Final Exam Flashcards
(150 cards)
1
Q
A drift current meter provides what info?
A
Current speed and flow direction.
2
Q
What is a benefit of downwelling
A
Export of dissolved oxygen to the deep ocean
3
Q
Why do subtropical gyres rotate in one direction and sub polar gyres rotate in the opposite direction
A
Subtropical gyres are generates by the westerlies and trade winds and sub polar gyres are generated by the polar easterlies
4
Q
The global ocean conveyer belt circulation is most responsible for distributing what?
A
Heat
5
Q
Offshore winds most likely result in what?
A
Costal upwelling
6
Q
The floats that are programmed to measure deep currents are called what?
A
Argo
7
Q
Why does upwelling increase biological productivity
A
It provides nutrients used by phytoplankton
8
Q
Why do areas along eastern boundary currents typically have cool dry climates?
A
Eastern boundary currents are coming from the poles.
9
Q
Where does deep water formation occur?
A
The polar regions
10
Q
What is the name of the western boundary current of the North Atlantic subtropical gyre
A
Gulf Stream
11
Q
If the Gulf Stream were to turn right into the Atlantic near the coast of SC the climate of northeast US would become _____ and the climate of Europe would become _____
A
Cooler, warmer
12
Q
A breakdown of normal wind circulation due to wind reduction in the Pacific Ocean results in what?
A
El Niño.
13
Q
What is generating force that starts surface currents?
A
Wind
14
Q
What is the driving force behind the generation of deep water currents?
A
Density difference
15
Q
What percentage of the winds energy is transferred to the oceans surface?
A
2 percent
16
Q
What is the fundamental unit of taxonomic classification
A
Species
17
Q
What is the function of Long appendages for most phytoplankton
A
Provides increased buoyancy
18
Q
What kingdom does single cells algae belong in?
A
Protista
19
Q
What usually describes cold water species when compared to their warm water counterparts
A
Large grow slowly and have a longer lifespan
20
Q
Which organism type comprises the majority of earths biomass
A
Plankton
21
Q
What best classifies a tuna
A
Nexton
22
Q
What is an advantage of daily vertical migration by marine zooplankton
A
Predator avoidance
23
Q
An organism that can make its own food without relying on other organism as is called what?
A
Autotrophic
24
Q
Organisms living on the ocean bottom are called what?
A
Benthos
25
What strategy does a jelly use to avoid predators?
Transparency
26
Why are there more benthic species than pelagic species?
The benthic zone has more potential habitats
27
The surface water in which region should have the highest dissolved oxygen concentration?
Polar
28
What adaption decreases the effect of viscosity on swimming organisms?
Streamlining
29
Why does the dissolved oxygen concentration begin to decrease at the bottom of the epilagic zone
This is where respiration exceeds photosynthesis
30
An organism that lives in the plankton for only part is it’s life is called what?
Meroplankton.
31
What type of compound releases hydrogen ions when dissolved in water?
An acid
32
The density of water____below 4 degrees C
Decreases
33
On a sunny day, the sand is hot but the water is still cool. What property of water does this demonstrate?
High specific heat
34
Why is there little change in salinity below 1000 meters?
Surface processes don’t affect the deeper water
35
The freezing point of water ____ with the addition of dissolved substances and ____ at higher pressures
Decreases, decreases
36
Based upon latitude, where is salinity highest in the northern hemisphere?
Topic of cancer
37
What is the average surface ph of the ocean?
8.1
38
What is Te term for the total amount of solids dissolved in water?
Salinity
39
Why isn’t desalination more widespread?
It is energy expensive
40
A large influx of carbon dioxide to the ocean over an extended period of time will have what effect on ph?
Decrease the ph
41
If water temp decreases water density___ if salinity decreases density____
Increases, decreases
42
Changing the salinity of a body of water most often involves what?
Adding/removing fresh water
43
Which of the following exerts the greatest control over density at the oceans surface
Temperature
44
What areas on earth experience the greatest day/night temp variations
Interiors of land masses
45
What is the name of the layer of water marked by rapidly changing temp with depth
Thermocline
46
What is a dead zone?
A low oxygen area caused by eutrophication
47
The rate at which photosynthetic and chemosynthetic organisms convert energy into organic matter is referred to as...
