- Weather – Temperature, Pressure, Wind, Moisture, Cloudiness, Precipitation and Visibility at any given time.
- Climate –
- Average weather over a large area.
- Factors controlling weather and climatic conditions are:
- Latitude.
- Altitude.
- Unequal distribution of land and water.
- Ocean current.
- Air pressure.
- Wind.
- Mountain barrier.
- Nature of ground surface.
- Atmospheric storms etc.
- Different climate zones of the earth are:
- Equatorial zone.
- Hot zone.
- Warm temperate zone.
- Cool temperate zone.
- Cold zone.
- Composition of hydrosphere.
Storage component | Total % of water |
Oceans | 97.6 |
Saline lakes and inland seas | 0.008 |
Ice caps and glaciers | 1.9 |
Ground water | 0.5 |
Soil moisture | 0.01 |
Lakes | 0.009 |
Fresh water rivers | 0.0001 |
Atmosphere | 0.0009 |
- Relief features of the oceans –
- Continental shelf.
- Shallow submerged extension of the continent.
- Extends to a depth of 180 m.
- Average width – 70 km.
- Slope of – 10 / mile.
- Covers 7.5% of the Oceans. (Atlantic Ocean – 13.3%, Pacific Ocean – 5.7%, Indian Ocean – 4.2% etc.)
- 20% of petrol and gas is found here.
- Provides the richest fishing grounds.
- Continental slope.
- Extends seawards from the continental shelf.
- Max depth up to – 3660 m.
- Average slope – 200 to 500.
- Andesite line – Boundary between continental shelf and continental slope.
- Covers 8.5% of the ocean area.
- Continental rise.
- At the foot of the continental slope, due to the accumulation of debris transported over the slope.
- Average slope – 0.50 to 10.
- Oil deposits occur here.
- Deep sea planes. (Abyssal)
- Most extensive part of the oceanic floor.
- Average depth – 3000 m to 6000 m.
- Covers 75.9% oceanic area.
- Occupied by raised ridges or submarine mountains and by very deep trenches or canyons.
- Deeps. (Trenches)
- Are narrow and steep side’s depressions.
- Are formed when two plates moving together and one being pushed below the other.
- Marina trench (Challenger deep) is the deepest trench at north-west Pacific Ocean near Philippines (approx 11 km deep).
- Volcanic ridges.
- Are of tectonic origin.
- Formed by the volcanic activity along the spreading boundary of the plates.
- These are thousands of km long and hundreds of km wide.
- Their summits may rise as Islands. Example: Iceland, Azores Island etc.
- Continental shelf.