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54 Cards in this Set

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Q: How are stars formed?
A: They start forming after the intense heat of the Big-Bang cooled and cold matter began condensing into large-mass objects due to gravitational attraction. When the object’s mass becomes very large, the gravitational compression within the center of the object made its interior hot to ignite thermonuclear reactions.
Q: Where did all the carbon atoms that make up your body originally get created?
: Heavy elements formed long after the big bang inside of stars and dispersed later when the stars exploded.
Q: How did the planets around our sun form?
The planets formed through the aggregation of dust and small planetesimals
Our own sun is about 4.5 billion years old. When is it expected to die?
About 4 billion years
Where did oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere come from?
A: From the product of photosynthetic reactions carried out by living organisms
What is the average depth of the ocean?
4km
If you scaled down the earth to the size of a beach ball (50 centimeters diameter) , how thick would the ocean be?
About 1 millimeter
: If you were on a boat at 10N and 50W, which ocean would you be in
Atlantic Ocean
Which came first, the formation of oxygen in the atmosphere or Eukaryotic Multi-cellular life forms?
Oxygen came first
: Life on earth began in the ocean about 4 billion years ago, but there was no life on earth until about
600 million years ago
: When did mammals and dinosaurs first appear on the earth
250 million years ago
: Does the relatively thin outer crust of the earth (both ocean and continental crust) actually float on top of the mantle below , or is it more like a rigid outer shell of an egg that does not float?
The crust floats on the underlying mantle
How did Alfred Wegner determine with near certainty that our contemporary continents must have formed a single super-continent in the geologic past?
Fossil and Mineral belts on separate modern continents align neatly when the continents are artificially moved into a single super-continent
Seafloor spreading was thought to occur at mid-ocean ridges based on the observations of
Extensional faulting along the ridge axis, Magnetic Anomaly banding on either side of the ridge axis, The age of crust on either side of the ridge axis ( All answers are correct).
What evidence helped to justify the idea that seafloor spreading could occur without also requiring an enlargement of the earth’s diameter?
The discovery of subduction zones in ocean trenches, where ocean crust continuously sinks back into the mantle
What is the main driving force for plate tectonic motion?
Mantle Convection; Slab Pull ( Both B and C)
Are divergent tectonic boundaries only found at mid-ocean ridges?
No
Which of the following is an example of ocean crust colliding with ocean crust
Japanese Islands
: Why did India not slide back down into the mantle during its collision with Eurasia?
: India’s density was too low (buoyant) to sink back into the mantle
How were the Hawaiian Islands created?
Mantle Hot Spot
: Siliceous and Calcareous oozes are typically found ?
Away from coasts in regions of high biological productivity
Analysis of fossil shells can yield information about
Species extinction through time/ Past levels of biological productivity/ Past temperatures of the surface ocean ( All of the above)
: True or False: Chemical isotope ratios found in fossil marine shells can give some true information about past ocean temperatures
True
True or False: Wave crests moving across the ocean surface are an important mechanism by which mass is propagated and redistributed across large ocean distances.
False
Suppose a 25-meter wavelength wave and a 50-meter wavelength wave are traveling in water that is just 1 meter deep. Which travels faster?
They travel at the same speed
What wave process gives rise to the nice clean sets of waves of similar wavelength that come ashore in Hawaii from Alaskan storms?
Wave dispersion
What typically happens to wave energy as it approaches a coastal headland?
The wave energy is focused to produce stronger waves
If you are caught in a rip current, what should you do?
Swim along the shore for 10 to 20 meters and then back to shore
What sets the upper maximal limit on wave height?
Wind speed
What establishes the fetch of an open-ocean storm?
The diameter of the storm system
Is a tsunami generated whenever there is an earthquake under the ocean?
No
Is it always the case that coastal waters first recede away from the shoreline before a large tsunami finally moves in forcefully?
No
What force is involved in the creation of the tidal bulge located on the side of the earth opposite to the moon?
Centrifugal Force
Why are the tidal bulges shown in the figure below tilted at 28 degrees relative to the equator?
The moon orbits around the earth at 28 degrees relative to the equator, and in the figure below, the moon is 28 degrees above the equator.
According to the figure below , diurnal tides are expected at:
High Latitude
When do spring tides occur?
During a full moon.
According to the more realistic Dynamic Theory of tides, the peak high tide comes after the moon passes directly overhead. Why is the peak high tide delayed?
: Friction from the bottom of the ocean slows the wave propagation speed of the tide wave
Why do tides occur in the ocean, but not in ponds and small lakes?
Most of the tidal elevation comes from a lateral pull/pinch of water far to the side of the direct centerline between the earth and moon. In small lakes there is only the direct line under the moon so there is no tide
Why do we get rotary tides?
The combination of Coriolis force and blocking by continents
Why do you not get a significant tidal range in Hawaii?
Hawaii is near an amphidromic point
Why do we need to add the Coriolis force to the problems of the atmosphere and ocean circulation?
Because our reference frame (i.e, Lat/Lon grid) is itself accelerating about the earth’s axis of rotation
Is the atmosphere warmed from above by direct sunshine overhead, or is it warmed from below by a warm earth surface?
From below by a warm earth surface
If you have high pressure at 30N and low pressure along the equator, why do the surface winds not move straight southward from high to low pressure?
They are turned westward by the Coriolis force
How does the surface salinity of the North Pacific compare with the surface salinity of the North Atlantic?
Surface salinity is lower in the Pacific
Why does the depth of wind mixing get shallower in spring and summer?
The surface water is warmed, making it less dense, more buoyant and thus more difficult for the winds to mix water more deeply
What is Ekman Transport?
The movement/transport of a relatively thin (c.a, 50 meters) slab of surface water in response to wind forcing
How does the mound of surface water in the middle of the subtropical gyre get formed?
The action of the Trade Winds and the Westerly Winds, respectively, drive Ekman Layers into the middle of the subtropical gyre.
What pattern of ocean current is produced in response to a center of high pressure created by the mounding of surface water in the subtropical gyre?
Water moves radially outward and then turns to the right (northern hemisphere) or left ( southern hemisphere) until it moves in a circular pattern along lines of constant pressure
If winds are blowing from south to north along the west coast of the United States ( e.g, the Washington, Oregon, and California Coasts), would the Ekman Layer move onshore or offshore?
Onshore
How are deep-water masses identified?
Based on characteristic temperature and salinity signatures
How long does it take for deep ocean water to move from the North Atlantic to the North Pacific?
About 2000 years
Why does deep water not form in the north Pacific?
The salinity of surface water in the North Pacific is much lower than in the North Atlantic
Does North Atlantic Deep-Water form broadly across the entire North Atlantic, or does it form in fairly discrete locations such as the Labrador Sea or the Norwegian Sea?
It only forms in very discrete locations such as the Labrador Sea or the Norwegian Sea
The reason oceanographers care so much about the movement of the conveyor belt circulation is because:
It moves a lot of heat from the equator to higher latitudes.