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WGU SEA4 Oceanograph
WGU SEA4 Oceanography
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Abyssal Zone | A subdivision of the benthic zone characterized by extremely high pressures, low temperatures, low oxygen, few nutrients, and no sunlight |
| Aphotic Zone | That portion of the ocean where there is no sunshine |
| Benthic Zone | The marine life zone that includes any seabottom surface regardless of its distance from the shore |
| Benthos | The forms of marine life that live on or in the ocean bottom |
| Diomass | |
| Density | Mass per unit volume of a substance, usually expressed as grams per cubic centimeter (g/cm3) |
| Euphotic Zone | The portion of the photic zone near the surface, where light is bright enough for photosynthesis to occur |
| Food Chain | A succession of organisms in an ecological community through which food |
| Food Web | A group of interrelated food chains |
| Intertidal Zone | The area where land and sea meet and overlap; the zone between high and low tides |
| Nekton | Pelagic organisms that can move independently of ocean currents by swimming or other means of propulsion |
| Neritic Zone | The marine-life zone that extends from the low tideline out to the shelf break. |
| Oceanic Zone | The marine-life zone beyond the continental shelf |
| Pelagic Zone | Open ocean of any depth. Animals in this zone swim or float freely. |
| Photic Zone | The upper part of the ocean into which any sunlight penetrates. |
| Photosynthesis | The process by which plants and algae produce carbonhydrates from carbon dioxide and water in the presence of chlorophyll, using light energy and releasing oxygen. |
| Phytoplankton | Algal plankton, which are the most important community of primary producers in the ocean. |
| Plankton | Passively drifting or weakly swimming organisms that cannot move independently of ocean currents. Includes microscopic algae, protozoa, jellyfish, and larval forms of the asthenosphere. |
| Primary Productivity | The amount of organic matter synthesized by organisms from inorganic substances through photosynthesis of chemosynthesis within a given volume of water or habitat in a unit of time. |
| Pycnocline | |
| Salinity | The proportion of dissolved salts to pure water, usually expressed in parts per thousand. |
| Termocline | A layer of water in which there is a rapid change in temperature in the vertical dimension. |
| Trophic Level | A nourishment level in a food chain. Plant and algae producers constitute the lowest shelf, followed by herbivores and a series of carnivores at progressively higher levels. |
| Zooplankton | Animal plankton |
| Abyssal Plain | Very level area of the deep-ocean floor, usually lying at the foot of the continental rise. |
| Active Continental Margin | Usually narrow and consisting of highly deformed sediments. They occur where oceanic lithosphere is being subducted beneath the margin of a continent. |
| Bathymetry | The measurement of ocean depths and the charting of the shape or topography of the ocean floor. |
| Biogenous Sediment | Seafloor sediments consisting of material of marine-organic origin. |
| Continental Margin | That portion of the seafloor adjacent to the continents. It may include the continental shelf, continental slope and continental rise. |
| Continental Rise | The gently sloping surface at the base of the continental slope. |
| Continental Shelf | The gently sloping submerged portion of the continental margin, extending from the shoreline to the continental slope. |
| Continental Slope | The steep gradient that leads to the deep-ocean floor and marks the seaward edge of the continental shelf. |
| Continental Volcanic Arc | Mountains formed in part by igneous activity associated with the subduction of oceanic lithosphere beneath a continent. |
| Deep-Ocean Trench | An elongated depression in the seafloor produced by bending of the oceanic crust during subduction. |
| Deep-Sea Fan | A cone-shaped deposit at the base of the continental slope. The sediment is transports to the fan by the turbidity currents that follow submarine canyons. |
| Echo Sounder | An instrument used to determine the depth of the water by measuring the time interval between emission of a sound signal and the return of its echo from the bottom. |
| Gas Hydrate | Unusually compact chemical structures made of water and natural gas. |
| Graded Bedding | A sediment layer that is characterized be a decrease in sediment size from bottom to top. |
| Guyot | A submerged flat-topped seamount. |
| Hydrogenous Sediment | Seafloor sediments consisting of minerals that crystallize from seawater. An important example is manganese nodules. |
| Mid-Ocean Ridge | A continuous elevated zone on the floor of all the major ocean basins and varying in width from 500 to 5000 kilometers (300 to 3000 miles). The rifts at the crests of ridges represent divergent plate boundaries. |
| Ocean Basin Floor | Area of the deep ocean floor between the continental margin and the mid-ocean ridge. |
| Oceanic Plateau | An extensive region on the ocean floor composed of thick accumulations of pillow basalts and other mafic rocks that in some cases exceed 30 kilometers in thickness. |
| Oceanic Ridge | A continuous elevated zone on the floor of all the major ocean basins and varying in width from 500 to 5000 kilometers (300 to 3000 miles). The rifts at the crests of ridges represent divergent plate boundaries. |
| Oceanography | The scientific study of the oceans and oceanic phenomena. |
| Passive Continental Margin | Margins that consist of continental shelf, continental slope, and continental rise. They are not associated with plate boundaries and therefore experience little volcanism and few earthquakes. |
| Rift Zone | A region of Earth’s crust along which divergence is taking place. |
| Seamount | An isolated volcanic peak that rises at least 1000 meters (300 feet) above the deep-ocean floor. |
| Seismic Reflection Profile | A method of viewing the rock structure beneath the sediments on the seafloor using strong low-frequency sounds like air guns. |
| Sonar | Sound navigation and ranging system. |
| Submarine Canyon | A seaward extension of a valley that was cut on the continental shelf during a time when sea level was lower, or a canyon carved into the outer continental shelf, slope and rise by the turbidity currents. |
| Tablemount | A submerged flat-topped seamount. |
| Terrigenous Sediment | Seafloor sediments derived from terrestrial weathering and erosion. |
| Turbidite | Turbidity current deposit characterized by graded bedding. |
| Turbidity Current | A downslope movement of dense, sediment-laden water created when sand and mud on the continental shelf and slope are dislodged and thrown into suspension. |
| Volcanic Island Arc | A chain of volcanic islands generally located a few hundred kilometers from a trench where active subduction of one oceanic slab beneath another is occurring. |
Created by:
MStrange
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