Earth Science 19 – Flashcards
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Nearly three-quarters of the Earth's surface lies beneath a body of salt water called the _______.
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Global Ocean
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What other planets have a similar covering of liquid water?
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None
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Earth can also be called the _______ planet.
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water
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The global ocean contains more than ___% of all the water on Earth.
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97
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Although the ocean is the most prominent feature of the Earth, it is only about 1.4,000 of the Earth's total ______, and only 1.800 of it's ________.
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mass, volume
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What are the 5 major ocean into which the Global Ocean is divided?
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Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, Southern
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Which is the largest ocean on the Earth's surface, and contains more than 1/2 of the ocean water on the Earth?
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Pacific
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Which ocean is the deepest, with an average depth of 4.3km?
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Pacific
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The second largest ocean is the ______ Ocean, with an average depth of 3.9km.
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Atlantic
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The third largest largest ocean is the _______ Ocean, with an average depth of 3.9 km (same as Atlantic).
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Indian
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The _________ Ocean extends from the coast of Antarctica to 60 degrees south latitude.
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Southern
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The ______ Ocean is the smallest ocean, which surrounds the north pole.
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Arctic
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A ____ is a large, commonly saline body of water that is smaller than an ocean and that may be partially or completely surrounded by land.
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sea
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Three examples of major seas are ______, ______, and _______.
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Mediterranean, Caribbean, South China
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The scientific study of the ocean, including the properties and movement of ocean water, the characteristics of the ocean floor, and the organisms that live in the ocean.
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Oceanography
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This American naval officer in the 1800s published one of the first text books about the oceans.
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Matthew F. Maury
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From 1872-1876, a team of British scientists on the ship ___________ did extensive data and specimen collection in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Laid foundation for modern Oceanography.
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H.M.S. Challenger
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Starting in the 1990s, the research ship JOIDES Resolution, and the Japanese ship CHIKYU provided major drilling samples which help in research of __________.
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plate tectonics a ocean floor
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Sound navigation and ranging, a system that uses signals and returned echoes to determine the location of objects or to commnicate.
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sonar
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An underwater research vessels which also enable researchers to study ocean depths.
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submersible
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A _________ is a spherical diving vessel that remains connected to the research ship for communication and life support.
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bathysphere
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A __________ is a type of piloted submersible that is a self-propelled, free-moving submarine.
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bathyscaph
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These submersibles can take photographs, collect mineral samples from the ocean floor, and perform many other tasks.
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submarine robots
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What are some examples of discoveries that deep-sea submersibles have made?
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Giant clams, blind white crabs, giant tube worms, and the angler fish, which can produce its own light to attract prey.
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What are the two major areas that the ocean floor can be divided into?
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continental margins and deep ocean basin
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The _________ are shallow parts of the ocean floor that are made up of continental crust and a thick wedge of sediment.
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continental margin
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The ______ is made up of oceanic crust and a thin sediment layer, and is part of the ocean beyond the continental margin.
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deep ocean basin
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Is the "shoreline" the true boundary btwn. the oceanic crust and the continental crust?
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No! The boundaries are actually some distance offshore and beneath the ocean and the thick sediments of the continental margin.
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The zone of shallow water where the ocean covers the edge of the continent is called the _______.
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continental shelf
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The continental shelf is part of the continental margin, not the _______.
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deep-ocean basin
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The _____ is a steep slope at the seaward edge of a continental shelf.
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continental slope
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The boundary btwn. the continental crust and the oceanic crust is located at the base of the _____.
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continental slope
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Is the continental slope a gradual slope or a very steep slope?
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very steep
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Deep valleys that cut deeply into the continental shelf and slope are called ____.
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submarine canyons
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a density current that carries sediments very rapidly from delta fronts across the continental slope to deposit them as turbidites at the foot of the slope or on the abyssal plain. Often caused by earthquakes
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turbidity current
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The sediments formed by turbidity currents which form a raised wedge at the base of the continental slope
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continental rise
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Long narrow, and steep depressions located that form on the ocean floor as a result of subduction of tectonic plate, that runs parallel to the trend of a chain of volcanic islands or the coastline of a continent, and that may be as deep as 11 km. below sea level
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trench, ocean trench, deep-ocean trench
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A large flat, almost level area of the deep-ocean basin is the ______.
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abyssal plain
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The thickness of sediments on the abyssal plain is determined by 3 factors.. What are they?
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age of oceanic crust (older is thicker), distance from continental margin (further is thinner), if is bordered by trenches (thinner)
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a long, undersea mountain chain that has a steep, narrow valley at its center, that forms as magma rises from the asthenosphere, and that creates new oceanic lithosphere (sea floor) as tectonic plates move apart.
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mid-ocean ridge
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areas of rough topography which run perpendicular to ridges, and are caused by faults
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fracture zones
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Fault-bounded blocks of crust that form parallel to to the ridges as the lithosphere cools and contracts are called _______.
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abyssal hills
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a submerged volcano that is taller than 1 km is called a _______ and form areas of increased volcanic activity called _____.
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seamount, hot spots
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a flat-topped submerged seamount (once has been above sea level and had eroded, then submerged again)
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tablemount or guyot
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atoll
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an island consisting of a circular coral reef surrounding a lagoon
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Three ways sediments form on ocean floor:
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carried into ocean by rivers, washed away from shoreline by wave erosion, settle on ocean bottom when organisms that created them die
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Heavier sediments are usually found ____ to shore and finer sediments are found _____ from shore.
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closer/further
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a cylindrical piece of sediment, rock, soil, snow, or ice that is collected by drilling.
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core sample
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core samples show that most sediments in the ____ are made up of materials that settle slowly from the ocean water above.
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deep-ocean basins
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inorganic (rock) particles that make their way to the deep-ocean basins get there by way of several means, including _______, __________, _________, ______.
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turbidity currents, volcanic dust settling on water from air, icebergs in deep ocean depositing particles as they melt, and meteorites.
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______ particles are the remains of marine plants and animals.
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biogenic
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The two most common compounds that make up organic sediments are _____ and ______.
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silica/calcium carbonate
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Silica usually comes from ______ and calcium carbonate usually comes from____.
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diatoms and radiolarians/formaniferians
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potato shaped lumps formed when substances dissolved in the ocean water crystallize
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nodules
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Deep ocean-floor sediments are catagorized into two basic types: _____ and ______.
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muds and ooze (calcareous and siliceous)