Primary production
48
Which of the following are the most productive marine algae
Diatoms
49
Why are Continental margins more biologically productive than the open ocean
There are more available nutrients along the continental margins
50
Why does the mid latitude region usually have to phytoplankton Blooms per year
Phytoplankton are limited by sunlight and nutrients at different times of the year
51
What percentage of organic material from the surface makes it too deep ocean floor
1%
52
What is the major limiting factor to phytoplankton production in the tropical oceans
Lack of nutrients
53
What is the major limiting factor to phytoplankton production in the pool oceans
Lack of sunlight
54
Why is more of the oceans biomass supported by photosynthesis then by chemosynthesis
Because there is more available sunlight and water and nutrients for photosynthesis
55
Which of the following are most often responsible for a harmful algal blooms
Dinoflagellates
56
Which type of consumer feeds on plants and animals
Omnivores
57
Satellites can measure which pigment to determine ocean productivity
Chlorophyll
58
What is the average percentage of energy that is transferred from one trophic level to another
10 percent
59
Which area of the ocean usually has the greatest light penetration
Open ocean
60
What factor determines which play is subducted are a subduction zone
Density
61
Based on present day plate movement, in the future the Atlantic Ocean will get____ and the Pacific Ocean will get____
Bigger, smaller
62
Areas of volcanic activity that are not located at plate boundaries and do not change position are called____
Hotspots
63
What polarity is earths magnetic field at present?
Normal
64
The solid layer of the earth that moves and makes up the plates is the...
Lithosphere
65
The study of earths field in the geologic past is called...
Paleomagnetism
66
Mountains are created at what specific plate boundary
Continental-continental convergent boundary
67
The plastic layer between the surface of the earth in which the plates float is called the...
Asthenosphere
68
The mid ocean ridge where new crust is created, is called a
Spreading center
69
Which of the following is the term for plate boundary where the plates are moving away from each other new crust is being created
Divergent
70
Which of the following features associated with an oceanic oceanic convergent boundary
Volcanic island arc
71
What is the name of the supercontinent hypothesized by Alfred Wagner
Pangaea
72
Areas where crust is being destroyed and recycled are called....
Subduction sones
73
If the earth is four .6 billion years old why is the oldest ocean for only 180 million years old
Because the oldest crust is destroyed at subduction zones
74
The geophysicist______ was the first to come up with the idea of continental drift
Alfred Wagner
75
Which of the following is the term for the plate boundary type where crust is neither created nor destroyed but the plates are moving laterally past each other
Transform
76
Which of the following caudal fin types is found on sharks
Heterocercal
77
Which of the following is one of the reasons that gray whales undergo such extensive migrations each year
To feed in the Arctic
78
Why do tuna need more myoglobin than other fish such as grouper?
It allows them to swim faster for a longer period of time
79
Why are marine mammals able to stay under water longer than humans
They use oxygen more efficiently
80
Which family of baleen whales swims with their mouths open in scams the water service for small pray
Right whales
81
Why is anthropogenic noise pollution such a problem for marine mammals
It can cause strandings
82
What is the cue for gray whales to start their migration from the arctic
The formation of pack ice
83
Which fin is most often used to propel high speed fish
Caudal fun
84
Which organisms have rigid gas containers in their bodies
Cuttlefish
85
How do fish benefit from maintaining a constant body temp
Increased swimming speeds
86
What is a significant adaption of deep sea organisms
Bioluminescence
87
What is the primary function of a dorsal fin
Stabilization
88
Which order of marine mammals is vegetarian
Sirenia
89
Which order of marine mammals has prominent canine teeth
Carnivora
90
How does schooling of fish benefit reproduction
It increases the chance of fertilization
91
Why is there a greater coral diversely in the Pacific Ocean then in the Atlantic Ocean
Because of plate tectonics
92
Why aren’t there extensive kelp forests on the east coast of the United States as compared to the West Coast
The East Coast does not have a benthic substrate in which the kelp can attached
93
What is a known cause of coral bleaching
Increased water temps
94
What is the most significant stressful organisms in the high tide zone of a rocky shore
Disiccation
95
What is the most important organisms found at hydrothermal vents
Archaea
96
Why are high nutrient concentrations in the water harmful for coral Growth
Because turbidity increases due to planktonic Algal growth
97
Which part of the coral reef protects organisms and some of the reef from wave action
Buttress zone
98
What organisms live between the sediment particles of a sandy beach
Meiofauna
99
Which type of sediment covered shore is considered the lowest energy environment
Mud flat
100
Why is the majority of benthic biomass found on the continental shelf
Because biomass is correlated with primary production
101
Why are smaller more delicate plate coral found 50 to 100 m down on a coral reef
Wave energy is lower in this area
102
What is the area called where water that is very high and salinity trickles out of the seafloor
Hyper saline seep
103
What is the basis of life at a hydrothermal vent
Chemosynthesis
104
Why do corals need zooxanthellae
For food
105
Why does a male fiddler crab have one claw that is significantly longer than the other
To attract females
106
What is the most significant mode of transport of lithogenous sediment
Water
107
Increasing carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere will cause what to happen to the calcite compensation Depth
It will become shallower
108
What resources are produced in the ocean floor by bacteria breaking down organic matter
Gas hydrates
109
What is the major mineral component of lithogenous sediment
Quartz
110
A calcareous ooze would be dominated by which organism
Foraminiferan
111
And the device upon what you are reading this question has components need from resources from the ocean floor. What are they called?
