Oceans: Chapters 19, 20, and 21

Test Study Guide

Vocabulary

Ocean

Sea

Trenches

Seamounts

Mid-ocean ridges

Abyssal plains

Biogenic sediments

Continental shelf

Aquaculture

Desalination

Upwelling

Nekton

Benthos

Plankton

Pack ice

Wave crest

Wave trough

Wavelength

Wave period

Fetch

Undertow

Rip current

Questions:

  1. How do scientists use sonar to lean about the ocean?
  2. This region is known as the flattest on Earth
  3. This region is known as the deepest place in the Earth’s crust.
  4. Which ocean is the deepest and largest on Earth?
  5. How do scientists calculate the depth of the ocean floor using sonar?
  6. From where does most oxygen enter the ocean?
  7. Gases dissolve most easily in water that is ____.
  8. Ocean water temperature depends on two things: the solar energy an area receives and ____.
  9. As deep ocean water becomes colder, it also becomes ____.
  10. What two factors affect the salinity of ocean water?
  11. How do marine organisms help balance the chemistry of ocean water?
  12. What is called the foundation of life in the ocean?
  13. Where are nutrients in ocean water stored?
  14. What types of animals live in the pelagic zone?
  15. Where are most offshore oil and petroleum deposits found?
  16. In addition to increased use of toxic chemicals, what has reduced the ocean’s ability to renew itself?
  17. What two principal gases are dissolved in ocean water?
  18. As the temperature changes, the ocean and atmosphere are continuously exchanging ___.
  19. Oceans are often referred to as a carbon sink. How many times more carbon is contained in the ocean than in the atmosphere?
  20. By studying variations in color in the ocean, scientists can determine the presence of what organism?
  21. When surface ocean water is warmed by solar energy, it density ____.
  22. Sea sponges are an example of what type of marine organism?
  23. Most wavelengths of visible light are absorbed at varying degrees by ocean water and microscopic sea life, which color is most reflected?
  24. Volcanic eruptions, chemical weathering of rock on land, and chemical reactions between sea water and newly formed sea-floor rocks provide most of the raw elements that form this dissolved solid in the ocean.
  25. What most valuable ocean resource is found beneath the ocean floor?
  26. List the characteristics of Antarctic Bottom Water.
  27. What factors control the movement of surface currents?
  28. High evaporation and low rainfall in summer cause the Mediterranean Sea to have ____ salinity and_____ density.
  29. What is the major cause of tides.
  30. If high tide is at 4:00pm today, at about what time will high tide occur tomorrow?
  31. The curving of the path of ocean currents and wind belts is called _____.
  32. What is the cause of deep currents?
  33. Calling a tsunami a tidal wave is misleading because it is not caused by ____.
  34. What force causes tides?
  35. Which type of tide occurs when the gravity of the sun and moon work against each other to create a small daily tidal range?
  36. What happens to a water particle in a wave during a single wave period?
  37. A tsunami has a tremendous amount of energy because of its ______wavelength.
  38. How do the processes that create trenches and those that create mid-ocean ridges differ?
  39. Where is the boundary between the continental crust and the oceanic crust located?
  40. What are the main factors affecting the color of ocean water?
  41. What might happen to populations of fish or dolphins if the number of plankton in an area of the ocean was reduced?
  42. What is the main difference between surface currents and deep currents?
  43. Suppose the moon is at its last-quarter phase, making the moon and sun at a ninety-degree angle. How high would you expect high tides to be relative to other times of the month?
  44. I s a rip current or an undertow more dangerous to swimmers? Explain.
  45. Sound waves travel about 1,500 m/s through sea water. Suppose a sound wave travels from the ocean floor back to a sonar receiver on the ocean’s surface in 2.5 seconds. What is the depth of the ocean floor at this location?
  46. Suppose it takes water in the Antarctic Bottom Water 300 years to travel from the South Pole to the equator. If the distance is approximately 10,000km, what is the average speed of Antarctic Bottom Water?
  47. The horizontal distance between two consecutive wave crests is 98.4m. It takes 6 seconds for two consecutive wave crests to pass a buoy. Calculate the speed of the wave, and show the formula used to determine the answer.