Often people in conversation mistakenly use the phrase "ocean territory", "in the reservoir." But these are water areas, and not territories at all, since we are not talking about land areas. Water areas can vary dramatically in size - from small pools created by man to huge oceans. So what is the water area? Let's figure it out!
Water area - what is it?
Even from school on geography lessons, we heard this concept. If you literally translate the concept from the Latin language, then the "water area" is water, it comes from the Latin word aqua.
The water area can be near the ocean, lake, sea or seaport, bays, reservoirs, shallow lagoons, as well as fjords - winding bays that cut into rocks, and other types of water bodies. From the point of view of geography, the water area is the space of a whole body of water or any limited part of the water surface.
The largest water area on Earth near the Pacific Ocean, it is almost half the entire World Ocean in area. But the largest water area of the sea is the water area of the Philippine and Caspian sea-lake.
However, there are not only surface water areas. Under the ground, people can create pools, reservoirs, and in addition, geologists talk about the existence of underground seas and rivers.
Water classification
By origin, they distinguish between natural and artificial. Among the first, the waters of the seas, lakes, oceans, etc. are distinguished. And the second group includes the waters of reservoirs and ports.
According to the purpose, the water area is divided into:
- port - serve for the parking of ships during their unloading and loading;
- water and mine landfills - for testing military equipment;
- factory - for repair and completion of ships;
- water areas for landing and take-off of seaplanes.
Water boundaries
The water area of a reservoir is said to be when it has specific boundaries. In the case of natural bodies of water, they are banks, in the pools they are walls. A person can further divide the water area into several sections using buoys. They can be connected with a rope in a line, or can be used as single beacons in order to indicate a safe way for ships. In the dark, they are usually highlighted, and they are also equipped with a special sound alert system - in order to avoid emergency situations.
In real life, we are faced with the division of water into different zones. So, on the sea there are separate zones for swimming, for water attractions, shipping zones.
There are times when there are only invisible borders. For example, the water border between states is determined only by the specific coordinates of longitude and latitude, and there may be no visible signs on the ground. Such borders often become the subject of controversy and even international conflicts, unlike land borders. According to the rules, a ship making scientific discoveries, extracting marine minerals or even gold, does not have the right to be in someone else's water area without proper permission. But civilian courts, if they do not threaten the security of a neighboring state, can stay on course.
Since there are a lot of minerals at the bottom in the coastal zone, and the descent near the coast is far from always steep, states that have access to water open spaces tend to “take” to the maximum. But even in this case, the UN provided for a special permit, according to which the state can obtain water for itself no more than 200 miles from the coast.
Seaport waters
The boundaries of seaports are determined both on land and by water. The water area of the port is the body of water within the port itself. And the territory is determined by borders that are not covered by water.
The entire port water area can be divided into two zones:
- Inland - near the coast. It is adjacent to the line of the pier. It consists of spaces between piers, internal passages for ships, gates to the port.
- External - everything that is outside the enclosing structures. Such a water area includes a raid for sludge, unloading and loading of ships, anchorage and external shipways.
States with the largest port water areas
Given the fact that the water area is the space of a limited body of water, we can conclude that the longer the state has a coastline, the larger the water area will be. And which countries have a large area and are washed by the seas and oceans? Russia falls into their category - due to access to a large number of seas from the north, as well as Canada, India and China.
A large water area allows countries to maintain a high level of fisheries, gold and oil production, and also provides countries with good transport links with the outside world.