Imagine if all the oceans suddenly vanished—could you just walk to other continents? Well, without water, you’d see giant valleys and rugged, rocky plains that were once the ocean floor, connecting places like North America to Asia! But getting across wouldn’t be a smooth stroll; the ocean bed is full of deep trenches, towering ridges, and endless mud that would make travel nearly impossible. Plus, with no oceans, Earth’s temperature would soar, turning these dried-out areas into scorching deserts. You’d face wild challenges like sandstorms, lack of food, and barely any fresh water to survive. So, technically, continents would be connected—but it’d be an extreme journey only the toughest explorers could handle! #brightside Animation is created by Bright Side. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/ Listen to Bright Side on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/idhttps-podcasts-apple-com-podcast-bright-side/id1554898078 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/brightside/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official/ Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en Snapchat - https://www.snapchat.com/p/c6a1e38a-bff1-4a40-9731-2c8234ccb19f/1866144599336960 Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
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00:00So, the distance from New York to Lisbon, on the other side of the Atlantic, is well
00:05over 3,000 miles.
00:07At the average walking speed for a human, you could trek there in a month and a half.
00:12That's not counting the rest stops and much-needed sleep.
00:15Buying an airline ticket or boarding a ship aren't just better options, but the only
00:20travel possibilities right now.
00:22But if this long journey on foot became possible one day, would you be up for the challenge?
00:28The most obvious obstacle is all that water in the Atlantic Ocean.
00:32It covers around a fifth of the Earth's surface.
00:36All the oceans take up around 70% of our planet.
00:39When you open the tap or buy a bottle, you are drinking a tiny percentage of potable
00:44water.
00:4597% of Earth's water is located in oceans.
00:48It's all saltwater, and it's not drinkable.
00:51Add this 2% of water trapped in glaciers and ice sheets, and you get less than 1% of
00:56water that we actually drink.
01:01When you put these percentages into numbers, you'll need a long sheet of paper to write
01:05them all down.
01:07The US Geological Survey estimates that there are over 330 million cubic miles of water
01:13in the world.
01:14It's essential for sustaining all life forms, including humans.
01:18Oceans play a vital role in regulating air temperature around the globe.
01:22If they didn't have any water, the area around the equator would be scourged.
01:27This imaginary line that divides our planet in half runs through 13 countries in total,
01:32such as Brazil, Kenya, and Indonesia.
01:36The world's oceans are critical for our planet's water cycle.
01:39You know, like the one you learned about in school?
01:42It rains from the clouds and water eventually ends up in rivers that empty into the oceans.
01:47Then sunlight warms up this vast body of water so it evaporates into the atmosphere
01:52to form new clouds.
01:54Then the cycle starts over.
01:56This process shapes the global climate.
01:58That's why, for example, the Mediterranean is so popular for the summer holidays.
02:03The region is temperate.
02:08If we take the oceans out of the equation, the water cycle stops.
02:12The area where they once sat would turn into a huge dust bowl.
02:16There would be dirt as far as the eye could see.
02:19Since there is no more evaporation, clouds won't form.
02:22Rain would become scarce.
02:24Humans would soon run out of sources of drinking water.
02:27The landscape of our planet would turn into a vast desert.
02:31Imagine a Sahara-like terrain stretching across the surface of our planet.
02:36Everything would become so dry that fires would break out easily.
02:41These are hardly the ideal conditions for a long trek between continents, but let's
02:45imagine you were able to survive all this.
02:48You start walking across the desert land that was once the Atlantic Ocean.
02:53What would that journey be like?
02:55You would encounter a landscape different from the one above the waterline.
02:59Everything below the waves is taller and deeper than the world we know.
03:03This is the land of extremes.
03:06Take for example the highest mountain on the planet.
03:09If you were thinking about the Himalayas and its tallest peak, Mount Everest, you are correct.
03:14Well, kind of.
03:17This mountain range is the highest when you measure it from the sea level.
03:21Just above 29,000 feet in height.
03:24But when you measure the height of the mountain from its base to the peak, then the Himalayas
03:29drop to second place.
03:30The highest mountain on Earth is actually Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
03:34It's a dormant volcano.
