Oceans and continents

The formation of the continents

Almost all young suns have dust- and gasclouds which rotate around them.With the rotation and the final collapse of this dust- and gasclouds results a solar system with its own planets. That's also the way our solar system was created. A couple of million years later the planets were created, but for example the original earth didn't look like it looks today. Many geological processes influenced the formation of the world and its continents. This process isn't over and will never stop!

The continents were formed after the cooling of the earth has ended. They were formed out of volcanic rock which was created out of the melted cover of our earth. About 300 million years before now, the original continent which is called PANGAEA was the only mainland and there was one only ocean which is called Thethys.

The "Super-continent" PANGAEA broke because of several very big earthquakes . Now, there were two continents named Laurasia and Gondwanaland. Africa, Antarctica and India were part of the southern continent (Gondwanaland). With time, the Indian part moved away from Africa to east, while Antarctica moved to the south.

About 650 kilometers or about 100 million years later the Indian part reached Asia. Big mountains like the himalaya arose because of the continual moving of these ledges.

The splitting of the original continent PANGAEA made it possible that hot „magma“ (volcanic liquid) came out of the earth’s depht. Out of this „magma“ - poured out of the earth below sealevel- were formed many islands.

*That’s the way our earth, like we know it today, was formed. Underneath we listed all continents and oceans with a small description for you.*

Asia

Asia is the biggest continent of our planet and its area is 44.7 million square-kilometers. Besides this, about 58% of all men live in the Asian continent. 

Africa

Africa is the second biggest continent of the world with an area of 30.3 million square-kilometers. Africa was discovered 500 years before christ. 

North-America

North-America is the third biggest continent of the world with an area of 23.4 million square-kilometers. Besides this, North-America is a „double-continent“, because it is connected to South-America by a „landbridge“ (Middle-America).

South-America

South-America is the fourth biggest continent of the world with an area of about 18 million square-kilometers. Like North-America, South-America is a „double-continent“.

The Antarctic

The Antarctic is the fifth biggest continent of the earth with an area of 14 million square-kilometers. The Antarctic consists of restricted land- and seaareas. 

Europe

Europe is a very „subdivided“ continent which means that it consists of numerous islands and peninsulas. Europe has an area of 10 million square-kilometers and is the second smallest continent.

Australia

Australia is the smallest continent of our planet with an area of 8.9 million square-kilometers.

The Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the biggest and deepest ocean all around the world. It has an area of 181.34 million square-kilometers and is as deep as 11 034 meters. The Pacific Ocean is situated between America, Asia, Australia and the polar areas. 

The Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second biggest ocean in the world and is situated between Western Europe/Africa and the eastcoast of America. The Atlantic Ocean has an area of 107 million square-kilometers and at its deepest place it is 9219 meters deep

The Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the smallest of the three oceans. It is situated between Africa, Asia, Australia and the Antarctic. It has an area of 74 million square-kilometers and at its deepest place („Sunda-Ditch“) it is 7455 meters deep.