Oceanography Flashcard Answers
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What are the four branches of oceanography?
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Geographical Oceanography Biological Oceanography Physical Oceanography Chemical Oceanography Each of these are high interdisciplinary- a marine biologist has to know currents to study movements of organisms
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What is the earth's largest feature
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The ocean; earth is sometimes referred to the blue planet because of this; the blue marble was an image captured by Apollo 17
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What percent of the earth is covered by ocean?
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70.78% or 2/3
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Every _____ m in depth responds to 1 kg/cm^2 (14.22 pounds/in^2) in pressure
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10
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What is the deepest part of the ocean and what is the estimated pressure?
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Mariana Trench; pressure is 1.1 ton/cm^2 (7.82 ton/in^2); 1000 atmospheric pressure
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What did James Cameron do?
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He was the first person to reach 6.8 mile deep (11 kilometer deep) undersea valley solo.
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What percent of earth is covered by water?
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97%; most water is in ground water and glaciers
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What percent of the earth is covered by land?
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3%
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Salinity
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measures how much mass of salt is in the water
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Temperature
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measures the internal energy in water
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Where is most of the land distributed hemisphere wise?
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Northern Hemisphere
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What is the average depth of the ocean?
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3,796 m (12,451 ft)
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What is the average land elevation
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840 m or 2772 ft
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What is the deepest spot of the ocean?
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Mariana Trench 11,022 m (36163 ft)
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What is the average temperature of the ocean
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3.9 C or 39 F
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Highest spot on land
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Mount evert at 8844 m or 29028 ft
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What is the average salinity (amount of salt?)
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3.4% or (34)
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How old is the ocean
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4 billion years old
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How many oceans are there and what are their names?
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5; Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, Southern
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How do humans utilize the ocean?
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1. transportation 2. Use for natural resources (food, minerals, oils, gas, energy) 3. High concentration of human population in coastal region 4. pollution 5. naval power
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What is oceanography also known as and what is the definition of oceanography?
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Marine science; scientific study of the ocean applied to science
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What is Marine Biology?
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The study of the nature and distribution of marine organisms; Biological Oceanographer or Marine Biologist study this ex. Plankton; fisheries; marine mammals; marine communities; food
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Marine Geology or Geological Oceanography
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the study of the Earth's crust and composition
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Chemical Oceanography (Marine Chemist)
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the study of the dissolved gases and solids in the ocean
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Physical Oceanography (marine physicist)
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the study of waves, currents, and climate prediction
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What is the dominant role of ocean-atmosphere?
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Interaction in regulating the earth's weather and climate (versus land-atmosphere interaction)
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What is heat capacity
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the ability to store heat
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The heat capacity of water is much larger than that of ______ and _____. What is an example of heat capacity
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Land and Air An example is hurricanes form over warm water
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What drives the climate system
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solar radiation
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What effects the climate system
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atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, land. bio mass, rivers and lakes, HUMAN ACTIVITY
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the ocean is driving by the atmosphere in two ways what are those two ways?
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1. wind circulation 2. temperature change and salinity
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To understand what is happening in the ocean, you need to know what is happening in the _____. This statement was first noted by Matthew Fontaine Maury 150 years ago. Ex. A hurricane in the northern hemisphere
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Atmosphere
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An ocean world is very unique. What are some unique features of the ocean?
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Large amounts of water, moderate temperature, planet is sufficiently large to retain ocean and atmosphere, but not too large to crush organisms, hospitable atmosphere
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The early history of oceanography/marine science is closely related to the history of _____ and ____
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Ocean exploration anf voyaging
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What was the first demonstration of ability and knowledge to navigate transoceanic voyages?
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Polynesians migrating in the Pacific Ocean (20000 years ago)
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what does Polynesia mean?
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Islands
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Geographically, Polynesia may be described as a triangle with its corners at ______, _______, and _______
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Hawaii, New Zealand, Easter Island
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What islands did the Polynesians colonize?
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Pacific Islands
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the ability to navigate trans-oceanic voyages includes using what?
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stars, clouds, wave, wind patterns and migrating birds
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Maritime activity by the egyptians date as far back as what?
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4000 BC
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the systematic study of ocean began where?
