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17 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Continental shelf
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A gently sloping shallow area of the ocean floor that extends outward from the edge of a continent.
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Continental Slope
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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
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Seamounts
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mountains completely underwater
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Abyssal plain
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Smooth nearly flat region of the ocean floor, covered with silt and mud
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mid-ocean ridge
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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 |
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Trench
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A deep canyon in the ocean floor
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seafloor spreading
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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.
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How are marine animals classified?
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according to where they live and how they move.
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What are the three categories of ocean organisms?
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Plankton, Nekton, Benthos
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Where is the open ocean zone?
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Beyond the edge of the continental shelf
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What are Plankton
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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 |
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What are Nekton
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free swimming animals that can move throughout the water column
(squid, fish, whales, seals) |
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What are Benthos
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organisms that inhabit the ocean floor
like crabs, octopus, lobsters sponges and sea anemones |
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What are "producers"?
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photosynthetic plankton-- use sunlight to produce their own food
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What are consumers?
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eat either algae or other producers
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What are decomposers?
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breakdown waste and the remains of other organisms
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What is a food web?
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The feeding relationships that exist in a habitat
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