Barbara Wilger, age 11, of Eugene, Ore. for her question:

WHY ARE THE OCEANS WHERE THEY ARE?

Billions of years ago, the earth was flooded with deluging rains. Some of the rain sank down through porous rocks. But most of it ran down the slopes and settled in the lowest hollows. These hollows were and still are huge, plunging basins in the earth's crust. The oceans are where they are because their waters still are contained in these enormous basins.