Beautiful World

Ocean Facts That Will Blow You Out of the Water

1Thanks to the ocean, most of our planet is dark.

Oceans have an average depth of 12,100 feet, and because light waves can only pe*****te 330 feet of water, everything below that point is dark. Seeing as water makes up most of the planet, this means that most of Earth exists in absolute darkness all the time.

2The loudest ocean sound came from an icequake.

In 1997, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) captured one of the loudest sounds ever recorded, which they named "The Bloop." The sound was loud enough to be picked up by sensors over 3,000 miles away. Originally, researches noted that the nature of the sound made it seem like it came from an animal, although no known animal exists that is large enough to make that sound. After 15 years, the NOAA concluded that the noise came from an icequake, which is when seismic activities cause a break in frozen ground. However, many people still question this conclusion, and The Bloop is the source of many conspiracy theories to this day.

Blue tang swimming in coral reef
Willem Kalkwiek/Shutterstock
You probably know that the majority of our planet's surface is covered by bodies of water. (Specifically: It's a hair shy of 71%.) What you might not have heard, though, is that sea waves can move at hundreds of miles per hour. Or that the ocean's depths are home to millions of tons of gold. Or that scientists have more detailed, more extensive maps of Mars than they do of our own oceans. Yes, as deep as our planet's oceans are physically, they're deeper still when it comes to mystery and fascination. The following little-known facts about the ocean are sure to blow you out of the water.

Earth may have actually had two moons at one point.
And no, we’re not talking about 3753 Cruithne and Asteroid 2002 AA29. According to Space.com, it’s possible (but not proven) that Earth might have had another moon—one about 750 miles wide. Scientists that buy into this theory hypothesize that this tiny moon may have crashed into the other one.

The largest living thing in the world is a fungus.
A massive fungus, at that! Known as the honey mushroom (or Armillaria), this fungus spans 2,200 acres across Oregon.

The oldest shark in the world is a Greenland Shark.
In fact, according to Live Science, Greenlands are so old they don’t even have backbones. These sea creatures grow to be as mature as 392 years old.

Greenland has the lowest population of any country on Earth.
A 2016 census found that 55,847 people lived in 836,330 square miles in Greenland with most communities sitting on the coastline.

Earth used to be purple… apparently.
Some experts—like Shil DasSarma—believe that Earth may have been purple at one point in time. Fueling that fire is the fact that ancient microbes may have relied on a different molecule other than the green chlorophyll to grab the sun’s rays. Instead, that molecule—retinal—could have made things we know as green today look more purple.

The moon may have been formed as the result of a collision.
Not a ton of information is known about how the moon was created, but one hypothesis claims that a planet, asteroid, or perhaps a comet—called Theia—collided into Earth, resulting in debris flying into space. That debris may have formed the moon as we know it today.

One of Earth’s coolest phenomenons is the Auroras.
Known colloquially as the Southern Lights or Aurora Australias, Aurora Borealis, or Nothern Lights, Auroras happen when particles from the sun collide with the upper atmosphere of Earth near the poles. According to Space.com, this results in a sort of rainbow of lights twinkling in the sky, like a crystal in the sun.

Earth’s magnetic north pole is moving northward.
NASA has said that Earth’s magnetic north pole has slowly moved northward by more than 600 miles since the early 19th century. As of right now, the pole is moving at about 40 miles per year.

Here’s where to see Komodo dragons How to see Komodo dragons in the Indonesian wilds or at a North American zoo.