OCEANOGRAPHY

Dr. Sunil Kumar Singh A

Dept. of Geography
G.D College, Begusarai
OCEANOGRAPHY
Oceanography is the study of the
physical, chemical and biological
features of the ocean, including the
ocean’s ancient history, its current
condition, and its future.
OCEANS

The ocean comprises 70.8% of the

earths surface.
Pacific Ocean – 35.4%
Atlantic Ocean – 18.4%
Indian Ocean – 14.5%
And the Lands – 29.2%
OCEANS
The oceans are mainly dominated in
the southern Hemisphere.
Land and sea are generally
antipodally arranged. About 2/3 of
the land is in the Northern
Hemisphere.
Only 1.5% of the earths surface has
land antipode to land.
The centre of the ocean hemisphere
lies near New Zealand, 89% which
is ocean 11% land.
The average depth of sea is 3790m.
The oceanic crust is approximately
5km thick and have an average
density of 3.0 g/cm3.
BOTTOM TOPOGRAPHY OF
OCEANS
Continental Shelf
Continental slope
Continental rise
Oceanic ridge and rise
Oceanic trenches
Island arcs
Marginal Ocean Basins
Ocean Basin
Sea Mounds and Guyots
Plateau
BOTTOM TOPOGRAPHY OF
OCEANS
CONTINENTAL SHELF
These are not the part of oceanic
crust and are composed of
continental crust. They can be
called as submerged part of the
shield or stable platform.
The average with is 78 km and
depth is 133m.
It is generally wide along low lying
lead and narrow along mountainous
coasts.
These are smooth and flat
sometimes low hills and shallow
basins or valleys are present.
Wide and shallow continental
shelves are rich ground for the
growth of plankton.
CONTINENTAL SHELF
CONTINENTAL SLOPE
Continental slope descends from the
outer edge of the continental shelf
as a long continuous slope to the
ocean basin.
They mark the boundary between
continental and oceanic crust.
Average slope is 4.30 . The
continental slope is steep where
mountain ranges border the coasts
(4-60) and it is gentle opposite major
deltas and stable coasts (2-3.50)
Numerous submarine canyons and
furrow are present in the slope
region.
CONTINENTAL SHELF
CONTINENTAL RISE
At the base of the continental slope,
the slope decreases to 10 or less
continuing into the abyssal hills or
plains to form continental rise.
OCEANIC BASIN

