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Prelim 1 Flashcards

(75 cards)

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1
Q

When did Big Bang happen?

A

15 billion years ago

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2
Q

The elements in your body came from ____?

A

the center of stars

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3
Q

Inner planets are? Outer planets are?

A

rocky; gaseous

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4
Q

When was Earth formed?

A

4.6 billion years ago

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5
Q

What are the 5 oceans?

A

1) Pacific
2) Atlantic
3) Indian
4) Arctic
5) Southern

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6
Q

T/F There is an Antarctic Ocean

A

FALSE!! its the southern ocean

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7
Q

What is the average depth of the ocean?

A

4 km

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8
Q

Suppose you’re on a boat, 45 degrees north, 150 degrees west. What ocean are you in?

A

Pacific

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9
Q

Suppose you’re on a boat, 45 degrees north, 20 degrees west. What ocean are you in?

A

Atlantic

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10
Q

180 degrees west of the Prime Meridian in Greenwich England is where?

A

International Date Line in Japan

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11
Q

What is bathymetry?

A

topography of the bottom of the ocean

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12
Q

What are magnetic anomalies? How do they work?

A

proxy measure of geologic time; When new rock comes to surface (lava) magnetic minerals can orient to magnetic pole at that time; rock cools, minerals are locked in in one direction, others get locked in the opposite; positive and negative anomalies; seeing symmetry of those dates is really strong evidence that dead center has new rock, nailed this idea that axes are places of new rock formation

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13
Q

What are the driving mechanisms of plate tectonics?

A

convection in the mantle and slab pull

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14
Q

Define convection

A

Warm, buoyant magma like hot air balloon rises up and creates new oceanic material that moves ridges apart

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15
Q

Define Slab Pull

A

As you move away, you get older rock and colder and contracting, denser, to a point where you’re so dense that you’re heavier than the mantle, i.e. blankets hanging off bed and starts to pull whole rest of blanket behind it

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16
Q

Where does hot molten rock rise via convection?

A

divergent boundaries

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17
Q

Where does rock get pulled by gravity into the mantle?

A

subduction boundaries

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18
Q

Where do divergent boundaries occur? Only in mid-ocean ridges?

A

where plates are moving apart; most are mid-ocean ridges, less commonly continental rifts

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19
Q

Give an example where continental crust is colliding with oceanic crust

A

Andes Mountains, Cascade Mountains

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20
Q

Give an example where oceanic crust is colliding with oceanic crust

A

Japan

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21
Q

Where does sediment get its name?

A

from dominant material

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22
Q

What is a sediment accumulation rate?

A

1 cm/1000 years

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23
Q

How do you find proxy temperatures?

A

you can take isotopic ratios of Oxygen 18 and 16 in lab grown organisms to determine the proxy temperature of the ocean to find geologic past ocean temperature

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24
Q

What is wave dispersion?

A

B/c longer wavelength waves travel faster than short wavelength waves, the waves gradually sort out

