Most of our planet is covered in water, yet the Ocean remains mostly a mystery to us. We know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the deep sea floor. Here are the most surprising facts about the water that covers our world.
How much gold is hidden in the sea
There is a massive amount of gold dissolved in the water of the sea. Scientists estimate that there are nearly twenty million tons of gold mixed into the oceans. Most of it is spread out in the water and on the sea floor.
The problem is that this gold is far too diluted to mine. If you could somehow pull all of it out, there would be enough gold for every single person on Earth to have nine pounds of it. It stays locked away where no one can reach it.
What is the deepest place in the world
The Mariana Trench is the deepest known spot on Earth. It is located in the western Pacific Ocean and goes down nearly thirty-six thousand feet. That is deep enough to swallow Mount Everest with miles of water to spare.
The pressure at the bottom of this trench is brutal. It is equal to having about fifty jumbo jets piled on top of you. Yet, strange living things still manage to survive in this crushing darkness without any sunlight at all.
Why the sea floor has giant waterfalls
You might think waterfalls only happen on land, but they also happen underwater. The biggest underwater waterfall is found in the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland. Cold water from the Nordic seas drops down a huge steep cliff.
This drop is over eleven thousand feet high, making it much taller than any waterfall on land. The cold water flows downward because it is denser than the warmer water around it. It moves millions of cubic meters of water every single second.
What lives in the dark zones
The deep sea is split into different zones based on how much light gets through. Below three thousand feet, sunlight cannot reach at all, and the water is pitch black. Many creatures down there make their own light using a trick called bioluminescence.
Here are some strange things found in the deep dark zones:
- Fish with clear heads so they can see prey above them
- Jellyfish that glow bright neon blue when scared
- Worms that live near boiling hot vents on the sea floor
- Sharks that can live for hundreds of years in the cold water
How fast do ocean currents move
Water in the sea is always moving in massive rivers called currents. The Gulf Stream is one of the most famous currents on Earth. It carries warm water from the Gulf of Mexico all the way up to the coast of Europe.
This single current moves faster than any river on land. It carries an amount of water that equals thousands of times the flow of the Amazon River. Without this warm water moving north, countries like the United Kingdom would have much colder winters.
Think about these strange facts the next time you look out at the water. Our planet is full of hidden wonders waiting to be found. Take a moment today to learn something new about the natural world around us.
