Plants in the Pacific. Brief description of the mineral resources of the oceans Characterization of the mineral resources of the Pacific Ocean

Organic World of the Pacific

The organic world of the Pacific Ocean is the richest in terms of the number of species, ecological communities, total biomass and commercial biological resources due to the vast size of the water area and the diversity of natural conditions. It accounts for more than half of the total biomass of the oceans.

The largest number of species are found in the western regions of the Pacific Ocean at low latitudes. Thus, in the seas of the Malay Archipelago, there are more than 2,000 species of fish, while in the seas of the northern part of the ocean (North Pacific biogeographic region), only about 300 are known (however, here the number of fish species is twice as large as in the waters of the North Atlantic region). The organic world of the southern regions of the ocean (part of the Antarctic region) has many features in common with similar parts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean.

The organic world of the Pacific Ocean is distinguished by the antiquity of many species, the high degree of endemism and the gigantism of many of their representatives. Here, for example, there are ancient sea urchins, primitive horseshoe crabs, some ancient fish not found in other oceans (Jordan, Gilbertidia, etc.). Almost all salmon species (95%) live in the Pacific Ocean. There are also endemic forms among mammals - a fur seal, a sea beaver, a sea lion, which are not found in other oceans. In the northern part of the ocean, giant mussels and oysters are known; in the equatorial zone, the largest bivalve mollusk, the tridacna, weighing up to 300 kg, lives. In the southern part of the ocean, giant kelp algae grow, the length of which reaches 200 m.

The Pacific Ocean is characterized by high biological productivity (about 200 kg/km2). The distribution of primary production and biomass is determined both by latitudinal geographic zonality and by the position of the main ocean water cycles and dynamic zones (convergence, divergence, upwelling).

Areas of high bioproductivity are confined to subpolar, temperate and equatorial zones (250-500 mg-s / m 2, if the primary production is estimated in milligrams of carbon formed per day in the process of photosynthesis per 1 m 2 of the surface of the water layer

). The maximum values of primary production and biomass are observed in upwelling zones associated with water divergences. In tropical latitudes, bioproductivity is lower, and in the central regions of subtropical circuits it is minimal.

Among the fishing biological resources of the Pacific Ocean first place is occupied by fish (85% of catches), the second - by molluscs, crustaceans, echinoderms and other non-fish species, including algae (10%), and the third - by marine mammals (5%). Currently, approximately 45% of the fish caught worldwide is caught in the Pacific Ocean. The main fishing areas are located in the northwestern, northeastern, eastern and southeastern parts of the ocean. These are highly productive areas of interaction between the warm waters of the Kuroshio and the cold branches of the Kuril Current, the zone of penetration of the warm Alaska Current into high latitudes, shelf areas in the west of the ocean, and upwelling zones off the coasts of North and especially South America. The catch of fish in the Antarctic regions has increased noticeably.

The main commercial fish of the Pacific Ocean are pollock, anchovy, herring, sardine, horse mackerel, mackerel, saury, salmon, tuna (from pelagic), followed by cod, hake, flounder, halibut, sable fish, sea bass (bottom fish). In addition to fish, crabs, shrimps, scallops, mussels, oysters, trepangs, etc. are caught in the northern part of the ocean. However, their natural reserves are currently insignificant, and all these valuable invertebrates become objects mariculture- they are artificially grown on sea plantations in Japan, the countries of Southeast Asia, Russia (in the bays of Posyet and Peter the Great). Also, whales (baleen whales, sperm whales), squids, sharks, etc. are hunted in the ocean. Fur seals are harvested on the islands of the Bering and Okhotsk Seas (certain restrictions are imposed on this fishery). Some algae are harvested and cultivated, mainly kelp (seaweed).

The area off the coast of Peru and Northern Chile is the most fish-producing area in the entire World Ocean. Its productivity is determined by the penetration of the cold Peruvian current into low latitudes and by relatively stable and intense upwelling. The Peruvian anchovy serves as the object of constant fishing here.

The date: 01.04.2017

The Pacific Ocean is distinguished by the richness of the organic world as a result of its location in almost all geographical zones. The fauna of the ocean alone has about 110 thousand species , 4 times more than in other oceans. In phytoplankton, almost 380 species. The number of species and the biomass of the organic world of the Pacific Ocean are 50% of world indicators.

AT offshore zone a variety of crustaceans, echinoderms, mollusks, fucus, kelp algae.

The organic world of different latitudes of the ocean is different.

Yes, for tropical latitudes significant development of coral reefs is characteristic, the fish fauna is represented by 2000 species.

AT temperate latitudes there are almost 800 species of fish, in the north there are many mammals (sperm whales, several species of minke whales, fur seals), as well as shrimps, cephalopods, crabs, etc. The fauna of the Pacific Ocean is rich in endemics and giants.

