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Chapter 16 The Dynamic Ocean Chapter Test
Multiple Choice
Write the letter that best answers the question or completes the statement on
the line provided.
1. What causes ocean surface currents?
a. gravitational attraction
b. friction between the ocean and wind on its surface
c. ocean movements associated with earthquakes
d. changes in water density
2. Currents affect climate by
a. making ocean water evaporate.
b. transferring heat and cold between the tropics and
polar regions.
c. changing the density of water in the tropics.
d. transferring heat from the polar regions to the tropics.
3. What is the importance of upwelling?
a. It brings warm water from the tropics to the poles.
b. It decreases winds along exposed coastlines.
c. It helps warm the North Atlantic gyre.
d. It brings dissolved nutrients to the ocean’s surface.
4. A decrease in seawater temperature or an increase in salinity
causes
a. upwelling along tropical coasts.
b. an increase in seawater density.
c. the circulation of ocean gyres.
d. a decrease in seawater density.
5. What causes density currents to form in the
Mediterranean Sea?
a. condensation
b. evaporation
c. transpiration
d. upwelling
6. Most ocean waves get their energy from
a. the sun.
b. plate movement.
c. the moon’s gravitational attraction.
d. the wind.
7. Which of the following factors does NOT help determine
the height, length, and period of a wave?
a. wind speed
b. fetch
c. temperature
d. how long the wind blows
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8. When waves grow so tall that they topple over, they form
ocean breakers called
a. whitecaps.
b. fetch.
c. tsunamis.
d. crests.
9. Energy moves through waves in a(n)
a. convection current.
b. circular motion.
c. oscillating motion.
d. straight line.
10. What is the vertical distance between a trough and a crest?
a. wave height
b. wavelength
c. wave speed
d. wave period
11. The force that produces tides is
a. gravity.
b. friction.
c. centripetal force.
d. acceleration.
12. Ocean tides result largely from the gravitational attraction of the
a. sun.
b. core of Earth.
c. closest neighboring planets.
d. moon.
13. Which processes carve shoreline features?
a. erosion and abrasion
b. transportation and condensation
c. deposition and sedimentation
d. abrasion and evaporation
14. How does refraction cause wave crests to move when the
waves approach the shore?
a. at right angles to the shore
b. about 80 degrees in relation to the shore
c. nearly parallel to the shoreline
d. about 45 degrees in relation to the shore
15. Longshore currents move sediment as they
a. move parallel to the shore.
b. run along the ocean bottom.
c. pound against coastal headlands.
d. flow in circular patterns in ocean basins.
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16. Longshore currents form because
a. beaches absorb waves and backwash in some areas
of the coast.
b. waves hit the coast at an angle and form currents in
the surf zone.
c. backwash leaves the shore with more energy than
incoming swash.
d. eroded material from the shoreline deflects currents
parallel to the shore.
17. Which of the following is NOT a depositional shoreline
feature?
a. wave-cut platform
b. spit
c. tombolo
d. barrier island
18. Where do baymouth bars form across bays?
a. where there is no longshore current nearby
b. where strong currents move in and out daily
c. where sea stacks stand on both sides of the entrance
d. where currents are weak
19. Barrier islands form as the direct result of
a. erosion.
b. precipitation.
c. deposition.
d. abrasion.
20. What is a structure built parallel to the shore that shields the
coast from breaking waves?
a. groin
b. seawall
c. wave barrier
d. tombolo
Completion
Complete each statement on the line provided.
1. Ocean surface currents are major horizontal movements of surface
water related to the general circulation pattern of the
.
2. The ocean’s circulation is organized into five major
, or current systems, that move in circles
within ocean basins.
3. The rising of cold water from deep layers of the ocean to replace
warmer surface water is .
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4. The Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Current bring
water north from the tropics and
help moderate the climate of Great Britain and northwestern
.
5. The tops of waves are their , which are
separated by low areas called .
6. The distance the wind has traveled across open water is
.
7. As a wave nears the shore, its
characteristics begin to change when
the water depth is half of its
.
8. The tidal is
the difference in height between
successive high and low tides.
Use Figure 1 to answer the following
two questions.
9. Interpreting Graphics Diagram A
shows a(n)
tide.
10. Diagram B shows a(n)
tide.
11. The accumulation of sediment found
along the shore of a lake or an ocean
is a(n) .
12. The scouring and grinding action
of rock fragments in ocean water,
called , causes
coastal erosion.
13. Wave refraction is the
of waves.
14. Longshore currents can
move sediment because of .
15. A(n) is a ridge of sand that connects an
island to the mainland or another island.
16. A(n) is a structure built at right angles to
the shore to trap sand moving parallel to the shore to maintain
beaches.
17. Beach is the addition of large amounts
of sand to a beach system to stabilize shoreline sands without
building protective structures.
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Short Answer
In complete sentences, write the answers to the questions on the lines provided.
1. Explain what the Coriolis effect is and how it affects ocean currents.
2. How do surface winds and the Coriolis effect produce coastal upwelling?
3. Explain how deep cold-water currents move and how they affect climate.
4. Inferring Why would it be useful for fishers to locate areas of
coastal upwelling?
5. Describe the creation of deepwater currents at high latitudes due
to density changes.
6. Explain how the “conveyor belt” model of ocean circulation moves
warm surface currents and cool deepwater currents through the ocean.
7. Comparing and Contrasting Contrast wavelength and wave period.
8. Drawing Conclusions If the wind speed and length of time the
wind blows is the same over two bodies of water, could the size
of waves on the two bodies of water differ? Explain your answer.
9. Applying Concepts Explain why most places on Earth have two
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Use Figure 2 to answer the following three questions.
10. Interpreting Graphics What does the
pattern of waves show?
11. Interpreting Graphics In what area is the
greatest amount of wave strength concentrated?
12. Applying Concepts How did the beach in this
area of coast form?
13. Describe the formation of a sea stack.
14. Explain one way that a barrier island can form.
Essay
In complete sentences, write the answer to the question on the lines provided.
1. Earth as a System There is a beach between two headlands.
People have built oceanfront homes on the headlands. In an effort
to protect the headlands from erosion, they had a seawall built in
front of each headland. The sea walls do not extend in front of the
beach. Will the seawalls protect the beach as well as the headlands
from the interaction between waves and shore? Explain.
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