1. Mount Everest (the highest point on the Earth's surface 5.49 miles) is more than 1 mile shorter than the Challenger Deep (the deepest point in the ocean at 6.86 miles).
2. Water pressure at the deepest point in the ocean is more than 8 tons per square inch, the equivalent of one person trying to hold 50 jumbo jets.
3. The worlds oceans contain nearly 20 million tons of gold. If all the gold suspended in the world's seawater were mined, each person on Earth could have about 9 pounds of gold.
4. The Great Barrier Reef, measuring 1,243 miles, is the largest living structure on Earth. It can be seen from the Moon.
5. By 2010, 80 per cent of people will live within 60 miles of the coast.
6. The total length of the world's coastlines is about 315,000 miles, enough to circle the Equator 12 times.
7. If all the world's ice melted, the oceans would rise 200 ft (66 mtr). 10,000 years ago the ocean level was about 330 ft (110 mtr) lower than it is now.
8. 90% of all volcanic activity on Earth occurs in the ocean. The largest known concentration of active volcanoes (approximately 1,133) on the sea floor is located in the South Pacific.
9. Antarctica has as much ice as the Atlantic Ocean has water.
10. Some scientists estimate that the oceans contain as much as 50 quadrillion tons (50 million billion tons=50,000,000,000,000,000) of dissolved solids. If the salt in the ocean could be removed and spread evenly over the Earth’s land surface it would form a layer more than 500 feet (166 m) thick, about the height of a 40-story office building.
*I found these facts at http://www.savethesea.org/STS%20ocean_facts.htm along with many others, but I posted these 10 because they were the ones that sparked my interest the most!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment