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14 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What theory was proposed by the English marine biologist Edward Forbes during his trip through the Mediterranean on the Beacon? |
Azoic theory - Because the number of creatures decrease with increasing depth, Forbes theorized that no life existed on seafloors deeper than 1800 feet |
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Who disproved the azoic theory? |
Michael Sars, a Norwegian marine biologist, collected and described 19 species that live deeper than 300 fathoms in Norwegian fjords. |
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What theory about coral reefs did Darwin propose? |
Subsidence theory - that coral reefs grow up as the rock they grow on in the shallows sinks. This ended up being the case for atolls, such as the Eniwetok Atoll. |
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What was the significance of the Challenger expedition (1872-1876)? |
A voyage led by C. Wyville Thomson and John Murray - it sampled the waters and bottoms of all the seas except the Arctic. |
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What was the Bathybius theory and who disproved it? |
The Bathybius theory suggested that a primordial slime, Bathybius, was ubiquitous on the seafloor and capable of giving rise to higher forms of life. It was supported by the presence of whitish material found in samples from the seabed. John Buchanan was able to disprove it by showing the white material was an artifact of preserving seawater with alcohol. |
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What are the general habitats of marine organisms? |
Neuston Nekton Plankton Benthos (Epifaunal, Infaunal, Semi-infaunal) Boring |
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What are the different major marine habitat locations? |
Intertidal Neritic Pelagic (Oceanic) - up to depths of 200m Mesopelagic - 200-1000m Bathypelagic - 1000-4000m Abyssopelagic - 4000-6000m Hadal Benthic |
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What are the four main topographical features that all oceans share? |
Continental shelf Continental slope Deep-Sea Floor Oceanic Ridge Systems |
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What is the definition of salinity with regards to the oceans? |
The number of grams of dissolved inorganic solids per thousand grams of seawater, expressed as parts per thousand. |
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What are the major elements in the ocean? (> 100ppm) |
Chlorine Sodium Magnesium Sulfur Calcium Potassium |
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What are the minor elements in the ocean? (1-100ppm) |
Bromine Carbon Strontium Boron Silicon Fluorine |
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What is the practical salinity unit (psu)? |
The measure of the electrical conductivity of the seawater relative to a standard potassium chloride solution at one atm and 15C. |
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What are two factors that decrease the amount of oxygen that can dissolve into the ocean? |
Oxygen saturation decreases with increasing temperature and increasing salinity. |
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What is an oxygen minimum layer? |
A local absence of oxygen typically at depths of 200-1200m, but also in the tropics and fjords. Accumulation of organic matter and other oxygen-depleting compounds can result in mass mortality of fish and bottom organisms. |
