Oceans is a source of vital human resources: biological, mineral, energy. Biological resources include fish, shellfish (oysters, mussels), crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, shrimp), marine mammals (whales, walruses, seals), and some algae (kelp, gelidium). The richest industrialized are coastal (shelf) zone of seas and oceans.
at the bottom and under the ocean floor lie the potential mineral resources, including oil, gas, sulfur, construction materials, iron-manganese nodules and phosphorites. The most important among them is oil. Anything in the world knows more than 400 oil and gas fields, half of them located on the continental shelf and slope. Extraction of offshore oil is growing very quickly. According to projections, future offshore wells will produce a third of its oil.
ferromanganese nodules are close to spherical shape formation of oxides and hydroxides of iron and manganese with a concentric internal structure. Yet they can be represented in the form of crusts on the bottom of volcanic rocks. Regardless of the type ferromanganese deposits they are formed by chemical precipitation of these elements from ocean waters. Many nodules contain high concentrations of nickel, copper, cobalt, which can be used in the industry.
phosphorite nodules occur mostly on continental margins. They are formed from the remains of living organisms that have been preserved in the solid and unconsolidated sediments of organic origin.
bottom sediments, so-called red clay, formed on the ocean floor of the settling-rich iron oxides, clay minerals and mining remnants of clastic material brought into the ocean from the continents by rivers, winds, glaciers.
Some of the mineral resources of the ocean are already in use, while others are waiting time will be exhausted these sources of raw materials on land.
to Ocean Mineral Resources also include resources that are contained in sea water: sodium chloride, magnesium, bromine, gold and other elements.
Energy Resources of the World Ocean:
tidal;
energy of ocean currents;
energy of the surf;
energy difference in temperature of surface and deep waters.
Among the energy resources are most used by the energy of the tides. Construction of tidal power plants (TPP) is possible in narrow and long bays, where the height of tidal waves up to ten or more meters (France, Britain, Russia, Canada, USA, Norway, Argentina and other coastal countries).
oceanic and coastal areas of many countries are widely used as recreational resources of the oceans.
Geography of Natural Resources
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