1. Continents and Oceans
Overview
Mr. Jeremy Rinkel

2. Geography of the oceans
Earth’s oceans:
• Cover 70.8% of Earth’s surface
• Are interconnected (“world ocean”)
• Have huge size and volume (as a
reservoir, contain 97% of Earth’s water)

3. The four principal oceans
• Pacific
• Atlantic
• Indian
• Arctic
Plus:
• Southern or
Antarctic
Ocean
Figure 1-2

4. Comparing oceans to the
continents
Figure 1-3

5. Comparing depth of the oceans
to elevation on land
Figure 1-4

6. Early exploration of the oceans
• Pacific
navigators
peopled
many
remote
islands
Figure 1-6

7. Early exploration of the oceans
• Advancements of European navigators
– Phoenicians explored the Mediterranean Sea
and beyond
– Pytheas developed method to determine
latitude
– Eratosthenes calculated circumference of
Earth
– Ptolemy produced map that shows known
land surrounded by largely unexplored
oceans

8. Early exploration of the oceans
• The Vikings
explored the
North Atlantic
and
established
many colonies
Figure 1-7

9. Early exploration of the oceans
• During the Age of Discovery, Columbus
and Magellan make journeys of
exploration
Figure 1-8

10. Early exploration of the oceans
• Voyaging for science began with English
navigator and explorer Captain James
Cook
– Mapped many unknown islands
– Determined outline of the Pacific Ocean
– Sampled ocean properties
– Modified shipboard diet to eliminate scurvy
– Used John Harrison’s chronometer to
determine longitude

11. Seven continents
• What exactly is a continent?
– A continent is large landmasses on the earth’s
surface.
– North America, South America, Europe, Asia,
Africa, Australia, and Antarctica are the seven
continents of Earth.

12. Africa

13. South America

14. Australia

15. Asia

16. Antarctica

17. North America

18. Europe