Pathways for pollutants to enter the world's oceans. Pollution of the oceans is one of the most acute environmental problems of our time.

The role of the oceans in the functioning of the biosphere as a single system is difficult to overestimate. The water surface of the oceans and seas covers most of the planet. When interacting with the atmosphere, ocean currents largely determine the formation of climate and weather on Earth. All oceans, including enclosed and semi-enclosed seas, are of permanent importance in the global life support of the world's population with food.

The ocean, especially its coastal zone, plays a leading role in maintaining life on Earth, since about 70% of the oxygen entering the planet's atmosphere is produced in the process of plankton photosynthesis.

The oceans cover 2/3 of the earth's surface and provide 1/6 of all animal proteins consumed by the population for food.

The oceans and seas are under increasing environmental stress due to pollution, overfishing of fish and shellfish, the destruction of historical fish spawning grounds, and the deterioration of coasts and coral reefs.

Of particular concern is the pollution of the oceans with harmful and toxic substances, including oil and oil products, and radioactive substances.

The following facts speak of the scale of pollution: 320 million tons of iron, 6.5 million tons of phosphorus, and 2.3 million tons of lead are annually replenished with coastal waters. For example, in 1995 alone, 7.7 billion m 3 of polluted industrial and municipal wastewater was discharged into the waters of the Black and Azov Seas. The waters of the Persian and Aden Gulfs are the most polluted. The waters of the Baltic and North Seas are also fraught with danger. So, in 1945-1947. about 300,000 tons of captured and own ammunition with toxic substances (mustard gas, phosgene) were flooded in them by the British, American and Soviet commands. The flooding operations were carried out in great haste and with violations of environmental safety standards. Cases of chemical munitions by 2009 were badly destroyed, which is fraught with serious consequences.

The most common ocean pollutants are oil and petroleum products. An average of 13-14 million tons of oil products enter the World Ocean annually. Oil pollution is dangerous for two reasons: firstly, a film forms on the surface of the water, depriving the access of oxygen to marine flora and fauna; secondly, oil itself is a toxic compound. When the oil content in water is 10-15 mg/kg, plankton and fish fry die.

Real environmental disasters are large oil spills when pipelines break and supertankers crash. Only one ton of oil can cover 12 km 2 of the sea surface with a film.

As already mentioned in paragraph 11.1, in 2010, as a result of an accident on an oil platform, 4 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico during 3 months of restoration work. It will take at least 5 years to restore the affected coastal marine ecosystems.

Especially dangerous is radioactive contamination during the disposal of radioactive waste. Initially, the main way to dispose of radioactive waste was to bury it in the seas and oceans. These were, as a rule, low-level radioactive waste, which was packed in 200-liter metal containers, filled with concrete and dumped into the sea. The first such burial was made in the USA, 80 km from the coast of California.

Until 1983, 12 countries dumped radioactive waste into the open sea. For example, during the period 1949 to 1970, 560,261 containers were dropped into the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

A number of international documents have been adopted, the main purpose of which is the protection of the World Ocean. In 1972, the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Discharges of Waste with High and Medium Levels of Radiation without Special Permission was signed in London. Since the 1970s the UN environmental program "Regional Seas" is being implemented, uniting more than 120 countries of the world, sharing 10 seas. Regional multilateral agreements were adopted: Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (Paris, 1992); Convention for the Protection of the Black Sea from Pollution (Bucharest, 1992)

Since 1993, the dumping of liquid radioactive waste has been banned. Since their number was constantly increasing, in order to protect the environment, in 1996 a contract was signed between American, Japanese and Russian firms for the creation of a plant for processing liquid radioactive waste accumulated in the Far East.

Leaks from nuclear reactors and nuclear warheads that sank together with nuclear submarines pose a great threat to the penetration of radioactivity into the waters of the oceans. Thus, as a result of such accidents, by 2009, six nuclear power plants and several dozen nuclear warheads were in the ocean, rapidly corroded by sea water.

At some bases of the Russian Navy, radioactive materials are still often stored directly on open areas. And due to the lack of funds for disposal, in some cases, radioactive waste could fall directly into sea waters.

Consequently, despite the measures taken, the radioactive contamination of the oceans is of great concern.

The disappearance of a global climatic phenomenon - the El Niño current. This current is a formidable natural phenomenon, periodically bringing innumerable disasters to many countries of the world. The fact is that for reasons unknown so far, a fairly stable world system of trade winds and ocean currents sometimes fails: the direction of the winds changes, and the mass of warm water instead of Indonesia and Australia rushes to the shores of America. The movement of huge masses of warm water leads to increased evaporation from the surface of the water. Giant moisture-saturated areas appear in the atmosphere, becoming a kind of barrier to seasonal Pacific winds - trade winds, and they change their direction.

Such a failure does not pass without catastrophic consequences for the climate of a number of countries: in some of them a long drought begins, others suffer from endless rains that cause floods. In fact, El Niño affects the climate of all countries to one degree or another. But America gets especially from him, especially South. Suffice it to recall that in 1982, due to this current, rainfall in northern Peru was 30 times higher than normal, which led to flooding and famine. In 1997, 300 people died in the same country, and 250,000 were left homeless.

As scientists have established, El Niño significantly influenced the development of the ancient civilizations of South America and even became the culprit in the death of some of them.

In 1997-1998 this insidious current disappeared for unknown reasons. The disappearance of a global climate phenomenon, unprecedented in modern history, could have dramatic consequences for the climate of our entire planet.

One of the likely reasons for the disappearance of this current could be an unusual increase in easterly winds over the Pacific Ocean.

World Ocean Nature Conservancy

At present, a lot of harmful substances have begun to enter the ocean: oil, plastics, industrial and chemical waste, pesticides, etc., which has a particularly detrimental effect on the life of marine life.

The time of decomposition of waste that fell into the oceans is presented in Table. 24.

Table 24. Time required for various types of waste to decompose in the ocean

Waste types	Decomposition time, years
Food packaging with aluminum foil
beer cans
Plastic bags
Plastic bottles
Plastic products (polyvinyl chloride)
Styrofoam (expanded polystyrene)	80 to 400
PVC products (polyvinyl chloride)
Glass bottles and glass	At least 1000

Serious cases of ocean pollution are associated primarily with oil (Fig. 162). As a result of washing the holds of tankers, from eight to 20 million barrels of oil are dumped into the ocean annually. And this is not counting accidents during the transportation of oil by sea. The oil film stops the flow of oxygen into the water, disrupts moisture and gas exchange, destroys plankton and fish. And this is only a small part of the harm that oil brings to sea water and its inhabitants (Fig. 163).

