Eart 1 - Oceanography - Key terms for the mid-term exam.

Maps and Coordinates and Ocean Exploration:

What motivated early ocean exploration? What were the major technical advances that contributed to ocean exploration?

1. You are on a ship somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, and your sextant shows that Polaris (the north star) is 55 degrees above the horizon. What is your latitude?

2. You are in California (120°W long.), it is 12 midnight. You want to call a friend who is living in Istanbul (30°E long.). What time of day is it in Instanbul?

Origin of the Universe and the Oceans & Earth Structure:

Where did life originate?  What were the major contributing factors? Why did life cease to evolve on mars?

Plate Tectonics:

Many of the features of the earth surface result from the motion and interaction of the crustal plates.  This includes mountains, volcanic islands, and mid-ocean ridges.

What are the various lines of evidence to supports plate tectonics? What are the key features of a divergent plate boundary?  A convergent plate boundary?

seafloor spreading	magnetic anomalies	magnetic lineation
divergent boundary	convergent boundaries	mid-ocean ridge
plate subduction	trench Island-arc	hotspot
passive margin	active margin	hydrothermal vent

Ocean Bathymetry:

What are differences between an active and passive margin?

continental margin	shelf	slope
break	rise	submarine canyon
turbiditiy current	submarine fan	abyssal plain
atoll	guyot	seamount

Sediments:

How would sediment characteristics change as you progress from the coastal ocean to the deep sea?

seismic stratigraphy	suspension	size sorting & settling
clay, silt, sand	oozes	glacial tills
pelagic	terrigeneous	biogenic
hydrogeneous	cosmogenic	evaporites
manganese nodule	carbonate	silica
coccoliths	diatoms	foraminifera

Physical Properties of seawater:

The unique atomic structure of water gives it unique properties. What are some of these properties. How does the addition of salt change some of these properties.

Water exists in three phases. Why is this important to climate?

Hydrogen bond	covalent bond	latent heat
calorie	density	surface tension
heat capacity	evaporation	condensation

Chemical Properties of Water:

Water is a universal solvent. Just about every solid, liquid, and gas will dissolve in water. What are the primary sources of the dissolved substances in seawater?

How does the concentration and distribution of conservative elements differ from the concentrations and distributions of non-conservative elements? Why?

salinity	osmosis	nutrients
major elements	trace elements	residence time
cation	anion

Acoustic and Optical Properties of Seawater:

What happens to light (solar energy) as it enters the ocean. Why is the sea blue? Why are some fish red?

Why does sound travel faster in water than in air. How do changes in the properties of water affect the speed at which sound waves travel?

wavelength	visible light	absorption
scattering	refraction	SOFAR Channel
ATOC	pycnocline	high velocity layer

Productivity and Life in the Ocean:

What is net productivity? Why does most phytoplankton production occur in the surface ocean?

What limits the rates of phytoplankton production? Where is the rate of production in the surface ocean highest? Lowest?

photosynthesis	upwelling	limiting nutrients
phytoplankton	net productivity	organic carbon
oxygen minimum	respiration	photic zone