The oceanic basin are composed of

abyssal floor, tectonically inactive rise
and sea mounds.
Broad, relatively smooth surface are
know as abyssal floor, it consists of two
sections namely abyssal plain and
abyssal hills.
Sea mounds and guyots, which are
isolated submarine volcanic features 2-
100 km wide and more than 1000m high
whose surface lies less than 2000m
below sea level.
Sea mounds are sharply pointed but
those which have flat topped are called
Guyots.
Guyots have steep sides 12-350 and are
considered to be leveled platform
submerged largely by sea floor
subsidence.
Guyots are commonly capped by coral
growth in the tropics.
OCEANIC RIDGES
Oceanic ridges are the most
prominent features on the Earth
covering nearly 23% of the Earth’s
Surface.
It is broad, transversely fractured
linear swell, lying mostly near the
centers of ocean.
The mid Atlantic ridge is the largest
and the best known ridge which
height extends well above the sea
level to form Azores, Ascension
islands.
OCEANIC RIDGES
The other ridges are Carlsberg ridge
in the Indian Ocean, East Pacific
Ridge in the Pacific, Lomonosov
Ridge in the Arctic Ocean etc.
The main difference between ridge
and rise is that the ridges are steep
sided while rise are gentle sloping.
Important rise are : Galpagos rise,
Rio rise, the Hawaiian and Austral
Marshall Gilbert Chain.
OCEANIC TRENCH
Along some coast, the continental shelf
drops steeply into trenches forming the
deepest part of oceans.
They are 30-100km wide and 3000-5000
km long. Their side slope to (4-80) and
then (10-160) to depth of more than
10,000m.
Examples of trenches are Mariana
Trench of the Philippines (11 km
depth), the Tonga Trench (10.8 km),
Java trench (7.5km), Pureto Rico
Trench (8.6 km) etc.
MARIANA TRENCH
ISLAND ARCS
They are the chain of volcanic
islands, generally convex towards
the open sea and run parallel to
oceanic trenches and mountain
chains.
They range in size from less than 1
km to the size of Guinea, Luzon or
Hokkaido.
They are seismically active and
topographically and structurally
continuous with continental belts of
young fold mountains.
Eg. Malaya, Kamchatka, Alaska.
Island arcs may be submerged eg.
Ryuku islands between Japan and
Taiwan or it may be topographically
and structurally fixed with the
inner arc,eg. Japan.
ISLAND ARCS
TROUGHS
Troughs are simply depressions on the
deep sea floor. Eg. Barlett Trough,
ayman Trough
MARGINAL SEAS BASINS
Marginal sea basins lie either
between island arcs and the
continent like Philippine sea or
between continent masses.
They are 500-1000 km wide and
may include abyssal plain extending
down to more than 5km below sea
level.
PLATEAU
They are submarine elevations of
considerable extent with relatively
flat tops. Eg. The Seychelles
Plateau in the Indian Ocean and the
Azores plateau in the North
Atlantic.
TEMPERATURE OF THE OCEANS
Average temperature of Ocean
Waters is 26.7 0 C.
There are three different layers of
the ocean from top to bottom in the
tropics.
Epilimnion – First Layer (Extends
up to 500m, having temperature of
20-250 C. Mixing occurs in this layer
due to wind action and currents.
Thermocline layer – below the first
layer, here temperature decreases
with depth.
Hyplomnion – third layer is
characterized by a uniform
temperature but is cooler than the
other layers.
DISTRIBUTION OF
TEMPERATURE
Latitude - Temperature decreases
from the equator towards the poles.
Unequal distribution of land and
water – Temperature is higher in
the Northern Hemisphere than the
southern hemisphere due to the
dominance of land in the Northern
Hemisphere.
Prevailing Winds
Ocean Currents : Warm and cold
currents
Minor Factors : Storm, cloudiness,
fog, evaporation, condensation etc…
VERTICAL DISTRIBUTION OF
TEMPERATURE
Temperature decreases from the
ocean surface with increasing depth
but the rate of decrease of
temperature with increasing depth
is not uniform everywhere.
SALINITY OF THE OCEAN
Salinity is defined as ‘the total
amount of solid material in grams
contained in one kilogram of sea
water and is expressed as part per
thousand.
The average salinity of ocean water
is 35.2 ‰.
Sodium chloride (77.8%) followed by
Magnesium chloride (10.9%),
Magnesium sulphate (4.7%)
dominate the salt composition. In
addition to these Calcium and
Potassium Phosphate, calcium
carbonate, Bromide, iodine,….gold,
silver and radium are found in sea
water.
SOURCE OF SALT IN OCEAN
River
Volcanic ashes
Marie organism
CONTROLLING FACTORS OF
SALT IN OCEAN

