Covering an area of approximately 16,62,43,550 square kilometers, the Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean in the world. It occupies about one-third of the earth’s surface, and can fit all the continents of the world taken together. The basin of the ocean is also the oldest of all ocean basins; some of the earliest rocks present here are as old as 200 million years.
The Pacific Ocean got its name from Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in the 16th century. The name means ‘peaceful’ in Portuguese. Magellan was the first person in the world to complete circumnavigation of the earth.
Along its circumference is a major area known as the ‘Ring of Fire’. It owes its name to presence of volcanoes and powerful tectonic activities. The Pacific Ocean has an average depth of 3800 meters. Its deepest point is the Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench, at 10,920 meters. This is also the deepest point on the earth’s surface.
The ocean is home to most of world’s atolls and archipelagoes. The Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the world’s largest coral reef, also lies in the Pacific.