In addition to oil, the most harmful wastes that enter the ocean include heavy metals, especially mercury, cadmium, nickel, copper, lead, and chromium. Up to 50,000 tons of these metals are dumped annually into the Northern Sea alone (Table 25).

Of even greater concern is the release into ocean water of wastewater containing pesticides — aldrin, dieldrin and endrin — that can accumulate in the tissues of living organisms. At present, the long-term effects of the use of such chemicals are not even known.

Tributyltin chloride (TBT), which is widely used for painting the keels of ships and preventing them from fouling with shells and algae, is detrimental to the inhabitants of the ocean. It has now been proven that it excludes the possibility of reproduction of one of the species of crustaceans - the trumpeter.

Rice. 162. Oil pollution in the oceans

Rice. 163. Effect of oil pollution Table 25. Hazardous metals entering the waters of the oceans

Metal, designation	Modern usage	Harmful effects on humans
	Thermometers, artificial light lamps, dyes, electrical appliances	Metabolic disorders, damage to the nervous system
Lead, Pb	Batteries, electrical cables, solders, dyes	General toxic effect
Cadmium, CD	Coatings on metals, dyes, nickel-cadmium current sources, solders, photography	Damage to the nervous system, liver and kidneys, destruction of bones

The ocean continues to be a site of environmental disasters associated with the transport of highly dangerous goods such as toxic waste (eg plutonium).

Another common problem for the oceans is algal blooms. In the North Sea, off the coast of Norway and Denmark, it is caused by the overgrowth of the algae Chlorochromulina polylepis. In turn, this blooming of the waters leads to a serious reduction in the salmon fishery. It is believed that the rapid reproduction of algae is associated with industrial emissions of a large number of trace elements that serve as food for them.

Recently, they have begun to use the ocean more and more actively to deploy nuclear missile weapons of the submarine fleet, to bury radioactive substances at the bottom, which also leads to negative consequences for the World Ocean.

All ocean waters suffer from pollution, but pollution of coastal waters is higher than in the open ocean. First of all, this is due to a much larger number of sources of pollution. For example, about 430 billion tons of waste enter the Mediterranean Sea from 120 coastal cities every year. Their sources are industrial and agricultural enterprises, public utilities, as well as 360 million people living or spending holidays in 20 Mediterranean countries. The sea coasts of Spain, France and Italy are the most polluted, which is explained by the influx of tourists and the work of industrial enterprises.

The protection of ocean waters is one of the most urgent problems of mankind for a given period of time.

On April 30, 1982, the UN Conference adopted the Convention on the Law of the Sea, which regulates the use of the oceans for almost any purpose. In this regard, the fight against pollution and the protection of the natural resources of the ocean are of particular importance.

1998 was declared the year of the ocean. At that time, many scientific studies of ocean waters were carried out under the supervision of UNESCO. It became obvious that international cooperation was needed to study and protect the waters of the ocean.

Currently, a new method of studying the World Ocean is being practiced - remote sensing. Based on its data, decisions are made on the correct use of the resources of the World Ocean and the protection of its waters.

Recently, mankind has polluted the ocean to such an extent that even now it is difficult to find places in the World Ocean where traces of human activity would not be observed. The problem associated with the pollution of the waters of the oceans is one of the most important problems facing humanity today.

The most dangerous types of pollution: oil pollution and oil products, radioactive substances, industrial and domestic wastewater and, finally, chemical fertilizer (pesticides) effluents.

Pollution of the waters of the oceans has taken catastrophic proportions in recent decades. This was largely facilitated by the erroneous widespread opinion about the unlimited possibilities of the waters of the World Ocean for self-purification. Many understood this to mean that any waste and garbage in any quantity in the waters of the ocean is subjected to biological processing without harmful consequences for the composition of the waters themselves. As a result, individual seas and sections of the oceans have become, in the words of Jacques Yves Cousteau, "natural sewage pits." He points out that “the sea has become a sewer into which all the pollutants carried by poisoned rivers, which wind and rain collect in our poisoned atmosphere, flow; all those pollutants discharged by poisoners such as oil tankers. Therefore, one should not be surprised if, little by little, life leaves this sewage pit.

Of all types of pollution, oil pollution is the greatest danger to the oceans today. According to estimates, from 6 to 15 million tons of oil and oil products enter the World Ocean annually. Here, first of all, it is necessary to note the losses of oil associated with its transportation by tankers. It is known that after unloading oil, in order to give the tanker the necessary stability, its tanks are partially filled with ballast water. Until recently, the discharge of ballast water with oil residues was most often carried out on the high seas. Only a very few tankers are equipped with special ballast tanks which are never filled with oil but designed specifically for ballast water.

According to the US National Academy of Sciences, up to 28% of the total amount of incoming oil enters the seas in this way.

The second way is the influx of oil products with atmospheric precipitation (after all, light fractions of oil from the sea surface evaporate and enter the atmosphere). According to the US Academy of Sciences, about 10% of the total amount of oil enters the World Ocean in this way.

Finally, if we add (practically not subject to accounting) untreated wastewater from oil refineries and oil depots located on the coasts and in ports (more than 500 thousand tons of oil products enter the sea annually in the United States), then it is easy to imagine what a threatening situation has been created with oil pollution.

Pollution with sewage waste from industrial and domestic waters is one of the most massive types of pollution of the waters of the oceans. Almost all economically developed countries are guilty of this type of pollution. Until recently, for the vast majority of industrial enterprises, rivers and seas were the place of discharge of waste effluents. Unfortunately, sewage treatment has kept pace with economic development and population growth in only a very few countries. The chemical, pulp and paper, textile and metallurgical industries are especially guilty of severe water pollution.

Water bodies and mine waters are heavily polluted due to the recent increase in the new method of coal mining - hydraulic mining, in which a large number of small particles of coal are carried out along with waste water.

Discharges from pulp and paper mills, which usually have auxiliary production of sulfite, chlorine, lime and other products, have a harmful effect, the effluents of which also heavily pollute and poison sea water bodies.

Almost untreated waste water from any industry poses a threat to the waters of the oceans.

Wastes from domestic waters, which include runoff from food enterprises, household sewage, detergents and runoff from agricultural land, also make their “contribution” to the pollution of the seas.

Food industry waste includes wastewater from butter, cheese and sugar factories.

The use of synthetic detergents, the so-called detergents, brings great harm to marine waters. In all industrialized countries there is an intensive growth in the production of detergents. All detergents usually form a stable foam when a relatively small amount of the substance is added to the water. Detergents do not lose their ability to foam even after passing through treatment facilities. Therefore, the reservoirs where wastewater enters are covered with foam clubs. Detergents are highly toxic and resistant to biodegradation processes, they are difficult to clean, do not settle and are not destroyed when diluted with clean water. True, in recent years, Germany, and after it, some other countries began to produce rapidly oxidizing detergents. A special place is occupied by runoff from agricultural land. This type of poisoning of the seas and oceans is associated primarily with the use of pesticides - chemicals used to kill insects, small rodents and other pests.