Among endemic mammals fur seals, sea otters, sea lions.

Among giants - mussels, clams and oysters that live in the north of the ocean.

Energy and recreational resources.

active Human exploitation of the natural resources of the Pacific Ocean is the cause of many environmental problems:

Water pollution by oil products;

Water pollution with synthetic solutions, household waste;

Destruction of certain species of plants and animals;

Water pollution by radioactive waste;

Water pollution by industrial waste, agricultural activities

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The world ocean is a huge amount of water and the earth's crust under it, its area significantly exceeds the land area. Such a territory has a huge supply of resources that are actively used by man. What resources are rich in the ocean and how do they help people?

Aquatic

The volume of the World Ocean is 1370 million square meters. km. This is 96% of the entire hydrosphere of the Earth. Despite the fact that sea water is not suitable for drinking, it is used in production, on the farm. In addition, desalination plants have been developed that can turn sea water into drinking water. In the Arctic Ocean, in addition to sea water, there is a huge supply of fresh water in the form of glaciers.

Rice. 1. The most important resource of the World Ocean is water

mineral

The ocean water itself and the earth's crust beneath it are rich in all sorts of minerals. The following species are found in the water:

magnesium;
potassium;
bromine;

In total, ocean water contains about 75 chemical elements. Oil and natural gas are extracted from the shelf. In total, 30 oil and gas production basins have been developed in the World Ocean. The largest deposits are located in the Persian Gulf of the Indian Ocean. Iron and manganese ore have been found in deep water areas. Most of them are mined now in the Pacific Ocean. Stone ore is mined in Japan and Great Britain, and sulfur is mined in the USA. Placers of gold and diamonds are located off the coast of Africa, and amber is mined on the shores of the Baltic Sea.

Rice. 2. There are deposits of amber off the coast of the Baltic Sea

In the waters of the oceans there is a huge amount of uranium and deuterium. The development of ways to isolate these elements from water is being actively pursued, as uranium reserves on land are disappearing.

Energy

The ability of water to ebb and flow provides energy resources. With the help of water energy, thermal and mechanical energy is generated. The following countries have the greatest potential:

Australia;
Canada;
England;
France;
Argentina;
Russia.

The height of the tides here can reach 15 meters, which means that the power of water energy is much greater.

Rice. 3. Tidal power powers hydroelectric power plants

Biological

The biological resources of the oceans include plants and animals that live in its waters. They are quite diverse - about 140 thousand species of biological objects are found here. The biomass volume of the World Ocean is 35 billion tons.

The most common industry is fishing. With the help of fish and seafood, humanity provides itself with protein, fatty acids, microelements. Microscopic organisms are used to make animal feed. Algae are used in various types of production - chemical, food, pharmaceutical.

The largest fish catch is observed in the shelf zone of the oceans. The richest in this regard is the Pacific Ocean, as the largest and climatically favorable. In second place is the Atlantic Ocean. The natural resources of the Pacific Ocean are the most exposed to destruction. There are many communication routes here, as a result of which ocean waters are heavily polluted.

Today, there are plantations in the seas, on which some organisms are bred. In Japan, pearl oysters are bred, in European countries - mussels. Such a fishery is called mariculture.

recreational

The resources of the World Ocean are also recreational. These include those parts of the ocean that are used for recreation, entertainment, scientific excursions. It is impossible to evaluate all the recreational opportunities of the World Ocean in full. Almost all coasts of the ocean are used for recreation, with the exception of the Arctic.

What have we learned?

The world ocean is a whole piggy bank of various resources. This is a huge supply of water, minerals and minerals. Tidal energy is used to run power plants. In addition to the practical use of the ocean, there is also an opportunity for recreation and entertainment - recreational resources. In short, the oceans are the future of mankind.

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In February of this year, the XV Pacific Science Congress will open in the New Zealand city of Dunedin. Almost four years have passed since the XIV Pacific Scientific Congress, which took place in our country in Khabarovsk.

The Congress attracted about two thousand scientists - representatives of all continents. It was attended by the largest scientists of the countries of the world, who have been studying the Pacific Ocean for a long time and made a significant contribution to its knowledge, as well as representatives of young developing countries that are just starting research.

A wide range of problems was discussed at the congress: from the geology of the seabed and its continental framing to the whole variety of biological and oceanological issues, from medicine to social and humanitarian issues - such is the range of reports and discussions of the congress. Particular attention was paid to global issues of protection and protection of the environment.

Nearly half of the world's population lives in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest, it contains most of all the waters of the oceans. The natural processes taking place in the Pacific Ocean are the regulators of the life processes of the entire Earth. The water shell of the ocean forms the climate, controls the weather and is a source of moisture and a heat accumulator for a large part of our planet. This determines its significance for the Earth and humanity.

