They pass through the Bering Strait between the Chukotka and Seward peninsulas, with the Indian Ocean - along the northern edge of the Malacca Strait, the western coast of the island of Sumatra, the southern coast of the islands of Java, Timor and New Guinea through the Torres and Bassa Straits, along the eastern coast of Tasmania and further along the ridge of underwater uplifts to Antarctica, with the Atlantic Ocean - from the Antarctic Peninsula (Antarctica) along the rapids between the South Shetland Islands to Tierra del Fuego.

General information . The area of ​​the Pacific Ocean with the seas is about 180 million km 2 (1/3 of the surface of the globe and 1/2 of the World Ocean), the volume of water is 710 million km 3. The Pacific Ocean is the deepest basin of the World Ocean, the average depth is 3980 m, the maximum in the region of the trenches is 11022 m (Marian Trench). Includes marginal seas in the north and west: Bering, Okhotsk, Japanese, Yellow, East and South China, Philippine, Sulu, Sulawesi, Moluccas, Seram, Banda, Flores, Bali, Javanese, Savu, New Guinea, Coral, Fiji, Tasmanovo ; in the south - Ross, Amundsen, Bellingshausen. Most large bays- Alaska, California, Panama. A characteristic feature of the Pacific Ocean is the numerous islands (especially in the central and southwestern parts of Oceania), in terms of the number (about 10,000) and area (3.6 million km 2) of which this ocean ranks first among the basins of the World Ocean.

Historical outline. The first scientific information about the Pacific Ocean was obtained at the beginning of the 16th century by the Spanish conquistador V. Nunez de Balboa. In 1520-21 F. Magellan crossed the ocean for the first time from the strait named after him to the Philippine Islands. During the 16-18 centuries. the ocean has been studied in numerous voyages by naturalists. The Russian navigators S. I. Dezhnev, V. V. Atlasov, V. Bering, A. I. Chirikov, and others made a significant contribution to the study of the Pacific Ocean. (geographic expeditions of I. F. Kruzenshtern, Yu. F. Lisyansky on the ships "Nadezhda" and "Neva", O. E. Kotzebue on the "Rurik" and then "Enterprise", F. F. Bellingshausen and M. P. Lazarev on "Mirny"). A major event in the history of ocean exploration was Charles Darwin's voyage on the Beagle (1831-36). The first actual oceanographic expedition was a round-the-world voyage on the English ship Challenger (1872-76), in which extensive information was obtained on the physical, chemical, biological and geological features of the Pacific Ocean. The greatest contribution to the study of the Pacific Ocean at the end of the 19th century was made by scientific expeditions on ships: "Vityaz" (1886-89, 1894-96) -, "Albatross" (1888-1905) -; in the 20th century: on the ships "Carnegie" (1928-29) - USA, "Snellius" (1929-30) - the Netherlands, "Discovery II" (1930) - Great Britain, "Galatea" (1950-52) - Denmark and "Vityaz" (since 1949 it has completed over 40 flights) - . A new stage in the exploration of the Pacific Ocean began in 1968, when deep-sea drilling was started from the American ship Glomar Challenger.

Hydrological regime . The circulation of the surface waters of the Pacific Ocean is dominated by zonal flows, meridional coastal currents are clearly manifested only in the eastern and north western coasts. The largest circulation systems are the Antarctic circular current, the Northern and Southern subtropical gyres. The average surface water temperature is 19.37°C. The average temperature in the north (without the seas) does not fall below 4°C, in the Southern Hemisphere off the coast of Antarctica it is 1.85°C. The average salinity of surface waters is 34.61‰ (the maximum in the subtropical region in the Northern Hemisphere is 35.5‰). Freshened waters (up to 33 ‰ and below) are common in the subpolar and equatorial-tropical zones of the ocean. At intermediate depths, subantarctic and subarctic waters of low salinity stand out, deeper than 1500-1800 m there are waters of antarctic origin. Ice forms in the northwestern seas (Bering, Okhotsk, Japan, Yellow), in the north in the Gulf of Alaska and in the south off the coast of Antarctica. Floating ice in southern latitudes spreads in winter to 61-64°, in summer to 70°, icebergs in late summer to 46-48° south latitude.

Relief and geological structure. Within the Pacific Ocean, a wide (up to several hundred kilometers) shelf is developed in the marginal seas and along the coast of Antarctica.

Off the coast of North and South America, the shelf is very narrow - up to several kilometers. The depth of the shelf is mainly 100-200 m, off the coast of Antarctica up to 500 m. To the north-west of Cedros Island there is a peculiar area of ​​the underwater margin of North America (California borderland), represented by a system of underwater ridges and basins formed as a result of attachment of alien blocks to the mainland (zone of accretion tectonics) and restructuring of plate boundaries during the collision of North America with the spreading axis of the East Pacific Rise. The continental slope from the edge of the shelf descends steeply to the pelagic depths, the average steepness of the slope is 3-7°, the maximum is 20-30°. Active continental margins frame the ocean from the north, west, and east, forming specific transitional underthrust zones. lithospheric plates. In the north and west, the transition zones are a combination of marginal seas, island arcs, and deep sea trenches. Most of the marginal seas were formed as a result of spreading that developed between island arcs and adjacent continental masses (back-arc spreading). In some cases, spreading zones passed along the edge of continental masses, and their fragments were pushed aside and separated from the continents by marginal seas (New Zealand, Japan). Island arcs framing the seas are volcanic ridges bounded on the ocean side by deep-sea trenches - narrow (tens of kilometers), deep (from 5-6 to 11 km) and extended depressions. On the eastern side, the ocean is framed by the active margin of the continent, where the oceanic plate is directly subducted under the continent. Subduction-related volcanism develops directly on the continental margin.

Within the ocean floor, a system of active mid-ocean ridges (rift systems) is distinguished, located asymmetrically with respect to the surrounding continents (see map). The main ridge consists of several links: in the north - Explorer, Juan de Fuca, Gorda, south of 30 ° north latitude - the East Pacific Rise. The Galapagos and Chilean rift systems are also distinguished, which, approaching the main ridge, form specific areas of the triple junction. The rate of expansion of the ridges mainly exceeds 5 cm/year, sometimes up to 16-18 cm/year. The width of the axial part of the ridge is several kilometers (extrusive zone), the average depth is 2500-3000 m. At a distance of about 2 km from the axis of the ridge, the bottom is broken by a system of faults and grabens (tectonic zone). At a distance of 10-12 km, tectonic activity practically stops, the slope of the ridge gradually passes into the adjacent deep-water basins of the bed. The depth of the oceanic basalt bed increases with distance from the ridge axis to the subduction zones, simultaneously with an increase in the age of the oceanic crust. For areas of the ocean floor with a maximum age of the bed of about 150 million years, a depth of about 6000 m is characteristic. , Melanesian, Southern, Bellingshausen, Guatemalan, Peruvian and Chilean, etc.). The relief of the bottom of the basins is predominantly wavy. About 85% of the area is occupied by very gently sloping hills up to 500 m. Tubuai, Marquesas, Tuamotu, Galapagos, etc.) - the volcanic rocks composing them are younger than the rocks of the ocean floor.

The section of the oceanic crust is represented (from bottom to top) by a cumulative complex of dunites and locally serpentinized pyroxenites, a homogeneous or layered gabbro sequence, a basalt layer (about 2 km thick), consisting of a dike complex (vertically standing parallel dikes) and submarine lavas, sedimentary case . With distance from the ridge, the age of the ocean floor and the thickness of sedimentary deposits increase. In the open ocean, the thickness of precipitation is 100-150 m and increases in the northern and westbound, in the equatorial zone, the thickness of sediments is up to 500-600 m. The thickness of sediments is sharply increased (up to 12-15 km) at the base of the continental slope and in the marginal seas, which are traps of sedimentary material supplied from land.

Along the continents, mainly terrigenous sediments are developed (glacial and coastal in high latitudes, fluviogenic in temperate latitudes, and eolian in arid latitudes). In the ocean pelagial at a depth of less than 4000 m, carbonate foraminifera and coccoliths are almost universally developed, in temperate zones- siliceous

) - most large pool World Ocean. It is bounded in the west by the shores of Eurasia and Australia, in the east by North and South America, in the south by Antarctica. maritime borders with Northern Arctic Ocean pass through the Bering Strait between the peninsulas of Chukotka and Seward, with Indian Ocean- along the northern edge of the Strait of Malacca, the western coast of the island of Sumatra, the southern coast of the islands of Java, Timor and New Guinea through the Torres and Bass Straits, along the eastern coast of Tasmania and further along the ridge of underwater uplifts to Antarctica, from Atlantic Ocean- from the Antarctic Peninsula (Antarctica) along the rapids between the South Shetland Islands to Tierra del Fuego.