Among pesticides, organochlorine pesticides, mainly DDT, are of particular danger to marine water bodies. Moreover, pesticides enter the marine environment in two ways, both with wastewater from agricultural areas and from the atmosphere. Up to 50% of pesticides sprayed in agricultural areas never reach the plants they are intended to protect and are blown into the atmosphere. DDT has been found on dust particles in areas far from pesticide spraying areas. Precipitation carries pesticides from the atmosphere to the marine environment. DDT is found in the tissues of Antarctic penguins and polar bears in the Arctic, far from areas where harmful insects are exterminated. An analysis of the Antarctic snow cover showed that about 2,300 tons of pesticides settled on the surface of this continent, which is very remote from developed countries. It should be noted one more negative property of many pesticides, including DDT. They are actively absorbed by oil and oil products. Oil slicks and bunks of fuel oil absorb DDT and chlorinated hydrocarbons, which do not dissolve in water and do not settle to the bottom, resulting in their concentration becoming higher than in the original solution applied for spraying. As a result, one type of sea water pollution enhances the action of another. The toxicity of pesticides increases at higher sea water temperatures.

The use of mineral fertilizers with a high content of phosphorus and nitrogen, the so-called phosphates and nitrates, often also has a detrimental effect on sea water.

When the amount of nitrogen fertilizer applied is too high, the nitrogen combines with fermenting organic matter to form nitrates, which kill river and marine life. Therefore, for example, the Japanese government banned the use of nitrogenous fertilizers in rice fields.

Heavy metals, such as mercury and cadmium, which are very common among industrial waste, pose a great threat to marine fauna and human health. It has been established that almost 50% of the world's mercury production, which is about 5 thousand tons, enters the World Ocean in various ways. Especially a lot of it gets into sea waters along with the discharge of industrial wastewater. For example, due to the discharge of water by the enterprises of the pulp and paper industry in a number of countries.

Western Europe a few years ago, mercury was found in fish and seabirds off the coast of Scandinavia.

The degree of pollution of the waters of the World Ocean is also high with household items of mass consumption (plastic bottles, cans, beer cans, etc.).

It is estimated that there are about 35 million empty plastic bottles floating around in the North Pacific alone. The 90 million tourists visiting the Italian and French Mediterranean coasts every year have left behind tons of plastic cups, bottles, plates and other everyday items in the seawater.

All over the world, the volume of wastewater from industrial enterprises discharged into rivers and seas continues to increase steadily due to the growth of industry. The state of the issue with wastewater treatment continues to be extremely unsatisfactory.

Hello dear readers! Today I would like to talk to you about ocean pollution.

The ocean (more about what an ocean is) occupies about 360 million km 2 of the surface of the globe. Unfortunately, people use it as a waste disposal site, which causes great harm to the local flora and fauna.

Land and ocean are connected by rivers ( more about rivers), flowing into the seas ( more about what a sea is) and carrying various pollutants. Chemicals that do not decompose upon contact with soil (you can learn more about soil) chemicals such as petroleum products, oil, fertilizers (especially nitrates and phosphates), insecticides and herbicides as a result of leaching enter rivers and then into the ocean.

The ocean eventually turns into a dumping ground for this cocktail of poisons and nutrients. The main pollutants of the oceans are petroleum products and oil. And air pollution, household garbage and sewage greatly exacerbate the damage they cause.

Oil and plastics carried to beaches remain along the high tide mark. This indicates the pollution of the seas, as well as the fact that many wastes are not biodegradable.

Studies of the North Sea have shown that about 65% of the pollutants found there were transported by rivers.

Another 7% of pollutants came from direct discharges (mostly sewage), 25% from the atmosphere (including 7,000 tons of lead from vehicle exhausts), and the rest from ship discharges and discharges.

Waste at sea is burned by ten US states (more on this country). In 1980, 160,000 tons of them were destroyed in this way, but since then this figure has decreased.

Ecological disasters.

All serious cases of ocean pollution are associated with oil. Between 8 and 20 million barrels of oil are deliberately dumped into the ocean each year. This occurs as a result of the practice of washing tankers and holds, which is widespread.

Such violations often went unpunished in the past. Today, with the help of satellites, it is possible to collect all the necessary evidence, as well as bring the perpetrators to justice.

Tanker "Exxon Valdez" in 1989, in the Alaska region, ran aground. Almost 11 million gallons of oil (about 50,000 tons) were spilled into the ocean, and the resulting slick stretched along the coast for 1600 km.

The ship's owner, the oil company Exxon Mobil, was ordered by the court to pay a fine to the state of Alaska, in a criminal case alone, of $150 million, the largest environmental fine in history.

The court forgave the company $125 million of this amount in recognition of its participation in the aftermath of the disaster. But Exxon paid another $100 million in environmental damages and another $900 million over 10 years in civil claims.

The last payment to Alaska and the federal authorities was made in September 2001, but the government may still file a claim for up to $100 million until 2006 if it finds environmental impacts that, at the time of trial, could not have been foreseen.

Claims from individuals and companies also amount to a huge amount, many of these claims are still ongoing litigation.

The Exxon Valdez is one of the most famous yet many cases of offshore oil spills.

The place of small and large environmental disasters that are associated with the transportation of extremely dangerous goods, of course, remains the ocean.

So it was with the Akatsuri Maru ships, which in 1992 transported from Europe (more about this part of the world) to Japan a large batch of radioactive plutonium for processing, as well as Karen Bee, on board of which in 1987, there were 2000 tons of toxic waste.

Wastewater.

Wastewater, apart from oil, is one of the most hazardous wastes. In small quantities they promote the growth of fish and plants and enrich the water, and in large quantities they destroy ecosystems.

Marseille (France) and Los Angeles (USA) are the two largest discharge sites in the world. For more than two decades, specialists there have been treating polluted waters.

The spreading of drains discharged by the exhaust manifolds is clearly visible on satellite images. Underwater surveys show the death of marine life they caused (underwater deserts littered with organic remains), but restoration measures taken in recent years have significantly improved the situation.

To reduce the danger of sewage, efforts are directed to dilute them, while bacteria (more on bacteria) are killed by sunlight.

In California, such measures have proven effective. There, household sewage is dumped into the ocean - the result of the life of almost 20 million inhabitants.

Metals and chemicals.

The content of metals, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), DDT (a long-lasting toxic organochlorine-based pesticide) in the waters has decreased in recent years, while the amount of arsenic has inexplicably increased.

