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142 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
What is the East-West position in an Earth coordinate system determined by?
longitude.
Imagine you hike from New York eastwards to the central Atlantic Basin. You will pass bathymetric features in the following sequence (first feature is passed first, second is passed second)
shelf, continental slope, deep-sea basin, mid-ocean ridge
What is the principle that entails that distribution of elevated continents and depressed ocean basin requires a balance of internal pressure under these blocks?
isostasy
The Earth’s core contains high concentrations of ______ and ______.
iron and nickel.
The Earth’s inner layers consist of:
inner core, outer core, mantle, and crust.
What are lines of evidence for plate tectonics?
shape of continents, similarity of fossils, ice scratches in rocks
The theory of plate motion has NOT been tested by this method:
temperature of surface waters
Deep earthquake activity is most frequent at ___________ zones.
subduction zones.
Four traditional sciences used to characterize oceanography:
geological, chemical, biological, and physical sciences.
first person to accurately calculate world circumference
Eratosthenes
______ were highly accomplished seamen who engaged in extensive exploration, trade, and colonization in the North Atlantic from about 793 to 1066 AD.
Vikings
What is tool is important for navigation to estimate the longitude?
Precise chronometer:
Motivations for early explorations?
scientific curiosity, expanding trade, expanding resources w/military campaigns
ARGO floats do NOT measure _________.
isostasy
ARGO floats do these things:
record temperature, salt concentration (salinity), and ascend to the surface and send data to satellites
Satellites:
used to measure sea surface temps & elevation, and position.
How was the Age of the Earth established?
Comparing quantity of radioisotopes remaining in rocks with their known half lives.
How old is Earth?
4.6 billion years old.
The Mesozoic era was known as the Age of ____________
“Age of Dinosaurs”
The Arctic Circle is the northern limit of sunlight on the winter solstice. True or False?
True. This is correct about the Earth-Sun relationship.
Rotation makes the Earth bulge outward at the _______
Equator
Tropic of cancer is where the sun stands above
23.5 degrees N.
The sun changes for one hour each _______ latitude.
15 degrees
Hypsographic maps are used to measure water depth. T/F
FALSE. Bathymetric maps are used for water depth.
Reservoirs include the atmosphere, oceans, and ice caps. T/F
True
The hydrologic cycle involves movement of ______ between _______.
water, reservoirs
Climate zones are primarily functions of patterns of ________, __________, and __________.
temperature, precipitation, and evaporation.
What percentage of the Earth’s surface is oceans?
70%
Seismic waves are used for....
They are used to survey the Earth’s interior structure (core to surface)
What rock has the highest iron content?
Basalt rock
The 3 main lithospheric plate boundaries are:
divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries
A key piece of evidence that significantly advanced the study of sea floor spreading was the discovery of
geomagnetic polarity reversals near mid ocean ridges.
African rift valley is an example of what kind of fault?
transform fault.
The most frequent deep earthquake activity occurs where?
Subduction zones.
The Hawaiian Islands are being created along ____ _____.
Hot spots
What are the regions on earth where the deepest water depths have been recorded?
Rift valleys
The theory of plate motion has NEVER been tested using the
temperatures of surface waters.
What material has the lowest critical erosion velocity?
Sand
Calcareous sediments are likely found on what kind of systems?
elevated-ridge systems
a microscopic drifting organism is called __________.
Plankton
Where are the thickest ocean sedimentary deposits found?
Passive continental margin
Neritic sediments dominate the
continental shelf
Pelagic sediments dominate the
deep sea floor
Shared pairs of electrons form hydrogen and oxygen form ______ bonds
covalent
The temperature of the sea surface is predominately determined by
solar radiation.
The gain or loss of heat in a water mass can be measured by
temperature.
What causes land to warm much faster than the ocean?
Heat capacity
(water has a higher heat capacity)
What is fresh water’s maximum density?
4 degrees C.
Density of seawater _________ as temperature ________ and salinity _________.
(Increases or decreases, fill in the blank)
Density increases,
Temperature decreases,
Salinity increases
Average salinity of the ocean is 35%. T/F.
FALSE
The principle of constant proportion of major constituents in sea water allows us to determine the salinity by measuring the concentration of
halogens.
The two most abundant major constituents of sea water.
Sodium and chloride
Oxygen concentration in sea water generally is _____ at cold temperatures.
high
Carbon dioxide is _______ from the atmosphere during photosynthesis, not ______.
taken in, emitted
pH is the negative logarithm of the concentration of
H+
Climate is defined as ____ _____ changes in the atmosphere
LONG TERM
Air moving over the surface of the rotating Earth: is deflected to the _______ in the_______hemisphere.
right, northern
What is the layer of atmosphere that is characterized by weather and clouds?
Troposphere
What is the atmospheric cell transporting heat from the equator to the horse latitudes?
Hadley cell
Coriolis deflection is caused by
the rotation of the Earth around its axis.
Condensation occurs as air ______.
COOLS
Important features for a hurricane are:
low vertical shear, surface temperature > 26.5, Coriolis deflection
Large-scale ocean surface currents are deflected by the ______ ________.
Coriolis effect.
The large gyres of surface currents in the ocean basin are in first order a ___________ __________.
geostrophic circulation.
What is this term?
-describes net flow of water set in motion by the wind
moves to the left of wind -direction in the southern hemisphere
-moves to the right of the wind direction in the northern hemisphere
Ekman Transport
During El Nino
trade winds _______,
upwelling __________,
sea surface temperature _________.

