OCEANS RESOURCES

• Planktons: Plankton is a diverse collection of organisms found in water that are unable to propel themselves against a current. Phytoplanktons– floating and drifting microplants, Autotrophs Eg- algae and diatoms and Zooplankton– floating and drifting micro animals.
• Nektons: Nekton (or swimmers) are living organisms that can swim and move independently of currents at various depths of seas and oceans. Nektons are fish pelagic and demersal, Mammals are dolphins and Blue whales.  Pelagic fish live in the pelagic zone of ocean or lake waters – being neither close to the bottom nor near the shore and Demersal fish live on or near the bottom.
• Benthos: Benthos is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the seabed, also known as the benthic zone. This community lives in from tidal pools along the foreshore, out to the continental shelf, and then down to the abyssal depths. Benthos are mobile and immobile

2. Abiotic Resources

2.1. Mineral Reserves

• Manganese nodules: It comprises several minerals like nickel, copper, cobalt, lead, zinc, etc. The maximum percentage of Iron and Manganese.
• Cobalt-rich marine deposits associated with seamounts and guyots.
• Phosphate in the form of phosphoric modules on shallow seabeds.
• Polymetallic nodules: Polymetallic nodules are rounded accretions of manganese and iron hydroxides that cover vast areas of the seafloor but are most abundant on abyssal plains.

2.2. Energy reserves

• Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC): Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) uses the temperature difference between a cooler deep and warmer shallow or surface seawater to run a heat engine and produce useful work, usually in the form of electricity. However, since the temperature differential is small, the thermal efficiency is low, making its economic feasibility a challenge.
• Wave Energy: Wave energy is produced when electricity generators are placed on the surface of the ocean. The energy provided is most often used in desalination plants, power plants, and water pumps. Energy output is determined by wave height, wave speed, wavelength, and water density.
• Tidal energy: Tidal energy is produced through the use of tidal energy generators. Large underwater turbines are placed in areas with high tidal movements and are designed to capture the kinetic motion of ocean tides to produce electricity.
• Offshore Wind Energy: Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy refers to the construction of wind farms in bodies of water to generate electricity from wind. Stronger wind speeds are available offshore compared to on land, so offshore wind power’s contribution in terms of electricity supplied is higher.

Non-renewable resources

• Gas Hydrates: Ice-like clathrate structures containing methane molecules trapped within a cage of water molecules. Abundant in permafrost regions and deep ocean sediments. Enormous energy source, estimated to hold twice the amount of carbon as all conventional fossil fuels combined. Difficult and expensive to extract, poses environmental risks due to potential methane release and seabed disturbances.
• Mineral Oil: Complex mixture of hydrocarbons formed from the decomposition of organic matter over millions of years. Found in underground reservoirs, often associated with sedimentary rock formations. Primarily used for transportation fuels (gasoline, diesel, jet fuel), also for heating, plastics, and other petrochemicals. Depletion of easily accessible reserves, environmental impacts of extraction and refining, and contribution to climate change.
• Natural Gas: Gaseous mixture of hydrocarbons, primarily methane, formed alongside oil or from coal deposits. Found in underground reservoirs, often associated with oil or coal deposits. Heating, electricity generation, industrial processes, cooking fuel. Similar to oil in terms of depletion and environmental impacts, but considered a cleaner-burning fossil fuel with lower greenhouse gas emissions.