Oceans Exam 2

The Coriolis effect in the atmosphere is due to:

The atmosphere rotating faster at the equator than at the poles

What is the role of condensation nuclei in the formation of precipitation?

They are necessary for the formation of water droplets in the atmosphere

In this cross section of a cold front, which of the following is most likely occurring?

Cold air is moving to the right, lifting and cooling warm air, causing clouds and rain

Low-pressure systems are associated with ___ air and ___ weather

Rising, stormy

What helps cause hurricanes to grow and be sustained?

Warm surface water evaporates into warm rising water vapor, which condenses

What is the difference between a hurricane, typhoon, and cyclone?

They are all different names for tropical cyclones dependent upon location

Supercell thunderstorms are characterized by what

Downward-moving winds (called microbursts) along the front of the storm, a strong central updraft that may produce tornadoes, and an anvil shape

Which process of feature would be most responsible for the greatest incremental growth in a water droplet?

Collision-coalescence

How do hailstones form?

Particles of ice are moved vertically by downdrafts and updrafts, alternately thawing and freezing

What weather phenomena occurs when the polar jet stream wanders southward?

Polar vortex

What is the ultimate source of food for animals living around deep-sea hydrothermal vents?

Bacteria that break down hydrogen sulfide

The deepest parts of the seafloor are:

Oceanic trenches

Which of the numbered feature on this figure is a continental shelf?

1

What rock type forms oceanic plateaus?

Basalt

What is a popular model for the formation of an atoll?

A volcanic island forms and subsides

Fine-grained sediment like mud and dust would most likely be present at

The lagoon at B and deep seafloor at D

Which of the following is a characteristic of transgression?

The seas move in, with marine facies moving toward the land

The deep sea floor is characterized by sediment dominated by:

Fine dust and the remains of single-celled organisms

Which os the following parts of the seafloor are the shallowest?

Continental shelves

Most oceanic plateaus are:

Constructed by volcanic eruptions probably over mantle plumes

Which of the following shows the location of the Gulf Stream?

A

Surface ocean currents circulate in ocean basins:

Clockwise in the Northern hemisphere

Surface temperatures (SST’s) are typically warmest:

On the western sides of oceans

The thermohaline conveyor is important in the North Pacific because:

It warms the coast of Alaska, allowing longer growing seasons

The climate of Western Europe is moderated by:

The warm water of the Gulf Stream

A thermohaline current is driven by what?

Density differences caused by temperature and salt content

A gyre is ___

A circular current of water

What is geostrophic flow?

Water movement caused by Eckman transport and gravity

What is Eckman transport?

Water movement 90 degrees to the direction of the wind caused by the Coriolis effect

Ocean currents transport ___

Heat, nutrients, and carbon

What is nitrogen fixation

When nitrogen gas is converted to ammonia by bacteria

What is nitrification?

Ammonia is converted to nitrite and then nitrate by bacteria

What is primary production?

Phytoplankton use nitrate during photosynthesis

What is the nitrogen cycle?

Nitrogen gas → ammonia, ammonia → nitrite → nitrate, phytoplankton use nitrate during photosynthesis, consumers eat phytoplankton and consumers eat other consumers, organisms die → decomposition breaks down complex organic compounds into simple compounds, Bacteria breaks down simple nitrogenous compounds back into nitrogen gas

What is denitrification?

When bacteria breaks down simple nitrogenous compounds back into nitrgoen gas

Earth’s 5 major oceans

Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, Southern, Indian

What is a passive continental margin?

Places where land meets sea and there is no active plate boundary, lacks earthquakes and volcanoes

Where are passive continental margins found?

Right side of South America, left side of Africa, and East Coast of US

What are active continental margins?

Places where land meets sea and there is an active plate boundary, typically see earthquakes and volcanoes are likely

Where are active continental margins found?

West Coast of US, left side of South America

What are continental margin features?

Continental shelf, shelf break, continental slope, continental rise, continental margin, and abyssal plain

What process does this image represent?

Continental margins

What is an ocean trench?

Deepest portions of the ocean

How deep is the Mariana Trench?

11,000 meters or 7 miles deep

What process does this image represent?

Ocean trenches

How do seamounts form?

Eruptions of lava onto seafloor → volcano rises above the sea as an island → top of the mountain is leveled by the sea, crust cools and the island subsides below the sea

What is nitrogen fixation? (Nitrogen Cycle)

When nitrogen is converted into amonia by bacteria

What is nitrification? (nitrogen Cycle)

When amonia is converted into nitrite, and then into nitrate by bacteria

What is primary production? (Nitrogen Cycle)

When phytoplankton uses nitrate for photosynthesis

What is the nitrogen cycle?

