Intro To Oceans

Front 1

Biological Pump

Back 1

def. transportation of carbon from the euphotic level (surface water) to deep water.
carbon from former living org. either sink or downwelling
organic carbon: all living organisms
inorangic caron: have CaO3
Organic
called soft tissue pump
remineralisation, such as bacteria repiration --> dissolved carbon
limited by light and nutrients

Front 2

Primary Productivity

Back 2

Refer to chart
primary productivity: synthesis of organic materials from inorganic substances by photsynthesis or chemosynthesis
usually produce glucose, dissoved CO2 adn a type of carbohydrate

Front 3

Differential Solar Heating

Back 3

def. : the way in which the sun heats the earth
Through convection, heat from the equator is transffered up and down to the poles by both water and wind/air.
Atmospheric circulatoin has six cells, 30 degrees apart: Tropical cell, Ferrel Cell, and Polar cell

Front 4

Thermocline

Back 4

a layer within a body of water or air where the termperature canges rapidly with depth
90% of the earth's ocean is below the thermocline

Front 5

Halocline

Back 5

a strong vertical salinity gradient

Front 6

Pycnocline

Back 6

a layer of water wher ethe water density changes rapidly with depth
strongest: near the tropics/equators
weakest: polar oceans

Front 7

Deep Water Waves

Back 7

def: the depth of the wave is half of their wavelength
They cannot feel the ocean floor.
Period: 20 seconds
wavelength: 600 meters
speed: 112 km per hr

Front 8

Shallow Water Waves

Back 8

def. are in water shallower than 1/20 of thier original wavelength
Period: 20 minutes
wavelength: 470 miles
sppeds: 760 km per hr

Front 9

Transitional Waves

Back 9

def: waves that travel through water deeper than 1/20 of thier original wavelength but shallower than half of thier original wavelength.

Front 10

Characteristics of Surf

Back 10

wave diffraction: occurs when a wave is interrrupted by an obstacle such as an island or breakwater
Wave reffraction: occurs when water depht at the coastline are not uniformed so part of a wave may slow down whilt eh rest maintains constnat speed, casuign the wave to bend and break parallel to the shore
wave reflection: waves hit a vertical barrier and produces a standign wave that resembles water sloshing back and forth in a bathtub

Front 11

Turbidites

Back 11

def.: graded layers of terrigenous sand interblended with finer pelagic sediments.
They reach the continental rise due to underwater avalanches. These avalanches consist of particles/materials that are left over from the continental slope from sediments from rivers’ mouths/deltas and glaciers.
i.e. clay and silts.

Front 12

Biogenous [ooze]

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Also called ooze, after the dominant remnants organism constituting in them (single celled, drifting plantlike organisms)
When these organism die, their shells settle on the bottom and mingle with the fine grained terrigenous silts and clays.
They accumulate at a rate of 1 to 6 cm every thousand years, ten times more quickly than terrigenous clay.
The rate depends on the balance between the abundance of organisms at the bottom and the rate of accumulation of terrigenous sediments.
The ooze forms from cells of amoeba-like foraminfera (small drifting mollusk called pteropods, and tiny algae called cocolithosphores.
These creatures live Shells are dissolved by sea water at great depths because it has more carbon dioxide, becoming a little bit acidity (because of the intensity of the carbon dioxide). Combined with the calcium carbonate in cold water under pressure, shells are dissolved more rapidly.
2 other types of ooze: Siliceous ooze (formed by radiolariana dn diatoms) and Radiolarian (contain felltas near upwelling near hte equator)

Front 13

Calcium carbonate compensation depth (CCD)

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def.: rate at which calcareous sediments are supplies to the seabed equals to the rate at which those sediments are dissolved.
Calcareous sediments are very apparent at floors less than about 4,500 meters because above it would not be enough pressure and below it would be too much pressure, causing the calcareous ooze to be invisible.
The CCD is usually characterized by “snow,” from the calcium carbonate.

Front 14

Hydrogenous

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Most hydrogenous sediments come from chemical reactions due to terrigenous or biogenous sediments.
The most famous hydrogenous sediments are manganese nodules, discovered by hardworking crew of the HMS Challenger.
They consist primarily of manganese and iron oxides but also cobalt, nickel, chromium, cooper, molybdenum, and zinc.
They are the slowest chemical reactions in nature, average rate of 1 to 10 millimeters per million years. This is not understood by marine chemists.
They form around sharks’ teeth, bits of bones, microscopic alga, and animal skeletons.
i.e. Evaporates (def.: salts that precipitates as water evaporates from isolated arms of the ocean from landlocked sea or lakes, forming CaCo2. Found in Red Sea, Gulf of Ca.) and Oolite sands (fragments of shells which CaCo2 precipated around bc f an increase in terpature or decrease in acidity of water. Found in Bahamas)