Geology of the Pacific Ocean Geology of the Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean evolved in the Mesozoic from the Panthalassic Ocean, which had formed when Rodinia rifted apart around 750 Ma. The first ocean floor which is part of the current Pacific Plate began 160 Ma to the west of the central Pacific and subsequently developed into the largest oceanic plate on Earth. The tectonic plates continue to move today. The slowest spreading ridge is the Gakkel Ridge on the Arctic Ocean floor, which spreads at less than , while the fastest, the East Pacific Rise near Easter Island, has a spreading rate of over
Ocean color oceans in the global carbon cycle. Ocean colour data is a vital resource for a wide variety of operational forecasting and oceanographic research, earth sciences, and related applications, as well as in many of the Societal Benefit Areas identified by the Group on Earth Observations. A few examples of some of the ways that ocean colour data and related data types have been used include. Ocean color The "color" of the ocean is determined by the interactions of incident light with substances or particles present in the water. White light from the sun is made up of a combination of