Decreases/increases, fill in blank
decreases, decreases, increases
The world ocean deep-sea is primarily ventilated by formation of deep/bottom-water near __________ and __________.
Greenland & Antarctica.
The global overturning circulation (conveyor belt) is primarily driven by __________ and ____________ __________.
Temperature and salinity gradients.
Deepwater of water mass occurs when....
density in deeper layers < surface density
What's the most prominent deep water mass in the Atlantic Ocean?
North Atlantic Deep Water
The speed of a deep-water wave depends on the ______.
TROUGH
What is the highest point of a wave?
Crest
What is the distance between corresponding points on two successive waves?
Wavelength
The small waves restored by surface tension are called ______ waves.
CAPILLARY
Speed of a shallow water wave depends on the ________..
depth.
Does the period of a wave change when it travels from deep to shallow water?
NO
Does the wave height does increase when it travels from deep to shallow water?
YES
Tsunami waves are ______ water waves.
SHALLOW
A fully developed sea (chop) is essentially depending on these three things:
duration of the wind, wind speed, and fetch.
Wave refraction: Waves tend to _______ as one part of the wave enters shallow water.
bend
What is the vertical distance between high and low tide?
Tidal range
The semidiurnal tide has a period of _______________
12 hours 25 minutes.
The most important factor influencing the earth’s tides is the ______.
Moon
Spring tides occur when?
full moon and new moon, or every two weeks.
Tidal resonance can explain a high tidal range and occurs if the period of the tide is similar to the characteristic period of the_____.
Basin.
An amphidromic system describes tides that rotate about a _____ ______.
fixed node.
High diurnal tides occur every....
24 hours and 50 minutes.
Falling tide is an ____ tide.
ebb
The balancing forces in the equilibrium tide theory are __________ and ________________ __________ ________ ________.
Coriolis and horizontal pressure gradient forces.
Longshore currents flow nearly parallel to the shore. T/F
True
Currents flowing seaward from shore are _____ currents.
Rip currents
Beach profiles depends on these three things:
frequency of storms, longshore currents, and tides.
Isolated offshore bars that grow until they break the surface may develop into_________ ________.
Barrier Islands.
Delta systems consist of these three types:
tide-dominated, river-dominated, wave dominated.
Secondary coasts don't come from _________.
volcanic activity
Primary coasts result from deposition of sediment by waves. T/F
False
What is the amount of time required for an estuary to undergo an exchange of water?
flushing
Which of the following are not beach types:
split, tombolo, barrier island, fjord
FJORD
Landward transport of sediments by waves is called __________ transport.
Onshore transport
Which of the following are not estuary types:
sand-wedged, inverse, partially mixed, fjord-type
sand-wedged
Primary production in the oceans is generated by ________.
phytoplankton
The standing phytoplankton crop is a function of these 3 things:
grazing, growth, and death
The position of the organism in a food chain is called a ___________ __________.
trophic level
Are diatom members of the phytoplankton?
Yes.
The most numerous organisms in the oceans are _______
bacteria
Areas of upwelling are generally ________ in productivity.
HIGH
Chemical compounds can remove oil from the surface by __________.
dispersion
The most sustainable way to remove the oil from the ocean surface is _________.
skimming.
What is a dominant transport mechanism for invasive species in the ocean?
BALLAST WATER IN SHIP TANKS
The Gulf of Mexico dead zone is characterized by extremely low levels of ________ in the water.
oxygen
What is the biomagnification of heavy metals in an organism?
It is an increase of toxic concentration in higher trophic organisms.
Thermohaline circulation in the ocean may be reduced with global warming b/c of
stratification of surface waters in the North Atlantic.
Future increase in GHG emissions depends on the growth of the following 3 things:
growth in population, GDP, and technological development.
Future climate change predicts a higher temp change over land than over the ocean b/c the
ocean has a higher capacity to store heat.
Autotrophs are....
Organisms are able to to manufacture their own food from inorganic substances.
Heterotrophs are....
- Organisms require organic compounds from food; unable to manufacture food from inorganic compounds
What is chlorophyll and can you measure it from space?-
Group of green pigments that are active in photosynthesis. You can measure chlorophyll from space.
What are the controlling factors of standing stocks of phytoplankton?
Growth and reproduction increase phytoplankton numbers and are dependent upon net primary productivity.
What are the 4 controlling factors of primary production?
light, temperature, nutrients,
grazing, circulation
Explain biological pumps.
Photosynthetic transfer of carbon as CO2 from the atmosphere to the ocean in form of molecules ( organic); Carbon is transferred to intermediate and deep-ocean water when organic material sinks and decays.
Why is productivity low in the center of the ocean gyres?
Downwelling occurs in that area.
why is productivity high
in upwelling regions?
Productivity is high in upwelling regions because the nutrients are pushed to the surface.
What is the impact of El Nino on productivity?
During El Nino productivity increases and temperature is warm.
Ocean fertilization (with iron); what is the effect of adding iron?
Adding iron increases productivity.
Main sources of hydrocarbons?
crude oil
Measures to fight oil spills (advantages and disadvantages of the
different methods)-
Suck and skim techniques- they pick up oil from the surface of the watter, booms- they contain slick, bioremedation( algea blooms), chemical dispergents- bad for marine life, hot water-, burning- Causes pollution
Red Tides-
Red coloration, usually of coastal waters, caused by large quantities of microscopic organisms ( generally dinoflagellates); some red tides result in mass fish kills, others contaminate shellfish, and still others produce no toxin effects.
Greenhouse effect (Explain).-
-Greenhouse gases (such as CO2, methane, water vapor) absorb infrared radiation from Earth's surface
-causes an increase in average global temperatures
At high latitudes the controlling factor for primary production is:


