Deepest 

 soundings in 

 the Atlantic 

 and Indian 

 Oceans. 



132 DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN 



The second deepest sounding on the ocean -floor is 5155 

 fathoms in the Aldrich Deep in the South Pacific, depths 

 exceeding 5000 fathoms being Hmited to the Pacific Ocean. 

 The deepest sounding recorded in the Atlantic is 4662 fathoms 

 in the Nares Deep to the north of the West Indies, and the 

 deepest in the Indian Ocean 3828 fathoms in the Wharton 

 Deep to the south of the East Indies. 



Superficial 

 area of the 

 earth. 



Area of 



Antarctic 



continent. 



Area of land 

 on the globe. 



Area of 

 water on 

 the globe. 



Areas of the 

 ocean-floor 

 at different 

 depths. 



In 1886 Professor Chrystal calculated for Sir John Murray 

 the supLprficial area of the earth, regarded as a spheroid of 

 revolution, as equal to 196,940,700 square English miles, of 

 which the land - surface was estimated at 55,697,000 square 

 miles, and the water-surface at 141,243,000 square miles.^ At 

 that time the area of land surrounding the south pole was 

 estimated at 3,565,000 square miles, but the results of all the 

 recent south polar expeditions seem to indicate that the 

 Antarctic continent covers a larger extent than was supposed. 

 The latest measurements by Sir John Murray give a probable 

 area of about 5,122,000 square miles for Antarctica, so that 

 the total land-surface of the globe may now be estimated at 

 57,254,000 square miles, which may be supposed to include 

 all lakes and rivers, leaving about 139,686,000 square miles 

 for the waters of the ocean and seas directly connected 

 therewith. 



Planimeter measurements of the most recent depth hemi- 

 spheres gave 139,295,000 square English miles for the area 

 of the whole ocean, and this figure will be adopted throughout 

 this publication. 



The approximate areas between the consecutive contour- 

 lines drawn in at equal intervals of 1000 fathoms worked out 

 as follows for the whole ocean : — 



Scottish Geographical Magazine, vol. ii. p. 550, l< 