The area of ​​the Pacific Ocean with the seas is about 180 million km 2 (1/3 of the surface of the globe and 1/2 of the World Ocean), the volume of water is 710 million km 3. The Pacific Ocean is the deepest basin of the World Ocean, the average depth is 3980 m, the maximum in the region of the trenches is 11,022 m (Marian Trench). Includes marginal seas in the north and west: Bering, Okhotsk, Japanese, Yellow, East and South China, Philippine, Sulu, Sulawesi, Moluccas, Seram, Banda, Flores, Bali, Javanese, Savu, New Guinea, Coral, Fiji, Tasmanovo ; in the south - Ross, Amundsen, Bellingshausen. The largest bays are Alaska, California, Panama. A characteristic feature of the Pacific Ocean is the numerous islands (especially in the central and southwestern parts of Oceania), in terms of the number (about 10,000) and area (3.6 million km2) of which this ocean ranks first among the basins of the World Ocean.

Historical outline

The first scientific information about the Pacific Ocean was obtained at the beginning of the 16th century by the Spanish conquistador V. Nunez de Balboa. In 1520-21 F. Magellan crossed the ocean for the first time from the strait named after him to the Philippine Islands. During the XVI-XVIII centuries. the ocean has been studied in numerous voyages by naturalists. A significant contribution to the study of the Pacific Ocean was made by Russian sailors: S.I. Dezhnev, V.V. Atlasov, V. Bering, A.I. Chirikov and others. Systematic research has been carried out since the beginning of the 19th century. (geographic expeditions of I.F. Kruzenshtern, Yu.F. Lisyansky on the ships "Nadezhda" and "Neva", O.E. Kotzebue on the "Rurik" and then the "Enterprise", F.F. Bellingshausen and M.P. Lazarev on "Mirny"). A major event in the history of ocean exploration was Charles Darwin's voyage on the Beagle (1831-36). The first actual oceanographic expedition was a round-the-world voyage on the English ship Challenger (1872-76), in which extensive information was obtained on the physical, chemical, biological and geological features of the Pacific Ocean. The greatest contribution to the study of the Pacific Ocean at the end of the 19th century was made by scientific expeditions on ships: "Vityaz" (1886-89, 1894-96) - Russia, "Albatross" (1888-1905) - USA; in the XX century: on the ships "Carnegie" (1928-29) - USA, "Snellius" (1929-30) - the Netherlands, "Discovery II" (1930) - Great Britain, "Galatea" (1950-52) - Denmark and "Vityaz" (since 1949 it has made over 40 flights) - USSR. A new stage in the exploration of the Pacific Ocean began in 1968, when deep-sea drilling was started from the American vessel Glomar Challenger.

Relief and geological structure

Within the Pacific Ocean, a wide (up to several hundred kilometers) shelf is developed in the marginal seas and along the coast of Antarctica.

Off the coast of North and South America, the shelf is very narrow - up to several kilometers. The depth of the shelf is mainly 100-200 m, off the coast of Antarctica up to 500 m. To the north-west of Cedros Island there is a peculiar area of ​​the underwater margin of North America (California borderland), represented by a system of underwater ridges and basins formed as a result of attachment to the mainland of alien blocks (zone of accretionary tectonics) and rearrangement of plate boundaries during the collision of North America with the spreading axis of the East Pacific Rise. The continental slope from the edge of the shelf descends steeply to the pelagic depths, the average steepness of the slope is 3-7°, the maximum is 20-30°. The active margins of the continents frame the ocean from the north, west and east, forming specific transitional zones of subduction of lithospheric plates. In the north and west, the transition zones are a combination of marginal seas, island arcs, and deep sea trenches. Most of the marginal seas were formed as a result of spreading that developed between island arcs and adjacent continental masses (back-arc spreading). In some cases, spreading zones passed along the edge of continental massifs and their fragments were pushed aside and separated from the continents by marginal seas (New Zealand, Japan). Island arcs framing the seas are ridges of volcanoes, limited from the ocean by deep-sea trenches - narrow (tens of kilometers) deep (from 5-6 to 11 km.) And extended depressions. On the eastern side, the ocean is framed by the active margin of the continent, where the oceanic plate is directly subducted under the continent. Subduction-related volcanism develops directly on the continental margin.

Within the ocean floor, a system of active mid-ocean ridges (rift systems) is distinguished, located asymmetrically with respect to the surrounding continents (see map). The main ridge consists of several links: in the north - Explorer, Juan de Fuca, Gorda, south of 30 ° north latitude - the East Pacific Rise. The Galapagos and Chilean rift systems are also distinguished, which, approaching the main ridge, form specific areas of the triple junction. The rate of expansion of the ridges mainly exceeds 5 cm/year, sometimes up to 16-18 cm/year. The width of the axial part of the ridge is several kilometers (extrusive zone), the average depth is 2500-3000 m. At a distance of about 2 km. from the axis of the ridge, the bottom is broken by a system of normal faults and grabens (tectonic zone). At a distance of 10-12 km. tectonic activity practically stops, the slope of the ridge gradually passes into the adjacent deep-water basins of the bed. The depth of the oceanic basalt bed increases with distance from the ridge axis to the subduction zones, simultaneously with an increase in the age of the oceanic crust. For areas of the ocean floor with a maximum age of the bed of about 150 million years, a depth of about 6000 m is characteristic. , Melanesian, Southern, Bellingshausen, Guatemalan, Peruvian and Chilean, etc.). The relief of the bottom of the basins is predominantly wavy. About 85% of the area is occupied by very gently sloping hills up to 500 m. Tubuai, Marquesas, Tuamotu, Galapagos, etc.) - the volcanic rocks that compose them are younger than the rocks of the ocean floor.

The section of the oceanic crust is represented (from bottom to top) by a cumulative complex of dunites and locally serpentinized pyroxenites, a homogeneous or stratified gabbro sequence, a basalt layer (about 2 km thick), consisting of a dike complex (vertically standing parallel dikes) and submarine lavas, overlying the basalt layer sediment cover. With distance from the ridge, the age of the ocean floor and the thickness of sedimentary deposits increase. In the open ocean, the thickness of precipitation is 100-150 m and increases in the north and west, in the equatorial zone the thickness of precipitation is up to 500-600 m. which are traps of sedimentary material supplied from land.

Along the continents, mainly terrigenous sediments are developed (glacial and coastal in high latitudes, fluviogenic in temperate latitudes, eolian in arid latitudes). In the ocean pelagial at a depth of less than 4000 m, carbonate foraminiferal and coccolithic silts are almost universally developed, in temperate zones - siliceous diatomaceous oozes. Deeper, within the equatorial highly productive zone, they are replaced by siliceous radiolarian and diatom sediments, and in tropical low-productive zones - by red deep-sea clays. Along the active margins, the sediments contain a significant admixture of volcanic material. The sediments of the mid-ocean ridges and their slopes are enriched in oxides and hydroxides of iron and manganese carried into the bottom waters by high-temperature ore-bearing solutions.

Mineral resources

Oil and gas deposits have been discovered in the bowels of the Pacific Ocean, and placers of heavy minerals and other minerals have been found at the bottom. The main oil and gas bearing areas are concentrated on the periphery of the ocean. Oil and gas fields have been discovered in the Tasman Basin - Barracuta (over 42 billion m 3 of gas), Marlin (more than 43 billion m 3 of gas, 74 million tons of oil), Kingfish, explored near the island of New Zealand gas field Kapuny (15 billion m 3). The Indonesian seas, areas near the coast of South Alaska and the western shores of North America are also promising for oil and gas. Of the solid minerals, alluvial deposits of magnetite sands (Japan, the western coast of North America), cassiterite (Indonesia, Malaysia), and gold and platinum (the coast of Alaska, etc.) have been discovered and are being partially developed. In the open ocean, large accumulations of deep-sea iron-manganese nodules have been found, also containing a significant amount of nickel and copper (the Clarion-Clipperton fault). On many seamounts and slopes of oceanic islands, iron-manganese crusts and nodules enriched in cobalt and platinum have been found. Large deposits of sulfide ores containing zinc, copper, lead, and rare metals have been discovered within the mid-ocean rifts and in the area of ​​back-arc spreading (in the western part of the Pacific Ocean) (East Pacific Rise, Galapagos Rift). Phosphorite deposits are known on the shelves - California and the island of New Zealand. In many shallow areas of the shelf, deposits of non-metallic minerals have been identified and are being exploited.

Mineralogical finds

(! - remarkable in some way; !! - outstanding; * new mineral (year of publication) ; (PM\TL) - original location of the mineral \ type locality; xls - crystals) Mineralogical finds around the Pacific Ocean (examples). II. From Alaska to Antarctica - http://geo.web.ru/druza/a-Ev_33_32_E.htm

Mineralogical finds around the Pacific Ocean (examples). I. From Chukotka to Antarctica - http://geo.web.ru/druza/a-Ev_33_32.htm

Locations of minerals

• Viti Levu island, Fiji \\ sylvanite - crystals up to 1 cm (Korbel, 2004, 41)
• East Pacific Rise \\ wurtzite; graphite; * kaminite \ caminite (PM \ TL) (1983; 1986); sulfides are massive!

