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65 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Who is responsible for advancing European exploration of the oceans?
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Prince Henry the Navigator
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What's so impressive about the "Challenger" expedition?
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It was the first purely scientific voyage
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How many oceans are there?
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1,4,5, or 7
1: World ocean 4: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic 5: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, Southern 7; North Pacific, South Pacific, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, Southern |
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What's the deepest part of the ocean? How deep?
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"Challenger Deep" in the Mariana Trench. It is 11,000 meters deep.
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How old is Earth? How do we know?
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4.6 billion years. We know this from radiometric dating.
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How did Earth's layers form? The atmosphere? The ocean?
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Density stratification, volcanic activity, plants using CO2 and releasing O2.
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Date Earth's formation, the first ocean, the first life, and Homo sapiens.
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Formation: 4.6 billion
First ocean: 4 billion First life: 3.5 billion Homo sapiens: between 400-250,000 years ago |
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Describe the structure of an atom.
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Protons and neutrons are in the nucleus, and electrons orbit the nucleus.
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Describe water molecules
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H2O
105 degree angle between two hydrogens |
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Define "hydrogen bond." Why is it so important?
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A weak bond between two molecules. Creates high surface tension.
Water has two bonds. |
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What are the two kinds of bonds between atoms and molecules?
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Covalent, ionic
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What is the difference between a forced wave and a free wave?
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A forced wave is caused by wind and creates a pointed shape. A free wave is father from the storm and creates a more gradual shape.
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What factors affect wave height?
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Fetch, wind duration
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What is the difference between deep-water and shallow-water waves?
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Deep-water: the wave base does not touch the sea floor. Can be a relatively large wave in deep water or a tiny wave in shallow water.
Shallow-water: the wave base does touch the sea floor. Can be either a huge wave in deep-water or a normal wave in shallow-water. |
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How does a wave change as it transitions from deep-water to shallow-water waves?
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The wavelength is going to decrease in size and the wave is going to increase in height
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What is constructive, destructive, and mixed interference?
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Constructive: crest to crest
Destructive: crest to trough Mixed: crest to the sides |
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What forms rogue waves?
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Constructive interference and a lot of bad luck
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Describe wave refraction and what is its result?
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Wave comes in at an angle. The shallower part slows down, turning parallel to the shore. It causes erosion and straightens the shoreline.
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Describe wave reflection and whats is its result?
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Waves bounce off a hard barrier, and creates choppy waves.
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What is semidiurnal, diurnal, and mixed tides?
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Semidiurnal tides: 2 high tides, 2 low tides which occur every 24 hours and 50 minutes.
Diurnal: 1 high tide, 1 low tide which occurs every 24 hours and 50 minutes. Mixed: 1 varying high tide, and 1 varying low tide. |
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What are the two forces that create tides?
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Gravity and inertia
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What is spring tide and neap tide?
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Spring: The sun, Earth, and moon is lined up and causes constructive interference. It makes the high tides higher and the low tides lower, and the tidal range increases.
Neap: the Earth is at a right angle to the moon and sun, causes destructive interference. The high tides are lower and the low tides are higher, and the tidal range decreases. |
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How are mixed and diurnal tides formed?
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Declination of the moon and shallow basins
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What are conditions that alter tide heights?
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Perigee, apogee, perihelion, and aphelion.
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What are Wegener's observations and what was wrong with his hypothesis?
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Observations: The continents fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, fossils that were spread out across continents, but the animals couldn't swim, glacier evidence, and mountain chains.
What was wrong: oceanic rock is too strong for continents to move through, and tidal forces too weak to push the continents. |
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What evidence supports seafloor spreading and plate tectonic theory?
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Paleomagnetism, young sea floor, youngest in the mid-ocean ridge, different kinds of crust, trenches, volcanoes
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Restate the plate tectonic theory and include method of movement.
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New sea floor is created at the mid-ocean ridge.
Pushes continents away Convergence, subduction- caused by a combination of slab pull and ridge push (slab pull = subduction) |
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Divergent boundary
motion, result, examples |
<--- --->
mid-ocean ridge Mid-Atlantic Ridge |
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Continental to continental convergence
Motion, result, examples |
---> <---
non-volcanic volcanoes Himalayas, Appalachians, |
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Continental to oceanic convergence
Motion, result, examples |
---> <---
continental arc, deep sea trench Cascade mountains, Cascadia Subduction Zone |
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Oceanic to oceanic convergence
Motion, result, examples |
---> <---
island arc, deep sea trench Japan, Japan Trench |
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What features are there at transform boundaries?
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fault zones
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What are mantle plumes and what do they create?
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They are a superheated (highly pressurized) area of the mantle which causes magma to break through the crust. They create volcanic island chains.
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How do we measure sea floor structure?
