CLASSIFICATION OF THE OCEANS AND SEAS ii 



ScHEME OF Classification — 



1. Océans with independent tidal waves and currents. 



2. Seas with dépendent Systems. 



(A.) Dépendent, influenced by océan tidal streams and 

 currents : 



(a) With through flowing current — Caribbean 



Sea, Bass Straits. 



(b) With partly through flowing current of 



oceanic characteristics — Red Sea, Aus- 

 tralasian Sea, China Sea, Irish Sea and 

 Channel. 

 Practically no current — Gulf of CaHfornia and 

 Persian Gulf. 



(c) Current partly of oceanic origin, partly 



meteorological — Mediterranean, Japan 

 Sea, Sea of Okhotsk, Bering Sea. 

 (B.) Dépendent, but mainly due to influence of land 



drainage — Arctic " Océan," Baltic, Hudson Bay, 



Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



6. Classification according to Origin. 



An enclosed sea may be compared to a vessel, such as a 

 kettle, containing water. We are not concerned with the 

 nature of the enclosing material so much as with the nature of 

 the contents. It is difficult for a land-dweller to take up the 

 suitable point of view, which would be that of an educated seal, 

 regarding the sea as ail-important, and the land as a mère 

 excrescence containing the sea. 



Suess has classified seas according to their origin, but 

 geological knowledge is not sufîîciently advanced to enahle 

 us to give a complète classification of seas according to their 

 origin. 



The présent shape of the earth is due to a shrinkage caused 

 by cooling. The océans, with their enormous depths, are the 

 results of contraction of the earth's radius at those points. 



Probably the présent situation of the great océans has 



