Ocean Facts

Here's a few more factoids:

• We know more about the surface of Mars than we do about most of the ocean floor.
• Ocean crust is geologically young, compared to the continents. The ocean crust is continually recycled, while the continents float on top and crash into each other.
• A single dead whale corpse can feed a whole community of deep sea creatures for years.
• Bits of dead things from the upper ocean fall down to the bottom in the form of sea snow. A lot gets eaten on the way.
• Octopuses are people who keep gardens, have brains in their arms, and don't tend to like each other very much.

Light penetration can stop at a much more shallow depth than 300 feet. If the visibility is low enough, you can lose light as high as 20 feet. I live on a part of the coast where a river empties into the sea, it's murky as hell close to that mix. In the clearest water, light can penetrate as low as 600 feet. The Hadal Zone is actually the deepest.

For the love of all that is post-JAWS massacre nonsense, please don't have Great Whites attacking your people be a thing. It doesn't happen as often as people thing and most of the time if they do bite, they realize you aren't what they normally eat and leave. Bull sharks are assholes, they've been known to attack boats and can also live in fresh water (and have been found miles up the Mississippi). Feel free to have them be the bad guy, lol.

Don't forget about currents (ex. Gulf Stream)

Offshore oil rigs utilize scuba divers to pretty deep depths but not with tanks, they use an air line to the platform.

The Mariana Trench could be interesting in a story.

(I have an advanced open water certification through PADI, have been in shark cages, and have lived on the southern US coast all of my life)

The pressure generated by a couple of miles of water is immense

SCUBA divers (aka us surface folk) are often restricted to 100' for recreational limits. That said, the advanced divers out there often go deeper (120-150'). You get a bit loopy near the bottom of that range due to nitrogen narcosis (it's kind of like being high - you just don't care about things as much lol).

Only reason I threw this in is if you wanted the undersea folk were to encounter surface folk - it'd likely be at that depth, and then the surface folk could return above water and say "I saw a mermaid (or merman)!" to which they'd be reasonably assured they didn't and were only "narc-ing"

Found some more cool ones here for ya:

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/earth/oceans.html

• Around 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans.
• The world’s oceans contain enough water to fill a cube with edges over 1000 kilometres (621 miles) in length.
• Ocean tides are caused by the Earth rotating while the Moon and Sun’s gravitational pull acts on ocean water.
• While there are hundreds of thousands of known marine life forms, there are many that are yet to be discovered, some scientists suggest that there could actually be millions of marine life forms out there.
• Oceans are frequently used as a means of transport with various companies shipping their products across oceans from one port to another.
• The largest ocean on Earth is the Pacific Ocean, it covers around 30% of the Earth’s surface.
• The Pacific Ocean’s name has an original meaning of ‘peaceful sea’.
• Located to the east of the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, the Mariana Trench is the deepest known area of Earth’s oceans. It has a deepest point of around 11000 metres (36000 feet).
• The Pacific Ocean contains around 25000 different islands, many more than are found in Earth’s other oceans.
• The Pacific Ocean is surrounded by the Pacific Ring of Fire, a large number of active volcanoes.
• The second largest ocean on Earth is the Atlantic Ocean, it covers over 21% of the Earth’s surface.
• The Atlantic Ocean’s name refers to Atlas of Greek mythology.
• The Bermuda Triangle is located in the Atlantic Ocean, check out our Bermuda Triangle mystery facts.
• Amelia Earhart became the first female to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932.
• The third largest ocean on Earth is the Indian Ocean, it covers around 14% of the Earth’s surface.
• During winter the Arctic Ocean is almost completely covered in sea ice.
• While some disagree on whether it is an ocean or just part of larger oceans, the Southern Ocean includes the area of water that encircles Antarctica.

And my favorite one:

We have only explored about 5% of the world’s oceans.

The Second Moon said:

Yes. this gives me plenty of room to create my own creatures.

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Have a look at some of the organisms already discovered. I guarantee there are weirder things down there, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

The Second Moon said:

I need something like this. There is going to be a giant trench in my story that monsters come out of and the bad guy lives in.

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Don't forget the pressure and temperature issues of deep trenches!

Who knows, this might be handy for someone in the future.

I was considering making a new thread, but I didn't want to clutter the forum. I'm also writing a book that is taking place in the ocean and was wondering if anybody knows of a good resource for physical oceanography? Namely the mountain ranges and major currents. These characters do quite a bit of traveling.

O. Faulkner said:

I was considering making a new thread, but I didn't want to clutter the forum. I'm also writing a book that is taking place in the ocean and was wondering if anybody knows of a good resource for physical oceanography? Namely the mountain ranges and major currents. These characters do quite a bit of traveling.

Click to expand...

I teach university-level physical geology and environmental geology, both of which involve a fair look at oceanic processes. There are a bazillion textbooks out there, and a trip to a decent library will probably get you what you need. For oceanic physiography (mountains, etc.) and currents, google is your friend. There are an infinitude of maps and charts available on line, as well as articles.

caw

Google Earth is worth a download/install. There's good mapping of the seafloor in some (many) areas.