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the oceans. Its area is 178.7 million km 2. The ocean surpasses in area all the continents combined, and has a rounded configuration: it is noticeably elongated from northwest to southeast, therefore greatest development air and water masses also reach here in the vast northwestern and southeastern water areas. The length of the ocean from north to south is about 16 thousand km, from west to east - more than 19 thousand km. It reaches its maximum width in the equatorial-tropical latitudes, so it is the warmest of the oceans. The volume of water is 710.4 million km 3 (53% of the water volume of the World Ocean). The average depth of the ocean is 3980 m, the maximum is 11,022 m (Marian Trench).

The ocean washes with its waters the shores of almost all continents except Africa. It reaches Antarctica on a broad front, and its cooling influence extends through the waters far to the north. On the contrary, Quiet is protected from cold air masses by considerable isolation (the close location of Chukotka and Alaska with a narrow strait between them). In this regard, the northern half of the ocean is warmer than the southern. The Pacific Ocean basin is connected to all other oceans. The boundaries between them are rather arbitrary. The most reasonable border with the Arctic Ocean: it runs along the underwater rapids of the narrow (86 km) Bering Strait somewhat south of the Arctic Circle. The border with the Atlantic Ocean runs along the wide Drake Passage (along the line Cape Horn in the archipelago - Cape Sternek on the Antarctic Peninsula). The border with the Indian Ocean is conditional.

Usually it is carried out as follows: the Malay Archipelago belongs to the Pacific Ocean, and between Australia and Antarctica the oceans delimit along the meridian of the South Cape (Tasmania Island, 147 ° E). The official boundary with the Southern Ocean ranges from 36° S. sh. off the coast of South America to 48 ° S. sh. (at 175°W). The outlines of the coastline are quite simple on the eastern margin of the ocean and very complex on the western margin, where the ocean occupies a complex of marginal and interisland seas, island arcs, and deep-water trenches. This is a vast area of ​​the largest horizontal and vertical dissection on Earth. earth's crust. The marginal type includes seas off the coast of Eurasia and Australia. Most of the inter-island seas are located in the area of ​​the Malay Archipelago. They are often combined under the general name of the Australo-Asiatic. The seas are separated from the open ocean by numerous groups of islands and peninsulas. Island arcs are usually accompanied by deep-sea trenches, the number and depth of which is unparalleled in the Pacific Ocean. The coasts of North and South America are slightly indented, there are no marginal seas and such large clusters of islands. Deep-sea trenches are located directly off the coasts of the continents. Off the coast of Antarctica in the Pacific sector there are three large marginal seas: Ross, Amundsen and Bellingshausen.

The margins of the ocean, together with the adjacent parts of the continents, are included in the Pacific mobile belt ("ring of fire"), which is characterized by powerful manifestations of modern volcanism and seismic activity.

The islands of the central and southwestern parts of the ocean are united under the general name Oceania.

With huge size The Pacific Ocean is connected by its peculiar records: it is the deepest, the warmest on the surface, the highest wind waves, the most destructive tropical hurricanes and tsunamis, etc. The position of the ocean in all latitudes determines the exceptional diversity of its natural conditions and resources.

Occupying about 1/3 of the surface of our planet and almost 1/2 of the area, the Pacific Ocean is not only a unique geophysical object of the Earth, but also largest region multilateral economic activity and diverse interests of mankind. Since ancient times, the inhabitants of the Pacific shores and islands have mastered the biological resources of coastal waters and made short voyages. Over time, other resources began to be involved in the economy, their use gained a wide industrial scope. Today, the Pacific Ocean plays a very important role in the life of many countries and peoples, which is largely determined by its natural conditions, economic and political factors.

Features of the economic and geographical position of the Pacific Ocean

In the north, vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean through the Bering Strait are connected to the Arctic Ocean.

The border between them runs along a conditional line: Cape Unikyn ( Chukotka Peninsula) - Shishmareva Bay (Seward Peninsula). In the west, the Pacific Ocean is bounded by the mainland of Asia, in the southwest by the shores of the islands of Sumatra, Java, Timor, then by the east coast of Australia and a conditional line crossing the Bass Strait and then following along the coast of Tasmania, and to the south along the ridge of underwater rises to Cape Alden on Wilkes Land in . The eastern limits of the ocean are the shores of North and South America, and to the south - conditional line from the island Tierra del Fuego to the Antarctic Peninsula on the mainland of the same name. In the extreme South, the waters of the Pacific Ocean wash Antarctica. Within these limits, it occupies an area of ​​179.7 million km2, including marginal seas.

The ocean has a spherical shape, especially pronounced in the northern and eastern parts. Its greatest extent in latitude (about 10,500 miles) is noted along the parallel of 10 ° N, and maximum length(about 8500 miles) falls on the meridian 170 ° W. Such great distances between the northern and southern, western and eastern shores are an essential natural feature of this ocean.

The coastline of the ocean is strongly indented in the west, in the east the coasts are mountainous and poorly dissected. In the north, west and south of the ocean there are large seas: Bering, Okhotsk, Japan, Yellow, East China, South China, Sulawesi, Yavan, Ross, Amundsen, Bellingshausen, etc.

The bottom relief of the Pacific Ocean is complex and uneven. In most of the transition zone, the shelves do not have significant development. For example, off the American coast, the width of the shelf does not exceed several tens of kilometers, but in the Bering, East China, and South China seas it reaches 700-800 km. In general, the shelves occupy about 17% of the entire transition zone. Continental slopes are steep, often stepped, dissected by submarine canyons. The ocean bed occupies a huge space. By a system of large uplifts, ridges and individual mountains, wide and relatively low swells, it is divided into large basins: Northeast, Northwest, East Mariana, West Caroline, Central, South, etc. The most significant East Pacific uplift is included in world system of mid-ocean ridges. In addition to it, large ridges are common in the ocean: Hawaiian, Imperial Mountains, Carolina, Shatsky, etc. A characteristic feature of the topography of the ocean floor is the confinement of the greatest depths to its periphery, where deep-sea trenches are located, most of which are concentrated in the western part of the ocean - from the Gulf of Alaska to New Zealand.

The vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean cover all natural belts from the northern subpolar to the southern polar, which determines the diversity of its climatic conditions. At the same time, the most significant part of the ocean space, located between 40 ° N. sh. and 42 ° S, is located within the equatorial, tropical and subtropical belts. The southern marginal part of the ocean is climatically more severe than the northern one. Due to the cooling influence of the Asian continent and the predominance of west-east transport, typhoons are characteristic of temperate and subtropical latitudes of the western part of the ocean, especially frequent in June-September. The northwestern part of the ocean is characterized by monsoons.

Exceptional dimensions, peculiar outlines, large-scale atmospheric processes largely determine the features of the hydrological conditions of the Pacific Ocean. Since a fairly significant part of its area is located in equatorial and tropical latitudes, and the connection with the Arctic Ocean is very limited, since the water on the surface is higher than in other oceans and is equal to 19’37 °. The predominance of precipitation over evaporation and a large river runoff cause a lower salinity of surface waters than in other oceans, the average value of which is 34.58% o.

The temperature and salinity on the surface vary both in the water area and in the seasons. The most noticeable seasonal changes in temperature in the western part of the ocean. seasonal fluctuations salinity is generally low. Vertical changes in temperature and salinity are observed mainly in the upper 200-400 m layer. At great depths they are insignificant.

The general circulation in the ocean consists of horizontal and vertical movements waters, which in one way or another can be traced from the surface to the bottom. Under the influence of large-scale atmospheric circulation over the ocean, surface currents form anticyclonic gyres in subtropical and tropical latitudes and cyclonic gyres in northern temperate and southern high latitudes. The ring-shaped movement of surface waters in the northern part of the ocean is formed by the North trade wind, Kuroshio, North Pacific warm currents, California, Kuril cold and Alaska warm. The system of circular currents in the southern regions of the ocean includes the warm South Trade Winds, the East Australian, the zonal South Pacific, and the cold Peruvian. The rings of currents of the northern and southern hemispheres during the year separate the Inter-trade current, passing north of the equator, in the band between 2-4 ° and 8-12 ° N. latitude. The speeds of surface currents are different in different areas ocean and change with the seasons. Vertical movements of waters of different mechanism and intensity are developed throughout the ocean. Density mixing takes place in the surface horizons, which is especially significant in areas of ice formation. In areas where surface currents converge, surface waters submerge and underlying waters rise. The interaction of surface currents and vertical movements of water is one of critical factors formation of the structure of waters and water masses of the Pacific Ocean.

In addition to these main natural features on the economic development The ocean is strongly influenced by the social and economic conditions characterized by the EGP of the Pacific. In relation to the land spaces gravitating towards the ocean, the EGP has its own distinctive features. The Pacific Ocean and its seas wash the coasts of three continents, on which there are more than 30 coastal states with a total population of about 2 billion people, i.e. about half of humanity lives here.

