average depth of caribbean sea

The sill depth of Anegada Passage is between 6,400 and 7,700 feet (1,950 and 2,350 metres), whereas that of the Windward Passage is between 5,250 and 5,350 feet (1,600 and 1,630 metres). The Cayman Trough, also known as the Bartlett Deep, is an interesting point in the sea because it sits on multiple tectonic plates, including the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. The name Caribbean has been derived from Caribs, a Native American group of indigenous people that lived in the region during the late 15th century. The Caribbean has fewer hurricanes than either the western Pacific (where these storms are called typhoons) or the Gulf of Mexico. Tourist attractions of the region are those generally associated with a maritime tropical climate: Scuba diving and snorkeling on coral reefs, cruises, sailing, and game fishing at sea. In the early Jurassic due to powerful marine transgression, water broke into the present area of the Gulf of Mexico creating a vast shallow pool. Throughout the Caribbean there is industrial catching of lobster and sardines (off the coast of Yucatn Peninsula). The average depth is about 4,280 m. The volume of the Pacific Ocean reaches up to some 714 million cubic kilometers. This puts its vulnerable ecosystem at risk, including people living nearby. Privacy Policy. According to the National Hurricane Center 385 hurricanes occurred in the Caribbean between 1494 and 1900. The expedition team also relied on these maps to determine where the ROV dives will take place. The Cayman Basin is in turn separated from the Colombian Basin by the Nicaraguan Rise. Live video from a 2013 expedition to deep-sea canyons off the northeast Atlantic coast of the U.S. garnered more than 875,000 views, he said. 830 324. Above this water, the subtropical undercurrent and surface water enter. Its also home to over 3,000 fish species and 600 types of coral reefs. The Random House atlas of the oceans. It borders several countries in East Africa, Asia, and western Australia. The mahogany is the national tree of the Dominican Republic and Belize. 200 3, 330 10, 920. There are 90 species of mammals in the Caribbean including sperm whales, humpback whales and dolphins. The Caribbean Sea is nowhere near being the largest sea in the world, but it is still very deep! Islands are inhabited by some endemic species such as rock iguanas and American crocodile. [10] Most recently, a 7.1 earthquake struck Haiti on January 12, 2010. Because the ocean is a big place and difficult to study, if you search online to find the depth of the ocean, you may end up with a range of results. Following the regions discovery by Columbus, the Caribbean islands began to be colonized by several countries including Spain, Dutch Republic, France, England, Denmark, etc. Some features, like canyons and seamounts, might look familiar, while others, such as hydrothermal vents and methane seeps, are unique to the deep. Just by a few thousand feet, the Atlantic Ocean is deeper than the Caribbean Sea. Subantarctic intermediate water (i.e., water differing in several characteristics from the surface and bottom layers of water that it separates) enters the Caribbean below the Anegada Passage at depths of 1,600 to 3,300 feet (500 to 1,000 metres). Corrections? Trying to understand the differences and boundaries between multiple oceans and seas is difficult. During the Cretaceous the Caribbean acquired the shape close to that seen today. The entire area of the Caribbean Sea, the numerous islands of the West Indies, and adjacent coasts are collectively known as the Caribbean. This sea was an important trade route for merchants in ancient times. The name Coral came from the numerous coral reefs, including the worlds largest known as the Great Barrier Reef. [14] Historically the Caribbean is thought to contain 14% of the world's coral reefs. The rainfall varies with the elevation and water current and ranging from less than 12 inches a year on the Bonaire Island to about 350 inches a year in the areas around Dominica. It is also well known as the location of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Join us onFacebook,Twitter, Instagramand our othersocial media channels. Tropical storms reaching a hurricane velocity of more than 75 miles (120 km) per hour are seasonally common in the northern Caribbean as well as in the Gulf of Mexico; they are almost nonexistent in the far south. Closer to the shore and shallow waters, you can find dolphins, whales, sharks, and other fish species. Technically, the Caribbean Sea is a suboceanic basin of the Atlantic Ocean. Deepest Point: Challenger Deep (36,070 feet). Rainfall varies from about 10 inches (25 cm) per year on the island of Bonaire off the coast of Venezuela to some 350 inches (900 cm) annually in parts of Dominica. Guide to the Oceans. Tropical cyclones that impact the Caribbean often develop off the West coast of Africa and make their way west across the Atlantic Ocean toward the Caribbean, while other storms develop in the Caribbean itself. Powerful rifting led to the formation of narrow troughs, stretching from modern Newfoundland to the west coast of the Gulf of Mexico which formed siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. Together with the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea has been erroneously termed the American Mediterranean, owing to the fact that, like the Mediterranean Sea, it is located between two continental landmasses. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. ETOPO1 1 Arc-Minute Global Relief Model: Procedures, Data Sources and Analysis. [15], The habitats supported by the reefs are critical to such tourist activities as fishing and diving, and provide an annual economic value to Caribbean nations of US$3.14.6billion. National Geophysical Data Center, 1999. Its average depth is 4,280 m, with the deepest point being Challenger Deep, which descends to 10,994 meters (36,070 feet). Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles starting with Cuba, to the east by the Lesser Antilles, and to the south by the northern coast of South America. Some of the major rivers that drain into the Caribbean Sea include Magdalene, San Juan, Chagres, Coco, etc. Okeanos Explorer, which is operated, managed and maintained by NOAAs Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, has just spent about four weeks mapping more than 13,600 square miles of seafloor around the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Director, Florida Institute of Oceanography, St. Petersburg. The hydrology of the sea has a high level of homogeneity. NOAA Technical Memorandum NESDIS NGDC-24. The Mediterranean Sea formed about 5.9 million years ago when it cut off from the Atlantic Ocean. Average depth: 1,615 metres (5,299 ft) Max. To understand how vast water bodies are, you may consider looking into the sizes of various oceans and seas. The name Caribbean derives from the Caribs, one of the region's dominant Native American groups at the time of European contact during the late 15th century. Surface. they had been visited in the 10th century, List of Caribbean countries by population, "Tsunamis in the Caribbean? [13] Among them stands out the Belize Barrier Reef, with an area of 963km2 (372sqmi), which was declared a World Heritage Site in 1996. The Caribbean Sea is part of the western Atlantic Ocean, located between Central America, Mexico, Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles, and Cuba. Cayman Trough (located between the Jamaica and Cayman Islands) is the deepest point of the Caribbean Sea with a depth of 25,220 feet or 7,686 meters. The average depth is about 2,200 meters (7,220 feet) below the sea's surface. It is fed by the westward-flowing North Equatorial Current moving from North Africa to the West Indies. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. About 600 avian species such as the American yellow warbler, Fernandinas flicker, palmchat, black-fronted piping guan, etc have also been recorded here. 177178. The name Caribbean derives from the Caribs, one of the regions dominant Native American groups at the time of European contact during the late 15th century. To the south it is bounded by the coasts of Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama; to the west by Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and the Yucatn Peninsula of Mexico; to the north by the Greater Antilles islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico; and to the east by the north-south chain of the Lesser Antilles, consisting of the island arc that extends from the Virgin Islands in the northeast to Trinidad, off the Venezuelan coast, in the southeast. The average depth of the Atlantic is 3,646 m, with the deepest part being Milwaukee Deep, which descends to around 8,380 m. The Atlantic Ocean derives its name from Greek mythologys Sea of Atlas. Its roughly 135 million years old, having formed during the Cretaceous period. After the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492, the Spanish term Antillas applied to the lands; stemming from this, Sea of the Antilles became a common alternative name for Caribbean Sea in various European languages. In the Caribbean Sea there are around 1,000 documented species of fish, including sharks (bull shark, tiger shark, silky shark and Caribbean reef shark), flying fish, giant oceanic manta ray, angel fish, spotfin butterflyfish, parrotfish, Atlantic Goliath grouper, tarpon and moray eels. At least 9% of all coral reefs in the world are found in the Caribbean Sea. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. [17] Also, several charitable organisations have been formed to preserve the Caribbean marine life, such as Caribbean Conservation Corporation which seeks to study and protect sea turtles while educating others about them. [16] A Protocol of the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region came in effect in 1986 to protect the various endangered marine life of the Caribbean through forbidding human activities that would advance the continued destruction of such marine life in various areas. Mount Jamanota of 188 m (617 ft) is the highest point. This dataset provides a look at how ocean temperature changes each season through the depths of the ocean. Analysis of toxic metals and hydrocarbons is based on the investigation of coastal sediments that have accumulated less than 50 meters deep during the last hundred and fifty years. [1][2] The sea's deepest point is the Cayman Trough, between the Cayman Islands and Jamaica, at 7,686m (25,217ft) below sea level. Continents and islands cover the remaining 29%. The geologic age of the Caribbean is not known with certainty. The Caribbean's greatest known depth is Cayman Trench (Bartlett Deep) between Cuba and Jamaica, approximately 25,216 feet (7,686 metres) below sea level . Halophila baillonii has been found only in the Lesser Antilles.[26]. The northeast trade winds dominate the region with an average velocity of 10 to 20 miles (16 to 32 km) per hour. long, while the secondary piers are 338, 335, and 244ft long. Atlantic Ocean water enters the Caribbean through the Anegada Passage lying between the Lesser Antilles and Virgin Islands and the Windward Passage located between Cuba and Haiti. Ocean temperatures get colder with depth. Hastings, D. and P.K. The Cayman Basin, to the south, is partially separated from the Yucatn Basin by Cayman Ridge, an incomplete fingerlike ridge that extends from the southern part of Cuba toward Guatemala, rising above the surface at one point to form the Cayman Islands. The ancient sediments overlying the seafloor of the Caribbean, as well as of the Gulf of Mexico, are about a half mile (about one kilometre) in thickness, with the upper strata representing sediments from the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras (from about 252 million years ago to the present) and the lower strata presumably representing sediments of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras (from about 541 to 66 million years ago). Cayman Basin is in turn separated from the Atlantic Ocean get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access exclusive... Boundaries between multiple oceans and seas is difficult Relief Model: Procedures, Data Sources Analysis. 10Th century, List of Caribbean countries by population, `` Tsunamis in the Lesser.... A high level of homogeneity National tree of the world 's coral reefs some endemic species such rock! Requires login ) cubic kilometers coral came from the Atlantic Ocean also relied on these maps to determine where ROV! 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