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library of Alexandria
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The library of Alexandria became a repository of maritime records describing the ______ coast
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mediterranean
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the pringcoples of celestial navigation were invented at where?
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Library of Alexandria
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What did Eratosthenes of Cyrene Do?
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First to calculate circumference of the earth (based on assumptions that the earth is spherical and that the sun is very far away. He was able to discover the circumference) Invented a system of longitude and latitude
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Greeks knew the earth was what?
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sphere; the center of the world was mediterranean
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when did the vikings travel the ocean?
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during the Dark-Ages
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Describe vikings
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Periodically raided parts of europe Colonized Vinland Newfoundland (North America)
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What did the chinese invent?
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Central Rudder Water Tight Compartments Sails on Multiple Masts Magnetic Compass printing paper gun powder
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Where did the chinese explore?
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The chinese explored the Indian Ocean, Indonesia, Africa and Atlantic; their ships were designed to display wealth and degree of civilization
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Who did the largest peacetime ocean exploration ever mounted?
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Chinese 7 Voyages 1405-1433 At least 317 ships 37000 men
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Who conducted the largest peacetime ocean exploration ever?
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Zheng He
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What routes were blocked by the ottoman empire?
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Silk and Spice trade routes
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What triggered the age of discovery?
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The fall of the Byzantine empire and Constantinople spurring
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What did Marco Polo Do?
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HE wrote a book about his journey with his father and unclee to China via the Great Silk Route
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What did Portugal's Prince Henry the Navigator Do?
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Est. a center for seafaring in order to mount expeditions to open a new trade route to Asia Portuguese eventually reached India by sailing around the tip of Africa
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In 1498, _______ reached India by sailing around the tip of Africa
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Vasco Da Gama
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What group explored the world during the renaissance?
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Europeans
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Henry the Navigator
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Explorers under his patronage compiled detailed charts and explored the west coast of Africa.
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Christopher Columbus
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(a Spanish)-"discovered" the new world in 1492. Although in reality he never saw the mainland of North America, his stories inspired other explorers to follow.
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Ferdinand Magellan
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(a Portuguese sailor)-Although Magellan died en route, the small surviving portion of his crew circumnavigated the globe in 1519-1522 by sailing westward from Europe (He did this for Spain !).
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Geographic information gradually accumulated by those Portuguese and Spanish explorers, that was recorded in nautical charts, became known to other countries. Gradually, _____ and _____ began to replace Portugal and Spain in trading.
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Dutch and English
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What was the first voyage around the world?
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Magellan Expedation; took 3 years
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John Harrison
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Designed the Chronometer which was a magnetic clock that allowed individuals to find longitude at sea
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James Cook
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a commander in the British Royal Navy -- his cruises are considered to be the first scientific ocean exploration and greatly contributed to scientific oceanography.First person to combine ocean and science
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What are some discoveries of James Cook?
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Verification of Planet Orbit calculations Charting of New Zealand and Great Barrier reef, Tong and Easter Islands Initiation of friendly relations with many native populations Sampling marine life, plants and animals Recording data concerning the ocean floor and geological formations
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When did the United States start Exploring Expeditions that were scientific and naval
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1838
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What ship voyaged to South America and some Pacific Islands and allowed Charles Darwin to serve as a naturalist and write the Origin of Species?
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The HMS Veagle
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What was the first oceanic expedition dedicated to scientific research?
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Challenger
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What is the gulf stream?
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a swift current circulating clockwise in the north atlantic ocean
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Who published the first map of the Gulf Stream?
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Benjamin Franklin
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Who is the Father of Physical Oceanography?
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Mathew Fontaine Maury
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What did Mathew Fontaine Maury do?
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organized the vast amount of detain wind, current and weather recorded in ships logbooks
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Who discovered the system of Latitude and Longitude?
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Eratosthenes
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How many times does earth rotate every 24 hours?
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once
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Sune rises in the _____ and sets in the ____
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east ; west
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What is local noon
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the time defined as the time the sun is exactly over your head; this varies depending where you are
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Relative to Greenwich,local noon occurs 1 hour late for every 15 degrees ______ of Greenwich
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Westward
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Relative to greenwich, local noon occurs 1 hour early for every 15 degrees ______ of greenwich
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Eastward
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If its 1 pm local time where are you located?