Countries - Russia, China, Vietnam, USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, etc. - go to the Pacific Ocean. Each of the three main groups of Pacific states includes countries and their regions with a more or less high level of economic development . This affects the nature and possibilities of using the ocean.

The length of the Pacific coast of Russia is more than three times the length of the coastline of our Atlantic seas. In addition, unlike the western ones, the Far Eastern sea coasts form a continuous front, which facilitates economic maneuvering in its individual sections. However, the Pacific Ocean is far from the main economic centers and densely populated areas of the country. This remoteness seems to be decreasing as a result of the development of industry and transport in the eastern regions, but nevertheless it significantly affects the nature of our relations with this ocean.

Almost all mainland states and many island states, with the exception of Japan, adjacent to the Pacific basin, have large reserves of diverse natural resources that are being intensively developed. Consequently, the sources of raw materials are distributed relatively evenly along the periphery of the Pacific Ocean, and the centers of its processing and consumption are located mainly in the northern part of the ocean: in the USA, Japan, Canada and lesser degree in Australia. Distribution uniformity natural resources along the coast of the ocean and the confinement of their consumption to certain foci is a characteristic EGP trait Pacific Ocean.

Continents and partially islands in vast spaces separate the Pacific Ocean from other oceans by natural boundaries. Only to the south of Australia and New Zealand are the Pacific waters connected by a wide front to the waters of the Indian Ocean, and through the Strait of Magellan and the Drake Strait - to the waters of the Atlantic. In the north, the Pacific Ocean is connected to the Arctic Ocean by the Bering Strait. In general, the Pacific Ocean, excluding its sub-Antarctic regions, is connected to other oceans in a relatively small part. Ways, its communications with the Indian Ocean pass through the Australo-Asian seas and their straits, and with the Atlantic - through the Panama Canal and the Strait of Magellan. The narrowness of the straits of the seas South-East Asia, limited throughput the Panama Canal, the remoteness from the major world centers of the vast expanses of Antarctic waters reduce the transport capabilities of the Pacific Ocean. This is an important feature of his EGP in relation to the world's sea routes.

The history of the formation and development of the basin

The pre-Mesozoic stage of the development of the World Ocean is largely based on assumptions, and many questions about its evolution remain unclear. Regarding the Pacific Ocean, there is a lot of indirect evidence indicating that the Paleo-Pacific Ocean has existed since the middle of the Precambrian. It washed the only continent of the Earth - Pangea-1. It is believed that direct evidence of the antiquity of the Pacific Ocean, despite the youth of its modern crust (160-180 million years), is the presence of ophiolite rock associations in folded systems found throughout the continental periphery of the ocean and having an age up to the Late Cambrian. The history of ocean development in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic times has been more or less authentically reconstructed.

The Mesozoic stage, apparently, played a large role in the evolution of the Pacific Ocean. The main event of the stage is the collapse of Pangea II. In the Late Jurassic (160-140 million years ago), the opening of the young Indian and Atlantic Oceans took place. The growth of their bed (spreading) was compensated by the reduction in the area of ​​the Pacific Ocean and the gradual closure of the Tethys. The ancient oceanic crust of the Pacific Ocean sank into the mantle (subduction) in the Zavaritsky-Benioff zones, which bordered the ocean, as at the present time, with an almost continuous strip. At this stage in the development of the Pacific Ocean, its ancient mid-ocean ridges were restructured.

The formation in the Late Mesozoic of folded structures in northeast Asia and Alaska separated the Pacific Ocean from the Arctic Ocean. In the east, the development of the Andean belt swallowed up the island arcs.

Cenozoic stage

The Pacific Ocean continued to shrink due to the thrust of the continents on it. As a result of the continuous movement of America to the west and the absorption of the ocean floor, the system of its median ridges turned out to be significantly shifted to the east and southeast, and even partially submerged under the continent of North America in the Gulf of California. The marginal seas of the northwestern water area also formed, acquired modern look island arcs of this part of the ocean. In the north, during the formation of the Aleutian island arc, the Bering Sea split off, the Bering Strait opened up, and the cold waters of the Arctic Ocean began to flow into the Pacific Ocean. The basins of the Ross, Bellingshausen and Amundsen seas formed off the coast of Antarctica. There was a major fragmentation of the land that connected Asia and Australia, with the formation of numerous islands and seas of the Malay Archipelago. The marginal seas and islands of the transitional zone to the east of Australia acquired a modern look. An isthmus between the Americas formed 40-30 million years ago, and the connection between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean in the Caribbean region was finally interrupted.

Over the past 1-2 million years, the size of the Pacific Ocean has decreased very slightly.

The main features of the bottom topography

As in other oceans, all the main planetary morphostructural zones are clearly distinguished in the Pacific: the underwater margins of the continents, transitional zones, the ocean floor, and mid-ocean ridges. But the general plan of the bottom topography, the ratio of areas and the location of these zones, despite a certain similarity with other parts of the World Ocean, are distinguished by great originality.

The underwater margins of the continents occupy about 10% of the area of ​​the Pacific Ocean, which is much less in comparison with other oceans. The continental shelf (shelf) accounts for 5.4%.

The shelf, like the entire underwater margin of the continents, reaches its greatest development in the western (Asiatic-Australian) coastal sector, in the marginal seas - the Bering, Okhotsk, Yellow, East China, South China, seas of the Malay Archipelago, as well as to the north and east from Australia. The shelf is wide in the northern part of the Bering Sea, where there are flooded river valleys and traces of relict glacial activity. In the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, a submerged shelf (1000-1500 m deep) is developed.

The continental slope is also wide, with signs of fault-block dissection, cut by large underwater canyons. The continental foot is a narrow plume of accumulation of the products of the removal of turbidity flows and landslide masses.

To the north of Australia is a vast continental shelf with the widespread development of coral reefs. In the western part of the Coral Sea there is a unique structure of the Earth - the Great Barrier Reef. This is a discontinuous strip of coral reefs and islands, shallow bays and straits, extending in the meridional direction for almost 2500 km, in the northern part the width is about 2 km, in the southern part up to 150 km. The total area is more than 200 thousand km 2. At the base of the reef lies a thick layer (up to 1000-1200 m) of dead coral limestone, accumulated under conditions of slow subsidence of the earth's crust in this area. To the west, the Great Barrier Reef descends gently and is separated from the mainland by a vast shallow lagoon - a strait up to 200 km wide and no more than 50 m deep. In the east, the reef breaks off to the mainland slope with an almost sheer wall.

A peculiar structure is the underwater margin of New Zealand. The New Zealand Plateau consists of two flat-topped uplifts: Campbell and Chatham separated by a depression. The underwater plateau is 10 times the area of ​​the islands themselves. This is a huge block of the earth's crust of the continental type, with an area of ​​​​about 4 million km 2, not associated with any of the nearest Continents. From almost all sides, the plateau is bounded by a continental slope, which passes into the foot. This peculiar structure, called the New Zealand microcontinent, has existed since at least the Paleozoic.

The underwater margin of North America is represented by a narrow strip of leveled shelf. The continental slope is heavily indented by numerous underwater canyons.

A peculiar area of ​​the underwater margin, located to the west of California and called the California borderland. The bottom relief here is large-blocky, characterized by a combination of underwater heights - horsts and depressions - grabens, the depths of which reach 2500 m. The nature of the relief of the borderland is similar to the relief of the adjacent land area. It is believed that this is a part of the continental shelf that is highly fragmented and submerged to different depths.

The underwater margin of Central and South America is distinguished by a very narrow shelf just a few kilometers wide. For a long distance, the role of the continental slope here is played by the near-continental wall of deep-water trenches. The continental foot is practically not expressed.

A significant part of the continental shelf of Antarctica is covered by ice shelves. The continental slope here is distinguished by its large width and dissection by underwater canyons. The transition to the ocean floor is characterized by weak manifestations of seismicity and modern volcanism.

transition zones

These morphostructures within the Pacific Ocean occupy 13.5% of its area. They are extremely diverse in their structure and are most fully expressed in comparison with other oceans. This is a natural combination of marginal sea basins, island arcs, and deep-water trenches.

In the Western Pacific (Asiatic-Australian) sector, a number of transitional regions are usually distinguished, replacing one another mainly in the submeridional direction. Each of them differs in its structure, and perhaps they are on different stages development. The Indonesian-Philippines region is complexly built, including the South China Sea, the seas and island arcs of the Malay Archipelago and deep-water trenches, which are located here in several rows. To the northeast and east of New Guinea and Australia is also the complex Melanesian region, in which island arcs, basins, and trenches are located in several echelons. To the north of the Solomon Islands there is a narrow depression with depths up to 4000 m, on the eastern extension of which the Vityaz trench (6150 m) is located. OK. Leontiev singled out this area in special type transition zone - Vityazevsky. A feature of this area is the presence of a deep-water trench, but the absence of an island arc along it.