Evaporation – Greater the

evaporation, higher the salinity and
vice versa. Maximum evaporation is
seen in the tropics than the equator.
Precipitation – Higher the
precipitation lower the salinity and
vice versa.
Influx of river water- River water
brings down the salinity of the
ocean water and it is more
pronounced in the closed seas.
CONTINUED…
Atmospheric pressure and wind
direction – anti-cyclonic condition
with stable air and high
temperature increases the salinity
of the surface water of the ocean.
Winds also helps in the re
distribution of salinity in the ocean.
Salinity increases in the area where
water is piled up by the winds. Thus
the easterlies and westerly play an
important role in salinity balance.
CONTINUED…
Circulation of Ocean Water – Ocean
current affect the spatial
distribution of salinity by mixing
sea waters.
DISTRIBUTION OF SALINITY
Latitudinal distribution – Salinity
generally decreases from the
equator towards the poles, though
the highest salinity is recorded
between 20-40 degree latitudes.
Regional distribution : According to
Jankins;
Seas having salinity above normal:
Red sea, Persian gulf,
Mediterranean sea
Seas having normal salinity:
Caribbean sea and gulf of Mexico
Seas having salinity below normal:
Arctic Ocean, Bearing Sea, North
Australian Sea.
VERTICAL DISTRIBUTION OF
SALINITY
No definite trend of distribution of
salinity with depth can be spelt out
because both trends of increase and
decrease of salinity with increasing
death has been observed.
OCEAN DEPOSITS
The unconsolidated sediments
derived from various sources,
deposited at the sea floor are
included in the ocean deposit. The
main sources are Terrigenous
materials, Volcanic eruptions and
marine plants and animals.
TERRIGENOUS DEPOSITS
Continental in origin which are
bought by the river.
Gravel, Sand, Silt, Clay and Mud
(Blue mud- rich in iron sulphide,
Red mud- rich in iron oxide, Green
mud- green silicates of potassium
and gluconite)
VOLCANIC MATERIAL
Volcanic eruption on the Land
Volcanic eruption on the oceans and
seas
ORGANIC MATERIAL
Comprises of dead skeleton of
animals and plants.
These are divided into Neretic and
Pelagic matters.
Neretic – includes skeleton of
marine animals and plant remains.
Pelagic- consists of remains of
different types of algae.
PELAGIC DEPOSITS
These are derived from algae and
are in the form of liquid mud,
generally known as Ooze.
They are divided into tow groups on
the basis of Silica and lime content.
Calcareous Ooze : pteroped Ooze
and globigerina Ooze.
Silicious Ooze: Radiolaria Ooze and
Diatoms OOze
INORGANIC MATEIRAL
Red clay – Silicate of alumina and
oxides of iron are the chief
constituents of red clay.
WAVES
Wave phenomena transmits energy
through various states of matter by
setting up patterns of oscillation
motion in particle that make up the
matter.
Most of the waves observed at sea
are progressive wind waves, i.e.,
they are generated by winds.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF WAVES
Shallow water wave, deep water
wave, gravity wave, constructive
and destructive wave, Rogue wave,
Tsunami or sesmic wave.
DEEP AND SHALLOW WAVES
CONSTRUCTIVE & DESTRUCTIVE
WAVES
TSUNAMI WAVES
CURRENTS
The general movement of a mass of
oceanic water in a definite direction
is called currents which are more or
less similar to water streams
flowing on the land surface of the
earth.
They are divided on the basis of
temperature as warm currents and
cold currents.
ORIGIN OF CURRENT
Rotation of the Earth – Equatorial
and counter equatorial currents.
Temperature difference
Salinity difference
Density of Water (function of temp,
salinity and pressure).
Air pressure and Winds
Evaporation and Rainfall
Direction shape and configuration of
Coastline
Bottom relief and seasonal variation
CURRENTS OF THE ATLANTIC
North Equatorial Current (warm)
South Equatorial Current (warm)
Counter Equatorial current (warm)
Gulf stream (warm)
Florida Current (Warm)
North Atlantic Current (warm)
Canary Current (cold)
Labrador current (cold)
Brazil Current (warm)
Falkland Current (cold)
South Atlantic Drift (Cold)
Benguela Current (cold)
Currents of the
Atlantic
CURRENT OF THE PACIFIC
OCEAN
North Equatorial Current (Warm)
South Equatorial Current (Warm)
Counter Equatorial Current (Warm)
Kuroshio System ( warm)
North Pacific Drift ( extension of
Kuroshio)
Tsushima Current ( branch of
Kuroshio)
Counter Kuroshio current
Oyashio current (cold)
California Current (cold)
Peru Current (cold)
West Wind Drift (cold)
El Nino or Counter Current (warm)
East Australian current warm)
Currents of the Pacific Ocean
CURRENT OF THE INDIAN
OCEAN
North east monsoon climate (warm)
Indian counter current (warm)
South west monsoon (warm)
Indian equatorial current (warm)
Mozambiqe current (warm)
West wind drift (cold)
Currents of the Indian Ocean
Summary of the
Currents
TIDES

The rise and fall of sea water due to the

gravitational pull of the sun and the
moon are called tides.
The rise in the level of sea water is called
as High tide where as the fall in the
level of sea water is called ebb or low
tide.

High tide Low

tide
TIME & TYPE OF TIDES
On an average every place experiences tide
twice a day.
In each place every day tide occurs after 12
hours 26 minutes and ebb occurs after 6 hour
13 minutes.
Types of Tides: Spring Tide, Neap tide, Apogean
(far), Perigene (near).
Equilibrium Theory – Sir Issac Newton…
CORAL REEFS, CORAL
BLEACHING

Corals are formed due to

accumulation and compaction of
skeletons of lime secreting
organisms known as coral polyps.
Coral reefs are more diverse than
the rain forest because the coral
reefs have about 1, 000, 000
species of which only 10% have been
studied. This is why they are called
as rain forest of the ocean.
CONDITION FOR GROWTH OF
CORALS

Temperature 20-210 C.
Depth of water (60-77m)
Clean sediment free water.
Fresh water is also injurious to
corals.
Salinity 27‰ - 30 ‰
The need open seas as currents and
waves are favorable for coral
growth.
Extensive submarine platforms not
deeper than 91m.
Global warming adversely affect
corals in their habitat.
The increase in temperature causes
bleaching in the corals where in the
coral loose their algae and become
white in color. This process is called
coral bleaching which causes death
of coral.
TYPES OF CORALS
Fringing Reefs: Coral reefs
developed along the continental
margins or along the islands are
called fringing reefs.
Barrier Reefs: The largest coral
reefs of the coastal platform but
parallel to them are called barrier
reefs.
Atoll: A ring of narrow growing
corals of horse shoe shape and
crowned with palm tree is called
atoll.
TYPES OF CORALS
SEA LEVEL CHANGES

Global warming
Climatic change
Melting of glacier
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