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15 degrees E
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If its 11 am local time where are you located
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15 degrees west
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according to greenwich, right means
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East
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According to greenwich, left means
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West
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What are some Pertinent issues with the ocean?
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Resource Management (biological and mineral) Coastal zone management Marine Pollution Long Term weather forcasting Climate Change (Global Warming)
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What century sees the most rapid development in oceanographic research?
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20th
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What modern technology was developed
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Computer Technology, Instruments and sensors (electric instead of mechanical), Satellite Technology
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What is the speed formula
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Speed= Distance/ Time
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What is the distance formula?
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Distance= Speed x Time
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What is the formula for time
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distance/ speed
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What do echo sounders do?
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Sense the contour of the seafloor by beaming sound waves to the bottom and measuring the time required for the sound waves to bounce back to the ship.
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Distance can be calculated when what is known?
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Round trip time, velocity and distance to the bottom
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Who was the first to use echo sounder?
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The Germans and on the voyage Meteor
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How can one obtain a 3D view of the ocean bottom?
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Multi beam Bathymerty Sonar
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What is IGY
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international geophysical; focused on the geological and physical aspects
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IDOE
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International Decade of Ocean Exploration
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WCRP
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World Climate Research Program
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TOGA
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Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere Specifically designed to study El Nino A physical oceanography problem
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WOCE
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World Ocean Circulation Experiment
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CLIVAR
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Climate Variability and Predictability
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What are the 4 prominent Oceanographic Institutes?
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1. Woods Hole 2. Scripps Institute 3. Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia 4. Coastal Studies Institute of LSu
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What is WOAA
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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which sponsored Research Vessel Discovered
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Why was the demo sea drilling project discovered?
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To test the hypothesis about the ocean floor and Plate tectonics ; allowed drilling into the ocean bottom bench 6000 meters
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In 1985 who took over deep sea drilling duties
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Ocean Drilling Program funded By U.S. National Science Foundation using ship JOIDES Resolution
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What ship replaced JOIDES
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R/V Chikyu "Earth"
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What is the tool used for deep ocean drilling?
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Piston Corner
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What is the name of the Jumbo Piston Corer of the US Coast?
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Healy
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What is an Autonomous Benthic Explorer(ABE)
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Underwater robot designed to spend months at a time working alone underwater. It was the first AUV used by the U.S. scientific community
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What Submersible discovered the titanic
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Alvin
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What was one of the most famous shipwrecks of all time?
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Titanic
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Discuss the legend of Alvin
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Location: Cape Cod 70 years home of the Oceanographic institution Alvin was 40 years old named for Alvin Vine the guy who started Ocean Exploration A Single Hole in the ball allows pressure to be pushed down The Bath o Sphere was the first dive but it was fatal Originality Alvin was built for the Navy and first dive was to listen to radio signals in the Bahamas (6000 feet down) Then he also played part in the Cold war 2000 feet down Alvin found the bomb and his remote control arm could not recover the bomb
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What is the satellite that measures sea surface topography (alimentary)
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TOPEX/Poseidon
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Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP)
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It is used to measure how fast water is moving across an entire water column
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How does ADCP work?
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A figure showing what happens to the frequency of sound waves when they reflect off of moving objects; waves are measured by a wave pressure guide
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Describe the Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) Sensors
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is the primary tool for determining essential physical properties of sea water.
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What does the Conference on the Law of the Sea (1974, United Nations) state?
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Extends territorial water from 3 to 12 nautical miles. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) (shaded dark blue) extends 200 nautical miles from the shore Also, Coastal states regulate fisheries and resource exploration and exploitation.
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Big Bang
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the term used to describe the beginning of the universe, probably about 14 billion years ago. As the universe expanded, it cooled, eventually allowing the formation of atoms, which then formed galaxies and stars.
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What do stars have to do with the ocean?
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Most of the substance of Earth, its ocean, and all living things, was formed by stars. Every chemical element heavier than hydrogen was manufactured and released into space by stars.
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Our sun, like all normal stars, is powered by what type of fusion.
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Nuclear Fusion
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How do planets form?
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A nebula contracts under gravity A spinning flattened disk of dust and gas Hydrogen and helium remain gaseous, but other materials can condense into solid "seeds" for building planets Solid "Seed" Collide and stick together. Larger ones attract others with their gravity
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How long ago did our solar system form?
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4.6 billion years ago
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Something that is small as a _____ density
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High
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Something that is large has a ______ density
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Low
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Things that has a high density ____
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sink
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Things that have a low density
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float
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What does density measure?
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The mass per unit volume of a substance Density= Mass/ Volume
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What is the density of water?
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1 g/cm^3 (1000 kg/m^3)
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Density is expressed as grams per ____ centimeter
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cubic
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How did Earth become density stratified?
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Young Earth was probably homogeneous • Heat and gravitational pressure caused Earth to partially melt • Gravity then pulled the iron present into the center of Earth • This heated Earth further • Lighter minerals migrated to Earth's surface and formed the crust
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Homogenous in referral to density
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is the same everywhere
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Density Stratifaction
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Density is in a layered structure and every layer has a different structure
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What makes earth unique compared to other planets?
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hospitable environment for living organisms and living water
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Outgassing
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process releases water into Earth's surface; Volcanic activity is major source of the Earth's ocean and atmosphere
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How did water and water vapor form on early Earth?
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- The Sun stripped away Earth's first atmosphere - Gases, including water vapor, released by the process of outgassing, replaced the first atmosphere. - Water vapor in the atmosphere condensed into clouds. - After millions of years, the clouds cooled enough for water droplets to form. - Hot rain fell and boiled back into the clouds. - Eventually, the surface cooled enough for water to collect in basins.
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_____ may have delivered some of the Earth's surface water.
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Comets
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When did comets and asteroids happened?
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3.8 billion years ago
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What percent of the early earth have nitrogen?
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78.1
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What percent of the early earth had oxygen?
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20.9
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The early atmosphere had more _____ than oxygen
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carbon dioxide
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What is the majority of earth's atmosphere made of today?
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Oxygen
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All life, from a jellyfish to a desert weed, depends on ______ within its cells to dissolve and transport chemicals!
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WATER
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where did life probably originate from what? and what were they?
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Ocean, fossil bacteria like organisms photosynthesize d and released oxygen into the atmosphere
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What was among the oldest fossils ever discovered?
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A microscopic filament from Northwestern Australia
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Photosyntheis
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the process of using sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen
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The first organisms were probably what type?
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single celled plant organisms using sunlight, perform photosynthesis
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Chemosynthesis
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Bacteria in the absence of sunlight, using chemical compounds such as ammonia, methane, hydrogen sulfide to produce food (carbon dioxide fixation)
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What were the first type of algae to perform photosynthesis
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Blue green algae
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How long can Earth exist?
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Our Sun will begin to die in 5 billion years. • 6 billion years from now the sun will enter the red giant phase and will engulf the inner planets. • At that time, Earth will probably be recycled into component atoms.
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When did Big Bang Happen When did earth form When did the oldest life form appear When will earth disappear
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14 Billion years 5.6 3.6-3.8 billion 800 million years 5 billion years
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Europa
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The gravitational pull of Jupiter twists Europa, cracking the ice crust and warming the interior. In some areas the ice has broken into large pieces that have shifted away from one another but fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. This suggests the ice crust is lubricated by slush or water. A global ocean greater in volume than Earth's ocean may lie beneath the movable crust. It may also be salty - salinity has been detected by Galileo's magnetometers.
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Mars
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Current models suggest that early in its history, Mars had a thick, carbon-dioxide - rich atmosphere, much like the atmosphere of the early Earth. The atmosphere kept Mars warm and allowed water to flow freely, and an ocean may have existed on Mars about 3.2 billion years ago. Over the eons, rocks on the Martian surface absorbed the carbon dioxide and the atmosphere grew thin and cold. The ocean disappeared, most of its water binding to rocks or freezing beneath the planet's surface.
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Titan
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Saturn's largest moon, may have an ocean of hydrocarbons.
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Gaia Hypothesis
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Scientist believe that planets physical atmosphere have a chance of evolving It Hypothesis States that other planets may evolve to support life Mainly believes that Life itself Controls the changes of the atmosphere and gases within the atmosphere
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During the formation of concentric layers, where did the heavier and light material go?
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Heavier material sank toward the center of the earth and lighter material floated at the surface which led to the earth's concentric spherical layers
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How do we now the formation concentric layers?