DDT has been banned in England since 1984, but it is still used in some African areas.

Heavy metals such as nickel, cadmium, lead, chromium, copper, zinc and arsenic are hazardous chemicals that can upset the ecological balance.

It is estimated that up to 50,000 tons of these metals are dumped annually into the North Sea alone. The pesticides endrin, dieldrin and aldrin, which accumulate in animal tissues, are even more alarming.

The long-term effects of the use of such chemicals are not yet known. TBT (tributyltin) is also detrimental to marine life. It is used to paint the keels of ships, which prevents them from fouling with algae and shells.

It has already been proven that TBT changes the sex of male trumpeters (a type of crustacean), and as a result of this, the entire population is female, and this, of course, excludes the possibility of reproduction.

There are substitutes that do not have a detrimental effect on wildlife. For example, it may be a copper-based compound, which is 1000 times less toxic to plants and animals.

Impact on ecosystems.

All oceans suffer from pollution. But water pollution in the open sea is less than in coastal waters, as there are more sources of pollutants in this area: from heavy traffic of ships to coastal industrial installations.

Off the eastern coast of North America and around Europe, on the shallow continental shelves, cages are being set up to breed fish, mussels, and oysters that are vulnerable to pollutants, algae (more on algae), and toxic bacteria.

On the shelves, in addition, oil prospecting is also underway, and this, of course, increases the risk of oil spills and pollution.

The Mediterranean Sea (partially inland) is connected to the Atlantic Ocean, and once every 70 years it is completely renewed by it.

Up to 90% of its wastewater comes from 120 coastal cities, while other pollutants come from the 360 million people holidaying or living in 20 Mediterranean countries.

The Mediterranean Sea has become a huge polluted ecosystem, which annually receives about 430 billion tons of waste.

The sea coasts of Italy, France and Spain are the most polluted. This can be explained by the work of heavy industry enterprises and the influx of tourists.

Of the local mammals, the Mediterranean monk seals were the worst. Due to the increased tourist flow, they have become rare.

And the islands, their remote habitats, can now be quickly reached by boat, thanks to which these places have become even more accessible for scuba divers. In addition, a large number of seals die, entangled in fishing nets.

In all oceans where the water temperature does not drop below 20 ° C, green sea turtles live. But the nesting sites of these animals, both in the Mediterranean (in Greece) and in the ocean, are under threat.

Eggs are taken from the caught turtles on the island of Bali (Indonesia). This is done in order to give young turtles the opportunity to grow up, and then release them into the wild when they have a better chance of surviving in polluted waters.

Water bloom.

Water blooms, which occur due to massive development of algae or plankton, are another common type of ocean pollution.

An overgrowth of Chlorochromulina holylepis algae has caused a wild bloom in the waters of the North Sea off the coast of Denmark and Norway. As a result of all this, the salmon fishery has been seriously affected.

Such phenomena have been known for some time in temperate waters, but in the tropics and subtropics, the "red tide" was first noticed in 1971 near Hong Kong. Such cases, subsequently, were often repeated.

It is believed that this phenomenon is associated with industrial emissions of large amounts of metallic trace elements, which act as biostimulators of plankton growth.

Oysters, like other bivalves, play an important role in water filtration. In the Maryland part of the Chesapeake Bay, oysters used to filter water in 8 days. Today, due to pollution and blooming water, they spend 480 days on it.

Algae, after flowering, die and decompose, which contributes to the growth of bacteria that absorb vital oxygen.

All marine animals that obtain food by filtering water are very sensitive to pollutants that accumulate in their tissues.

Pollution is poorly tolerated by corals, which consist of giant colonies of single-celled organisms. Today, these living communities, coral reefs and atolls, are under serious threat.

Danger to man.

Harmful organisms contained in wastewater breed in shellfish and cause numerous diseases in humans. Escherichia coli is the most common bacterium and is also an indicator of infection.

Marine organisms accumulate PCBs. These industrial pollutants are poisonous to humans and animals.

They are persistent chlorine compounds like other ocean pollutants such as HCH (hexachlorocyclohexane) used in wood preservatives and pesticides. These chemicals leach out of the soil and end up in the sea. There they penetrate the tissues of living organisms, and thus pass through the food chain.

Humans can eat fish with HCH or PCBs, and other fish can eat them, which are then eaten by seals, which in turn become food for polar bears or some species of whales.

The concentration of chemicals increases every time they move from one animal level to another.

The unsuspecting polar bear eats the seals, and with them the toxins contained in the tens of thousands of infected fish.

Pollutants are also believed to be responsible for the increased susceptibility of marine mammals to the distemper that struck in 1987-1988. North Sea. At that time, at least 11,000 long-snouted and common seals perished.

It is likely that metallic contaminants in the ocean have also caused skin ulcers and enlarged livers in fish, including flounder, 20% of which in the North Sea are affected by these diseases.

Toxic substances that enter the ocean may not be harmful to all organisms. Under such conditions some lower forms may flourish.

Polychaete worms (polychaetes) live in relatively polluted waters and often serve as ecological indicators of relative pollution.

The possibility of using marine nematodes to control the health of the oceans continues to be explored.

Legislation.

There have been attempts to make the ocean cleaner through legislation, but this situation is difficult to control. In 1983, 27 countries signed the Cartagena Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment in the Caribbean.

Other attempts have been made to control ocean dumping, including the United Nations Convention on the Continental Shelf (1958), the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982), and the Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (1972).

Marine reserves are a good, but not optimal, way to protect habitats and wildlife in coastal waters.

They were created in New Zealand as early as the 1960s, as well as off the coast of North America and Europe.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) has declared Taka-Bone-Rote Atoll (Indonesia) a "disaster area". It covers an area of 2220 km 2 and includes common and barrier reefs.

But in general, the flora and fauna of the ocean is still struggling to survive in the face of ongoing human pollution.

Here we are with you and considered ocean pollution😉See you in new posts under the heading global problems of mankind! And if you don’t want to miss the release of fresh articles, subscribe to blog updates by mail 🙂

Plan

1. Characteristics and sources of pollution

2. Environmental problems caused by pollution

3. Pollution control methods

4. Applications

5. List of used literature

Characteristics and sources of pollution

Any body of water or water source is associated with its external environment. It is influenced by the conditions for the formation of surface or underground water runoff, various natural phenomena, industry, industrial and municipal construction, transport, economic and domestic human activities. The consequence of these influences is the introduction of new, unusual substances into the aquatic environment - pollutants that degrade water quality. Pollution entering the aquatic environment is classified in different ways, depending on the approaches, criteria and tasks. So, usually allocate chemical, physical and biological pollution.

