Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
17 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Continental shelf
|
A gently sloping shallow area of the ocean floor that extends outward from the edge of a continent.
|
|
|
Continental Slope
|
THe steep edge of the continental shelf. The true edge of the continente where the rock that makes up the continent stops and rock of the ocean floor begins
|
|
|
Seamounts
|
mountains completely underwater
|
|
|
Abyssal plain
|
Smooth nearly flat region of the ocean floor, covered with silt and mud
|
|
|
mid-ocean ridge
|
a continuous range of mountains that winds around the Earth passing through all of Earth's oceans.
Actually consists of two parrallel chains of mountains separated by a central valley |
|
|
Trench
|
A deep canyon in the ocean floor
|
|
|
seafloor spreading
|
a process by which the ocean floor is produce. When plates move apart (diverge) magma squeezes up through the cracks and hardens addd ing a new strip of rock to the ocean floor.
|
|
|
How are marine animals classified?
|
according to where they live and how they move.
|
|
|
What are the three categories of ocean organisms?
|
Plankton, Nekton, Benthos
|
|
|
Where is the open ocean zone?
|
Beyond the edge of the continental shelf
|
|
|
What are Plankton
|
tiny algae and animals that float in the water and are carried by waves and currents.
include diatoms, copepods, microscopic crustaceans and tiny young fish |
|
|
What are Nekton
|
free swimming animals that can move throughout the water column
(squid, fish, whales, seals) |
|
|
What are Benthos
|
organisms that inhabit the ocean floor
like crabs, octopus, lobsters sponges and sea anemones |
|
|
What are "producers"?
|
photosynthetic plankton-- use sunlight to produce their own food
|
|
|
What are consumers?
|
eat either algae or other producers
|
|
|
What are decomposers?
|
breakdown waste and the remains of other organisms
|
|
|
What is a food web?
|
The feeding relationships that exist in a habitat
|
