FACTS ABOUT THE SEA.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 293, 17 July 1917, Page 4

FACTS ABOUT THE SEA.

Xot only is the sea the reservoir into wiiii.h all rivers run, but it is the li-trni tb.it finally cat< lies all the rain rb 't f.'IN, not nv rely upon its own surf.i'-'', but upon 1 ic surface of the land ■ I'd upon the n>ofs of our houses. It has been calculated that each year a I.iv rof the entire sea fourteen feet 11•: 1 k is tnken up into the clouds. This vapour is fresh, and, if all the water could be removed in the same way, none of it being returned, there would, it is figured, be left a layct of pure salt 280 feet high on the bed of the .Vhr.ric. These figures are based upon the assumption that three feet of

water contain an inch of salt, and that the average depth of the ocean is three miles.

At a depth of about 3,500 feet the temperature is uniform, varying but little between the poles and the equator. The colder water is below. In many deep bays the water begins to freeze at the bottom before it does at the surface.

At that depth waves arc not felt. The force of v-ivcs is in proportion to their bright. !t is said that the sea strikes upon certain rocks with the force of seventeen tons for each square yard. The pressure of water increases with the depth. One mile down this pressure is reckoned at more than a ton to the square inch—in other words, more than 133 times the pressure of the atmosphere- The depth of the sea presents sonic interesting considerations. If, it is claimed by one authority, the Atlantic Ocean were lowered 6,564 feet, it would be reduced to half its present width. If it were lowered a little more than three miles the result would be dry land all the way between Newfoundland and Ireland. If the Mediterranean were lowered 060 feet, Africa would be joined to Italy, and three separate seas would remain.