There are more marginal or inland seas on earth. How many seas on earth. Maximum depth and area of all seas
How many oceans are there on Earth? Quite a popular question for many children and even adults. If you accurately answer this question, then there are 4 oceans on our planet: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic. It is also known that, unofficially, scientists add another fifth to these oceans - the Southern, or Antarctic Ocean.
In addition, you can confidently answer the question “How many oceans are there on Earth” like this: there is a single World Ocean on earth. The average depth of the water column in it is 3700 meters. And the deepest point is located in the Mariana Trench and is 11022 meters.
Ocean area:
- The Pacific Ocean covers an area of approximately 179 million km2.
- The area of the Atlantic Ocean is 91.7 million km2.
- The Indian Ocean extends over 76.2 million km2.
- The area of the Arctic Ocean is 14.75 million km2.
- The Antarctic Ocean covers an area of approximately 20.4 million km2.
How many seas are on Earth? Today officially there are 63 seas in the world. Seas are a part of the World Ocean, which is separated by elevations of land or underwater relief. In the sea, the water is salty, its volumes can be too large.
List of all the seas of the world in alphabetical order
Today there are no more than 63 seas, which do not include: the Aral, Dead, Galilee and Caspian seas. There are 25 seas in the Pacific Ocean, 11 in the Arctic Ocean, 11 more in the Indian and the remaining 16 in the Atlantic.
- It is interesting -
It is important to know that the seas are distinguished by some classifications. For example, there are marginal, interisland, inland and intercontinental. There are also strongly saline and slightly saline seas.
Who lives at the bottom of the Mariana Trench - video
All the seas on earth are different with their own characteristics, even though they are all part of the oceans. Some seas are cold, such as the coldest sea - the Weddell Sea, the temperature in it is below zero degrees, and the warmest sea in the world is the Red Sea, the temperature in it does not fall below +20 degrees. And there is a sea that does not wash the shores of any continent - this is the Sargasso Sea - it is in the ocean and its border runs along 4 different currents.
How many seas are on earth?
The answer to this question depends on how to count, for example, to count the Caspian Sea? Although it is called the sea, it is a lake. And consider the Aral Sea? This is also a lake - another ten years will pass and even it will not remain. Is the Dead Sea one of the water surfaces officially referred to as seas? And the dead is not the sea either.
It is believed that there are about 90 seas in our world.
Maximum depth and area of all seas
In the table below you can see all the seas in alphabetical order, as well as the area of the water surface and the maximum depth of the seas.
Photos from open sources
The sea is a body of salt water that is connected to one of the five oceans. But some seas are located inside the mainland, the second are considered part of others, and the third are part of the ocean. There are about 90 marine reservoirs on our planet, which differ in size, shape, depth, as well as the presence or absence of shores.
The top 10 includes the largest seas in the world in terms of area.
10. Sea of Okhotsk
Okhotsk opens the top ten largest seas in the world with an area of 1.6 million square meters. km. and a maximum depth of 4 thousand meters in the Kuril basin. It washes the shores of Japan and Russia. Previously, the sea was called Kamchatka. They began to call it Okhotsk in honor of the Okhota River, which flows into this sea. Its waters abound with species of the most valuable fish, such as salmon, chinook, sockeye salmon, chum salmon and others. The Kuril Islands are located in the Sea of Okhotsk.
9. Bering Sea
The Bering Sea is the largest in Russia, its total area is 2.3 million square meters. km. Its waters belong to the Pacific Ocean, it washes the shores of the USA and Russia, being the water border between states. The deepest point of the seabed reaches 4 thousand meters. The sea got its current name in honor of the explorer and navigator Bering, who devoted most of his life to the study of sea waters. In the 13th century, Beringovo bore the names Bobrovoe or Kamchatskoe. The sea is covered with ice almost all year round, but despite this, about 240 species of fish are found here, among which there are also valuable species of interest to fishing.
8. Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean is one of the largest seas on the planet. Its area is about 2.5 million square meters. km., and the maximum depth can reach 5 thousand meters in some places. The sea washes three parts of the world at once - these are Africa, Asia and Europe. It is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Strait of Gibraltar. The constituent parts of the Mediterranean Sea are the Aegean, Adriatic, Ionian and Tyrrhenian. All together they form one big sea. There is a very rich fauna, numbering about 550 species of fish alone, 70 of which are found only in these waters. Also, the Mediterranean Sea is replete with sharks and has about 15 species that are dangerous to humans.
7. Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean ranks seventh in the ranking of the largest seas in the world in terms of area. Its size is about 2.7 million square meters. km., and the greatest depth is about 8 thousand meters. It belongs to the Atlantic Ocean. The sea got its name thanks to the Indian tribe of Caribs who lived on its coast. The second name of the sea reservoir is the Antilles. There is a version of scientists that the Caribbean is the source of the largest number of hurricanes in the Western Hemisphere. Natural disasters regularly destroy the buildings of the inhabitants of the islands and the coast of the basin.
6. Weddell Sea
Weddell is ranked sixth in the list of the largest seas in the world. Its area is 2.9 million square meters. km., and the greatest depth reaches almost 7 thousand meters. It is a marginal sea in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, between the western part of the Antarctic Peninsula and Coates Land (east). Weddell is considered the coldest and cleanest sea in the world. The water here is amazingly clear. A feature of Weddell is the fact that the water temperature in it can reach minus 25 degrees, but it does not freeze! The local fauna is represented by such marine animals as penguins, seals, whales, etc.
5. Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea has an area of 3.3 million square meters. km and the greatest depth of more than 5 thousand meters. This is one of the largest seas on the planet in terms of area. It is located between New Zealand and Australia. It got its name in honor of the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman. The depth of the sea is about 6 thousand meters, which makes it one of the deepest. The flora and fauna of this sea in different areas is significantly different.
4. Coral Sea
The Coral Sea is in fourth place with an area of 4.7 million square meters. km. It belongs to the waters of the Pacific Ocean and is located between the shores of New Guinea, Australia and New Caledonia. The depth of the sea can reach in some places more than 9 thousand meters. The sea has numerous coral reefs and islands. It is here that the largest reef on the planet is located, called the Great Barrier Reef with a length of 2.5 thousand km. and an area of 344 thousand square meters. km., which is larger than the area of Great Britain. The richest underwater flora and fauna is concentrated here.
3. Arabian Sea
Arabian opens the top three largest seas on the planet. Its area is approximately equal to 4.8 million square meters. km., and the maximum depth is 4 thousand meters. Initially, the sea was called Eritrean. It is part of the Indian Ocean and washes the shores of about. Somalia, Maldives, Djibouti, Iran, India and Pakistan. It is here that the best beaches in India for relaxation are located. The world's most important trade routes pass through the sea. In addition, the Arabian is one of the saltiest and cleanest seas in the world. The underwater world is rich in vegetation and marine life. Here you can meet rare species of animals, for example, green sea turtles or hawksbill. The Arabian Sea is considered one of the most popular ecotourism destinations.
2 Philippine Sea
The Philippine is the largest coastal sea, with an area of approximately 5.7 million square meters. km., and the maximum depth in some places can reach 11 thousand meters. Here is the deepest depression on the planet, which is called the Mariana Trench. The sea is located near the Philippine archipelago, hence its name. It does not have clear coastal boundaries: it is separated from the ocean by groups of islands: the Philippine Islands, about. Honshu, Kyushu, Ryukyu and about. Taiwan. Philippine waters are inhabited by many species of fish from small to giant. Here, commercial fishing for tuna, which is considered one of the most valuable marine products, is carried out.
1. Sargasso Sea
The Sargasso Sea tops the list of the largest seas in the world. Its area reaches 6-7 million square meters. km. and may vary depending on sea currents. The uniqueness of this sea is that it has no shores. Its water boundaries are considered to be three ocean currents. The shape of the sea is a scaled ellipse of light green color. It received such a shade from abundant underwater vegetation in the form of algae. Just imagine: there are about two tons of underwater plants per square meter! This is where the second name came from, which Sargasso received from Columbus - "a jar of algae." In some places, the depth of the sea can reach about 7 thousand meters. The average temperature here ranges from 20 to 28 degrees above zero.
All the water in the world is called the oceans. The sea is part of the world's oceans, a huge salty reservoir, which is isolated by land or conditional elevations of the underwater relief. Each sea has a different climatic and hydrological regime, has its own flora and fauna.
Sea classification
Modern science uses several classifications of the seas:
- By isolation. There are intercontinental and interisland, marginal and inland seas,
- By temperature. There are polar, temperate and tropical,
- By salinity. The seas are divided into weakly and strongly saline,
- Indented coastline. Distinguish weakly and strongly indented coastline. This classification is very conditional, since some seas do not have a coastline at all, for example, Sargasso,
- On an oceanic basis. There are 4 oceans in the world - Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Arctic (although recently many geographers have separately distinguished South ocean). Each sea is conventionally referred to as a basin of one of the oceans.
How many seas are there in the world?
