Ocean

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There are plenty more [[fish]] in the sea. Oceans contain more than (insert really big number here) species, such as [[shark]]s, [[dolphin]]s and whales, and various sundry [[fish]]. And those are just the ones that come to mind.
 
There are plenty more [[fish]] in the sea. Oceans contain more than (insert really big number here) species, such as [[shark]]s, [[dolphin]]s and whales, and various sundry [[fish]]. And those are just the ones that come to mind.
  
The oceans have also provided food for seagoing communities (a resource currently being depleted faster than it can be replaced), and are also used as a huge rubbish dump. Both these which may well have a permanent effect on sea life - it is possible that jellyfish may become the sea's dominant lefe form after all the fish have been eaten and their predators chock on plastic bags.<ref>[http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/environment/invasion-of-the-jellyfish-they-could-take-over-our-seas-say-wildlife-experts-14249899.html invasion of the jellyfish]</ref>
+
The oceans have also provided food for seagoing communities (a resource currently being depleted faster than it can be replaced), and are also used as a huge rubbish dump. Both these which may well have a permanent effect on sea life - it is possible that jellyfish may become the sea's dominant lefe form after all the fish have been eaten and their predators choke on plastic bags.<ref>[http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/environment/invasion-of-the-jellyfish-they-could-take-over-our-seas-say-wildlife-experts-14249899.html invasion of the jellyfish]</ref>
  
 
==Footnotes==
 
==Footnotes==
 
<references/>
 
<references/>

Revision as of 20:35, 7 June 2009

Oceans are big blue things that cover quite a lot of the earth. They are very, very salty.

History

The oceans formed way back when. According to YECers, the amount of salt in the ocean suggests they formed 62 million years ago. This apparently is 1/50 what was suggested.

Evaporite

Back to reality. The earth formed 4.5 million years ago. Back then it was probably molten, so dense objects (rocks) sunk and light objects (lighter rocks) floated. Anyway, water was vapor and in the atmosphere, and it settled on the newly made crust and formed big blue things.[1] Back to the YECers: Their point is refuted by the fact that a large amount of salt is desposited on the shore when seawater evaporates outside of the ocean (ie, a puddle). The first great lowering of salinity occured in the late Precambrian when huge amounts of salt was desposited in Neoproterozoic evaporite basins.[2] Stuff like this can form evaporite. So much for the YECers.

The sea formed over the course of millions of years after the shiny new Earth cooled enough for water to settle on it surface and fill up the holes. As the crust drifted about, the supercontinent Pangea was split apart dividing the Tethys ocean into sevaeral smaller oceans. The Atlantic Ocean is the youngest of these; as measured by the record of changes in the magnetic field in its rocks, it is thought to date back less than a hundred millon years.

In historic times, the oceans posed an insurmountable barrier to most cultures until the middle ages, when better shipbuilding techniques enabled regular, safe crossings. the result of this was that five or six small countries on the northeastern Atlantic coast were able to carve up most of the world into a few massive empires, which consequences that are still readily apparent today.

Life

There are plenty more fish in the sea. Oceans contain more than (insert really big number here) species, such as sharks, dolphins and whales, and various sundry fish. And those are just the ones that come to mind.

The oceans have also provided food for seagoing communities (a resource currently being depleted faster than it can be replaced), and are also used as a huge rubbish dump. Both these which may well have a permanent effect on sea life - it is possible that jellyfish may become the sea's dominant lefe form after all the fish have been eaten and their predators choke on plastic bags.[3]

Footnotes

  1. MarineBio.org
  2. ScienceDirect
  3. invasion of the jellyfish
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