03:36In the local language, its name translates as White Mountain.
03:40Nearly half of it lies under the waves of the Pacific Ocean.
03:44Its full height is close to a mile higher than Mount Everest, at 33,500 feet.
03:51We can't appreciate its scale right now, but if the Pacific dried up, we would be able
03:55to stand at the base of this giant.
03:59The bottom of the Atlantic hides a similar mountain range.
04:01It's the largest geological feature on the planet.
04:05We can't see it because the mid-Atlantic ridge is almost completely submerged.
04:09It rises from the ocean floor to a height half of that of Mount Kilimanjaro.
04:17The width of the massive underwater range reaches one-tenth of Earth's diameter.
04:21The only visible sections of the mid-Atlantic ridge are islands such as Iceland and the
04:26Azores.
04:28The remotest inhabited island in the world also belongs to the visible part of this geoformation.
04:34Perhaps the only thing more impressive than its size is the date of the discovery of its
04:39ridge.
04:40Scientists charted it out in the 1950s.
04:43That's pretty recent when you consider our civilization is thousands of years old.
04:48This shows how little we know about what's hiding under the surface of our oceans.
04:52UNESCO estimates that humans have explored only 5% of Earth's oceans.
04:57It seems hard to believe, but more people have been to the Moon than at the bottom of
05:02the ocean.
05:03The deepest place on our planet lies in the Mariana Trench.
05:10The discovery of the mid-Atlantic ridge revealed the secret behind the formation of continents
05:14and oceans.
05:15When you know the truth behind their origins, you'll know what to expect on your imaginary
05:20trek across the Atlantic.
05:23The ridge sits right between North America and Europe.
05:26But you need to think of these landmasses not as continents but as tectonic plates.
05:32These are huge chunks of Earth's outer layer.
05:34It's called a lithosphere, and it's mostly comprised of rock.
05:38There are around 15 to 20 such ginormous plates on our planet.
05:42They float on a layer of partially molten rock.
05:45Well, they don't actually float, but that's the term scientists use to best describe their
05:50instability.
05:55Tectonic plates are constantly on the move.
05:58They can bump into each other.
05:59In this case, one plate goes down while the other one is lifted.
06:03This creates vast amounts of energy.
06:06On the surface, we get earthquakes and volcanoes.
06:09Tectonic forces gave our planet its familiar shape.
06:12That's how the Himalayas formed 40 to 50 million years ago.
06:16Around that time, the Indian plate shifted northward.
06:20It bumped into the southern part of the Eurasian plate.
06:23Since the two plates were composed of a similar type of rock, they each refused to go under
06:27the other.
06:28The only possible direction was up.
06:31This process is still not over.
06:33The range grows by a third of an inch every year.
06:39A similar thing is happening with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
06:42It is widening at an annual rate of 1.5 inches.
06:46And there's an interesting side effect of this process.
06:49Do you remember the time when you were building sandcastles?
06:52In order to build the keep, you needed to dig up a lot of sand around it.
06:57As the castle grew in size, the hole around it became bigger.
07:00The same thing is happening in the Atlantic Ocean, but on a much larger scale.
07:05As the ridge is getting wider and wider, the two coasts are drifting away from each other.
07:10The North American plate and the Eurasian plate are moving apart.
07:14This means that your imaginary trip in a world without oceans might take longer.
07:19For every year you wait, you'll need to cover an extra inch.
07:24That doesn't seem like much today, but give it some time, and you might not have to embark
07:28on a cross-continental journey after all.
07:31The continents will come to you.
07:37Evaporation is not the only way to drain an ocean.
07:39The coast on each side of an ocean might simply close in on it.
07:43This is what scientists believe will happen to the Pacific.
07:46Some 50 million years from now, give or take, you wouldn't be able to recognize the Earth's
07:51largest ocean.
07:53Geologists ran a series of computer simulations to see where North and South America are headed.
07:59The answer is to the North Pole.
08:01This is where they'll merge with Asia in the distant future.
08:04The new supercontinent will completely change the shape and size of the Pacific Ocean.
08:10Geologists have a name ready for this landmass – Amasia.
08:16That's it for today, so hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like
08:21and share it with your friends.
08:22Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!