In the transitional zone of the American sector, there are no marginal seas, no island arcs, and there are only deep-water troughs of the Central American (6662 m), Peruvian (6601 m) and Chilean (8180 m). Island arcs in this zone are replaced by young folded mountains of Central and South America, where active volcanism is concentrated. In the gutters, there is a very high density of earthquake epicenters with a magnitude of up to 7-9 points.

The transitional zones of the Pacific Ocean are areas of the most significant vertical dissection of the earth's crust on Earth: the excess of the Mariana Islands over the bottom of the trench of the same name is 11,500 m, and the South American Andes over the Peru-Chile Trench - 14,750 m.

Mid-ocean ridges (uplifts). They occupy 11% of the Pacific Ocean and are represented by the South Pacific and East Pacific Rise. The mid-ocean ridges of the Pacific Ocean differ in their structure and location from similar structures in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. They do not occupy a middle position and are significantly shifted to the east and southeast. Such an asymmetry of the modern spreading axis in the Pacific Ocean is often explained by the fact that it is in the stage of a gradually closing oceanic basin, when the rift axis shifts to one of its edges.

The structure of the mid-ocean rises of the Pacific Ocean also has its own characteristics. These structures are characterized by a vault-like profile, a considerable width (up to 2000 km), a discontinuous strip of axial rift valleys with a wide participation of transverse fault zones in the formation of the relief. Subparallel transform faults cut the East Pacific Rise into separate blocks shifted relative to each other. The entire uplift consists of a series of gently sloping domes, with the spreading center confined to the middle part of the dome, approximately equal distances from the faults that bound it from the north and south. Each of these domes is also dissected by echelon-shaped short faults. Large transverse faults cross the East Pacific Rise every 200-300 km. The length of many transform faults exceeds 1500-2000 km. Often they not only cross the flank uplift zones, but also go far on the ocean floor. Among the largest structures of this type are Mendocino, Murray, Clarion, Clipperton, Galapagos, Easter, Eltanin, etc. high density crust under the crest, high values heat flow, seismicity, volcanism and a number of others are very pronounced, despite the fact that rift system The axial zone of the mid-ocean rises of the Pacific Ocean is less pronounced than in the Mid-Atlantic and other ridges of this type.

North of the equator, the East Pacific Rise narrows. The rift zone is clearly expressed here. In the California region, this structure invades the North American mainland. This is associated with the breakaway of the California Peninsula, the formation of a large active San Andreas fault and a number of other faults and depressions within the Cordillera. The formation of the Californian borderland is probably connected with the same.

The absolute marks of the bottom relief in the axial part of the East Pacific Rise are everywhere about 2500-3000 m, but at some elevations they decrease to 1000-1500 m. On the highest parts of the uplift are about. Easter and the Galapagos Islands. Thus, the amplitude of uplift above the surrounding basins is generally very large.

The South Pacific Rise, separated from the East Pacific Rise by the Eltanin Fault, is very similar to it in its structure. The length of the Eastern uplift is 7600 km, the Southern one is 4100 km.

Ocean bed

It occupies 65.5% of the total area of ​​the Pacific Ocean. Mid-ocean rises divide it into two parts, differing not only in their size, but also in the features of the bottom topography. The eastern (more precisely, southeastern) part, which occupies 1/5 of the ocean floor, is shallower and less complex in comparison with the vast western part.

A large part of the eastern sector is occupied by morphostructures that are directly related to the East Pacific Rise. Here are its lateral branches - the Galapagos and Chilean uplifts. The large blocky ridges of Tehuantepec, Kokosovy, Carnegie, Noska, Sala y Gomez are confined to the transform fault zones that cross the East Pacific Rise. Underwater ridges divide the eastern part of the ocean floor into a series of basins: Guatemalan (4199 m), Panama (4233 m), Peruvian (5660 m), Chilean (5021 m). The Bellingshausen Basin (6063 m) is located in the extreme southeastern part of the ocean.

The vast western part of the Pacific Ocean bed is characterized by a significant complexity of structure and a variety of landforms. Almost all morphological types of underwater uplifts of the bed are located here: arched shafts, blocky mountains, volcanic ridges, marginal uplifts, individual mountains (guyots).

Arched uplifts of the bottom are wide (several hundreds of kilometers) linearly oriented swellings of the basalt crust with an excess of 1.5 to 4 km above the adjacent basins. Each of them is, as it were, a gigantic shaft, cut by faults into a series of blocks. Usually, entire volcanic ridges are associated with the central dome, and sometimes with the flank zones of these uplifts. So, the largest Hawaiian swell is complicated by a volcanic ridge, some of the volcanoes are active. The surface peaks of the ridge form the Hawaiian Islands. The largest one is o. Hawaii is a volcanic massif of several merged shield basalt volcanoes. The largest of them - Mauna Kea (4210 m) makes Hawaii the highest of the oceanic islands of the World Ocean. In the northwest direction, the size and height of the islands of the archipelago decrease. Most of islands - volcanic, 1/3 - coral.

The most significant swells and ridges of the western and central parts of the Pacific Ocean have general pattern: they form a system of arched, subparallel in terms of uplifts.

The northernmost arc is formed by the Hawaiian Ridge. To the south is the next, the largest in length (about 11 thousand km), starting with the Cartographers Mountains, which then pass into the Marcus Necker (Midpacific) Mountains, giving way to the underwater ridge of the Line Islands and further passing into the base of the Tuamotu Islands. The underwater continuation of this upland can be traced further to the east up to the East Pacific Rise, where at the place of their intersection there is about. Easter. The third mountain arc begins at the northern part of the Mariana Trench with the Magellan Mountains, which pass into the underwater base of the Marshall Islands, Gilbert Islands, Tuvalu, Samoa. Probably a ridge southern islands Kuka and Tubu and continues this mountain system. The fourth arc begins with the uplift of the North Caroline Islands, which pass into the submarine swell of Kapingamaranga. The last (southernmost) arc also consists of two links - the South Caroline Islands and the Eauriapic submarine swell. Most of the islands mentioned, which mark arched underwater swells on the surface of the ocean, are coral, with the exception of volcanic islands the eastern part of the Hawaiian Ridge, the Samoa Islands, etc. There is an idea (G. Menard, 1966) that many underwater uplifts of the central part of the Pacific Ocean are relics of the mid-ocean ridge that existed here in the Cretaceous period (called the Darwin uplift), which in the Paleogene subjected to severe tectonic destruction. This uplift extended from the Cartographers Mountains to the Tuamotu Islands.

Blocky ridges are often accompanied by faults that are not associated with mid-ocean uplifts. In the northern part of the ocean, they are confined to submeridional fault zones south of the Aleutian Trench, along which the Northwestern Range (Imperial) is located. Blocky ridges accompany a large fault zone in the Philippine Sea Basin. Systems of faults and blocky ridges have been identified in many basins of the Pacific Ocean.

Various uplifts of the Pacific Ocean floor, together with mid-ocean ridges, form a kind of orographic bottom frame and separate oceanic basins from each other.

The largest basins in the west-central part of the ocean are the Northwestern (6671 m), Northeastern (7168 m), Philippine (7759 m), East Mariana (6440 m), Central (6478 m), West Caroline ( 5798 m), East Caroline (6920 m), Melanesian (5340 m), South Fijian (5545 m), Southern (6600 m) and others. plains are very limited (the Bellingshausen Basin due to the abundant supply of terrigenous sedimentary material carried from the Antarctic continent by icebergs, the Northeast Basin and a number of other areas). The transport of material to other basins is “intercepted” by deep-water trenches, and therefore the relief of hilly abyssal plains prevails in them.

The bed of the Pacific Ocean is characterized by separately located guyots - seamounts with flat tops, at depths of 2000-2500 m. Coral structures arose on many of them and atolls formed. The guyots, as well as the large thickness of dead coral limestones on the atolls, testify to the significant subsidence of the earth's crust within the Pacific Ocean floor during the Cenozoic.

The Pacific Ocean is the only one whose bed is almost entirely within the oceanic lithospheric plates (Pacific and small - Nazca, Cocos) with a surface at an average depth of 5500 m.

Bottom sediments

The bottom sediments of the Pacific Ocean are exceptionally diverse. Terrigenous sediments are developed in the marginal parts of the ocean on the continental shelf and slope, in the marginal seas and deep-sea trenches, and in some places on the ocean floor. They cover more than 10% of the area of ​​the Pacific Ocean floor. Terrigenous iceberg deposits form a strip near Antarctica 200 to 1000 km wide, reaching 60°S. sh.

Among biogenic sediments largest areas in the Pacific Ocean, as in all others, they are occupied by carbonate (about 38%), mainly foraminiferal deposits.

