If you look at our planet from space, then it looks like a blue ball. This is due to the fact that most of the Earth’s surface is occupied by seas and oceans. If you use scientific terminology, it is customary to talk about a single body of water that separates the continents. Let's consider this question in more detail in the article.
Earth's single body of water
Although our planet is called Earth, 71% of its surface is water. The origin of this substance on our planet is connected, firstly, with the processes of geological formation that took place hundreds of millions of years ago, and secondly, according to one theory, part of the water fell to the Earth when a large asteroid from the Oort cloud located on it fell on it a distance of 1 light year from the Sun and being the source of many comets of the Solar System.
The water space dividing the continents, unlike the latter, is one. This means that from anywhere in any ocean or sea, you can get to anywhere in another ocean or sea, while constantly moving through the water. The single water body of the planet, divided by continents and islands, is called the World Ocean. It is conditionally divided into 4 oceans and many seas.
Oceans and seas
There are 4 oceans on our planet, which are conditionally separated from each other by continents. It is customary to talk about the following oceans:
- Quiet. The largest ocean of the Earth, which covers an area of 179.68 million km 2 (1/3 of the entire surface of the planet). The waters of this ocean are located in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres of the Earth's geoid.
- Atlantic. The second largest ocean, with an area of 82.44 million km 2 , that is, it is approximately 2 times smaller than the Pacific. The Atlantic Ocean is also located in two hemispheres of the planet.
- Indian. It is slightly smaller than the Atlantic because it covers an area of 74.82 million km 2 and is located in the southern hemisphere of the planet.
- Arctic or Arctic Ocean. It is the smallest among the four oceans, its area (14.09 million km 2 ) is even smaller than the area of Russia (17.1 million km 2 ).
If the shape of the oceans is determined by the position of the continents, then the seas are surrounded by these continents or islands. Vivid examples of the seas are the Mediterranean, Black or Caribbean.
It is important to note once again that the body of water separating the continents is one, that is, all oceans and all seas are united into one global mass of water - the World Ocean.
Continents separated by oceans
What is the body of water dividing the continents? These are the oceans. Thus, the largest ocean - the Pacific - separates the western part of both American continents from the eastern part of Eurasia and Australia. The Atlantic Ocean separates the eastern part of North and South America from the western part of Eurasia and Africa, the Indian Ocean washes the shores of Australia, southern Eurasia and eastern Africa, and finally, the smallest Arctic Ocean is located in the north of Eurasia and North America.
The main feature that each ocean identifies is its location relative to the continents, that is, the term “ocean” does not initially include classification by any physical characteristics.
It is interesting to note that off the coast of Antarctica three oceans join together: the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic. Sometimes this body of water is called the Antarctic Ocean.
Pangea and Pantalassa
The answer to the question was given above, what is the name of the space separating the continents, but the existence of the continents themselves is a question of the last tens of millions of years. According to the generally accepted hypothesis, about 300 million years ago, all existing continents were united into one mainland, which was called Pangea (from the Greek "all lands"), and on the whole planet there was only one ocean - Pantalassa.
The explanation of the above fact has the following: the fact is that the entire surface of our planet is formed by the so-called lithospheric plates - huge solid layers that "float" in a viscous mantle. The constant movement of lithospheric plates led to the initial split of Pangea into two continents - Laurasia and Gondwana, which, having split in turn, led to the formation of modern continents.
All continents are currently continuing their drift, so in millions of years the state of the Earth’s surface will be completely different than it is now. The measured values of the continental drift velocity showed that they are approximately equal to 2 cm per year.