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25
If theres a storm off the coast of California, would you wanna go surfing? What if its way off the coastline?
no then yes b/c wave dispersion will have sorted out the waves
26
What is wave refraction?
wave comes in at an angle, one end of wave hits shallow water and slows down, deeper end stays fast, creates a bending of shallow-water wave fronts
27
What happens when a wave hits a headland?
underneath headland is ridge, center of wave crest is being slowed down b/c of shallower water, faster waters bend in on itself and focuses wave energy on point
28
What happens when a wave hits a bay?
bay has a low spot extending out perpendicular to beach that is shallower on either side, wave crest moves faster in middle, bends wave outward and defocuses energy, calm beach to swim in
29
Suppose u got up at 6, wanted to look during lowest tide. When could you wake up the next day? Why?
you could sleep in a little bit later; about 50 minutes later; b/c earth rotates on axis, moon is orbiting in same position, so earth has to move more to go back under the moon
30
Suppose you're backpacking along washington state and you want to camp on the beach, want to get your tent close to the beach. Would full moon indicate being cautious?
YES! Exaggerated tide
31
Why do we get ocean tides, but no tides in lakes and ponds?
directly below the moon, the earth's downward gravity almost completely balances moon's gravity (small lake) other locations are not under the moon, and ocean tides are pinched upwards from the cumulative lateral pull by the moon on all the ocean
32
AT GEOPHYSICAL SCALES, OCEAN BASIN SCALES, NORTHERN HEMISPHERE PUSHES TO THE _____ by Coriolis, SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE PUSHED TO THE _____ by Coriolis
right; left
33
Why do you not get a significant tidal range in Hawaii?
Hawaii is near amphidromic point
34
Winds are named from the direction __ ___ ___ ____
from which they come
35
How can you tell where water originated in oceans?
distinct temperature and salinity from exchange with air before submerging and getting traits locked in
36
Most of deep water started in ___ ____
north atlantic
37
How long does it take to move deep ocean water from North Atlantic to North Pacific?
almost 2,000 years
38
What is the net temperature result of global conveyer belt circulation?
pull heat away from the equator i.e. gulf stream warms Europe
39
What warms Earth?
from below; oceans
40
A lot of water vapor = ___ density
low
41
What pressure at the equator?
low pressure; intense heating, warm moist air
42
As you move from winter into summer, surface waters get _____, it's like blowing up a _____; warm water is super buoyant, mixing depth gets ______
warmer; beach ball; shallower
43
Ekman Transport is ____ degrees from the wind direction
90
44
Geostrophic currents follow ___ __ ____ _____
lines of constant pressure
45
What are geostrophic currents?
currents that have reached geostrophic balance move w/steady speed w/Coriolis and pressure gradiant forces in perfect opposition
46
What piles up mounds of water?
trade winds and westerlies
47
Why is pressure high in the middle of water mound?
more water piled on top pushing down
48
How much longer do we have before out sun dies vaporizes the earth?
4 billion years
49
How did moon form?
mars-sized planet ran into earth, ejected material that coalesced
50
When did we get oxygen in earth's atmosphere?
after photosynthesis evolved
51
What was earth's early atmosphere made of?
hydrogen and helium
52
Where did earth's water come from?
asteroids
53
When did we get Cambrian explosion (life on land)?
550 million years ago
54
When did the asteroid hit earth and kill the dinosaurs?
65 million years ago
55
When did the biggest extinction event ever occur?
250 million years ago
56
Convergent boundary: Give example of Continental Crust with Continental Crust
Himalayas
57
Is oceanic crust or continental crust heavier? at convergent zones which is more likely to sink?
oceanic
58
What happened when India collided with Asia?
both buoyant continental crusts, neither wanted to sink under, mountain range created
59
Since crust is the thing that moves, hot spots in mantle act upon crust until it moves; whats example of hot spot?
hawaii
60
What qualifies as deep water waves?
bottom depth deeper than 1/2 wavelength
61
How do you determine speed of deep water waves? What moves faster?
speed is a function of wavelength only; long wavelength waves move faster
62
What qualifies as shallow water waves?
bottom depth is shallower than 1/20 wavelength
63
How do you determine speed of shallow water waves? What moves faster?
speed is function of depth only; waves in shallow water move slower
64
What happens to sand in the summer vs. winter?
gentle waves offshore sandbar to create wide and gently sloping sandy beach vs. storm waves drag sand off beach resulting in rocky winter beach
65
What 3 factors determine the wave height?
1. wind speed- sets upper possible limit 2. duration d event- modulates upper limit i.e. storm didn't last long enough to reach it 3. fetch- distance wind blows w/out obstruction i.e. wave propagates out from under small storm; diameter
66
What has to happen for a tsunami to occur?
sea floor HAS to move, doesn't happen if earthquake in mantle
67
tsunami is speed of ?
jet liner
68
At what latitudes are there diurnal tides?
high
69
At what latitudes are there mixed semi-durnal tides?
mid-latitudes
70
At what latitudes are semi-durnal tides?
equator
71
What are diurnal, semi-diurnal, and mixed semi-diurnal tides?
diurnal: one high tide and one low tide per day semi-diurnal: two equal high tides and two equal low tides per day mixed semi-diurnal: two unequal high tides and two unequal low tides
72
When do spring tides occur?
when the moon pulls along the same line as the sun (new and full moon)
73
When do neap tides occur?
when the moon pulls at 90 degree to the sun (first and quarter moon)
74
Describe amphidromic point
b/c of blocking from continents and Coriolis, you get tide wave that sloshes around in ocean basic; at center of spin, almost no tidal range
75
What causes high tide to arrive late/after moon passes overhead?
moon moves around earth at certain speed but a freely propagating shallow water wave moves much slower, which forces it to go slower than moon would like it

Oceanography (4 decks)

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