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Oceanography Flashcards

(123 cards)

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1
Q

What is the Northwest Passage?

A

A sea corridor through Canada’s archipelago

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2
Q

What is the sea corridor through Canada’s archipelago called?

A

The Northwest Passage

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3
Q

When was the first voyage attempted to find the NW Passage?

A

1497

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4
Q

When were John Franklin’s Erebus and the HMS Terror last sighted before being lost to their NW Passage expedition

A

1845

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5
Q

When did Roald Amundsen successfully sail through the NW Passage?

A

1905

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6
Q

What were the 4 interdisciplinary sciences mentioned in class in relation to oceanography?

A

Geology, Chemistry, Physics, and Biology

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7
Q

True or False: Earth’s oceans are evenly divided between northern and southern hemispheres

A

False

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8
Q

What are the four main ocean basins?

A

Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic

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9
Q

Which world ocean is not considered a true ocean basin (probably)

A

The Southern Ocean

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10
Q

What makes seas different from oceans?

A

Seas are partly enclosed by land

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11
Q

Which sea is the exception to the typical definition of a sea?

A

Sargasso sea

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12
Q

What is the measurement of ocean depths called?

A

Bathymetry

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13
Q

What is bathymetry?

A

Measurement of ocean depth and charting of the shape of the ocean floor

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14
Q

Bathymetry is the measurement of ocean depth and the…

A

…charting of the shape of the ocean floor

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15
Q

What was used to take bathometric measurements historically?

A

A line

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16
Q

What is involved in taking bathometric measurements today?

A

Sonar

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17
Q

What is Echo Sounder?

A

Signals used to take bathometric measurements

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18
Q

What is a continental margin?

A

Outer margins of continents where continental crush transitions to oceanic crush

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19
Q

Outer margins of continents where continental crust transitions to oceanic crust

A

Continental margin

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20
Q

Where are passive continental margins located?

A

Around nearly the entire Atlantic ocean and part of the Indian ocean

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21
Q

What are the two types of continental margins that were discussed in class?

A

Passive and Active

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22
Q

Which type of continental margins is tectonically inactive?

A

Passive continental margins

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23
Q

Which type of continental margins is far from plate boundaries?

A

Passive continental margins

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24
Q

Where are active continental margins mostly located?