Foraminiferal muds are distributed mainly south of the equator to 60°S. sh. In the Northern Hemisphere, their development is limited to the summit surfaces of ridges and other uplifts, where benthic foraminifers predominate in the composition of these oozes. Pteropod deposits are common in the Coral Sea. Coral sediments are located on the shelves and continental slopes within the equatorial-tropical belt of the southwestern part of the ocean and occupy less than 1% of the ocean floor area. Shellfish, consisting mainly of shells of bivalves and their fragments, are found on all shelves, except for the Antarctic. Biogenic siliceous sediments cover more than 10% of the area of ​​the Pacific Ocean floor, and together with siliceous-carbonate sediments, about 17%. They form three main belts of silicic accumulation: the northern and southern siliceous diatom oozes (at high latitudes) and the equatorial belt of siliceous radiolarian sediments. Pyroclastic volcanic sediments are observed in areas of modern and Quaternary volcanism. An important distinguishing feature of the bottom sediments of the Pacific Ocean is the wide distribution of deep-water red clays (more than 35% of the bottom area), which is explained by the great depths of the ocean: red clays are developed only at depths of more than 4500-5000 m.

Mineral resources of the bottom

In the Pacific Ocean there are the most significant areas of distribution of ferromanganese nodules - more than 16 million km 2. In some areas, the content of nodules reaches 79 kg per 1 m 2 (average 7.3-7.8 kg / m 2). Experts predict a bright future for these ores, arguing that their mass production can be 5-10 times cheaper than obtaining similar ores on land.

The total reserves of ferromanganese nodules at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean are estimated at 17 thousand billion tons. Pilot development of nodules is carried out by the United States and Japan.

Phosphorite and barite are distinguished from other minerals in the form of nodules.

Commercial reserves of phosphorites have been found near the California coast, in the shelf parts of the Japanese island arc, off the coast of Peru and Chile, near New Zealand, in California. Phosphorites are mined from depths of 80-350 m. The reserves of this raw material are large in the open part of the Pacific Ocean within the limits of underwater uplifts. Barite nodules have been found in the Sea of ​​Japan.

Placer deposits of metal-bearing minerals are currently of great importance: rutile (titanium ore), zircon (zirconium ore), monazite (thorium ore), etc.

Australia occupies the leading place in their production; placers along its eastern coast stretch for 1.5 thousand km. Coastal placers of cassiterite concentrate (tin ore) are located on the Pacific coast of mainland and insular Southeast Asia. Significant placers of cassiterite off the coast of Australia.

Titanomagnetite and magnetite placers are being developed near about. Honshu in Japan, in Indonesia, in the Philippines, in the USA (near Alaska), in Russia (near Iturup Island). The golden sands are known west coast North America (Alaska, California) and South America (Chile). Platinum sands are mined off the coast of Alaska.

In the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean, near the Galapagos Islands in the Gulf of California and in other places in rift zones, ore-forming hydrotherms (“black smokers”) have been identified - outcrops of hot (up to 300-400 ° C) juvenile waters with a high content of various compounds. Here is the formation of deposits of polymetallic ores.

Among the non-metallic raw materials located in the shelf zone, glauconite, pyrite, dolomite, Construction Materials- gravel, sand, clay, limestone-shell rock, etc. Highest value have offshore deposits of gas and coal.

Oil and gas shows have been found in many areas of the shelf zone in both the western and eastern parts of the Pacific Ocean. The United States, Japan, Indonesia, Peru, Chile, Brunei, Papua, Australia, New Zealand, Russia (in the region of Sakhalin Island) are producing oil and gas. The development of oil and gas resources of the Chinese shelf is promising. The Bering, Okhotsk and Japanese seas are considered promising for Russia.

In some areas of the Pacific shelf, coal-bearing seams occur. The extraction of coal from the bowels of the seabed in Japan is 40% of the total. On a smaller scale, coal is mined by sea in Australia, New Zealand, Chile and some other countries.

great ocean part of the oceans. Bounded by the continents of Eurasia and Australia in the west, North and South America in the east, a line running between the peninsulas of Chukotka (Cape Unikin) and Seward in the north, the Southern Ocean in the south. The largest of the oceans on Earth. The area with the seas is about 180 million km? (1/3 of the surface of the globe and 1/2 of the oceans), the volume of water is 710 million km². The deepest basin of the World Ocean, the average depth is 3,980 m, maximum depth- 11,022 m (Marian Trench). The salinity of the water is not very high and ranges from 30 to 35 ‰.
Zoning
Usually the Pacific Ocean is divided into two regions - North and South, bordering on the equator. The boundary is also drawn along the axis of the equatorial countercurrent, that is, approximately 5 ° north latitude. Previously, the water area of ​​the Pacific Ocean was more often divided into three parts: northern, central, and southern, the boundaries between which were the Northern and Southern tropics.
Separate parts of the ocean, located between islands or land ledges, have their own names. The largest areas of the Pacific Basin include the Bering Sea in the north; the Gulf of Alaska in the northeast; Gulf of California and Tehuantepec in the east, off the coast of Mexico; Gulf of Fonseca off the coast of El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, and somewhat to the south - the Gulf of Panama. There are only a few small bays off the western coast of South America, such as Gumayakil off the coast of Ecuador.
In the western and southwestern parts of the Pacific Ocean, numerous large islands separate many interisland seas from the main water area, such as the Tasman Sea southeast of Australia and the Coral Sea off its northeast coast; the Arafura Sea and the Gulf of Carpentaria north of Australia; the Banda Sea north of the island of Timor; the Flores Sea north of the island of the same name; the Java Sea north of the island of Java; the Gulf of Thailand between the peninsulas of Malacca and Indochina; Bakbo Bay (Tonkinskaya) off the coast of Vietnam and China; the Makassar Strait between the islands of Kalimantan and Sulawesi; the Moluccas Sea and Sulawesi, respectively, to the east and north of the island of Sulawesi; Philippine Sea east of the Philippine Islands.
A special area in the southwest of the northern half of the Pacific Ocean is the Sulu Sea within the southwestern part of the Philippine archipelago, where there are also many small bays, inlets and semi-enclosed seas (for example, the Sibuyan Sea, Mindanao, Visayan, Manila Bay, Lamon and Leyte Bays ). The East China and Yellow Seas are located off the eastern coast of China; the latter forms two bays in the north: Bohaiwan and West Korean. The Japanese islands are separated from the Korean Peninsula by the Korea Strait. In the same northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean, several more seas stand out: the Inland Sea of ​​Japan among the southern Japanese islands; the Sea of ​​Japan to their west; to the north - the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, connected to the Sea of ​​Japan by the Tatar Strait. Further north, immediately south of the Chukotka peninsula, is the Gulf of Anadyr.
The greatest difficulties are caused by the drawing of the border between the Pacific and Indian Oceans in the region of the Malay Archipelago. None of the proposed boundaries could satisfy botanists, zoologists, geologists and oceanologists at the same time. The so-called Wallace Line, passing through the Makassar Strait, is considered the limit of the section. A limit across the Gulf of Thailand, the southern part of the South China Sea and the Java Sea is also proposed.
coast
Pacific Ring of Fire The coasts of the Pacific Ocean vary so much from place to place that it is difficult to distinguish common features. With the exception of the extreme south, the Pacific coast is framed by a ring of extinct volcanoes known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. Most of the coasts are formed by high mountains, so that the absolute elevations of the surface change sharply by close range from the shore. All this testifies to the presence of a tectonically unstable zone on the periphery of the Pacific Ocean, the slightest movement within which causes strong earthquakes.
In the east, the steep slopes of the mountains approach the very coast of the Pacific Ocean or are separated from it by a narrow strip of coastal plain; such a structure is characteristic of the entire coastal zone, from the Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of Alaska to Cape Horn. Only in the extreme north does the Bering Sea have low-lying shores.
In North America, isolated depressions and passages occur in the coastal mountain ranges, but in South America the majestic Andes chain forms an almost continuous barrier along the entire length of the mainland. The coastline here is quite flat, and bays and peninsulas are rare. In the north, the Puget Sound and San Francisco bays and the Strait of Georgia are deeply cut into the land. On most of the South American coastline, the coastline is flattened and almost nowhere forms bays and bays, with the exception of Guayaquil Bay. However, in the far north and far south In the Pacific Ocean, there are areas very similar in structure - the Alexander Archipelago (southern Alaska) and the Chonos Archipelago (off the coast of southern Chile). Both regions are characterized by numerous islands, large and small, with steep shores, fjords and fjord-like channels that form cozy bays. The rest of the Pacific coast of North and South America, despite its great length, is only limited opportunities for navigation, since there are very few convenient natural harbors, and the coast is often separated by a mountain barrier from the interior of the mainland. In Central and South America, mountains make it difficult to communicate between west and east, isolating a narrow strip of the Pacific coast. In the north of the Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea is ice-bound for most of the winter, and the coast of northern Chile is a desert for a considerable extent; this area is known for its deposits copper ore and sodium nitrate. Areas located in the extreme north and extreme south of the American coast - the Gulf of Alaska and the vicinity of Cape Horn - received notoriety its stormy and foggy weather.
The western coast of the Pacific Ocean differs significantly from the eastern one; the shores of Asia have many bays and inlets, in many places forming an unbroken chain. Numerous performances of various sizes: from such major peninsulas, as Kamchatka, Korean, Liaodong, Shandong, Leizhoubandao, Indochina, to countless capes separating small bays. Mountains are frequent on the Asian coast, but they are not very high and usually somewhat removed from the coast. They do not form continuous chains and are not a barrier that isolates coastal areas, as is observed on the eastern coast of the ocean. In the west, a lot flows into the ocean major rivers: Anadyr, Penzhina, Amur, Yalujiang (Amnokkan), Huanghe, Yangtze, Xijiang, Yuanjiang (Hongha - Red), Mekong, Chao Phraya (Menam). Many of these rivers have formed vast deltas with large populations. The Yellow River carries so much sediment into the sea that its deposits form a bridge between the coast and major island thus creating the Shandong Peninsula.
Another difference between the east and west coasts of the Pacific Ocean is that the west coast is flanked by a huge number of islands of various sizes, often mountainous and volcanic. Until now, the Aleutian, Commander, Kuril, Japanese, Ryukyu, Taiwan, Philippine islands belong (their total number exceeds 7,000); finally, between Australia and the Malay Peninsula there is a huge cluster of islands, comparable in area to the mainland, on which Indonesia is located. All these islands have a mountainous relief and are part of the Fire Circle, encircling the Pacific Ocean.
Only a few large rivers of the American continent flow into the Pacific Ocean - this is prevented by mountain ranges. The exceptions are some rivers of North America - Yukon, Kuskokwim, Fraser, Columbia, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Colorado.
The seas are located mainly on its northern and western outskirts: Bering, Okhotsk, Japanese, East China, Yellow, South China; the islands are united under the name of the Australo-Asian Mediterranean Sea; marginal - Coral, Tasmanovo.
Islands
Oceania By the number (about 10 thousand) and the total area of ​​the islands (about 3600 thousand km?), the Pacific Ocean ranks first among the oceans.
The islands of the central and southwestern parts of the Pacific Ocean are united under the name Oceania.
Bottom
Relief

