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28 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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study of Earth's oceans including the creatures that inhabit its waters, its physical and chemical properties, and the effects of human activities.
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oceanography
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level of the ocean's surfaces, which is presently rising 1 to 2 mm per year due to melting glaciers.
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sea level
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technique that directs sound waves at an angle to the seafloor or deep-lake floor, allowing underwater topographic features to be mapped.
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side-scan sonar
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measure of the amount of salts dissolved in seawater, which is 35ppt, on average.
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salinity
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plots changing ocean water temperatures with depth, which varies, depending on location and season.
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temperature profile
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transitional ocean layer that lies between the relatively warm, sunlit surface layer and the cooler, dark, dense bottom layer.
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thermocline
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collapsing wave that forms when a wave reaches shallow water and is slowed by friction with the ocean bottom.
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breaker
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highest point of a wave.
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crest
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movement of ocean water that occurs in depths too great to be affected by surface winds and is generated by differences in water temperature and salinity.
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density current
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wind-driven movement of ocean water that primarily affects the upper few hundred meters of the ocean.
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surface current
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periodic rise and fall of sea level caused by the gravitational attraction among Earth, the moon, and the sun.
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tide
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lowest point of a wave.
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trough
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upward movement of ocean water that occurs when winds push surface water aside and it is replaced with cold, deep water that originates on the ocean bottom.
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upwelling
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rhythmic movement that carries energy through matter or space and, in oceans, is generated mainly by wind moving over the surface of the water.
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wave
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long ridge of sand or other sediment deposited or shaped by longshore currents that is separated from the mainland and can be up to tens of kilometers long.
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barrier island
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sloping band of loose sediments, such as sand, pebbles, or mud, deposited along a shoreline.
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beach
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coastal area of brackish water formed where the lower end of a freshwater river or stream enters the ocean; provides an excellent source of food and shelter to commercially important marine organisms.
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estuary
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current that flows parallel to the shore, moves large amounts of sediments, and is formed when incoming breakers spill over a longshore bar.
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longshore current
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process in which waves advancing toward shore slow when they encounter shallower water, causing the initially straight wave crests to bend toward the headlands.
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wave refraction
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smooth, flat part of the seafloor covered with muddy sediments and sedimentary rocks that extends seaward from the continental margin.
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abyssal plain
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submerged part of a continent and shallowest part of the ocean that consists of the continental shelf, the continental slope, and the continental rise.
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continental margin
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gently sloping accumulation of sediments deposited by a turbidity current at the foot of a continental margin.
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continental rise
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shallowest part of a continental margin, with an average depth of 130m and an average width of 60 km, that extends into the ocean from the shore and provides a nutrient-rich home to large numbers of fish.
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continental shelf
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sloping oceanic region found beyond the continental shelf that generally marks the edge of the continental crust and may be cut by submarine canyons.
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continental slope
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long, relatively narrow depression in the seafloor that can extend for thousands of kilometers, it's the deepest part of the ocean basin, and it's found primarily in the Pacific Ocean.
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deep-sea trench
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chains of underwater mountains that run throughout the ocean basins, have a total length over 65,000 km, and contain countless active and extinct volcanoes.
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mid-ocean ridge
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basaltic, submerged volcano on the seafloor that is more than 1 km high.
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seamount
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rapidly flowing ocean current that can cut deep-sea canyons in continental slopes and deposit the sediments in the form of a continental rise.
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turbidity current
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