Almost everyone heard the term Atlantic. This is an abbreviated name for the ocean, but the word has a different meaning. As scientists suggest, this is a hypothetical continent that existed approximately two billion years ago. About the Atlantic continent, as well as the ocean, its bays and features will be discussed in this article.
The hypothesis of scientists
As mentioned earlier, scientists suggested that about two billion years ago, a continent was formed, consisting of various platforms. Its formation was completed in the Proterozoic eon (the first geological period).
According to the researchers, this continent was located on the territory of present-day South and East America and West Africa. It got its name thanks to the Atlantic Ocean in 1996, which is currently passing through the proposed continent.
According to scientists, the continent completed its formation along with another - Nena. The Atlantic separated from the latter about one and a half billion years ago. After one billion years, the Atlantic, Ur and Nena, joined together to create a new supercontinent, which scientists called Rodiniya. It should be noted that this hypothesis is not accepted by all representatives of fundamental science, but nevertheless has a large number of supporters.
Ocean
However, first of all, the Atlantic is the ocean, which is the second largest in the world. It follows the Pacific and is located between Iceland and Greenland in the northern part of the world, Africa and Europe in the east, South and North America in the west and in the south - with Antarctica.
It has a total area of over 91.5 million km2, 16% of which are straits, bays and seas. Only about 1% of the area is the coastal seas. It should be noted that the Atlantic Ocean has a volume of water approaching 330 million km 2 , which is 25 percent of the total volume of the World Ocean.
On average, the depth of the Atlantic is 3736 m, and the largest is defined in the Puerto Rico trench - 8742 m. This ocean is distinguished by a rugged coastline and has a pronounced division into regional waters (bays and seas).
Etymology
The Atlantic Ocean owes its name to ancient Greek mythology, in which there is a titan named Atlant (Atlas). For the first time the name is found in the writings of Herodotus (ancient Greek historian) in the 5th century BC. e. He writes that "the sea with the" Hercules Pillars "is called Atlantis," which is translated from ancient Greek as Atlantis. By "Hercules Pillars" was meant the rocks that framed the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. This is the Rock of Gibraltar, Mount Abila, located near Ceuta, and according to another version - it was a mountain called Jebel Musa, located in Morocco.
The ancient Roman scientist Pliny the Elder mentions the name "Oceanus Atlantikus" in the 1st century BC. e., which in fact is the current name of the ocean. At various times, there were such names as the North Sea, the Western Ocean, the Outer Sea, but in the 17th century the entire water area began to be called the Atlantic Ocean.
About bays and seas
They amaze with their quantity. The area of the bays of the Atlantic Ocean and its seas is about 14.7 million km2. This figure is 16% of the total ocean area. The volume of water in them reaches 29.5 million km. The most famous seas included in its composition:
- Irish
- Northern
- Baltic
- Norwegian
- Mediterranean
- Azov;
- Adriatic
- Celtic
- Marble
- Tyrrhenian;
- Labrador;
- Aegean
- Sargassovo;
- Caribbean
The most famous and often mentioned in literature and movies bays of the Atlantic Ocean include the following:
- Bristol
- Finnish;
- Biscay;
- Mexican;
- Maine
- Guinean
- St. Lawrence.
In addition to the listed seas and oceans, there are others, since the Atlantic is a huge body of water that borders a large number of territories.
Temperature
The water temperature in the North Atlantic is currently around +6 ° C. According to scientists, this is a rather alarming indicator, since the average temperature of the Atlantic rose by 2.5 ° C. At first glance, the increase is small, but it affects the melting of glaciers in the northern part of the ocean, as well as a significant impact on the life of ichthyofauna in these areas.
Now it is impossible to trace the dynamics of changes, since the observations are based on data collected over a period of about 200 years, which on a global scale makes it difficult to accurately predict how the ocean and the life of its inhabitants will change.
Gulfstream
The Gulf Stream is the warm sea current of the Atlantic Ocean. It should be noted that in the narrow sense, the name Gulf Stream is used to refer to the current along the North American east coast from the Strait of Florida to the Great Newfoundland Bank (shelf sandbank). This is how the Gulf Stream is marked on all modern geographic maps.
But if we approach this concept more broadly, then under the name Gulf Stream they mean a whole system of warm currents flowing in the northern part of the Atlantic. This space is from Florida to Scandinavia, from the Barents Sea to the Arctic Ocean.
The Gulf Stream temperature on the surface reaches + 26 ° . At a depth of about 400 m - up to + 12 ° . The width of this powerful jet stream is in the range from 70 to 90 km.
The Atlantic Ocean is also diverse in its inhabitants. It contains various species of fish, cetaceans, mollusks, arthropods, as well as plankton, which is the basis of the diet of marine giants - humpback whales and sperm whales. This unique natural environment, like all other oceans of our planet, according to scientists, is studied only by 3%. Therefore, mankind has yet to solve quite a few secrets and mysteries that are hidden in the ocean.