The ocean floor is geotectonically unique, with more volcanoes, seamounts and atolls than all the other oceans combined. The Pacific Ocean is surrounded on all sides by long continuous belts of folded mountains with active volcanoes. Common features bottom topography is the largest, compared with other oceans, its dissection and weak development of the shelf (1.7% of the total ocean area). Shelf (up to 800 m) in the Bering, East China, South China and Java Seas, deeper than the outer edge from 150 to 500 m. "the upper reef. Along North and South America in the east of the ocean there is a narrow shelf (several tens of kilometers).
The continental slopes are steep, often stepped, dissected by canyons (Monterey, Beringa), etc. Along the western and northern periphery of the ocean from the Alaska Peninsula to New Zealand, there is a system of basins of marginal seas (depth from 3,000 to 7,000 m), island arcs and associated with they are oceanic trenches - the Aleutian, Kuril-Kamchatsky, Izu-Boninsky, Mariana, Philippine and others. In the bed of the Pacific Ocean there are vast basins (North-Eastern, North-West, Central, Southern, Peruvian and others with depths from 4,000 to 7,000 m), separated by large uplifts. The largest structure of the Pacific Ocean is the East Pacific Rise, which is part of the global system of mid-ocean ridges, but unlike other ridges of this system, it divides the ocean into two asymmetric parts and lacks clearly defined rift valleys.
Characteristic volcanic ridges and ramparts: Line, Hawaiian, Northwestern (Imperial), Markus-Necker and others. The Eastern Pacific is crossed by numerous fault zones: Mendocino, Clarion, Clipperton and others.
Bottom sediments
Terrigenous detrital and clayey sediments are developed on the underwater margins of the continents, in the basins of the seas, and in deep-sea trenches. Siliceous sediments (diatoms and diatoms-radiolarians) form three latitudinal belts in zones of high phytoplankton productivity (northern, equatorial, and subantarctic). Pelagic red clays are developed at a depth of more than 4,500-5,000 m in unproductive zones.
Minerals: oil, ores of rare metals, tin, ferruginous and titin-ferrous sands, gold, iron-manganese correction and so on.
Climate
Most of the Pacific Ocean is located in the subequatorial, tropical, subtropical and temperate regions. climatic zones, smaller - in the equatorial and subarctic. Atmospheric circulation over the ocean is determined by 4 main areas of atmospheric pressure: the Aleutian Low, North Pacific, South Pacific and Antarctic Highs. This distribution of pressure determines the advantage in tropical and subtropical latitudes of stable northeast winds in the north and southeast winds in the south - trade winds (weaker than in other oceans, and stronger in the east than in the west) and strong westerly winds in temperate latitudes.
In the west of the tropical zone, from June to November, tropical hurricanes - typhoons are frequent. The northwestern part of the ocean is characterized by monsoon circulation of the atmosphere.
As a result of significant precipitation (the amount of precipitation is greater than evaporation), the salinity of surface waters in it is slightly lower than in other oceans. Large fogs are observed in the northeastern part of the ocean, which are approaching the mainland in the form of huge white waves. The real "country of fogs" is called the Bering Sea.
Temperature fluctuations are quite significant, depending on the latitudinal position and depth; near-surface temperatures in the equatorial belt (between 10°N and 10°S) are around 27°C, at greater depths and in the far north and south of the ocean temperatures are only slightly above the freezing point of sea water.
Hydrological regime
Currents of the Pacific Ocean Surface currents form anticyclonic whirlpools in subtropical and tropical latitudes and cyclonic whirlpools in northern temperate and southern high latitudes. In the northern part of the ocean, circulation is determined by the warm currents of the North Trade Wind - Kuroshio and the North Pacific and cold California. In the frontal zone, Kuroshio forms synoptic eddies up to 250-300 km across, up to 1,000 m deep, the lifetime is several months, the speed of movement is several centimeters per second. In the northern temperate latitudes, the Kuril current dominates, in the east the Alaska current dominates.
An essential link in the equatorial circulation of the Pacific Ocean is the subsurface countercurrent of the Cromwell. It crosses the Pacific Ocean from continent to continent at a depth of 150-300 m in the west to 250-300 m in the east in the Smury, 500-600 km wide. The direction of the current is east. The countercurrent speed in the central and eastern parts of the ocean is about 5.4 km / h. It meanders near the equator.
In the southern part of the ocean, the anticyclonic circulation consists of the warm currents of the South Equatorial, East Australian and cold current West Winds and Peruvian. To the north of the equator, between 2-4 ° and 8-12 ° north latitude, the northern and southern circulations are separated during the year by the Mizhpasatnaya (Equatorial) countercurrent.
The average surface water temperature in February varies from 26-28°C near the equator to -0.5-1°C north of 58°N, near Kuril Islands and south of 68° south latitude. In August, the temperature is 25-29°C at the equator, 5-8° in the Bering Strait and -0.5 to 1°C south of 60-62° south latitude.
The highest salinity is 35.5 ‰ and 36.5 ‰, respectively, in the northern and southern subtropical latitudes. At the equator, it decreases to 34.5 ‰ or less, in the northern temperate latitudes it drops to 30-31 ‰, in the southern high latitudes to 33.5 ‰.
The density of water on the surface increases evenly from the equator to high latitudes - from 1,021 kg / cm? up to 1027 kg/cm? and more.
Tides are characterized by irregular diurnal, semidiurnal and irregular diurnal (up to 12.9 m in the Penzhinsky Bay). Near the Solomon Islands and off part of the coast of New Guinea, daily tides (up to 1.5 m). The Pacific Ocean is characterized by tsunamis (up to 50 m).
Ice
Ice forms in the northwestern seas (Bering, Okhotsk, Japan, Yellow), in the north of the Gulf of Alaska and off the coast of Antarctica.
The main part of the ice masses in the Antarctic region, floating ice in the high southern latitudes extends in winter to 61-64 ° S, in summer to 70 ° S. Icebergs at the end of summer are taken out to 46-48 ° south latitude.
Flora and fauna are characterized by richness and great diversity. The fauna of the Pacific includes about 100 species; about 380 species are known in phytoplankton. A variety of storms, fucus, kelp algae, mollusks, worms, crustaceans, echinoderms and other organisms are represented in the shelf zone. Tropical latitudes are characterized by a strong development of coral reefs.
The fish fauna includes at least 2,000 species in tropical latitudes and about 800 species in temperate ( Far Eastern seas). The ocean is home to over 2,000 species of fish and 6,000 species of shellfish. In the northern part of the ocean, salmon fish are common - salmon, chum salmon, pink salmon. There is a lot of tuna and herring in the central part, and anchovies off the west coast. Fish is a food base for birds.
In the northern temperate and in the southern high latitudes, numerous mammals: sperm whales, several species of minke whales, seals; bearded seal, walrus and sea lion (in the north), as well as crabs, shrimps, oysters, cephalopods, etc. There are many endemics in the fauna of the Pacific Ocean.
The role of the Pacific Ocean in the world economy is determined by a significant share of industrial and agricultural products produced in coastal countries, its rich and diverse natural resources, and large-scale transport use. The Pacific Ocean provides approximately 59% of the world catch of fish and seafood (pollock, ivasi, Chilean sardine, Peruvian horse mackerel, Peruvian anchovy, etc. predominate). The main world stocks of salmon fish are concentrated in the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean. Among the non-fish objects, squids, shrimps, mussels, scallops and others occupy a leading place. The Pacific Ocean provides about 90% of the world's algae production.
The world's largest coastal-marine placers of rutile and zircon are located on the east and southeast coasts of Australia, ilmenite-zirconium sands - along the western coast of North America from Alaska to California, rich cassiterite placers off the coast of Southeast Asia, titanium-magnesium sands in coastal zone Japan. Coastal-marine placers of Alaska are rich in gold and platinum. At the bottom of the deep (over 3,000 m) regions of the Pacific Ocean, large deposits of iron-manganese nodules were found, the richest zone with an area of ​​about 6 million km? between 6 and 20° north latitude and approximately between 180 and 120° west longitude. More than 120 oil and gas fields have been explored in the Pacific Ocean, of which almost 70% are in operation. The main offshore oil production areas in the southern part of the California shelf, Cook Inlet, Alaska (see the Cook Inlet oil and gas basin), Guayaquil Bay (Ecuador), the western shelf of Japan, the Bohai Wan Bay (PRC), Bass Strait, the Malay Archipelago, the North Island of New Zealand, Brunei, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Peru. Coal mining is carried out off the coast of Japan.
See also: Pacific Mineral Resources
The Pacific Ocean ranks second in the world in terms of shipping volumes and is notable for its significant growth rates. The most important transport routes connect the ports of the USA and Canada with the ports of Japan. Coal, timber, grain, ore, etc. are transported to Japan; in the opposite direction - cars, electronics, fabrics, fish. Significant volumes of transportation are carried out along the lines of the US-Australian Pacific direction. Lead, zinc, wool, meat are delivered from Australia and New Zealand to the USA; machine tools, machines, and devices predominate in oncoming flows. Routes connecting the ports of South American countries with the Pacific and Atlantic (through the Panama Canal) ports of the USA and Canada, ferrous and non-ferrous ores, saltpeter and other raw materials are transported.
Main ports: Singapore (Singapore), Manila (Philippines), Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou (China), Kobe, Chiba (Japan), Vladivostok (Russia), San Francisco, Los Angeles (USA), Panama (Panama), Callao (Peru), Honolulu (Hawaii, USA).
Balboa Vasco Nunez The first scientific data on the ocean were obtained at the beginning of the 16th century by the Spanish conquistador V. Nunez de Balboa. In 1520-1521, Ferdinand Magellan first crossed the ocean from the strait named after him to the Philippine Islands. During the voyage there was not a storm, so Magellan called the ocean "Pacific".
During the 16th and 19th centuries, the ocean was studied by numerous naturalists. Systematic research began at the beginning of the 19th century (geographical expeditions of I.F. Kruzenshtern, Yu.F. Lisyansky, O.E. Kotzebue, F.F. Bellingshausen, M.P. Lazarev, Ch. Darwin.
The first oceanographic expedition proper, the round-the-world voyage of the English ship Challenger (1872-1876), provided extensive information on the physical, chemical, biological and geological features Pacific Ocean. A great contribution to its study at the end of the 19th century was made by scientific expeditions on ships: "Vityaz" (1886-1889, 1894-1896) Russia, "Albatross" (1888-1905) USA; in the 20th century: on the ships "Carnegie" (1928-1929) - USA, "Snell" (1929-1930) - the Netherlands, "Discovery II" (1930) - Great Britain, "Galatea" (1950-1952) - Denmark and " Vityaz - USSR. A new stage of research began in 1968, when deep-sea drilling was started from the American ship Glomar Challenger.