So how many seas are there in the world? It is not easy to answer this question, since science has identified several classifications. Besides Caspian, Aral, Galilean, dead many people know how the seas, but they are actually referred to as lakes. There are also some bays that would be more logical to refer to the seas. Small seas that are part of large ones, moreover, are often not taken into account. For example, Mediterranean Sea consists of 7 internal reservoirs, it is possible to cross on a ship without obstacles from one reservoir to another, but at the same time remain on the territory of the Mediterranean Sea.
In general, it is customary to count 94 seas on Earth. Of them
- Atlantic Ocean belongs to 32 seas, for example, Marmara, North, Aegean, Baltic.
- Pacific Ocean– 30 seas, such as the Yellow, Bering, Japanese, Okhotsk
- Basins of the Arctic Ocean belongs to 13 seas, such as the Kara, Barents, White, Chukchi
- South ocean also has 13 seas, for example, Cosmonauts, Ross, Lazarev. Indian Ocean - 6 seas, among them the Red is considered the largest.
- Indian Ocean- 6 seas, among them the Red is considered the largest.
Important! To date, the International Geographical Community has decided to distinguish 54 seas, while not taking into account bays and inland seas..
The Mediterranean Sea is considered the dirtiest, as at least 500 tons of various oil products enter it annually. Moreover, a great danger to the flora and fauna of the Mediterranean Sea is provided by plastic waste, which literally flooded the coastal areas.
The most dangerous sea is the Sea of Marmara, which is located on the border of Asia and Europe and serves as a junction of the Aegean and Black Seas. The Sea of Marmara is formed by a fault, subsequently filled with water, it sometimes has more than 1300 meters of depth. The danger is provided by frequent earthquakes and tsunamis. It is believed that this sea was disturbed by earthquakes at least 300 times.
Video
What are the names of the seas of our planet and where are they located:
Below is a complete description of the seas with the name and table of the largest seas in terms of area and depth.
All about the seas of our planet:
According to the degree of isolation and features of the hydrological regime, the seas are divided into 3 groups: inland seas (Mediterranean seas and semi-enclosed seas), marginal seas and interisland seas. By geographical location, the Mediterranean seas are sometimes divided into intercontinental seas and inland seas.
From a geological point of view, modern seas are young formations. In outlines close to modern, they were all determined in the Paleogene-Neogene time, and finally took shape in the Anthropogene. The deepest seas (for example, the Mediterranean Sea) are formed in places of large faults in the earth's crust, and shallow seas arose when the marginal parts of the continents were flooded with the waters of the oceans and are usually located on the continental shelf.
Ocean classification
The division of the World Ocean into separate oceans was carried out by the International Hydrological Organization (IHO) in 1953 (with subsequent changes)
In total, there are 63 seas in the world (not counting the Caspian, Aral, as well as the Dead and Galilee Seas) - of which 25 are in the Pacific, 16 in the Atlantic, 11 in the Indian and 11 in the Arctic Ocean. By tradition, due to their large size, the Caspian and Aral sea-lakes, which are the remnants of the ancient Tethys ocean, are referred to the seas. In addition, the names of the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee have historically developed.
There are various classifications of the seas.
Seas included in the oceans (seas in the oceans)
Pacific Ocean
Sea of Aki
Sea Bali
· Sea Gang
Bering Sea
Visayan Sea
Inland Sea of Japan
East China Sea
· Yellow Sea
Sea Camotes
coral sea
Sea Koro
New Guinea Sea
Sea of Mindanao
Moluccas Sea
Sea of Okhotsk
Savu Sea
Sea Samar
Sea Seram
Sibuyan Sea
Solomon Sea
Sulawesi Sea
Sulu Sea
Tasman Sea
Sea of Tuvalu
Fiji Sea
The Philippine Sea (the largest and deepest sea in the world)
Sea Flores
Sea of Halmahera
· South China Sea
· Java Sea
· Japanese Sea
Atlantic Ocean
Sea of Azov
· Baltic Sea
The Hebrides Sea
· Irish sea
Caribbean Sea
celtic sea
Irminger Sea
Sea Labrador
Sea of Marmara
Sargasso Sea
· North Sea
· Wadden Sea
· Mediterranean Sea
Adriatic Sea
Alboran
The Balearic Sea
Ionian Sea
Cypriot Sea
The Cilician Sea
Levantine Sea
The Ligurian Sea
Tyrrhenian Sea
· Aegean Sea
Icarian Sea
The Cretan Sea
Myrtoan Sea
Thracian Sea
· Black Sea
Indian Ocean
Andaman Sea
· Arabian Sea
Arafura Sea
· Red sea
Sea of Laccadive
Timor Sea
Arctic Ocean
Border of the White and Barents Seas
· Barents Sea
Pechora Sea
Baffin Sea
· White Sea
Beaufort Sea
The Wandel Sea
· East-Siberian Sea
Greenland Sea
Sea of Prince Gustavus Adolf
Crown Prince Gustav Sea
The Kara Sea
· Laptev sea
Lincoln Sea
Norwegian Sea
Chukchi Sea
South ocean
Island in the Ross Sea
The Amundsen Sea
Ross Sea
· Weddell Sea
Sea of Scotia
The Lazarev Sea
Davis Sea
The Bellingshausen Sea
Mawson Sea
Riiser-Larsen Sea
Commonwealth Sea
Sea of Astronauts
Sea of Somov
d'Urville Sea
Bays, according to hydrological, hydrochemical and other characteristics related to the seas
Bay of Bengal (Indian Ocean)
Hudson Bay (Arctic Ocean)
Gulf of Mexico (Atlantic Ocean)
Persian Gulf (Indian Ocean)
Bay of Biscay (Atlantic Ocean)
Classification according to the degree of isolation from the ocean
According to the degree of isolation, the seas are distinguished inland, marginal, intercontinental and interisland.
