the great reservoir mineral deposits are being developed. Tin, oil, gas, copper, nickel, cobalt, etc. are mined here.

Of no small importance is the transit route, running along the water area and connecting the most diverse countries, including Russia, China, Taiwan, the United States, Japan, Canada and others.