Geological phenomena occurring in the crust of this ocean have a significant impact on the geological processes of the continents. Without knowledge of the geology of the ocean, we cannot reveal the entire history of the geological development of the Earth, understand the patterns of formation of its crust and the distribution of minerals. This problem is one of the leading problems of our time.

In our country, the study of the World Ocean is a state task. The reports at the 25th and 26th CPSU Congresses noted the need to explore and use the resources of the ocean as one of the most important tasks, on the solution of which the future of mankind depends.

The Pacific region is a huge treasure trove of natural resources, a source of biological, mineral and energy resources. To study this treasury and make it serve humanity is a task worthy of the attention of world science. The future of mankind is largely connected with the development of ocean resources. The Pacific Ocean is of particular importance in providing food; it provides over 60% of the world's fish catch, is in first place in the extraction of algae, crabs and other seafood.

Recently, geological studies of the bottom have become of great practical importance. Large accumulations of iron-manganese nodules containing nickel, cobalt and a number of other rare elements so necessary for the national economy have been found here.

At great depths of the rift zones, thick deposits of metal-bearing silts containing polymetals have been discovered. The Pacific shelf in the future may become one of the important suppliers of oil and gas.

Serious problems are facing scientists studying physical processes in the Pacific Ocean. Significant progress has been made in this area, but as researchers penetrate the secrets of the Pacific Ocean, they increasingly understand that the processes occurring in the ocean are global in nature and their study requires the organization of synchronous observations over a vast area. This is possible only on the basis of international cooperation, since none of the countries is able to concentrate in one area a sufficient number of ships, specialists and measuring equipment.

One of the most urgent problems of the Pacific region is the protection of nature and its protection from pollution. Society, armed with modern technology, is increasingly being introduced into the ocean, and the ocean ceases to be as boundless and bottomless as it seemed before, and its natural resources are inexhaustible and the volume of water is such that an unlimited amount of industrial and domestic waste can be dumped there. All this was demonstrated at the congress. A number of reports on physical oceanology and marine biology have convincingly shown that not a single area of the World Ocean can serve as a place for the disposal of any kind of waste. It has also been demonstrated that the violation of the ecological balance in the ocean due to its pollution can lead to irreparable consequences.

The congress revealed the most complex natural, environmental and socio-economic scientific problems of the Pacific region. He also showed that the solution of these problems is possible only under the condition of broad international cooperation, in the conditions of peaceful coexistence of the peoples of the planet.

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The bottom of the Pacific Ocean hides rich deposits of various minerals. Oil and gas are produced on the shelves of China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the United States of America (Alaska), Ecuador (Guayaquil Bay), Australia (Bass Strait), and New Zealand. According to existing estimates, the subsoil of the Pacific Ocean contains up to 30-40% of all potential oil and gas reserves of the World Ocean. The largest producer of tin concentrates in the world is Malaysia, and Australia is the largest producer of zircon, ilmenite and others.

The ocean is rich in ferromanganese nodules, with total reserves on the surface of up to 7.1012 tons. The most extensive reserves are observed in the northern deepest part of the Pacific Ocean, as well as in the Southern and Peruvian basins. In terms of the main ore elements, the nodules of the ocean contain manganese 7.1.1010 tons, nickel 2.3.109 tons, copper 1.5.109 tons, cobalt 1.109 tons. Rich deep-sea deposits of gas hydrates were discovered in the Pacific Ocean: in the Oregon depression, the Kuril ridge and the shelf Sakhalin in the Sea of Okhotsk, the Nankai Trench in the Sea of Japan and around the coast of Japan, in the Peruvian depression. In 2013, Japan intends to start pilot drilling to extract natural gas from methane hydrate deposits on the Pacific Ocean floor northeast of Tokyo.

Red clays are widespread in the Pacific Ocean, especially in the northern hemisphere. This is due to the great depth of the ocean basins. In the Pacific Ocean, there are two belts (southern and northern) of siliceous diatom oozes, as well as a distinct equatorial belt of siliceous radiolarian deposits. Vast areas of the bottom of the southwestern ocean are occupied by coral-algal biogenic deposits. To the south of the equator, foraminiferal oozes are widespread. There are several fields of pteropod deposits in the Coral Sea. In the northern deepest part of the Pacific Ocean, as well as in the Southern and Peruvian basins, extensive fields of ferromanganese nodules are observed.

Many peoples inhabiting the Pacific shores and islands from ancient times made voyages on the ocean, mastered its riches. The beginning of the penetration of Europeans into the Pacific Ocean coincided with the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries. The ships of F. Magellan for several months of navigation crossed a huge body of water from east to west. All this time, the sea was surprisingly calm, which gave Magellan reason to call it the Pacific Ocean.