inland seas- seas, mostly closed from communication with the ocean, which are characterized by limited (compared to the marginal seas) water exchange with the oceans. In such seas, the depth of the strait connecting them to the ocean is shallow, which limits deep-sea currents that lead to mixing of deep waters. Examples of such seas are the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas.
Depending on the number of continents whose coasts the seas wash, the inland seas are divided into intercontinental(Mediterranean and Red Seas) and inland(Yellow and Black seas).
Depending on the connection with other seas or the World Ocean, inland seas are divided into isolated(closed) (Dead, Aral Seas) and semi-insulated(semi-closed) (Baltic, Azov seas). In fact, isolated seas are lakes.
marginal seas- these are seas that are characterized by free communication with the ocean and, in some cases, separated from them by a chain of islands or peninsulas. Although the marginal seas lie on the shelf, the nature of bottom sediments, the climatic and hydrological regimes, the fauna and flora of these seas are strongly influenced not only by the mainland, but also by the ocean. The marginal seas are characterized by ocean currents, which arise due to ocean winds. Seas of this type include, for example, the Bering, Okhotsk, Japanese, East China, South China, and Caribbean seas.
Intercontinental seas(sometimes called the Mediterranean seas) are seas that are surrounded on all sides by land and are connected to the ocean by one or more straits. These seas include the Mediterranean, Red, Caribbean.
Interisland seas- seas surrounded by a more or less dense ring of islands, relief elevations between which prevent the free water exchange of these seas with the open part of the ocean.
Most of the inter-island seas are found among the islands of the Malay Archipelago. The largest of them: Javanese, Banda, Sulawesi.
Surface water temperature classification
There is also a classification of seas depending on the temperature of their surface waters (tropical seas, temperate seas, polar seas), but it is practically not used.
Salinity classification
According to the degree of salinity, they distinguish heavily salted and slightly salted seas.
Highly saline seas- seas that have a higher salinity than in the ocean due to active evaporation, and their water exchange consists in the outflow of more salty sea water into the lower layers, and the inflow of more fresh water into the surface layers through the straits from the ocean. An example of such a sea is the Red Sea.
Salty seas- seas that have less salinity than the ocean due to the fact that the influx of fresh water with river runoff and precipitation is not compensated by evaporation. In this case, water exchange consists in the outflow of less salty sea water into the surface layers and the inflow of more saline water into the bottom layers through the straits. In such basins, water exchange with the bottom layers is often insufficient to maintain the oxygen content necessary for the existence of most biological species. An example of such a sea is the Black Sea.
Coastal indentation classification
Distinguish heavily indented and slightly indented coastline. It should be noted that, for example, the Sargasso Sea does not have a coastline at all.
Coastline
The coastline of the seas is characterized by the presence of bays, lagoons, bays, estuaries of inflowing rivers, peninsulas, spits, estuaries, beaches or cliffs and other landforms.
gulf- this is a part of the sea that goes deep into the land, but has free water exchange with the main part of the sea. The hydrological and hydrochemical conditions of the bay are identical with the conditions of the sea, of which they are a part. In some cases, local climate features and continental runoff can impart some specific features to the hydrological characteristics of the surface layer of bays.