Chemical pollution is a change in the natural chemical properties of water due to an increase in the content of harmful impurities in it, both inorganic (mineral salts, acids, alkalis, clay particles) and organic nature (oil and oil products, organic residues, surfactants, pesticides) .

The main inorganic (mineral) pollutants of sea waters are various chemical compounds that are toxic to the inhabitants of the aquatic environment. These are compounds of arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium, copper, fluorine. Most of them end up in water as a result of human activities. Heavy metals are absorbed by phytoplankton and then transferred through the food chain to more highly organized organisms. The toxic effect of some of the most common pollutants in the hydrosphere is presented in Appendix 1.

In addition to the substances listed in the table, inorganic acids and bases that change the acidity of water can be classified as dangerous sources of infection in the aquatic environment.

Among the main sources of pollution of the seas with minerals and biogenic elements, food industry enterprises and agriculture should be mentioned.

Among the soluble substances introduced into the seas from the land, not only mineral, biogenic elements, but also organic residues are of great importance for the inhabitants of the aquatic environment. The removal of organic matter into the ocean is estimated at 300 - 380 million tons / year. Wastewater containing suspensions of organic origin or dissolved organic matter adversely affects the condition of water bodies. When settling, the suspensions flood the bottom and delay the development or completely stop the vital activity of these microorganisms involved in the process of water self-purification. When these sediments rot, harmful compounds and toxic substances, such as hydrogen sulfide, can be formed, which lead to complete pollution of the water in the river. The presence of suspensions also makes it difficult for light to penetrate to a depth, and slows down the processes of photosynthesis.

One of the main sanitary requirements for water quality is the content of the required amount of oxygen in it. Harmful effects have all the pollution, which, one way or another, contribute to the reduction of oxygen in the water. Surfactants - fats, oils, lubricants - form a film on the surface of the water, which prevents gas exchange between water and the atmosphere, which reduces the degree of saturation of water with oxygen.

A significant amount of organic matter, most of which is not characteristic of natural waters, is discharged into rivers along with industrial and domestic wastewater. Increasing pollution of water bodies and drains is observed in all industrial countries. Information on the content of some organic substances in industrial wastewater is provided in Annex 2.

Due to the rapid pace of urbanization and the somewhat slow construction of sewage treatment plants or their unsatisfactory operation, water basins and soil are polluted with household waste. Pollution is especially noticeable in slow-flowing or stagnant water bodies (reservoirs, lakes).

Decomposing in the aquatic environment, organic waste can become a medium for pathogenic organisms. Water contaminated with organic waste becomes almost unsuitable for drinking and other purposes. Household waste is dangerous not only because it is a source of some human diseases (typhoid fever, dysentery, cholera), but also because it requires a lot of oxygen for its decomposition. If domestic wastewater enters the reservoir in very large quantities, then the content of soluble oxygen may fall below the level necessary for the life of marine and freshwater organisms.

1) Oil and oil products - oil is a viscous oily liquid that has a dark brown color. The main components of oil are hydrocarbons (up to 98%).

Oil and oil products are the most common pollutants. By the beginning of the 1980s, about 6 million tons of oil were annually entering the ocean, which accounted for 0.23% of world production.

The greatest losses of oil are associated with its transportation from production areas. Emergencies, discharge of washing and ballast water overboard by tankers - all this leads to the presence of permanent pollution fields along sea routes. Large masses of oil enter the seas along rivers, with domestic and storm drains.

Getting into the marine environment, oil first spreads in the form of a film, forming layers of various thicknesses. By the color of the film, you can determine its thickness (see Appendix 3).

The oil film changes the composition of the spectrum and the intensity of light penetration into the water.

2) Pesticides Pesticides are a group of artificially created substances used to control pests and plant diseases. Pesticides are divided into the following groups: insecticides - to combat harmful insects, fungicides and bactericides - to combat bacterial plant diseases, herbicides - against weeds.

The industrial production of pesticides is accompanied by the appearance of a large number of by-products that pollute wastewater. In the aquatic environment, representatives of insecticides, fungicides and herbicides are more common than others.

3) Synthetic surfactants (surfactants)- belong to an extensive group of substances that lower the surface tension of water. They are part of synthetic detergents (SMC), widely used in everyday life and industry. Together with wastewater, surfactants enter the continental waters and the marine environment.

The presence of surfactants in industrial wastewater is associated with their use in such processes as the separation of chemical technology products, the production of polymers, the improvement of conditions for drilling oil and gas wells, and the fight against equipment corrosion. In agriculture, surfactants are used as part of pesticides.

4) Compounds with carcinogenic properties. Carcinogenic substances are chemical compounds that disrupt developmental processes and can cause mutations.

Substances with carcinogenic properties include chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons, vinyl chloride, and especially polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The maximum amount of PAHs in present-day sediments of the World Ocean (more than 100 µg/km of dry matter mass) was found in tentonically active zones.

5) Heavy metals. Heavy metals (mercury, lead, cadmium, zinc, copper, arsenic) are common and highly toxic pollutants. They are widely used in various industrial productions, therefore, despite the treatment measures, the content of heavy metal compounds in industrial wastewater is quite high. Large masses of these compounds enter the seas through the atmosphere. The most dangerous are mercury, lead and cadmium.

Contamination of seafood has repeatedly led to mercury poisoning of the coastal population. By 1977, there were 2,800 victims of the Minomata disease, which was caused by industrial waste. Insufficiently treated wastewater from enterprises entered Minomata Bay.

Lead is a typical trace element found in all components of the environment: in rocks, soil, natural waters, the atmosphere, and living organisms. Finally, lead is actively dissipated into the environment during human activities.

6) Discharge of waste into the sea for the purpose of disposal (dumping). Many countries with access to the sea carry out marine burial of various materials and substances, in particular soil excavated during dredging, drill slag, industrial waste, construction debris, solid waste, explosives and chemicals, and radioactive waste. The volume of burials amounted to about 10% of the total mass of pollutants entering the World Ocean.

Therefore, dumping is considered as a forced measure, a temporary tribute to the imperfection of technology by society. Slags of industrial production contain a variety of organic substances and compounds of heavy metals.

During the discharge and passage of the material through the water column, part of the pollutants goes into solution, changing the quality of the water, the other is sorbed by suspended particles and goes into bottom sediments.

