Types And Importance Of Oceans To Man

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Hi, welcome to this blog on types and Importance of oceans to man.

Table Of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Types of Oceans
  3. Economic Importance of oceans to man.
  4. Revision Questions

Types And Importance Of Oceans To Man

Introduction: The ocean occupies more than 70% or 360 million square kilometers of the Earth total area of 510 million square kilometers.

The study of the oceans, the water in the ocean, the movement of water and the economic significance of the ocean is called oceanography.

The ocean basin is not flat. The depth of the ocean is measured by a technique called eco sound technique but this has been replaced by the radar sound technique.

Types Of Oceans

There are four main types of oceans in the world and the rest constitute the seas. These are:

  1. Pacific Ocean which occupies 165 million kilometer square.
  2. Atlantic ocean which occupies 82 km square.
  3. Indian Ocean which occupies 74 million kilometer square.
  4. Arctic Ocean which occupies 14 million km square.
  5. The seas which occupies 25 million km square.

Pacific Ocean is the largest of all the oceans.

Economic Importance of Oceans to Man

  1. Means of transportation: Oceans are used worldwide as a major means of transportation and communication between countries during international trade.
  2. Provision of food: Oceans also provide food for man, especially proteins in form of fish, prawn, crabs, crayfish, etc.
  3. Provision of employment: Oceans also provide employment to many people, e.g, fishermen, sailors and ship builders.
  4. Tourism: Oceans, especially around the beaches and Coasts are centers of tourist attraction (Tourism) e.g, the Bar Beach in Lagos.
  5. Development of seaports: Seaport which are terminal points for ships are located on the coasts, e.g, Apapa port in Lagos.
  6. Promotion of economic activities: International trade is made possible through oceans, and many other economic activities such as ship building and transport.
  7. Extraction of salts: The ocean water provides a raw materials from which domestic and industrial salts are extracted.
  8. Sources of minerals: Some minerals like petroleum and natural gas are associated with the ocean, e.g, in the continental shelf.
  9. Provision of industrial Products: Some seaweeds are known to be used by certain Industries for the production of cosmetics.
  10. Educational research: The ocean also provides a means for research in aquatic plants and animals that are useful to man, e.g, Nigeria institute of oceanography and marine research in Lagos.
  11. Influencing climate of adjoining coastlands: Oceans are known to influence greatly the climate of adjoining coastlands.
  12. Sources of sea weeds: Oceans are sources of seaweeds which are used for the making of cosmetics and fertilizers.

Revision Questions

  1. Outline five types of Oceans in the world.
  2. Which ocean is the largest of all the oceans?
  3. Briefly state seven economic importance of oceans to man.
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