Show THE OCEANS OCEAN 9 VOLUME VOLUME depth to which it would cover t the land if it flattened out at the last mechin meeting of the royal so y of 11 dr john murray of tho the challenger expedition made n I 1 communication of tile the height V and volume of the dry land and the depth and volume of the ocean accordia according to his own investigations the mean hei height lit of the land of the globe was 2230 feet above the sea level and the mean depth of the ocean was feet or 2080 fathoms if tho ocean were regarded as being divided into two parts by the 1000 line it would be funi that the mean depth of the area having less depth than 1000 fathoms was 2028 feet or fathoms or nearly the same depth beneath tile the sea as the height of 0 the dry land above it on the other hand the mean depth of the area beyond the 1000 fathoms is feet or 2440 fathoms the former area called by dr murray the transitional area occupies 24 square miles and the latter hitter area which is the abysmal area anti and is situated fully three miles below the average average heights of the continents occupies miles or wore than half of the surface of the earth in the transitional area of the ocean there are many and varied conditions in respect of li light lit heat currents chan changes chanes es of level the character and variety of the deposits and in the animals and plants which inhabit the various parts of the region region the deposits are in most respects similar to those which make up a verv very large part of tho the sedimentary formation of the dry land in the abysmal area there is a uniform set of conditions the being near the freezing point with in an annual 0 range range not exceeding 7 degrees fahr nal there being no sunlight or plant life there is a great abundance of animal tife life but the forms bioni various parts of the area ire are very similar and and in like those of shallower waters and the iho deposits which accumulate slowly ire are unlike any of the sedimentary deposits of the dry land from 1 dr I murrays Mur rays investigations it also sp EP pears that if the dry land of the globe bc were reduced to the sea level by being behim removed to and piled up in the shallower waters of the ocean then its extent would be about square miles and the rest of the earth would be covered byan ocean extending exten dingi tc square miles A again tin should the whole of the solid soli land be reduced to one level under the ocean then the surface of the earth would be covered by an all ocean with a uniform depth of about two miles engineering |