Rare earth elements
112
What is the type of sediment that is derived from the continents?
Lithogenous
113
What often speeds up the decent of small particles to the ocean floor
Decal pellets
114
What are of the ocean floor usually has the thickest sediment deposits
Continental shelf
115
For sediment be considered a biogenic ooze what minimum percentage must be biological matter
30 percent
116
What is the type of sediment that is not from earth
Cosmogenous
117
An abyssal clay with a brownish red color is rich in what element
Iron
118
What is the sediment type that comes from the remains of previously living organisms
Bio genius
119
A siliceous ooze is dominated by which microscopic algae?
Diatom
120
What method of sediment collection achieves the deepest penetration
Rotary drilling
121
What feature might cause a wave to break well before it meets the shoreline
Long shore sandbar
122
What feature is formed at the mouth of a river one more sediment is deposited than the longshore current can accommodate
Delta
123
Which of the following terms would be used to characterize the West Coast of the United States
Erosional and emerging
124
What is the net direction of longshore current along the east and west coast of North America
South
125
What has caused the greatest changes in sea level in the past 3000 years
Tectonic movements
126
What supplies the majority of sand in an individual beach compartment
River inflow
127
What is the name for the body of water between a barrier island and the mainland
Lagoon
128
Why does the East Coast of the United States had many barrier islands but the West Coast does not
The East Coast has a passive continental margin in the West Coast is an active margin
129
With continued sea level rise what is expected to happen to the total area of wetlands
It is expected to decrease
130
Which of the following zones is located between low tide line and the highest point on land affected by large storm waves
Shore
131
Which of the following terms would characterize the east coast of the United States
Depositional and submerging
132
What is causing barrier islands to migrate landward
Rising sea level
133
What ecosystem is usually found in the midlatitudes and supports low lying halophytic plants
Salt marsh
134
After playing in the ocean for a while Tom looks up and sees he has drifted quite a distance from his starting point. Why?
Long shore current has moved Tom parallel to the shore
135
If caught in a rip current what should a swimmer do?
Swim parallel to the shore until they no longer feel the current
136
What toxic compound found in petroleum is harmful to marine life
PAH
137
DDT has been banned in the us since 1972 but other countries continue to use it, why?
Because it decreases public health risks
138
What is the worlds largest oil spill
Kuwait 1991
139
What is the greatest source of oil to the ocean
Natural seeps
140
It is illegal to dump what into the ocean
Plastic
141
What is bioremediation
The use of bacteria and fungi to break down oil from a spill
142
What causes Minamata disease
Mercury
143
What type of oil spill was the deep water horizon in the Gulf of Mexico
Extraction
144
What is the worst issue associated with plastics in the ocean
Accumulation of toxic chemicals that are then ingested
145
What is used to assess how pollutants affect organisms
Environmental bioassay
146
Which of the following is the only country that has not adopted the law of the sea treaty?
United States
147
Where does the majority of plastic in the ocean go?
It remains at the surface
148
Storm drain runoff and any trash that flows with it is called what
Non point source pollution
149
The increase of toxic chemicals with increasing levels in the food web is referred to as what?
Biomagnification
150
What is the threshold morality rate that determines if a pollutant is toxic or not
50 percent
