Question | Answer |
the study of the ocean (geology, marine biology, meteorology, chemistry, botany) | oceanography |
term used to refer to all oceans as a single body of water | world ocean |
4 major oceans | Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic |
largest and deepest ocean, holds 1/2 of all ocean water | Pacific |
2nd largest ocean overall in size | Atlantic |
3rd largest ocean in size, but deeper than Atlantic | Indian |
1/20 the size of the Pacific, parts frozen all year long | Arctic |
a smaller subdivision of ocean | sea |
underwater areas that border the continents | continental margin |
the gentle sloping part of the margins, .1 m dropoff for every 100 m, oil and natural gas, a lot of sea life and plants | continental shelf |
dramatic dropoff of the margin 70 m/1 km | continental slope |
caused by sediments that slide down slope | turbidity current |
V shaped valleys cut into slope | submarine canyon |
pile of sediments at the base of the slope | continental rise |
deep depression that holds all the planet's ocean water | ocean basin |
flat part of the ocean floor | abyssal plain |
underwater volcanoes | seamounts |
manganese, iron, nickel, copper | Mn nodules |
rock like structures in warm, shallow, ocean water, formed from collection of skeletons of coral animal | coral reef |
3 types of coral reefs | fringing, barrier, atoll |
most common coral reef, formed around an island or attached to the coast (Florida Keys) | fringing |
separated from main land by body of water (Great Barrier Reef) | barrier |
ring shaped reef that forms on the crater of a volcano | atoll |
most caused by wind | waves |
a wave that breaks at the shore | breakers |
waves break in deep water due to strong winds | white caps |
manmade/naturally occurring deposit of sand that runs parallel to the shore, forms when waves steal sand off beach (naturally) | sandbar |
the current that moves close to the shoreline | longshore current |
rock wall that is built to trap sand from the longshore current | jetties |
formed when a break occurs in the sandbar creating water channeling back to ocean | rip current |
partially blocking of bay mouth from sand buildup | spit |
complete blocking of bay mouth sealing it off from ocean | baymouth bar |
islands get connected by sand deposits | tombolos |
the boundary between the land and sea, most changing area on the planet | shoreline |
a deposit of rocky material next to the ocean (sand, pebbles, rocks) the size of the sediment is determined by age | beach |
older wide beaches with fine sand, the farther south, the finer the sand | East Coast |
narrow, young beaches, pebbles and rock | West Coast |
determined by source of sediments | color |
obsidian (lava flow) | black |
granite | tan |
skeletons | white |
shells | pink |
shrimp like organisms, potential food source for humans | krill |
the process of removing salt from water | desalination |
contains sulfur, phosphorus, and tin, deposits of heavy minerals | placers |
1900- used echo location to measure depth, map ocean floor (for WWI) | German - Meteor |
1934- travel 1 km deep in ocean, saw first bioluminescent fish | Beebe and Barton |
1768-1778- first to scientifically study the ocean | James Cook |
1872- took ocean samples and measurement ocean depth, minerals | HMS Challenger (Murray, Wyville) |
a special device used to collect and measure sea water samples | Mansen Bottle |
Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
(up to 100m deep, 600m w/ pressure suit)
created by Jacques Costeau | SCUBA |
diving machine with laboratory equipment | Bathyscaph (Alvin) |
harshest place, from the high tide line to the low tide line (crabs, minnows, clams) | shore zone |
very stable conditions, from the low tide line to the edge of the shelf, lots of nekton, plants, plankton | neretic zone |
(open ocean) area past the continential shelf | oceanic zone |
drifters | plankton |
plant plankton, eat by photosynthesis | phytoplankton |
animal like plankton, feed on phytoplankton | zooplankton |
living things that swim (sharks) | nekton |
bottom dwellers, plants or animals that live on the ocean floor (starfish, crabs) | benthos |
long narrow openings on the ocean floor, the deepest part of the ocean | trench |
the distance between the top part of a wave and the bottom | waveheight |
the distance from crest to crest, or trough to trough | wavelength |
huge ocean waves caused by earthquakes | tsunami |
cold ocean water with nutrients is brought to the surface | upwelling |
rising and falling of water due to gravity | tides |
chemical made by some fish, light without heat | luciferin |
extreme high and low tides, twice a month | spring tide |
little difference between the high and low tides, twice a month | neap tide |
the amount of dissolved salt in a sample of water | salinity |
top 200 m (plankton, nekton, sharks) | light region (sunlight zone) |
200-2000 m (octopi, sharks) | bathyl region (twilight zone) |
2000 m to ocean floor, very harsh conditions, dark and cold, many fish here are biolunenescent | deep zone |