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Seismic Tomography
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Where is the highest temperature found?
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the center of the earth
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What is heat caused by?
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Radioactive Decay
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As you go into the center of the earth, what happens to the temperature?
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It increases
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What is the mantle composed of?
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Silicon, oxygen, iron and magnesium
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What evidence supports the idea that Earth has layers?
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The behavior of seismic waves generated by earthquakes give scientists some of the best evidence about the structure of Earth. Low frequency pulses of energy generated by the forces that cause earthquakes can spread rapidly through Earth in all directions and then return to the surface. (a) Earthquake waves passing through a homogenous planet would not be reflected or refracted (bent). The waves would follow linear paths (arrows). (b) In a planet that becomes gradually denser and more rigid with depth, the waves would bend along evenly curved paths. (c) P Waves (compressional waves) can penetrate the liquid outer core but are bent in transit. A P-wave shadow zone forms between 103° and 143° from an earthquake's source. (d) Our earth has a liquid outer core through which the side- to-side S waves (shear waves) cannot penetrate, creating a large "shadow zone" between 103° and 180° from an earthquake's source.
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The outer and inner layer core consist mainly of what?
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Iron and Nickel
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Which Layer is the Least Dense? Inner Core Outer Core Asthenosphere Lithosphere
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Lithosphere
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Explain Continental crust?
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granitic, less dense, thicker and older
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Explain Oceanic Crust
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basaltic, denser, thinner and younger
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What does buoyancy of an object depend on
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depends on the object its self and the fuild
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Why doesn't the lithosphere sink into the asthenosphere?
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A cool, rigid, less dense layer (the lithosphere) floats on a hot, slowly-flowing, more dense layer (the asthenosphere).
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Bouyancy
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the ability of an object to float in a fluid by displacing a volume of that fluid equal in weight to the floating object's own weight.
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What us uplift?
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Goes or floats up
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Large regions of Earth's continents are held above sea level by what?
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Isostatic Equilibrium
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What is subsidence?
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Falls or drowns down
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What theory did Alfred Wagner propose
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Continetal Drift
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What theory did Harry Hess prose?
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Seafloor Spreading
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What theory combines both seafloor spreading and continetal drift?
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Plate tectonics
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Continetal Drift
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The idea that the contents all fit around the atlantic; they all formed a supercontinent called Pangea
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What could Wegners theory explain and what couldn't it explain?
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*Shape of shorelines *Mountains *Fossil records *characteristic features left by ancient glaciers It couldn't not explain how the continents move
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What was the ocean surrounding pangea called?
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Panthalassa
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What do echo sounders od and who was the first to use an echo sounder?
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Sense the contour of the seafloor. First expedition to use them was the German Meteor Expedition in the South Atlantic
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Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift was out of favor with the scientific community until new technology provided evidence to support his ideas. What were the new Ideas?
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1)Seismographs revealed a pattern of volcanoes and earthquakes. 2) Radiometric dating of rocks revealed a surprisingly young oceanic crust. 3) Echo sounders revealed the shape of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
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How do Geologist Determine the age of rocks?
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Measuring Radioactive Decay
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The age of the ocean floor ages as you go away from what?
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Mid ocean ridges
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what is semis activity and when ws the period of time that it was not evenly distributed?
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Seismic activity is any earthquake or volcano that occurs; this period occurred from 1977 to 1986
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What are major features of seafloor spreading?
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New seafloor is being formed at mid-ocean ridges (spreading centers) . Old seafloor is being destroyed at trenches (subduction zones)
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Who was responsible for proposing the idea of plate tectonics?
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John Tuzo wilson
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Explain Mantle Convection or Convection Plumes
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driven by the heat escaping from the Earth's interior provides energy to maintain sea floor spreading
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What could the theory of plate tectonics explain?
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Pattern of paleomagnetism Pattern of sedimentation Age of continents and oceanic crust Ocean depth increases away from the mid-ocean ridge Pattern of earthquakes and volcanic activities Shape of coastlines Fossil records Hot spots Atoll and guyots
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What is Paleomagnetism?
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Study of geological past by examining the Earth's magnetic conditions recorded in the rock samples. At intervals of about 100,000 years, Earth's magnetic poles have gone through reversals.