The Pacific Ocean is the largest body of water in the world, with an estimated area of ​​178.62 million km2, which is several million square kilometers larger than the land area of ​​the earth and more than twice the area of ​​the Atlantic Ocean. Width Pacific Ocean from Panama to the east coast of Mindanao is 17,200 km, and the length from north to south, from the Bering Strait to Antarctica is 15,450 km. It extends from the western coasts of North and South America to east coasts Asia and Australia. From North almost completely enclosed by land, connecting with the Arctic Ocean through the narrow Bering Strait (minimum width 86 km). In the south, it reaches the coast of Antarctica, and in the east, its border with the Atlantic Ocean is drawn along 67 ° W. - meridian of Cape Horn; in the west border of the southern part Pacific Ocean with the Indian Ocean is drawn along 147 ° E, corresponding to the position of Southeast Cape in southern Tasmania.

Usually divided into two areas -
North and South, bordering on the equator.
Some specialists prefer to draw the boundary along the axis of the equatorial countercurrent, i.e. approximately 5°N
Formerly water area Pacific Ocean often divided into three parts:
northern, central and southern, the boundaries between which were the Northern and Southern tropics.

Separate parts of the ocean, located between islands or land ledges, have their own names. The largest water areas of the Pacific Basin include the Bering Sea in the north; the Gulf of Alaska in the northeast; Gulfs of California and Tehuantepec in the east, off the coast of Mexico; Gulf of Fonseca off the coast of El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, and somewhat to the south - the Gulf of Panama. There are only a few small bays off the west coast of South America, such as Guayaquil off the coast of Ecuador.

Coast Pacific Ocean framed by a ring of dormant or occasionally active volcanoes, known as the "Ring of Fire". Most of the coast is formed by high mountains.
In the east, the steep slopes of the mountains approach the very shore Pacific Ocean or separated from it by a narrow strip of coastal plain.

In North America, isolated depressions and passages occur in the coastal mountain ranges, but in South America the majestic Andes chain forms an almost continuous barrier along the entire length of the mainland.

In the far north and far south Pacific Ocean there are sites very similar in structure - the Alexander Archipelago (southern Alaska) and the Chonos Archipelago (off the coast of southern Chile). Both areas are characterized by numerous islands, large and small, with steep shores, fjords and fjord-like straits that form secluded bays. The rest of the Pacific coast of North and South America, despite its great length, presents only limited opportunities for navigation, since there are very few convenient natural harbors, and the coast is often separated by a mountain barrier from the interior of the mainland. In Central and South America, mountains make it difficult to communicate between west and east, isolating a narrow strip of the Pacific coast.

West Coast Pacific Ocean significantly different from the eastern; the shores of Asia have many bays and inlets, in many places forming an unbroken chain. Numerous protrusions of different sizes: from such large peninsulas as Kamchatka, Korean, Liaodong, Shandong, Leizhou bandao, Indochina, to countless capes separating small bays. Mountains are also confined to the Asian coast, but they are not very high and usually somewhat removed from the coast. In the west, many large rivers flow into the ocean: Anadyr, Penzhina, Amur, Yalujiang (Amnokkan), Huanghe, Yangtze, Xijiang, Yuanjiang (Hongkha - Red), Mekong, Chao Phraya (Menam).

Currents, tides, tsunamis

To the main currents in the northern part Pacific Ocean include the warm Kuroshio Current, or the Japanese Current, passing into the North Pacific, cold California Current; Northern Equatorial (Equatorial) current and cold Kamchatka (Kuril) current. In the southern part of the ocean, the warm East Australian and South Tradewind (Equatorial) currents stand out; cold currents of the West Winds and Peruvian. In the Northern Hemisphere, these major current systems move clockwise, while in the Southern Hemisphere they move counterclockwise.
tides in general for Pacific Ocean low; the exception is Cook Inlet in Alaska, which is famous for its exceptionally high rise in water during high tides and is second only to the Bay of Fundy in the northwest Atlantic Ocean in this respect.
When earthquakes or large landslides occur on the seabed, waves are created - tsunami. These waves cover huge distances, sometimes more than 16 thousand km. In the open ocean, they have a low height and a large extent, however, when approaching land, especially in narrow and shallow bays, their height can increase up to 50 m.

It accounts for about half of the world's fish catch (pollock, herring, salmon, cod, sea bass, etc.). Extraction of crabs, shrimps, oysters.

Through there are important sea and air communications between the countries of the Pacific basin and transit routes between the countries of the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

Major ports: Vladivostok, Nakhodka (Russia), Shanghai (China), Singapore (Singapore), Sydney (Australia), Vancouver (Canada), Los Angeles, Long Beach (USA), Huasco (Chile).
Through The international date line runs along the 180th meridian.

Story
Seafaring in pacific ocean began long before the beginning of recorded human history. However, there is evidence that the first European who saw , was the Portuguese Vasco Balboa; in 1513 the ocean opened before him from the Darien Mountains in Panama. In the history of research Pacific Ocean there are such famous names like Ferdinand Magellan, Abel Tasman, Francis Drake, Charles Darwin, Vitus Bering, James Cook and George Vancouver. Later, scientific expeditions aboard the British ship Challenger (1872–1876), and then on the ships Tuscarora, Planet, and Discovery, played an important role.
pacific ocean map