Oceanography: Vertical Ocean Zones
Earth’s oceans are home to a multitude of diverse plant
and animal life! Though scientists from all across the
world have spent many years studying the ocean, there are
still incredible findings yet to be discovered in its depths.
We know that the oceans are very vast and deep. They
cover 71% of our planet. The deepest part, the Mariana
Trench, is just under 7 miles deep! There are many
methods that scientists use to categorize the ocean and the
life it contains; one is based on light.
There are 5 distinct photic layers of the ocean: the
epipelagic zone (the sunlight zone), the mesopelagic zone
(the twilight zone), the bathypelagic zone (the midnight
zone), the abyss (the abyssopelagic zone), and the
trenches (the hadalpelagic zone).
