Bodies of Water

Objective 1.01

Describe the bodies of water of the United States and other countries of North America.

Bodies of Water

• Bodies of water are important to the United States. Oceans help connect the United States to other countries of the world. Lakes and rivers provide fresh water for wildlife and, in many places, for people and their farms, factories, and cities. Large lakes and rivers also provide important transportation routes within the United States. Like landforms, bodies of water have different shapes and sizes.

Oceans

• The largest body of water on Earth is an Ocean.

• An ocean is a large body of salt water that surrounds a continent.

• Oceans cover more the two-thirds of the Earth's surface . In total, it covers around 71% of the earth’s surface.

Oceans(Cont.)

• There are 5 Oceans on our planet. For many years only (4) four oceans were officially recognized, and then in the spring of 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization established the Southern Ocean, and determined its limits. Those limits include all water below 60 degrees south, and some of it, like the Arctic Ocean, is frozen.

Oceans By Size

• #1 Pacific (155,557,000 sq km)

• #2 Atlantic (76,762,000 sq km)

• #3 Indian (68,556,000 sq km)

• #4 Southern (20,327,000 sq km)

• #5 Arctic (14,056,000 sq km)

• The Pacific Ocean alone covers nearly one-third of the Earth’s surface, an area larger than all the continents put together.

• The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions.

• On average, the Atlantic is the saltiest major ocean.

• The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface.

• The African, Indian, and Antarctic crustal plates converge in the Indian Ocean.

• The Southern Ocean, also known as the Great Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean and the South Polar Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica.

• It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions. This ocean zone is where cold, northward flowing waters from the Antarctic mix with warmer sub-Antarctic waters.

• The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest, and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions.

• The Arctic Ocean is partly covered by sea ice throughout the year.

Oceans(Cont.)

• Oceans move in form of waves and currents. A current is that part of a body of water flowing in a certain direction. Ocean currents are caused mainly by the Earth’s wind patterns.

• Ocean water also moves in the form of tides. Tides are the regular rise and fall of an ocean and of the bodies of water connected to it. When the tide is high, some of the low-lying land near the ocean is covered with water.

Gulfs, Bays, and Inlets

• A gulf is a part of the ocean (or sea) that is partly surrounded by land (it is usually larger than a bay).

• A bay is a body of water that is partly enclosed by land (and is usually smaller than a gulf).

Tampa Bay, Florida

• An inlet is any area of water extending into the land from a larger body of water. The largest of these inlets are called gulfs.

• A sound is a long inlet that often separates offshore islands from the mainland. Albemarle Sound is a large coastal body of water in North Carolina and is known as one of the roughest stretches along the Intercoastal Waterway.  Scientifically, we refer to Albemarle Sound as an estuary, a semi-enclosed body of water where fresh and salt waters meet and mix; estuaries are a critical habitat for a variety of marine life and are popular sites for recreation (e.g., fishing, boating).

Lakes

• A lake is a large body of water surrounded by land on all sides. Really huge lakes are often called seas.

• North America has more lakes than any other continent. The largest lakes in North America are together known as the Great Lakes. They border between the US and Canada.

• The five lakes that make-up the Great Lakes are: Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario.

• These are among the world’s largest freshwater lakes.

Rivers

• A river is a large, flowing body of fresh water that usually empties into a sea or ocean.

• Every river begins at a source and ends at a mouth.

• A stream or river that flows into a larger stream or a river is called a tributary.

• River systems drain, or carry water away from, the land around them. The land drained by a river system is its drainage basin.

Rivers(Cont.)

Rivers(Cont.)

• A fall line is a place where the elevation of the land drops sharply, causing rivers to form waterfalls or rapids.

• Cities grew along the Fall Line because people used the fast-moving water there to power machines in factories.

THE END!!!