Lesson Plan in General Science I
Oceans and the Ocean Basins
I. Objectives:
At the end of the activities students will be able to
II.

locate the five major oceanic divisions

identify the ocean basin
A. Topic: Oceans and Ocean Basins
B. Reference: www.google.com
C. Materials: AEJEE
Computer/laptop
LCD Projector
III. Learning Activities:
A. Review on the topic about the different bodies of water.
B. Motivation
Show the map of the world. Let the students observe the
physical features of the world. Let them identify which one is
the land and water.
C. Discussion:

The planet is approximately 71% water and contains (5) five oceans, including
the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Southern. Their borders are indicated on
the world image (right) in varied shades of blue.

For many years only (4) four oceans were officially recognized, and then in the
spring of 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization established the
Southern Ocean, and determined its limits. Those limits include all water below
60 degrees south, and some of it, like the Arctic Ocean, is frozen.

The major oceanic divisions are defined in part by the continents,
various archipelagos, and other criteria. These divisions are (in descending order
of size):

Pacific Ocean, which separates Asia and Australia from the Americas

Atlantic Ocean, which separates the Americas from Eurasia and Africa

Indian Ocean, which washes upon southern Asia and separates Africa and
Australia
Southern Ocean or Antarctic Ocean, sometimes considered an extension of

Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans,[6] which covers the waters that
surround Antarctica.
Arctic Ocean, sometimes considered a sea of the Atlantic, which covers

much of the Arctic and washes upon northern North America and Eurasia.
The Pacific and Atlantic may be further subdivided by the equator into northern
and
southern
portions.
Smaller
regions
of
the
oceans
are
called seas, gulfs, bays, straits and other names

(Oceans
#1 Pacific (155,557,000
by
sq
km)
size)
#2 Atlantic (76,762,000
#3 Indian (68,556,000
#4 Southern (20,327,000
sq
sq
sq
km)
km)
km)
#5 Arctic (14,056,000 sq km)

(greatest
Mariana
Puerto
Java
Arctic
depths
in
Trench,
Pacific
Rico
Trench, Atlantic
the
oceans)
35,827
ft
30,246
ft
Trench, Indian
24,460
ft
Basin, Arctic
18,456
ft
Southern Ocean, (greatest depth in dispute)

Ocean basins can be described as saucer-like depressions of the seabed.
They vary in size from relatively minor features of the continental
margin to vast structural divisions of the deep ocean. The largest ocean
basins are 3 to 5 kilometers (2 to 3 miles) deep and stretch from the outer
margins of the continents to the mid-ocean ridges.

Ocean basins cover approximately 71 percent of Earth's surface or about
361 million square kilometers (140 million square miles). Their average
depth is 5,000 meters (16,000 feet), and the total volume is about 1.35
billion cubic kilometers (322 million cubic miles).
Topography of the Ocean Basins
The ocean basins are not featureless Earth surfaces (Figure 10p-1). Much of our
knowledge about the topographic features that exist here are derived from the
following technologies: seismic surveying; echo sounder; side-scan sonar; and the
measurement of the height of sea surfaces by satellites. Most of the general
information concerning the depth of the ocean basins were made after World
War I when the echo sounder was developed for military purposes. This
instrument accurately determines the time between the emission of a strong
acoustic pulse and the detection of its echo. Using this principle scientists can
determine the distance from the sounder to the ocean bottom.
Figure 10p-1: The following image displays the topography of the Earth's
terrestrial land surface and ocean basins. Data for the image comes from satellite
altimetry and ship depth soundings, and U.S. Geological Survey digital elevation
maps (DEM) of the Earth's land surface. In the ocean basin, the gradation from
red to yellow to green to blue indicates increasing depth. A number of
topographic features associated with the ocean basin can be seen in this image.
The red area that borders the various landmasses is the continental shelf. This
feature is structurally part of the continental landmasses despite the fact that it is
under water. The yellow to green zone around the continental shelf is
the continental slope and continental rise. The blue region in the various ocean
basins constitutes the ocean floor. In the center of ocean basins, the midoceanic ridges can be seen with a color ranging from green to yellow to orange.
D. Generalization:

The five major subdivisions of the world ocean: the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic
Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and Arctic Ocean. The Pacific,
Atlantic, and Indian Oceans are conventional ocean basins and are
bounded by the continental masses or by ocean ridges and currents; they
merge below 40° South latitude in the Antarctic Circumpolar current, or
west Wind Drift, at the Southern (or Antarctic) Ocean. In the North Polar
Region, the nearly circular Arctic Ocean, almost landlocked except
between Greenland and Europe, is considered the fifth ocean subdivision.
IV EVALUATION
1. Locate the five major oceanic divisions by using the AEJEE.
2. What is the largest ocean in the world? What is its area in sqkm?
3. What is the second largest ocean and compare the area that it covers
with the largest ocean?
4. Locate the depth of the five ocean basin.
V. AGREEMENT:
1. Deliberate the importance of studying ocean and its significance on
existence of life here on earth.
Prepared by:
Ms. Janice M. Laranjo
Ms. Noren L. Banate