A

Pacific ocean

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25
Which type of continental margins is at plate boundary?
Active continental margins
26
Which type of continental margins is tectonically active?
Active continental margins
27
Where do accretionary wedges develop?
Along subduction zones
28
What develops along the subduction zone of an active continental margin?
An accretionary wedge
29
Accretionary wedges occur when sediment from the ocean floor is scraped from a subducting oceanic plate and...
...pressed against the edge of the overriding plate
30
What is subduction erosion?
When sediment is scraped off the bottom of the overriding plate and carried into the mantle by the subducting plate
31
What is occurring when sediment is scraped off an overriding plate and carried into the mantle by a subducting plate?
Subduction erosion
32
What is the voyage that is credited with the birth of oceanography?
The HMS Challenger
33
What are the deepest parts of the ocean?
Deep ocean trenches
34
Where do most deep ocean trenches occur?
In the Pacific ocean along the Ring of Fire
35
Trenches occur near sites of plate convergence or divergence?
Convergence
36
What feature is formed when thick accumulations of sediment bury an otherwise rugged ocean floor?
Abyssal plain
37
What oceanic features are most likely the most level places on Earth?
Abyssal plains
38
What is an abyssal plain?
A deep, flat deep ocean feature
39
Where do oceanic ridges form?
Along well-developed divergent plate boundaries
40
What forms along well-developed divergent plate boundaries?
Oceanic ridges
41
What are oceanic ridges?
Underwater mountain ranges
42
What are underwater mountain ranges called?
Oceanic ridges
43
What covers the vast majority of the ocean floor?
Sea-floor sediment
44
What two processes result in the deposition of sea-floor sediment?
Turbidity currents and snow settling
45
Loose sediment from continental shelf flows down and deposits on ocean floor
Turbidity currents
46
Organic debris from higher in the water column sinks to the ocean floor
Snow settling
47
What are the 3 categories of sea-floor sediment?
Terragenous, Hyrdogenous, and Biogenous
48
What is terragenous sediment derived from?
From land (minerals from weathering)
49
What is hydrogenous sediment derived from?
From water (minerals that crystallize)
50
What is biogenous sediment derived from?
From organisms (shells and skeletons)
51
What is sea-floor sediment a storehouse for?
Climate data
52
What is salinity?
The total amount of solid material dissolved in water
53
How is salinity quantified?
Parts per thousand
54
What type of salt is found in highest quantities in oceans?
Sodium chloride
55
What two factors determine salinity levels?
Temperature and precipitation
56
Total amount of solid material dissolved in water
Salinity
57
Average salinity of oceans
3.5 ppt
58
Near the equator, there are lower salinities due to...
...extensive rainfall that dilutes surface ocean water
59
Evaporation being higher than precipitation causes higher or lower salinity?
Higher salinity
60
At what latitudes does the thermocline exist?
At low to medium latitudes
61
The layer where temperature changes rapidly with increasing depth
Thermocline
62
True or False: The thermocline is found at high latitudes
False
63
What is the word denoting ocean temperature at high latitudes that stays the same and has no thermocline?
Isothermal
64
What is ocean density?
Mass per unit volume
65
What other factor determines ocean density?
Temperature
66
As temperature decreases, density...
...increases
67
What is the word denoting the rapid increase in ocean density as temperatures decrease at lower latitudes?
Pycnocline
68
True or False: The pycnocline is absent at higher latitudes
True
69
What are the four characteristics of ocean water that were discussed?
Salinity, Acidity, Temperature, and Density
70
The 3 ways marine life zones are divided?
By available light, distance from shore, and depth
71
Photic zone
Sunlit waters
72
Aphotic zone
Not sunlit
73
Intertidal zone
Between high and low tide
74
Neritic zone
Above continental shelf
75
Oceanic zone
Beyond continental shelf
76
Pelagic zone
Above ocean floor
77
Benthic
Ocean floor
78
Zone above continental shelf
Neritic zone
79
Zone beyond continental shelf
Oceanic zone
80
Zone between high and low tide
Intertidal zone
81
3 categories of ocean life
Plankton, Nekton, and Benthos
82
"Bottom dwellers"
Benthos
83
Marine life too weak to swim against the current
Plankton
84
Marine life capable of swimming against the current
Nekton
85
2 subcategories of plankton
Phytoplankton and Zooplankton
86
The animal component of plankton
Zooplankton
87
The photosynthetic component of plankton
Phytoplankton
88
What 2 factors affect primary productivity (photosynthetic productivity)
Amount of solar radiation and nutrient concentrations
89
The creation of new organic matter by photosynthetic producers
Primary productivity
90
Primary productivity
The creation of new organic matter by photosynthetic producers
91
What is the amount of solar radiation like at low latitudes?
Sunlight is constant
92
How does constant sunlight affect the thermocline at low latitudes?
The thermocline is permanent and prevents the mixing of water layers
93
What is the amount of solar radiation like at mid latitudes?
Sunlight varies with seasons
94
When does a temporary thermocline develop at mid latitudes?
In summer
95
Contaminant levels increase in a marine animal as they age
Bioaccumulation
96
Bioaccumulation
Contaminant levels in a marine animal increase as they age
97
Contaminant levels in marine animals increase as energy is transferred up a food chain
Biomagnification
98
Biomagnification
Contaminant levels in marine animals increase as energy is transferred up a food chain
99
Prevailing winds provide energy for ocean currents
Surface currents
100
Huge, circular-moving current systems that dominate the surfaces of oceans
Gyres
101
What are gyres?
Huge, circular-moving current systems that dominate the surfaces of oceans
102
What are the five main gyres?
North Pacific, South Pacific, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Indian Ocean
103
The pattern of deflection taken by objects not firmly connected to the ground as they travel long distances around the Earth
The Coriolis Effect
104
Coastal winds plus the Coriolis Effect cause surface water to move from shore and be replaced by cool, nutrient-rich "upwells"
Coastal up-welling
105
What is Thermohaline circulation as known as?
Conveyer belt circulation
106
Extends between lowest tide level and highest elevation on land that is affected by storm waves
Shore
107
Extends inland from shore
Coastline
108
Exposed during lowtide
Foreshore
109
Landward of the hightide shoreline
Backward
110
Between low tide shoreline and line where waves break at low tide
Nearshore
111
Seaward of nearshore
Offshore
112
Accumulation of sediment found along the landward margin of an ocean or a lake
Beach
113
Energy traveling along interface between ocean and atmosphere
Waves
114
Separate crests
Troughs
115
Halfway between crests and troughs
Stillwater level
116
Distance between wave crest and trough
Wave height
117
The 3 factors that wave height, length, and period depend on
Wind speed, Wind duration, and Fetch
118
What is fetch?
Distance wind has traveled across open water
119
The distance wind has traveled across open water
Fetch
120
How is the motion waves move in described?
Circular orbital motions
121
As waves advance toward shore, wave bottom slows and faster waves farther out to sea catch up, decreasing wave length
Wave breaks
122
At new and full moons, Sun and Moon aligned produce large tidal range
Spring tides
123
At first and third quarters of Moon, gravitational forces from Sun and Moon act at right angles, offsetting each other and producing smaller tidal range
Neap tides

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