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Introduction

1. Common pollutants of the oceans

2. Pesticides

3. Heavy metals

4. Synthetic surfactants

5. Oil and oil products

6. Water bloom

7. Waste water

8. Discharge of waste into the sea for the purpose of disposal (dumping)

9. Thermal pollution

10. Compounds with carcinogenic properties

11. Causes of ocean pollution

12. Consequences of pollution of the oceans

Conclusion

List of used resources

Introduction

Our planet could well be called Oceania, since the area occupied by water is 2.5 times the land area. Oceanic waters cover almost 3/4 of the surface of the globe with a layer about 4000 m thick, making up 97% of the hydrosphere, while land waters contain only 1%, and only 2% are bound in glaciers. The oceans, being the totality of all the seas and oceans of the Earth, have a huge impact on the life of the planet. A huge mass of ocean water forms the climate of the planet, serves as a source of precipitation. More than half of the oxygen comes from it, and it also regulates the content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, as it is able to absorb its excess. At the bottom of the World Ocean there is an accumulation and transformation of a huge mass of mineral and organic substances, therefore the geological and geochemical processes occurring in the oceans and seas have a very strong influence on the entire earth's crust. It was the Ocean that became the cradle of life on Earth; now it is home to about four-fifths of all living beings on the planet.

The role of the World Ocean in the functioning of the biosphere as a single system cannot be overestimated. The water surface of the oceans and seas covers most of the planet. When interacting with the atmosphere, ocean currents largely determine the formation of climate and weather on Earth. All oceans, including enclosed and semi-enclosed seas, are of permanent importance in the global life support of the world's population with food.

The oceans cover 2/3 of the earth's surface and provide 1/6 of all animal proteins consumed by the population for food.

Of particular concern is the pollution of the oceans with harmful and toxic substances, including oil and oil products, and radioactive substances.

1. CommonpollutantsWorldoceanon

Ecologists identify several types of ocean pollution. These are: physical; biological (contamination by bacteria and various microorganisms); chemical (pollution by chemicals and heavy metals); oil; thermal (pollution by heated waters discharged from thermal power plants and nuclear power plants); radioactive; transport (pollution by maritime modes of transport - tankers and ships, as well as submarines); household. There are also various sources of pollution of the World Ocean, which can be both natural (for example, sand, clay or mineral salts) and anthropogenic origin. Among the latter, the most dangerous are the following: oil and oil products; wastewater; chemicals; heavy metals; radioactive waste; plastic waste; mercury. Let's take a closer look at these contaminants.

The following facts speak of the scale of pollution: 320 million tons of iron, 6.5 million tons of phosphorus, and 2.3 million tons of lead are annually replenished with coastal waters.

For example, in 1995 alone, 7.7 billion m 3 of polluted industrial and municipal wastewater was discharged into the waters of the Black and Azov Seas. The waters of the Persian and Aden Gulfs are the most polluted. The waters of the Baltic and North Seas are also fraught with danger. So, in 1945-1947. about 300,000 tons of captured and own ammunition with toxic substances (mustard gas, phosgene) were flooded in them by the British, American and Soviet commands. The flooding operations were carried out in great haste and with violations of environmental safety standards. Cases of chemical munitions by 2009 were badly destroyed, which is fraught with serious consequences.

Real environmental disasters are large oil spills when pipelines break and supertankers crash. Only one ton of oil can cover 12 km 2 of the sea surface with a film.

Consequently, despite the measures taken, the radioactive contamination of the oceans is of great concern.

2. Pesticides

Continuing to talk about pollutants, it is impossible not to mention pesticides. Because they, in turn, are one of the important pollutants. Pesticides are a group of man-made substances used to control pests and plant diseases. Pesticides are divided into the following groups:

- insecticidesForfightWithharmfulinsects

- fungicidesAndbactericides- ForfightWithbacterialdiseasesplants,

- herbicidesagainstweedyplants.

It has been established that pesticides, destroying pests, harm many beneficial organisms and undermine the health of biocenoses. In agriculture, there has long been a problem of transition from chemical (polluting) to biological (environmentally friendly) methods of pest control. Currently, more than 5 million tons of pesticides enter the world market. About 1.5 million tons of these substances have already entered the terrestrial and marine ecosystems by ash and water. The industrial production of pesticides is accompanied by the appearance of a large number of by-products that pollute wastewater. In the aquatic environment, representatives of insecticides, fungicides and herbicides are more common than others. synthesizedinsecticides are divided into three main groups: organochlorine, organophosphorus and carbonates.

Organochlorine insecticides are obtained by chlorination of aromatic and heterocyclic liquid hydrocarbons. These include DDT and its derivatives, in the molecules of which the stability of aliphatic and aromatic groups in the joint presence increases, various chlorinated derivatives of chlorodiene (eldrin). These substances have a half-life of up to several tens of years and are very resistant to biodegradation. Common in the aquatic environment polychlorinated biphenyls- derivatives of DDT without an aliphatic part, numbering 210 homologues and isomers. Over the past 40 years, more than 1.2 million tons of polychlorinated biphenyls have been used in the production of plastics, dyes, transformers, capacitors. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) enter the environment as a result of industrial wastewater discharges and the incineration of solid waste in landfills. The latter source delivers PBCs to the atmosphere, from where they fall out with atmospheric precipitation in all regions of the globe. Thus, in snow samples taken in Antarctica, the content of PBC was 0.03 - 1.2 kg. / l.

3. Heavymetals

Heavy metals (mercury, lead, cadmium, zinc, copper, arsenic) are among the common and highly toxic pollutants. They are widely used in various industrial productions, therefore, despite the treatment measures, the content of heavy metal compounds in industrial wastewater is quite high. Large masses of these compounds enter the ocean through the atmosphere.

Mercury, lead and cadmium are the most dangerous for marine biocenoses. Mercury is transported to the ocean with continental runoff and through the atmosphere. During the weathering of sedimentary and igneous rocks, 3.5 thousand tons of mercury are released annually. The composition of atmospheric dust contains about 121 thousand. tons of mercury, and a significant part is of anthropogenic origin. About half of the annual industrial production of this metal (910 thousand tons / year) ends up in the ocean in various ways. In areas polluted by industrial waters, the concentration of mercury in solution and suspension is greatly increased. At the same time, some bacteria convert chlorides into highly toxic methyl mercury. Contamination of seafood has repeatedly led to mercury poisoning of the coastal population. By 1977, there were 2,800 victims of Minomata disease, which was caused by waste products from factories for the production of vinyl chloride and acetaldehyde, which used mercury chloride as a catalyst. Insufficiently treated wastewater from enterprises entered the Minamata Bay. Pigs are a typical trace element found in all components of the environment: in rocks, soils, natural waters, the atmosphere, and living organisms. Finally, pigs are actively dispersed into the environment during human activities. These are emissions from industrial and domestic effluents, from smoke and dust from industrial enterprises, from exhaust gases from internal combustion engines. The migration flow of lead from the continent to the ocean goes not only with river runoff, but also through the atmosphere.

