Bottom reliefs of pacific ocean

Bottom reliefs of pacific ocean

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  Bottom Relief FeaturesOf Pacific Ocean
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  Introduction: The Pacific Ocean,the largest ocean of the world having one-third area of the globe, extends from east to west for 16,000 km from the east coast of Asia in the west to the west coast of Americas in the east and for 14,880 km from north to south between Bering Strait in the north to Cape Andre (Antarctica). The overall shape of the ocean is triangular if its extent in both the hemisphere is considered separately.  Water Volume: 71million Km3 Average Depth: 4,572 metre Surface Area: 16.52 million Km2
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  Bottom Relief Features: 1.ContinentalShelves and Slopes: Continental shelves cover 5.7%, and continental slopes cover 7% of areal coverage of the Pacific Ocean. There is a significant difference in the extent and characteristics of continental shelves on the eastern and western coasts of the Pacific. The shelves are quite broad and extensive along the eastern coasts of Australia and Asia where the width varies from 160 km to 1600 km and the depth ranges between 1000 metre and 2000 metre. Several islands are seated on these broad continental shelves. These are Kuriles, Japanese islands, Philippines, Indonesia, New Zealand etc. These Continental Shelves also carry numerous marginal seas like Bering sea, Okhotsk sea, Japan sea, Yellow sea, China sea, Java sea, Arafura sea etc. The continental shelves are less extensive along the western coasts of Americas because of nearness of cordillerean chains of folded mountains to the coastal lands. The average width is 80 km.
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  2.Ocean Basins: There aredifferent basins of different shapes and sizes, these basins are separated by ridges and rises. The following are a few important basins of the pacific ocean. Basin Location Depth (Metre) Philippine Basin To the east of Philippines and extends from south of Japan to 5° North latitude. 5,000-6,000 Fiji Basin To the south of Fiji Islands between 10°S and 32°S latitudes. 4,000 East Australian Basin Between the east coast of Australia and New Zealand Ridge. 5,000 South Australian basin To the south-east of Australia 5,000 Peru Basin To the west of Peru coast between 5°S and 24°S latitude and extends up to 110°W longitude. 4,000 South-Western Pacific Basin Between 20°S and 50°S latitude. 10,047 Pacific-Antarctica Basin To the south-west of Chilean coast between 40°S and 60°S latitudes. -----
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  3.Ocean Deeps andTrenches: The deeps and trenches are located either along the island arcs or mountain chains in the pacific ocean. It may be pointed out that the trenches are found mainly in the western Pacific ocean. The following are the significant trenches- Trenches Depth (Metre) Deepest Point Mariana Trench 11,033 Challenger Deep Tonga Trench 10,882 Horizon Deep Philippine Trench 10,540 Galathea Deep Kurile- Kamchatka Trench 10,500 … Japan Trench 10,375 … Karmadec Trench 10,047 …
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  4. Ocean Ridgesand Rises: There are a few scattered ridges having local importance in pacific ocean. Some of the ridges are- East pacific Rise (Also known as Albatross plateau , 1600 km wide, extends from north of New Zealand to the California coast.) Galapagos Ridge (parallel to East Pacific Rise) Hawaiian Rise Marcus-Necker Rise Chatham Rise etc.
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  5. Fractured Zone: Afew fracture zones are running from west to east. They are-  Mendocino Fracture Zone (40°N)  Murray Fracture Zone (30°N)  Clarion Fracture Zone (20°N)  Clipper ton Fracture Zone (10°N)  Challenger fracture zone |(40°S) etc.
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  6. Islands: There arenearly 20,000 island in the pacific ocean. They are- Continental Islands- Japan island, Taiwan, Sumatra, java Borneo etc. Volcanic Islands-Hawaii, Honolulu, Marshall, Chatham etc. Coral Islands- Wake Island, Great Barrier Reef etc.