Depending on the relief of the coasts and other geographical conditions, the bays are divided into several types:
· Bay- a small part of the sea, separated from open waters on three sides by parts of the land (protrusions of the coast, rocks and nearby islands) and protected by them from waves and wind. Most small bays are formed in soft rocky soils or clays washed out by waves. Examples of bays are the Sevastopol and Balaklava bays in the Black Sea, the Golden Horn Bay in the Sea of Japan. A small bay can be part of a larger bay, such as the South Bay in the Sevastopol Bay.
· Liman- a bay delimited from the sea by a sandy spit (bay). More often, an estuary is a flooded part of the section of the river valley closest to the sea (for example, the Dnieper, Dniester estuaries on the Black Sea coast). Distinguish firths of open type(estuary type) - having a constant water exchange with the sea, and closed type(lagoon type) - separated from the sea by a sandy spit, embankment. The hydrological regime of the estuary is largely influenced by the river that flows into it.
· Lagoon- a shallow part of the sea, separated from it by a bar, oblique, coral reef and often connected to it by a narrow strait. Lagoons differ from other bays in a greater degree of isolation from the sea. Often found inside the atoll (for example, the atolls of Kiritimati, Kwajalein).
· Estuary- a single-arm, funnel-shaped mouth of a river that flows into the sea. An estuary is formed when the sea floods the mouth of a river, and tides carry sediment into the sea and prevent the estuary from filling up and turning into a delta. This happens when the part of the sea adjacent to the estuary has a great depth. The estuary is formed by such rivers as the Amazon (Atlantic Ocean), the Thames (North Sea).
· fjord- a long, narrow sea bay, often extending far inland. The fjord is formed as a result of the flooding of the valley of the former glacier by the sea. Many fjords are very deep - they were formed when glaciers crushed valleys with their weight, and then the valleys were flooded by the sea. Usually the length of the fjord is several times its width. Examples of typical fjords would be the fjords of the Norwegian Sea.
· Lip- the name of the bay, common in the north of Russia, deeply cutting into the land (for example, Nevskaya in the Gulf of Finland, Obskaya in the Kara Sea).
strait- a relatively narrow strip of water separating land and connecting adjacent water basins or their parts (for example, the English Channel, Magellan, Bering).
Island- a piece of land (often of natural origin), surrounded on all sides by water and constantly rising above the water even during the highest tide (for example, Greenland, Madagascar). They differ from the continents in small sizes, for example, Greenland is three times smaller than the smallest mainland of Australia ( mainland islands). They differ in origin, form and type (for example, a coral island).
· Atoll- represents an elevation on the ocean floor, usually conical in shape, formed by an extinct volcano, crowned with a coral superstructure that forms a reef with a group of islands (motu), separated by straits that connect the ocean with the lagoon. If there are no straits, then the land closes in a continuous ring, and the water in the lagoon may differ in composition from the surrounding ocean.
· Archipelago- a group of clustered islands with a similar geological structure.
· Skerries- (from nor. skin - rock in the sea) is an archipelago consisting of small rocky islands separated by narrow straits and covering a significant part of the coastal sea strip, bordering the fjord-type shores. Each of these islands is individually referred to as " skerry". As a rule, skerries are suitable for navigation, but the passage of ships in them requires certain skills and is fraught with many dangers. During the Great Patriotic War, torpedo boats of the Baltic Fleet successfully fought against the invaders, using skerries for cover.
· artificial island- a separate group of islands created by man (for example, Kansai Airport in the middle of Osaka Bay in Japan and the elite Palm Jumeirah beach, created off the coast of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates).
Spit- a low alluvial strip of land on the coast of the sea or lake, connected at one end with the coast. It is formed as a result of the movement of clastic material along the coast by waves. It is composed of deposition (sediments) of bulk materials moved by currents: sand, pebbles, gravel, shells. The spit formed as a result of the simultaneous influx of sediments from two sides protrudes into the open sea almost perpendicular to the coast and is called arrow. Can be created artificially.
cape- a piece of land that cuts into the sea. It can be formed both by sediments. Capes, as a rule, owe their existence to erosion processes. A prerequisite for the appearance of a cape is the presence of both soft and hard rocks on the coastline. Soft rocks, such as sand, break down under the action of waves much faster than hard ones. As a result, a cape is formed (for example, Horn, Good Hope).
Peninsula- a part of the mainland that protrudes far into the sea and is washed by water from three sides and is often geologically one with the mainland (for example, the Iberian Peninsula or the Scandinavian Peninsula).
Mainland- a large land area, often washed on all sides by seas or oceans (for example, Eurasia is separated from Africa by the Suez Canal, and the two Americas are separated by Panama).