Ocean

Geology department Mohamed gamal El din sharaf

Definition:An ocean is a body of saline water that composes much of a planet's hydrosphere , an ocean is

one or all of the major divisions of the planet's World Ocean which are, in descending order of area, the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern (Antarctic), and Arctic.

Since no people were here on Earth when the ocean was formed, scientists try to come up with their own explanations for how the oceans came to be. After all, there are no oceans on Mercury, Venus, Mars or the moon, so why should the Earth have seas? According to one theory, comets that had a lot of ice crashed into the Earth. But many scientists don't buy this theory. Yet another theory says that it must have rained for millions of years. Again, some scientists have their doubts about that one. But where does the salt in the ocean come from? Some scientists think that ancient volcanoes spewed out chlorine into the atmosphere, in addition to water vapor. Perhaps the chlorine joined together with the water molecules to form hydrochloric acid. This hydrochloric acid may have eaten at rocks, causing them to release sodium. When the sodium atoms and the chlorine atoms came together, sodium chloride (salt) was formed..

Ocean waves many waves formed when wind blows across the water , as wind blows over the surface of the ocean ,some of the winds energy is transferred to the water surface forming the waves

"Tides" refers to the alternating rise and fall of sea level within a day. What
causes the sea level to change? It is actually the gravitational attraction of the moon that Cause waters of the ocean to swell and recede at different parts of the earth.

The Moon Tide

The earth and the moon are two great masses that have a significant gravitational pull on each other. This is what keeps the moon in orbit around the earth, and it is also what causes tides to occur in the ocean. Picture the earth with a uniform level of water all around it. The moons gravity pulls on the earth, and pulls the water towards it. The water moves up into a slight bulge on the side of the earth that faces the moon at the same time, there is a force pulling water out in the opposite direction of the moon.

The most casual observer will notice that on any beach the oceans level and falls on a cyclical basis

Beaches and Coastal line

A beach is any strip of shoreline that is washed by waves and Tides , there any many beaches are sandy

And others are swampy and rocky

Sandy coastlines
Costal weathering and erosion occur by many processes, waves hurl sand and gravel against sea cliffs, having them away. The waters salt soluble minerals salt water also soaks into cracks in the bed rock Depositional processes along coastlines, such as long shore sediment transport, from sandy beaches and create highly complex land forms that experience constant change and movement .features such as spit, tombolo and duns are classic forms in sandy beach environments

Rocky coastlines
A rocky coastlines is an intertidal area of seacoasts where solid rock predominates. Rocky shores are biologically rich environments, and make the ideal natural laboratory for studying intertidal ecology and other biological processes. Because they are so accessible, they have been studied for a long time and their species are well known

The importance of the ocean

Throughout history humans have been directly or indirectly influenced by the oceans. Ocean waters serve as a source of food and valuable minerals, as a vast highway for commerce, and provide a place for both recreation and waste disposal. Increasingly, people are turning to the oceans for their food supply either by direct consumption or indirectly by harvesting fish that is then processed for livestock feed. It has been estimated that as much as 10% of human protein intake comes from the oceans. Nevertheless, the food-producing potential of the oceans is only partly realized. Other biological products of the oceans are also commercially used. For example, pearls taken from oysters are used in jewelry, and shells and coral have been widely used as a source of building material. Ocean water is processed to extract commercially valuable minerals such as salt, bromine, and magnesium. Although nearly 60valuable chemical elements have been found dissolved in ocean water, most are in such dilute concentrations that commercial extraction is not profitable. In a few arid regions of the world, such as Ascension Island, Kuwait, and Israel, ocean water is desalinated to produce freshwater. The shallow continental shelves have been exploited as a source of sands and gravels. In addition, extensive deposits of petroleum-bearing sands have been exploited in offshore areas, particularly along the Gulf and California coasts of the United States and in the Persian Gulf. On the deep ocean floor manganese nodules, formed by the precipitation of manganese oxides and other metallic salts around a nucleus of rock or shell, represent a potentially rich and extensive resource. Research is currently being conducted to explore nodule mining and metallic extraction techniques. Ocean water itself could prove to be a limitless source of energy in the event that nuclear fusion reactors are developed, since the oceans contain great quantities of deuterium. The oceans also are important for recreational use, as each year more people are attracted to the sports of swimming, fishing, boating, and waterskiing. Ocean pollution, meantime, has escalated dramatically as those who use the oceans for recreational and commercial purposes, as well as those who live nearby, have disposed of more and more wastes there