Oceans, Chapter 1

Oceans: largest to smallest

Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, Artic

Which of the following are the four closest planets to the sun?

Venus, Mercury, Earth, and Mars

There are ______ degrees of longitude east and west of the prime meridian to the international date line?

180

definitions: transpiration, sublimation

Transpiration: the release of water by plants

Sublimation: the conversion of ice directly to water vapor

Which of the following pieces of evidence indicate the mars possessed water?

sedimentary rocks with ripple marks

data from soil and ice samples analyzed on the planet.

After the oceans, the second largest water reservoir on earth is _________.

ice caps and glaciers

The origin of our solar system is attributed to the collapse of a single, rotating interstellar cloud of gas and dust know as an ____________

nebula

The sun is directly over the two tropics, cancer and capricorn, at two times during the solar year. These two dates are called________.

Solstices

The time of sunrise changes about one hour for each _______ degrees of longitude on earth.

15

The most probable sources of the water in the earth's ocean's are____________

the earth's mantle, some of which is brought to the surface through volcanic activity, continual addition of water from outer space.

Place the descriptions of Earth's mass extinction events in order, with the oldest event at the top and the most recent event at the bottom

About 96% of all life on earth went extinct during this extinction event

About 50% of earth's species went extinct as a result of this event

this event killed off the dinosaurs as well as many other species.

Latitude can be calculated by measuring _________.

your angle in reference to the bright star, polaris

Which of the following is the scientifically accepted age of Earth?

4.5 to 4.6 billion years

definitions: solar day, sidereal day

solar day: the average time for Earth to make on rotation relative to the sun

Sidereal day: the measurement of a day on earth based on making a complete rotation with the respect to a far-distant point in space.

Which of the following are necessary in order for you to find your position on Earth using GPS?

Satellites to transmit a unique digital code to a ground receiver

precise measurements of distance between a receiver and four satellites.

If earth's axis were not tilted, what would happen to the seasons?

there would be no perceived seasons on earth and global day lengths and temperatures would be uniform.

Geologic time is divided into four major ______: the hadean, archean, proterozoic, and phanerozoic

eons

The major changes in the state of the universe that occured immediately after the big bang were in _____ and ________

temperature, size

the milky way is an __________ composed of about 200 billion stars.

galaxy

The two natural periods of time caused by the movement of earth are the _____________ and the ________.

day; year

if the central line of latitude is the equator, the central line of longitude is the ____________ _______________.

prime meridian

which of the following of earths radii is greater?

the equatorial radius is greater than the polar radius

most of the world's landmasses are located in the __________ hemisphere.

Northern

inner planets; outer planets

inner planets: rich in metals and rocky materials

outer planets: rich in ices of water, ammonia, and methane.

Which of the following processes added heat to the early earth?

Early earth was bombarded by particles of all sizes, and some of that energy was converted to heat on impact.

The growing layers of accumulated material resulted in the energy of compression being converted to heat.

Earth has been divided into time ________ that are 15 degrees of longitude wide, although some adjustments have been made when necessary to follow political boundaries for the convenience of people living in those areas.

zones

Gps stands for _______ __________ ___________.

Global Positioning System

An ______________ is composed of clumps of stars, and one example is the Milky Way.

galaxy

If a hypothesis is supported consistently by different observations or experiments, it may be advanced to the level of an ___________________.

theory

rank the following water reservoirs from longest residence time at the top to shortest residence time at the bottom.

ocean, large lake, pond, atmosphere

which of the following time periods is based upon the lunar cycle?

month

The big bang is the currently accepted theory about the origin of the _______

universe

our solar system formed approximately _______ years ago.

5 billion

The Atlantic is roughly ________ the size of the Pacific ocean.

half

The __________ ocean is the smallest

arctic

because the _______ lines rotate with earth, 360 degrees in twenty-four hours, it is necessary to know the time of day and the position of the sun or the stars relative to one's longitude line.

longitude

Residence time is the average length of time that ______.

a water molecule spends in any one reservoir

Because Earth's mean surface temperature is about 61 F, ______________ naturally exists in all three states.

water

Approximately ______ years ago, the Big Bang initiated the formation of the universe.

13.8 billion

Which of the following processes added heat to the early Earth?

The growing layers of accumulated material resulted in the energy of compression being converted to heat.

Early Earth was bombarded by particles of all sizes, and some of that energy was converted to heat on impact.

The sun is at ___________ when it is at its highest elevation above a reference longitude.

its zenith

The process of ___________ involved organisms converting carbon dioxide and water into organic matter and free oxygen.

photosynthesis

Which of the following geologic timescale periods are part of the cenozoic or "age of mammals"

Quaternary; tertiary

Greenwich mean time is also called ________ time as well as __________.

universal time; ZULU

Which of the following are true regarding a great circle?