With continental dust, the ocean receives (20-30) * 10 ^ 3 tons of lead per year.

4. Syntheticsurface-activesubstances

Detergents (surfactants) belong to an extensive group of substances that lower the surface tension of water. They are part of synthetic detergents (SMC), widely used in everyday life and industry. Together with wastewater, surfactants enter the mainland waters and the marine environment. SMS contain sodium polyphosphates, in which detergents are dissolved, as well as a number of additional ingredients that are toxic to aquatic organisms: flavoring agents, bleaching agents (persulphates, perborates), soda ash, carboxymethylcellulose, sodium silicates. Depending on the nature and structure of the hydrophilic part of the surfactant molecules, they are divided into anionic, cationic, amphoteric, and nonionic. The latter do not form ions in water. The most common among the surfactants are anionic substances. They account for more than 50% of all surfactants produced in the world. The presence of surfactants in industrial wastewater is associated with their use in such processes as flotation beneficiation of ores, separation of chemical technology products, production of polymers, improvement of conditions for drilling oil and gas wells, and equipment corrosion control. In agriculture, surfactants are used as part of pesticides.

5. OilAndoil products

Oil is a viscous oily liquid that is dark brown in color and has low fluorescence. Oil consists mainly of saturated aliphatic and hydroaromatic hydrocarbons. The main components of oil - hydrocarbons (up to 98%) - are divided into 4 classes:

a). Paraffins (alkenes). (up to 90% of the total composition) - stable substances, the molecules of which are expressed by a straight and branched chain of carbon atoms. Light paraffins have maximum volatility and solubility in water. pollutant ocean pesticide oil product

b). Cycloparaffins. (30 - 60% of the total composition) saturated cyclic compounds with 5-6 carbon atoms in the ring. In addition to cyclopentane and cyclohexane, bicyclic and polycyclic compounds of this group are found in oil. These compounds are very stable and difficult to biodegrade.

c). Aromatic hydrocarbons. (20 - 40% of the total composition) - unsaturated cyclic compounds of the benzene series, containing 6 carbon atoms in the ring less than cycloparaffins. Oil contains volatile compounds with a molecule in the form of a single ring (benzene, toluene, xylene), then bicyclic (naphthalene), polycyclic (pyrone).

G). Olefins (alkenes). (up to 10% of the total composition) - unsaturated non-cyclic compounds with one or two hydrogen atoms at each carbon atom in a molecule that has a straight or branched chain.

Oil and oil products are the most common pollutants in the oceans. By the beginning of the 1980s, about 16 million tons of oil were annually entering the ocean, which accounted for 0.23% of world production. The greatest losses of oil are associated with its transportation from production areas. Emergencies, discharge of washing and ballast water overboard by tankers - all this leads to the presence of permanent pollution fields along sea routes. In the period 1962-79, about 2 million tons of oil entered the marine environment as a result of accidents. Over the past 30 years, since 1964, about 2,000 wells have been drilled in the World Ocean, of which 1,000 and 350 industrial wells have been equipped in the North Sea alone. Due to minor leaks, 0.1 million tons of oil are lost annually. Large masses of oil enter the seas along rivers, with domestic and storm drains. The volume of pollution from this source is 2.0 million tons / year. Every year, 0.5 million tons of oil enters with industrial effluents. Getting into the marine environment, oil first spreads in the form of a film, forming layers of various thicknesses.

The oil film changes the composition of the spectrum and the intensity of light penetration into the water. The light transmission of thin films of crude oil is 11-10% (280nm), 60-70% (400nm). A film with a thickness of 30-40 microns completely absorbs infrared radiation. When mixed with water, oil forms an emulsion of two types: direct oil in water and reverse water in oil. Direct emulsions, composed of oil droplets with a diameter of up to 0.5 μm, are less stable and are typical for oils containing surfactants. When volatile fractions are removed, oil forms viscous inverse emulsions, which can remain on the surface, be carried by the current, wash ashore and settle to the bottom.

6. Bloomwater

Another common type of ocean pollution is water blooms due to the massive development of algae or plankton. Algal blooms off the coast of Norway and Denmark have caused a wild bloom in the North Sea Chlorochromulina polylepis resulting in serious damage to the salmon fishery. In the waters of the temperate zone, such phenomena have been known for quite a long time, but in the subtropics and tropics, the "red tide" was first noticed near Hong Kong in 1971. Subsequently, such cases were often repeated. It is believed that this is due to industrial releases of a large number of trace elements, especially the washout of agricultural fertilizers into water bodies, which act as biostimulators of phytoplankton growth. With the explosive growth of phytoplankton biomass, first-order consumers cannot cope, as a result of which most of the food chains are not used and simply die off, sinking to the bottom. Decomposing the organic matter of dead phytoplankton, benthic bacteria often use all the oxygen dissolved in water, which can lead to the formation of a hypoxia zone (with insufficient oxygen content for aerobic organisms). Such zones lead to reduction of biodiversity and biomass of aerobic forms of benthos.

Oysters, like other bivalves, play an important role in water filtration. Oysters used to filter the water in the Maryland part of the Chesapeake Bay in eight days. Today, they spend 480 days doing this due to flowering and water pollution. After blooming, the algae die and decompose, allowing bacteria to grow and take up vital oxygen.

All marine animals that obtain food by filtering water are very sensitive to pollutants that accumulate in their tissues. Corals do not tolerate pollution well, and coral reefs and atolls are under serious threat.

7. sewagewater

In addition to water blooms, sewage is one of the most harmful wastes. In small quantities, they enrich the water and promote the growth of plants and fish, and in large quantities they destroy ecosystems. Two of the world's largest waste disposal sites, Los Angeles (USA) and Marseille (France), have been treating polluted water for more than two decades. Satellite imagery clearly shows the effluent discharged by the exhaust manifolds. Underwater footage shows the marine life they caused (underwater deserts littered with organic debris), but remedial measures taken in recent years have greatly improved the situation.

Efforts to liquefy sewage are aimed at reducing their hazard; while sunlight kills some bacteria. Such measures have proved effective in California, where domestic sewage is dumped into the ocean - the result of the life of almost 20 million inhabitants of this state.

8. ResetwasteVseaWithpurposeburial(dumping)

Many countries with access to the sea carry out marine burial of various materials and substances, in particular soil excavated during dredging, drill slag, industrial waste, construction debris, solid waste, explosives and chemicals, and radioactive waste. The volume of burials amounted to about 10% of the total mass of pollutants entering the World Ocean.

The basis for dumping in the sea is the ability of the marine environment to process a large amount of organic and inorganic substances without much damage to the water. However, this ability is not unlimited. Therefore, dumping is considered as a forced measure, a temporary tribute to the imperfection of technology by society.