1. Nitrogen is converted into amonia by bacteria

2. Amonia is converted into nitrite, and then nitrate

3. Phytoplankton use nitrate during photosynthesis

4. Consumers eat phytoplankton, consumers eat consumers

5. Organisms die - decomposition breaks down complex organic compounds into simple compounds

6. Bacteria breaks down simple nitrogenous compounds back into nitrogen gas

What is denitrification? (Nitrogen Cycle)

When bacteria breaks down simple nitrogenous compounds back into nitrogen gas

What are earth’s 5 major oceans

Pacific, Atlantic, Arctic, Southern, and Indian

What is a passive continental margin?

Places where land meets sea and there is no active plate boundary, lacks earthquakes and volcanoes

Where are passive continental margins found?

Along the right side of South America, left side of Africa, and the East Coast (US)

What is an active continental margin?

Places where land meets sea and there is an active plate boundary, typically see earthquakes, and volcanoes are likely

Where are active continental margins found?

Along the left side of South America, and the West Coast (US)

What is the deepest part of the ocean?

Trenches

How deep is the Mariana Trench?

11,000 meters, or 7 miles deep

How do seamounts form?

1. Lava erupts onto seafloor

2. Volcano rises above the sea as an island

3. Top of the mountain is leveled by waves, curst cools and the island subsides below sea

Are seamounts islands?

No

What are flat-topped seamounts called?

Guyots

Life cycle of a guyot and atoll

1. Volcanic island

2. Sinking island

3. Guyot

4. Barrier reef

5. Atoll

6. Seamount

2 Types of rocks

Detrital (terrigenous), and chemical (biogenous)

How are detrital and chemical rocks formed?

1. Originate as solid particles from weathered rocks

2. Forms into detritus form

3. Forms into detrital or classic sedimentary rocks

Examples of detrital rocks

Conglomerate, breccia, sandstone, arkose, siltstone, and shale

Examples of chemical rocks

Crystalline limestone, microcrystalline limestone, fossilfeous limestone, coquina, chalk, tavertine, rock salt, rock gypsum, chert, flint, agate, and bituminous coal

Where are rock-based sediments found?

Gravel (coarsest), sand, and mud (finest)

Where are life-based sediments found?

Where there is little to no sand or mud

Most sediments are composed of:

Quartz, calcite, clay, and rock or shell fragments

What are turbidity currents?

Underwater avalanches, gravity and water flow carries sediment from shallow to deep water

What is graded bedding?

As the energy in an environment changes over time, the size of material deposited will change

Decreasing energy = (graded bedding)

Smaller sediment towards the top, graded bedding

Increasing energy = (graded bedding)

Larger sediment towards the top, reverse graded bedding

Is transgression graded bedding or reverse graded bedding?

Graded bedding

What is an example of a transgression?

The sea moving in

Is regression an example of graded bedding or reverse graded bedding?

Reverse graded bedding

What is an example of regression?

The seam moving out

For every ___ depth, pressure increases by ___

10 m, 1 atm

How many atm is at 60m?

7 atm

Ocean surface temperature laws

Lower latitudes = warmer ocean temps

Higher latitudes = colder ocean temps

Ocean temperature with depth laws

Warmest at the surface because of sunlight

Colder at depth

Density formula

Density = mass/volume

What is mass?

The amount of matter in an object (grams)

What is volume?

How much space is occupied by the matter (cm³)

What 3 things affect the density of seawater?

1. Temperature

2. Pressure

3. Salinity

What range of the EMF spectrum is visible light?

400 - 700 nm

What EMF objects are safe to living organisms?

AM, FM, TV, radar, TV remote, light bulb

What EMF objects are not safe to living organisms?

The sun, X-ray machines, and radioactive elements

Why does blue light go deeper in the ocean?

As light enters the water, the red wavelength is absorbed by water molecules leaving only shorter, blue wavelengths

What is sound?

A wave of pressure that moves through a media

Is there sound and space? Why or why not?

No because there is no air, sound travels through air

Why does sound get weaker as it travels?

1. Spreading - loudness decreases as sound waves spread out, same energy over a bigger area

2. Absorption - sound energy is absorbed by the molecules in the media it travels through (heat)

How does sound travel?

1. Reflection - sound can reflect off of different medias

2. Refraction - sound will “bend” when it travels from one media into another

3. Scattering - sound waves can bounce off of objects in the media

4. Reverberation - the sum of reflection & scattering, basically “noise” created when sound waves interact with a media

In the ocean, where does sound travel faster and why?

Sound travels faster at the surface because the temperature is higher

What does SONAR stand for?

SOund Navigation And Ranging

What is passive SONAR?

Listening

What is active SONAR?

Making a noise and then listening

What is SONAR used for?

Detecting and mapping things like the seafloor, objects, organisms, layers of sediment, and rock

What is thermal convection?

Thermals are rising pockets of warm air

Which is more dense, humid air, or dry air?

Dry air