Sea of Marmara
The Sea of Marmara, or rather Propontis, was a sea that the Greeks sailed through to reach the Black Sea. According to legend, a great storm broke out on Propontis bringing the Argonauts back to an island they had left.
However, there was a conflict which resulted in the murder of King Cyzicus. Cyzicus ruled over the Dolionians, a tribe that inhabited the southern shore of the Propontis.
Interesting Facts:
Imrali is an island on the Marmara sea where Abdullah Öcalan is imprisoned.
On December 29, 1999, the Russian oil tanker Volgoneft broke in two in the Sea of Marmara, and more than 1500 tonnes of oil were spilled into the water.
The North Anatolian fault runs under the sea. This particular fault has triggered many major earthquakes including the Izmit Earthquake of 1999.
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth’s oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, “sea”, bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan
The ocean encompasses almost a third of the Earth’s surface, having an area of 179.7 million square kilometres (69.4 million sq mi and 161 million cubic mi) —significantly larger than Earth’s entire landmass, with room for another Africa to spare
Water temperatures in the Pacific vary from freezing in the poleward areas to about 30 °C (86 °F) near the equator. Salinity also varies latitudinally.
The Pacific is ringed by many volcanoes and oceanic trenches
Contrary to popular belief, the Pacific is far from peaceful. In fact, many tropical cyclones inflict devastating affects on the islands. Not only that, the lands around the Pacific are full of volcanoes and often affected by earthquakes. Tsunamis, which are cause by underwater earthquakes, have devastated many islands and destroyed entire towns.
In the Pacific, marine pollution is by far the biggest culprit of destruction. Chemicals used as fertilizers in agriculture as well as waste from livestock and humans run into the ocean. The excess chemicals that deplete the oxygen in the water create a type of dead zone (an aquatic area with very little life).
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea has an average depth of 1,500 metres (4,920 ft) and the deepest recorded point is 5,267 meters (about 3.27 miles) in the Calypso Deep in the Ionian Sea.
It was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade and cultural exchange between emergent peoples of the region — the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Phoenician, Carthaginian, Greek, Levantine, Roman, Moorish and Turkish cultures.
In contrast to the many destructive oceans in the world, pollution in this region has been quite disastrous in recent years. In fact, the “United Nations Environment Programme has estimated that 650 million tons of sewage, 129,000 tons of mineral oil, 60,000 tons of mercury, 3,800 tons of lead and 36,000 tons of phosphates are dumped into the Mediterranean each year”.
The Mediterranean Monk Seal is among the world’s most endangered marine mammals because of sea pollution. In fact, according to a 1994 study of the seabed using nets around the coasts of Spain, France and Italy, there was an average of 1,935 items per square kilometre found the floor of the sea. “Plastic debris accounted for 76%, of which 94% was plastic bags.”
Indian 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 Indian Ocean is the warmest ocean in the world.
Disasters:
On December 26, 2004, the countries surrounding the Indian Ocean were hit by a tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. The waves resulted in more than 226,000 deaths and over 1 million people were left homeless some dead.
The earthquake was caused by subduction and triggered a series of devastating tsunami along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean.
It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand were the hardest hit.
With a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3, it is the second largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph. This earthquake had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes. It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1 cm (0.4 inches) and triggered other earthquakes as far away as Alaska.
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1970 Bhola cyclone
The 1970 Bhola cyclone was a devastating tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and India’s West Bengal on November 12, 1970. It was the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded, and one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern times. Up to 500,000 people lost their lives in the storm, primarily as a result of the storm surge that flooded much of the low-lying islands of the Ganges Delta
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world’s oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres (41.1 million square miles). It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth’s surface.
Atlantic is the saltiest of the world’s major oceans. The climate of the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent land areas is influenced by the temperatures of the surface waters and water currents as well as the winds blowing across the waters.
Icebergs (large blocks of broken glaciers floating in the water)-are common in the Northwest areas of the Atlantic and “have been spotted as far south as Bermuda and the Madeira Islands”. Ships that travel in the surrounding areas are subject to superstructure icing, which is water that freezes on contact, causing the boat to capsize and sink.
Disasters:
On the night of 14 April 1912, during the RMS Titanic maiden voyage, Titanic hit an iceberg and sank two hours and forty minutes later, early on 15 April 1912. The sinking resulted in the deaths of 1,517 people, making it one of the most deadly peacetime maritime disasters in history. The high casualty rate was due in part to the fact that, although complying with the regulations of the time, the ship did not carry enough lifeboats for everyone aboard. The ship had a total lifeboat capacity of 1,178 people, although her capacity was 3,547. A disproportionate number of men died due to the women-and-children-first protocol that was followed.
Air France Flight 447 was a scheduled commercial flight from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris, France, that crashed on June 1, 2009 over the Atlantic Ocean with the loss of all 216 passengers and 12 crew members.
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil’s Triangle, is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean in which a number of aircraft and surface vessels are alleged to have disappeared in mysterious circumstances which fall beyond the boundaries of human error, piracy, equipment failure, or natural disasters. Popular culture has attributed some of these disappearances to the paranormal, a suspension of the laws of physics, or activity by extraterrestrial beings.
USS Cyclops
The incident resulting in the single largest loss of life in the history of the US Navy not related to combat occurred when USS Cyclops, under the command of Lt Cdr G. W. Worley, went missing without a trace with a crew of 309 sometime after March 4, 1918, after departing the island of Barbados. Although there is no strong evidence for any single theory, many independent theories exist, some blaming storms, some capsizing, and some suggesting that wartime enemy activity was to blame for the loss.
Douglas DC-3:: Disappeared in 1948
On December 28, 1948, a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, number NC16002, disappeared while on a flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Miami. No trace of the aircraft or the 32 people onboard was ever found. From the documentation compiled by the Civil Aeronautics Board investigation, a possible key to the plane’s disappearance was found, but barely touched upon by the Triangle writers: the plane’s batteries were inspected and found to be low on charge, but ordered back into the plane without a recharge by the pilot while in San Juan. Whether or not this led to complete electrical failure will never be known. However, since piston-engined aircraft rely upon magnetos to provide spark to their cylinders rather than a battery powered ignition coil system, this theory is not strongly convincing.
SS Marine Sulphur Queen: Disappeared in 1963
SS Marine Sulphur Queen, T2 tanker ship converted to carrying molten sulphur, noted for its disappearance in 1963 near the southern coast of Florida, taking the lives of 39 crewmen. The loss of the ship was the subject of lengthy litigation between the owner and families of the missing men.
Aegean Sea: The Legend of Atlantis
The name “Aegean” was said to be named after the town of Aegae, or possibly the queen of the Amazons who died in the sea, “or Aigaion, the “sea goat”, another name of Briareus, one of the archaic Hecatonchires, or, especially among the Athenians, Aegeus, the father of Theseus, who drowned himself in the sea when he thought his son had died”.
During the 1970s, the Islands of Thera became a topic of international importance. Geological sediment samples were taken near the island, and the conclusion was that the sediments may have been linked with a possible explanation of the ancient legend of the lost island of Atlantis.
Grey Wolf
North American Bullfrog