What keeps the ocean clean?

Question

i have this homework that asks about how the ocean is kept clean

Answer 1

i wouldnt call the ocean clean. but its made up of a balance of freshwater and water

Answer 2

salt

Answer 3

More than 60 million gallons of oil enter the oceans every year, but it's not reported on the news. That's because this oil seeps from oil-bearing rock layers into the ocean as part of a natural process. When tankers running aground spill oil, that's news, and currently these accidents deposit about 37 million gallons of oil into the ocean every year.

When it comes to mixing oil and water, oceans suffer from far more than an occasional devastating spill. Disasters make headlines, but hundreds of millions of gallons of oil quietly end up in the seas every year, mostly from non-accidental sources



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Toxic Materials



Toxic Wastes

Metals and slowly degrading chemicals threaten inland and coastal waters. Toxic materials settle into sea-floor sediments where they accumulate as hazards to organisms that live in and feed on bottom muds. Eventually, long-lasting chemicals may enter the food web and contaminate the fish and shellfish we eat.



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Debris



Dangerous Debris

Our trash kills. When odds and ends of life on land-- particularly plastics--end up in the sea, they pose hazards to marine life. Animals drown or strangle from getting tangled in discarded or lost fishing gear, or suffer and even die from eating plastics and other garbage.



Plastics in Our Ocean

But when plastic reaches our waters, whether it be plastic bags or drifting fish nets, it poses a threat to the animals that depend on the oceans for food. To a sea turtle, a floating plastic bag looks like a jellyfish. And plastic pellets--the small hard pieces of plastic from which plastic products are made--look like fish eggs to seabirds. Drifting nets entangle birds, fish and mammals, making it difficult, if not impossible to move or eat. As our consumption of plastic mounts, so too does the danger to marine life.



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Removing Ocean Resources



Mining and Dumping

For thousands of years humans have viewed oceans as vast dumps for domestic, municipal, and industrial garbage--tons of sediments dredged from harbors and waterways, sewage sludge, toxic industrial by-products, even low-level radioactive waste. These materials may never become evenly diluted into a weakened mixture, and ocean processes may even concentrate some materials. Land-based alternatives for disposal also pose problems.



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Raw Sewage



Raw Sewage

Around the world, untreated sewage flows into coastal waters, carrying organic waste and nutrients that can lead to oxygen depletion, as well as disease-causing bacteria and parasites that require closing beaches and shellfish beds



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Adding New Species



Alien Species

For centuries, people have transplanted locally native marine species to new areas. In some cases the introductions are intentional: animals are imported for fish farming. Most introductions are unintentional and unfortunate. In their new homes, hitchhikers and stowaways often turn into troublemakers.

When it comes to mixing oil and water, oceans suffer from far more than an occasional devastating spill. Disasters make headlines, but hundreds of millions of gallons of oil quietly end up in the seas every year, mostly from non-accidental sources



Top of Page



Toxic Materials



Toxic Wastes

Metals and slowly degrading chemicals threaten inland and coastal waters. Toxic materials settle into sea-floor sediments where they accumulate as hazards to organisms that live in and feed on bottom muds. Eventually, long-lasting chemicals may enter the food web and contaminate the fish and shellfish we eat.



Top of Page



Debris



Dangerous Debris

Our trash kills. When odds and ends of life on land-- particularly plastics--end up in the sea, they pose hazards to marine life. Animals drown or strangle from getting tangled in discarded or lost fishing gear, or suffer and even die from eating plastics and other garbage.



Plastics in Our Ocean

But when plastic reaches our waters, whether it be plastic bags or drifting fish nets, it poses a threat to the animals that depend on the oceans for food. To a sea turtle, a floating plastic bag looks like a jellyfish. And plastic pellets--the small hard pieces of plastic from which plastic products are made--look like fish eggs to seabirds. Drifting nets entangle birds, fish and mammals, making it difficult, if not impossible to move or eat. As our consumption of plastic mounts, so too does the danger to marine life.



Top of Page



Removing Ocean Resources



Mining and Dumping

For thousands of years humans have viewed oceans as vast dumps for domestic, municipal, and industrial garbage--tons of sediments dredged from harbors and waterways, sewage sludge, toxic industrial by-products, even low-level radioactive waste. These materials may never become evenly diluted into a weakened mixture, and ocean processes may even concentrate some materials. Land-based alternatives for disposal also pose problems.



Top of Page



Raw Sewage



Raw Sewage

Around the world, untreated sewage flows into coastal waters, carrying organic waste and nutrients that can lead to oxygen depletion, as well as disease-causing bacteria and parasites that require closing beaches and shellfish beds



Top of Page



Adding New Species



Alien Species

For centuries, people have transplanted locally native marine species to new areas. In some cases the introductions are intentional: animals are imported for fish farming. Most introductions are unintentional and unfortunate. In their new homes, hitchhikers and stowaways often turn into troublemakers.



Top of Page



Global Warming



Global Warming

Obviously, climate has a big influence on plants and animals in the natural environment, on oceans, and on human activities, such as agriculture, water supplies, and heating and cooling. The effects of climate change depend upon how much change there is, how fast it occurs, and how easily the world can adapt to the new conditions.



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Over Fishing



Resources on Overfishing



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Global Warming



Global Warming

Obviously, climate has a big influence on plants and animals in the natural environment, on oceans, and on human activities, such as agriculture, water supplies, and heating and cooling. The effects of climate change depend upon how much change there is, how fast it occurs, and how easily the world can adapt to the new conditions.



Top of Page



Over Fishing



Resources on Overfishing

Answer 4

Every lifeforms has its function.

Clams, muscles, tube worms, barnacles, and other shell fish filters feed. They eat the floating algae and plankton in the water. In a way they filter out the microbes.

Scavengers like crabs, shrimps, and lobsters keep the ocean clean by eating dead carcases.

Sea cucumbers eat the c**p that that other ocean creatures leave behind.

Just a few examples. Nature made messes tend to take care of itself. The trouble is when we dump man-made pollutants into the ocean killing everything that suppose to keep the ocean clean.

Answer 5

sea salt i think

Answer 6

Eventually any organic things in the sea such as dead fish or seaweed is broken down by bacteria and other oganisms, and once they are broken down the elements or compounds that they were made of are used for new fish and weeds to grow.

Like if you had a dead cow lying in your paddock eventually it would rot away and go back into the earth.

Answer 7

Really.. I don't know how the ocean is clean.. some people pee in the ocean.. but I'd say the salts? I don't know.. lol.