• Question: What's at the bottom of the ocean?

    Asked by to Kieren, Rowena, Roy on 20 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Rowena Fletcher-Wood

      Rowena Fletcher-Wood answered on 20 Mar 2014:


      A lot of plastic waste by the sounds of it. Flat fish and rays that scurry about on the bottom. Various sand and rock terrain. Optical wiring for sending messages between different countries. Shipwrecks and treasure. An awful lot of oil and natural gas. Fossils and shells. Octopi. Not a lot of light, because it struggles to get that far, making red fish look grey because red light with longer wavelengths is what finds it harder to get very far.

    • Photo: Roy Adkin

      Roy Adkin answered on 20 Mar 2014:


      Aside from all that stuff Rowena has suggested…siliceous ooze…I love that phrase 🙂 And calcareous oozes…mustn’t forget those.
      There are billions and billions of tiny creatures that have microscopic shells and skeletons made of calcium carbonate called foraminifera and other creatures with skeletons made of silica called radiolarians. When they die their skeletons sink to the sea floor (which can take a thousand years!) and form a thick slimey ooze which, after millions of years form rocks. In fact, chalk is made from the skeletons of these tiny carbonaceous skeletons.
      Siliceous ooze…just wanted to say that again.

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