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Bathymetry: the measurement of the sea floor
Echo sounders, satellites, seismic reflection |
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What are continental shelf, continental slope, continental rise, and submarine canyons?
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Shelf: the continental crust covered up by the sea
Slope: edge of the continental crust Rise: debris piles formed by sand avalanches from the continent Canyons: carved by turbidity currents |
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Define passive margins and list structures.
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A continent that is not tectonically active (far from a plate boundary).
Continent --> shelf --> slope --> rise --> abyssal plains |
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Define active margins and list structures.
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A convergent boundary that is adjacent to a coastline
Continental arc --> shelf --> slope --> submarine trench --> abyssal hills |
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Where would you go to find abyssal hills / plains?
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Active margins / passive margins
Areas where there is a trench, there are abyssal hills. The debris piles go in the trench instead of making a continental rise. If there is a rise, the sediment covers up the abyssal hills. |
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How do earthquakes occur?
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Rigid plates collide, strain is caused. The energy released from plates colliding forms earthquakes.
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What type of earthquake wave causes the most damage?
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surface waves
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How do we prepare for earthquakes?
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Building codes, warning systems
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What are some hazards from earthquakes?
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Tsunamis, fires, water contamination, land slides, liquefaction
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How do tsunamis occur?
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Anything that causes a vertical change in the sea depth (some earthquakes, landslides, asteroid landing).
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How do we prepare for tsunamis?
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Buoy system: detects change in sea levels and alerts analyists
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What type of volcano is found at mid-ocean ridges? Island chains and arcs? Continental arcs?
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Fissure eruptions, shield volcanoes, composite volcanoes
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Why is lava different between shield and composite volcanoes?
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Shield volcanoes have freely-flowing lava
Composite volcanoes have viscous lava because of their high concentration of silica, which makes it more explosive. |
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What are some hazards from volcanoes?
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Lava, pyroclastics, lahars, pyroclastic flow
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What are some precursors to volcanic eruptions we can monitor?
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SO2, earthquakes, bulging, temperature of the ground
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How can sea level change globally? Locally?
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Melting, forming ice, thermal expansion
Land drops, forming glaciers |
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Potential solutions to rising sea levels?
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building codes, stilts, seawalls, pumping out the water, moving out / evacuation
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What are two classifications of shorelines and their characteristics?
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Submergent: shorelines that are sinking below sea level. They have marine terraces and stranded beach deposits.
Emergent: shorelines that are rising above sea level. They have drowned beaches, submerged dune topography, and drowned river valleys. |
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How does sand get to the beach?
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Sediment washes down the river and flows into the deltas and eventually into the ocean. The waves put it on shore.
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Why are barrier islands so much more dangerous to live on than "regular" beaches?
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They are essentially large piles of sand that will migrate landward over time. All buildings constructed on them will fall into the ocean with time.
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Describe summertime and wintertime beaches.
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Summertime beaches: beach that has been deposited on, characterized by calm winds and small waves.
Wintertime beaches: beach that has been eroded. They do not necessarily have to occur in their named season: only happens on the west coast. On the East coast, it changes all the time. |
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Define longshore transport.
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Sand is moving parallel to the beach.
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How do we deal with longshore transport?
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Jetties and groins
We also use breakwaters and seawalls to prevent sand from being eroded. |
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Why is there so much erosion on today's submergent beaches?
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Dams are blocking sediment transport. They get stuck in the rivers and never make it to the deltas
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Define heat capacity and latent heat.
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Heat capacity: the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of a gram of a substance one degree Celsius.
Latent heat: the amount of energy needed to break the bonds between states of matter. |
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Are hurricanes high or low pressure systems? Which way do they rotate?
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Low
They rotate depending on the Coriolis effect. In the northern hemisphere, the Coriolis effect turns them counterclockwise (because it turns the direction of intended movement to the right). In the southern hemisphere, they turn clockwise, because the Coriolis effect turns the direction of intended movement to the left. |
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How does the high latent heat of water cause hurricanes to increase in strength?
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High latent heat releases more energy longer.
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What can cause a hurricane to weaken?
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Cold water, hitting land, strong wind shear, or crossing the equator.
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When is hurricane season? What sets its start and end dates?
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June 1st to November 30th.
June 1st is nearly summer, so the water will warm up. Due to water's high heat capacity, it stores the heat in it for longer than other substances, so the water is finally cooling down after November. |
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What is the general movement for hurricanes? What wind belts are associated with this movement?
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Starts in the warm tropical area and blows northwest (due to the NE trade winds) and then goes east (due to the prevailing westerlies).
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What are the four main hazards for hurricanes?
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Tornadoes, storm surge, wind, floods
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What causes storm surge?
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Wind blowing onshore and low pressure.
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