They include any circle on Earth's surface with its center at earth's center

all longitude lines from great circles

A great circle connecting any two points on earth's surface defines the shortest distance between them.

The hypsographic curve indicates that only _______ percent of Earth's surface is above sea level.

29

If earth's overall size was scaled to the size of a basketball, then the distance from earth's highest elevations to its deepest ocean depths would best be compared to the thickness of an __________

average human fingernail

The global positioning system uses a group of _____________ as reference points for calculating positions on earth's surface with an accuracy of a few meters.

Satellites

Which of the following are types of evidence that support the presence of oceans on two of Jupiter's moons?

The surfaces of the moons are ice covered, but heat is generated by friction from Jupiter's strong gravitational force.

There are induced magnetic fields around both moons, indicating that they both consist partly of strongly conducting material, such a seawater.

Match the seasonal marker with the correct positioning of the sun relative to earth

Summer Solstice: the sun stands above the tropic of cancer

Autumnal equinox: the sun stands above the equator.

Winter Solstice: The sun stands above the tropic of Capricorn.

approximately 5 billions years ago, ___________ was formed

the solar system

The lunar month, whereby the moon passes through all four phases, takes ________ days.

29 1/2

Which of the following pieces of technology had to be developed in order to calculate longitude accurately?

clocks

Galaxies are generally found in groups called

Clusters

Lines of latitude, also known as ________________, are referenced to the equator

parallels

Match the eras of geologic time with the corresponding dominant life forms.

mesozoic: age of reptiles

paleozoic: age of marine invertebrates, fishes, and amphibians

cenozoic: age of mammals

a scientific method used for determining the age of the earths is based upon the radioactive decay of __________

isotopes

During the first few hundred million years after Earth was formed , its interior reached the melting point of iron and nickel. How did this process lead to even hotter temperatures occuring in Earth's interior

The iron and nickel melted and migrated toward the center of the planet, and fricional heat was generated.

If our galaxy has a thickness of about 1000 light-years, this is equal to ________.

The distance that light can travel in a single year multiplied by 1000

The _________ ocean is considered the "newest" ocean because its concept was only adopted by the international hydrographic organization in the year 20000

Southern

Using the north start to determine latitude __________.

Will not work forever because Earth's axis of rotation changes slowly over time.

has been possible for the past 1000 years.

The north pole is located one-quarter of a circle in degrees latitude from the equator; thus its latitude is ____________ degrees north.

90

The north pole is located one-quarter of a circle in degrees latitude from the equator; thus its latitude is ____________ degrees north.

a half-life is the time over which one-half of the atoms of a radioactive isotope __________.

decay

The most important gaseous element to accumulate in Earth's atmosphere, which had to await the evolution of photosynthesis in order to exceed its loss to space, is _________.

oxygen

The inner planets of our solar system _______, and the outer planets of our solar system __________

are rich in metals and rocky material; are dominated by ices of water, ammonia and methane

The boundaries of the various units of geologic time were established mainly by which two methods?

The appearance or disappearance of certain fossils and radiometric dating.

The evolution of photosynthetic organisms on the early Earth resulted in an increase in the levels of the gas _______ in its free or pure form

oxygen

The boundaries of geologic time units were first established by _________, and now a more accurate method, _______, is common.

the appearance and disappearance of fossil types; radiometric dating.

Using the north star to determine latitude ___________.

has been possible for the past 1000 years.

will not work forever because earth's axis of rotation changes slowly over time.

a light- year is equal to the distance light travels in ______________

one year

what do the positions of the arctic and antarctic circles at 66.5 N and 66.5 S, respectively, represent?

One the summer solstice, the sun does not set above the arctic circle and does not rise above the antarctic circle.

In terms of its size, the "new" southern ocean ranks as number __________ of the five oceans.

four

A ________ is the time over which one-half of the atoms of a radioactive isotope decay.

half-life

Nuclear ________ is the process by which stars create elements that can have a greater atomic weight than lithium.

fusion

Which of the following reservoirs would likely show a marked increase decades after Ice age ( during a warming period)?

the oceans

To determine the age of Earth using radiometric dating, one must ________.

use radioactive isotopes

A(n) ___________ is equal to one minute of arc length of latitude or longitude at the equator.

nautical mile

Earth did not form into a perfect spherical shape because _____________.

as it rotates, the forces of rotation and gravity cause the equator to bulge outward.

the evolution of photosynthetic organisms on the early earth resulted in an increase in the levels of the gas _______ in its free or "pure" form.

oxygen