A) temperature.


B) sunlight.


C) nutrients.


D) pressure.


E) grazing.
B) sunlight.
Which of the following forms of nitrogen is most easily absorbed by marine plants?


A) nitrogen gas


B) nitrite


C) ammonia


D) nitrate


E) none of the above
D) nitrate
At low latitudes the controlling factor for primary production is:


A) temperature.


B) sunlight.


C) nutrients.


D) pressure.


E) grazing.
C) nutrients.
In photosynthesis, plants produce carbon by consuming nitrogen and phosphorus in a constant ratio of _____ grams of nitrogen to each gram of phosphorus.


A) 2.3


B) 5.1


C) 7.2


D) 12.6


E) 21.3
7.2
The overall efficiency of energy transfer up each layer of an open-ocean trophic pyramid is about:


A) 50%.


B) 40%.


C) 30%.


D) 20%.


E) 10%.
E) 10%
The relative abundance of phytoplankton to zooplankton is about:


A) 100:1.


B) 50:1.


C) 10:1.
C) 10:1.
The overall efficiency of energy transfer up each layer of trophic pyramids in regions of upwelling is about:


A) 50%.


B) 40%.


C) 30%.


D) 20%.


E) 10%.
D) 20%.
Carbon dioxide and water molecules in the presence of solar energy and __________ produce sugar, oxygen, and water.


A) carbon fixation


B) dissolved oxygen


C) fluorescence


D) chlorophylla
D) chlorophylla
At the Equitorial upwelling:


A) Mixes cold water from the depth of the ocean with the hot surface water.


B) Phytoplankton cannot swim and are almost completely absent.


C) Brings nutrient rich water to the surface.


D) Allows the completion of the trade cells.
A) Mixes cold water from the depth of the ocean with the hot surface water.
The ideal ratio of nutrients required by phytoplankton is:


A) 02:N:C:P 109:41:7.2:1


B) C:P:N:02 109:41:7.2:1


C) P:02:N:C 109:41:7.2:1


D) P:N:C:02 109:41:7.2:1
A) 02:N:C:P 109:41:7.2:1
ONCP
Which area has the highest average rate of primary productivity?


A) Coastal Ocean


B) Estuaries


C) Upwelling Zones


D) Open Ocean
C) Upwelling Zones
The number of trophic levels in a trophic pyramid is generally greatest in this region of the ocean.



A) estuaries


B) coastal areas


C) upwelling areas


D) open ocean
D) open ocean
What causes ocean acidification?
excess CO2 being absorbed by the oceans; this could cause species extinctions, disrupt the food web and impact fishing, tourism and any other human endeavor that relies on the sea.
What causes ocean acidification?
excess CO2 being absorbed by the oceans; this could cause species extinctions, disrupt the food web and impact fishing, tourism and any other human endeavor that relies on the sea.