Industrial slags contain a variety of organic substances and heavy metal compounds. Household waste contains on average (by weight of dry matter) 32-40% organic matter; 0.56% nitrogen; 0.44% phosphorus; 0.155% zinc; 0.085% lead; 0.001% mercury; 0.001% cadmium.

During the discharge, the passage of the material through the water column, part of the pollutants goes into solution, changing the quality of the water, the other is sorbed by suspended particles and goes into bottom sediments. At the same time, the turbidity of the water increases. The presence of organic substances often leads to the rapid consumption of oxygen in water and often to its complete disappearance, the dissolution of suspensions, the accumulation of metals in dissolved form, and the appearance of hydrogen sulfide. The presence of a large amount of organic matter creates a stable reducing environment in the soil, in which a special type of interstitial water appears, containing hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and metal ions.

Benthic organisms and others are affected to varying degrees by the discharged materials. In the case of the formation of surface films containing petroleum hydrocarbons and surfactants, gas exchange at the air-water interface is disturbed. Pollutants entering the solution can accumulate in the tissues and organs of hydrobiants and have a toxic effect on them. The discharge of dumping materials to the bottom and prolonged increased turbidity of the bottom water lead to the death of sedentary forms of benthos from suffocation. In surviving fish, mollusks and crustaceans, the growth rate is reduced due to the deterioration of feeding and breathing conditions. The species composition of a given community often changes.

When organizing a system for monitoring the discharge of waste into the sea, the determination of dumping areas, the determination of the dynamics of pollution of sea water and bottom sediments is of decisive importance. To identify possible volumes of discharge into the sea, it is necessary to carry out calculations of all pollutants in the composition of the material discharge.

9. thermalpollution

Thermal pollution of the surface of reservoirs and coastal marine areas occurs as a result of the discharge of heated wastewater from power plants and some industrial production. The discharge of heated water in many cases causes an increase in water temperature in reservoirs by 6-8 degrees Celsius. The area of heated water spots in coastal areas can reach 30 square meters. km. A more stable temperature stratification prevents water exchange between the surface and bottom layers. The solubility of oxygen decreases, and its consumption increases, since with increasing temperature, the activity of aerobic bacteria that decompose organic matter increases. The species diversity of phytoplankton and the entire flora of algae is increasing.

Based on the generalization of the material, it can be concluded that the effects of anthropogenic impact on the aquatic environment are manifested at the individual and population-biocenotic levels, and the long-term effect of pollutants leads to a simplification of the ecosystem.

10. ConnectionsWithcarcinogenicproperties

Carcinogenic substances are chemically homogeneous compounds that exhibit transforming activity and the ability to cause carcinogenic, teratogenic (violation of embryonic development processes) or mutagenic changes in organisms. Depending on the conditions of exposure, they can lead to growth inhibition, accelerated aging, disruption of individual development, and changes in the gene pool of organisms. Substances with carcinogenic properties include chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons, vinyl chloride, and especially polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The maximum amount of PAHs in present-day sediments of the World Ocean (more than 100 µg/km of dry matter mass) was found in tectonically active zones subject to deep thermal impact. The main anthropogenic sources of PAHs in the environment are the pyrolysis of organic substances during the combustion of various materials, wood, and fuel.

11. CausespollutionWorldocean

Why is the ocean polluted? What are the reasons for these sad processes? They lie primarily in irrational, and sometimes even aggressive, human behavior in the field of nature management. People do not understand (or do not want to realize) the possible consequences of their negative actions on nature. To date, it is known that the pollution of the waters of the World Ocean occurs in three main ways: through the runoff of river systems (with the most polluted areas of the shelf, as well as areas near the mouths of large rivers); through atmospheric precipitation (this is how lead and mercury enter the Ocean, first of all); due to unreasonable human economic activity directly in the oceans. Scientists have found that the main route of pollution is river runoff (up to 65% of pollutants enter the oceans through rivers). About 25% is accounted for by atmospheric precipitation, another 10% - by wastewater, less than 1% - by emissions from ships. It is for these reasons that pollution of the oceans occurs. Surprisingly, water, without which a person cannot live even a day, is actively polluted by it.

Maincausespollution:

1. Uncontrolled pollution of water areas is growing.

2. There is a dangerous excess of permissible objects of fishery species of ichthyofauna.

3. There is a need for a more intensive involvement in the economic circulation of the mineral energy resources of the ocean.

4. There is an escalation of international conflicts due to disagreements in the sphere of equatorial delimitation.

12. ConsequencespollutionWorldocean

The world ocean is of exceptional importance in the life support of the Earth. The ocean is the "lungs" of the Earth, the source of food for the population of the globe and the concentration of huge wealth of minerals. But scientific and technological progress had a negative impact on the viability of the ocean - intensive shipping, increased oil and gas production in the waters of the continental shelf, dumping of oil and radioactive waste into the seas led to serious consequences: pollution of marine spaces, disruption of the ecological balance in the World Ocean. At present, humanity is facing a global task - to urgently eliminate the damage caused to the ocean, restore the disturbed balance and create guarantees for its preservation in the future. An unviable ocean will have a detrimental effect on the life support of the entire Earth, on the fate of mankind.

Conclusion

The consequences, to which the wasteful, careless attitude of mankind towards the Ocean leads, are terrifying. The destruction of plankton, fish and other inhabitants of ocean waters is far from all. The damage could be much greater. Indeed, the World Ocean has general planetary functions: it is a powerful regulator of the moisture circulation and thermal regime of the Earth, as well as the circulation of its atmosphere. Pollution can cause very significant changes in all these characteristics, which are vital for the climate and weather regime on the entire planet. Symptoms of such changes are already observed today. Severe droughts and floods are repeated, destructive hurricanes appear, severe frosts come even to the tropics, where they never happened. Of course, it is not yet possible to even approximately estimate the dependence of such damage on the degree of pollution. Oceans, however, the relationship undoubtedly exists. Be that as it may, the protection of the ocean is one of the global problems of mankind. The Dead Ocean is a dead planet, and therefore all of humanity. Thus, it is obvious that the pollution of the oceans is the most important environmental problem of our century. And you have to fight it. Today, there are many dangerous ocean pollutants: oil, oil products, various chemicals, pesticides, heavy metals and radioactive waste, sewage, plastics, and the like. The solution of this acute problem will require the consolidation of all the forces of the world community, as well as the clear and strict implementation of the accepted norms and existing regulations in the field of environmental protection.

Listusedresources

1. Internet resource: wikipedia.org

2. Internet resource: Syl.ru

3. Internet resource: 1os.ru

4. Internet resource: grandars.ru

5. Internet resource: ecosystema.ru

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