Violent movements of the plates in the Post-Glacial era created the Puerto Rican Trench, nearly 24,000 feet deep, which is the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean. This trench is also characterized by one of the most negative gravity anomalies on the planet; a force of -380 milliGal is present, which indicates an active downward force in the deeper portions of the water (oceanexplorer.noaa.gov). Puerto Rico’s location near the major tectonic plates is the primary concern for future natural disasters that could change the landscape of the island and cause serious damage to the modern population and infrastructure. “Because the island lies on an active plate boundary, earthquakes are a constant threat, and the densely populated coastal areas are vulnerable to tsunamis. Erosion is a concern in many coastal areas, but is particularly serious to island economies that rely heavily on the tourist industry (oceanexplorer.noaa.gov).” Geological studies of the islands indicate that the western portion of the island has high risk of damaging ground motion, equal to that of Seattle, Washington.
Atolls, on the other hand, are formed far offshore and they make a ring-shaped reef that close a circular lagoon. Coral reefs are the largest biological structures on the planet. The largest structure is the Great Barrier Reef covering over 2,000 kilometers along the east coast of Australia. The reef is said to be 500,000 to 2,500,000 years old. Besides global warming there is another problem with this beautiful structure and that is the result of several local natural and human factors such as over fishing.
Data shows that 136 out of 700 listed cultural heritages throughout the world will be affected in the long term. If global average temperature increases by just one degree Celsius, the water will directly threaten more than 40 of sites. 5 Second, sea level rise influences indigenous communities. Climate change and sea level rise and globally, but it
Maverick’s Wave The Mavericks is one of the most world renowned big wave break in Northern California. It is located about half a mile from the shore of Pillar Point Harbor just north of Half Moon Bay, California. The area is a shallow near shore reef in the locality of the San Gregorio fault, a major active fault within the San Andreas fault system. Motion on the fault zone has uplifted and deformed the rocks in the area near Mavericks into the S and J shaped folds we see on the seafloor (NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries). It contains the biggest waves that attract many surfers around the world.
Containing an abundance of marine life consisting of over 3,000 individual reef systems and coral cays The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven wonders of the natural world. Covering over 300,000 square kilometers and including a wide range of ocean depth it contains such biodiversity it makes The Great Barrier Reef one of the most complex ecosystems on Earth. Like any other ecosystem on Earth the Great Barrier Reef depends on both abiotic and biotic components to keep it functional and stable. Abiotic components are non-living factors that impact ecosystems such as temperatures of 77 degrees to 84 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees to 29 degrees Celsius). Certain coral reefs have progressed in order to survive outside this temperature range.
The salinity and temperature of the water influence its density, and the differences in density are the major factor in understanding the formation of currents and the positions of water masses in the sea. In addition, temperature and salinity play major roles in influencing the distribution of plants and animals. The sediments of the sea floor may be divided into lithogenous, hydrogenous, biogenous, and cosmogenous sediments. Lithogenous sediments are the major sediments on the ocean floor. They are derived from the chemical and mechanical weathering of rocks.
Solar radiation has been suspected to play a role in coral bleaching. The consequent exposure to high or low temperatures, increased solar radiation, desiccation, and sea water dilution by heavy rains could all play a role in zooxanthellae loss, but could also very well lead to coral death. -Fresh water dilution Rapid dilution of reef waters from storm-generated precipitation and runoff has been demonstrated to cause coral reef bleaching. Generally, such bleaching events are rare and confined to small, near-shore areas. Nearly all of the world’s major coral reef regions (Caribbean/western Atlantic, eastern Pacific, central and western Pacific, Indian Ocean, Arabian Gulf, Red Sea) experienced some degree fo coral bleaching and mortality during the 1980s.
October 9, 2012 “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” Today’s society is facing a big problem with pollution, probably when we talk about pollution you just think about air pollution. But Captain. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The Pacific Garbage is an endless floating waste of plastic trash, that is killing many sea animals and underwater vegetation, but Captain Moore mission is to draw attention to the growing, and choking problem of plastic debris in our seas. The Great Pacific Patch stretch for hundreds of miles across the Pacific Ocean, basically the North part is forming a floating junkyard.
In 2010 ,172 million gallons of oil spilled from a whole on the ocean bed in the Gulf of Mexico. There are four major and significant ways of how the oil is transported to the ocean. The four ways are, oil seeps, consumption, transportation, and extraction. All the ways listed above are harmful and waste our limited amount of oil. Oil seeps accrue when natural seeps emerge from below the sea floor.
Introduction The Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is one of Australia’s icons located off the coast of Australia and is the largest coral reef in the world. The Great Barrier Reef is considered as one of the Seven Wonders of the World and is called the Wonder Down Under as Australia is so far south of the equator. Uluru, a huge rock formation is also one of the Seven Wonders on the list located in Australia The Great Barrier Reef stretches about 2012 kilometres along Australia’s Northeast Coast and is the largest structure in the world built on living organisms. There are more than 10,000 different species of animals living in the Great Barrier Reef and some even never named by scientists.