Much information about the nature of the ocean was obtained during the voyages of J. Cook. A great contribution to the study of the ocean and the islands in it was made by Russian expeditions led by I.F. Kruzenshtern, M.P. Lazarev, V.M. Golovnin, Yu.F. Lisyansky. In the same 19th century complex studies were carried out by S. O. Makarov on the ship "Vityaz". Regular scientific voyages since 1949 were made by Soviet expeditionary ships. A special international organization is engaged in the study of the Pacific Ocean.

In the waters of the Pacific Ocean is concentrated more than half of the living matter of the entire oceans Earth. This applies to both plants and animals. The organic world as a whole is distinguished by species richness, antiquity, and a high degree of endemism.

The fauna, numbering up to 100 thousand species in general, is characterized by mammals living mainly in temperate and high latitudes. A representative of toothed whales, the sperm whale, has a massive distribution, and several species of striped whales from toothless whales. Their fishing is strictly limited. Separate genera of the eared seal family (sea lions) and fur seals are found in the south and north of the ocean. Northern fur seals are valuable fur-bearing animals, the trade of which is strictly controlled. In the northern waters of the Pacific Ocean, there are also very rare sea lions (from eared seals) and walrus, which has a circumpolar range, but is now on the verge of extinction.

very rich fauna fish. In tropical waters there are at least 2000 species, in the northwestern seas - about 800 species. The Pacific Ocean accounts for almost half of the world's fish catch. The main fishing areas are the northern and central parts of the ocean. The main commercial families are salmon, herring, cod, anchovies, etc.

The predominant mass of living organisms inhabiting the Pacific Ocean (as well as other parts of the World Ocean) falls on invertebrates that live at different levels of ocean waters and at the bottom of shallow waters: these are protozoa, coelenterates, arthropods (crabs, shrimps), molluscs (oysters, squids, octopuses), echinoderms, etc. They serve as food for mammals, fish, sea birds, but also constitute an essential component of marine fisheries and are objects of aquaculture.

The Pacific Ocean, due to the high temperatures of its surface waters in tropical latitudes, is especially rich in various types of corals, including those with a calcareous skeleton. In no other ocean is there such an abundance and variety of coral structures of various types as in the Pacific.

The basis of plankton is made up of unicellular representatives of the animal and plant world. There are almost 380 species in the phytoplankton of the Pacific Ocean.

The greatest wealth of the organic world is characteristic of areas where the so-called upwelling(raising to the surface of deep waters rich in minerals) or mixing of waters with different temperatures occurs, which creates favorable conditions for the nutrition and development of phyto- and zooplankton, which feed on fish and other animals of the nekton. In the Pacific, upwelling areas are concentrated along the coasts of Peru and in divergence zones in subtropical latitudes, where there are areas of intensive fishing and other trades.

The Amundsen Sea is located off the coast of Antarctica.

Banda, the inter-island sea of the Pacific Ocean in Indonesia.

Bellingshausen Sea is located off the coast of Antarctica

The Bering Sea is the largest and deepest among the seas of Russia

The Inland Sea of Japan (Seto-Nikai) is located inside the straits between the islands of Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku (Japan).

The East China Sea (Donghai) is a semi-enclosed sea of the Pacific Ocean, between the coast of East Asia (China) and the islands of Ryukyu and Kyushu (Japan).

The Yellow Sea is limited from the Yellow and East China Seas by a conditional border that runs from the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula to Chechzhudo Island and further to the coast somewhat north of the mouth of the Yangtze River.

Coral Sea, a semi-enclosed sea of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Australia.

Mindanao, an interisland sea in the southern part of the Philippine archipelago.

The Moluccas Sea is an inter-island sea of the Pacific Ocean, in the Malay Archipelago, between the islands of Mindanao, Sulawesi, Sula, Moluccas and Talaud. Area 274 thousand square meters. km, maximum depth 4970 m.

The New Guinea Sea lies to the northeast of the island of New Guinea.

The Sea of Okhotsk is one of the largest and deepest seas in Russia.

The Ross Sea is located off the coast of Antarctica.

Seram is an inter-island sea in the Malay Archipelago.

The Solomon Sea is bounded by the islands of New Guinea.

Sulawesi (Celebes Sea) is located between the islands of Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Mindanao, Sangihe and the Sulu archipelago.

The Tasman Sea is located between Australia and the island of Tasmania.

Fiji is located between the islands of Fiji, New Caledonia, Norfolk, Kermadec and New Zealand.

The Philippine Sea is located between the islands of Japan, Taiwan and the Philippine in the west, underwater ridges and the Izu Islands

FLORES is located between the island of Sulawesi in the north, the islands of Sumba and Flores in the south.

South China Sea, in the west of the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Southeast Asia, between the Indochina peninsula.

JAVAN SEA, in the west of the Pacific Ocean, between the islands of Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan.

The Sea of Japan lies between the Eurasian mainland and the Korean peninsula, the Sakhalin and Japanese islands, which separate it from other Pacific seas and the ocean itself.