Day 74 – 366 Day Project

“Ocean”

Day 74 of 366 Day Project

“Magic is everywhere, explore & be amazed everyday!”

The Earth’s oceans are odd, beautiful and intriguing — and we know surprisingly little about them.

I bet you didn’t know that the ocean makes up 70% of the Earth’s surface.

Life in the oceans of this planet, even the very little we know about is unrivaled in its beauty and strangeness. Furthermore, the promise of what it may teach us about the planet we live on stretches the imagination.

To give you an idea of the numerous surprises that dwell in the oceans, and hopefully make you eager to learn more, here a few fun tidbits about the awe-inspiring world that lies below the oceans’ surface.

• For starters, did you know that 94 percent of life on Earth is aquatic? That makes us land-dwellers a very small minority.

• About 70 percent of the planet is ocean, with an average depth of more than 12,400 feet. Given that photons (light) can’t penetrate more than 330 feet below the water’s surface, most of our planet is in a perpetual state of darkness.

• Fifty percent of the United States (in terms of our complete legal jurisdiction, which includes ocean territory) lies below the ocean.

• The deep sea is the largest museum on Earth: There are more artifacts and remnants of history in the ocean than in all of the world’s museums, combined.

• The longest mountain range in the world is under water. Called the Mid-Oceanic Ridge, this chain of mountains runs through the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and into the Indian and Pacific oceans. It runs more than 35,000 miles long, has peaks higher than those in the Alps and it comprises 23 percent of the Earth’s total surface.

Read more about the amazing ocean at Mother Earth News.