Oceanography Quiz Questions

Which ocean is the largest?

The Pacific

Which Ocean is the shallowest?

The Arctic

The Southern Ocean is not bounded by land.

True

Inland Seas often have a higher salinity than typical ocean water.

True

As atmospheric carbon dioxide increases, ocean acidity _____.

Increases

How are the oceans changing?

They are becoming more acidic, sea levels are rising, sea ice is melting, and the oceans are warming.

Our current global population is....

7.8 billion

What is the lesson from the cod fishery in New England?

If you deplete a fishery too much is may not recover.

According to Aristotle, "That which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it".

True

Which are the ways that humans are impacting the oceans?

Acidification, sea level rise, warming, and loss of ice.

How much sea level rise is expected to occur by 2100?

1 meter

The steady rise in global fishing since the 1900s is clear evidence that the fish stocks have been improving.

False

By-catch is the same as unintended catch.

True

Fish farms use natural fish as food.

True

Coral bleaching is mostly the result of increased water temperatures.

True

As individuals we can help the ocean fisheries by changing our eating habits.

True

Additives are used to enhance the chemical and physical properties of a polymer.

True

How does diesel oil differ from methane?

Diesel oils is a longer hydrocarbon chain.

Volcanic islands are so productive because they deflect warm surface water downward.

False

The largest migration of life is the daily vertical migration from the deep ocean.

True

What ways does plastic cause harm to marine life?

Ingestion, entanglement, and hormone mimicry.

As plastic fragments decrease in size…

They cause more chemical impacts.

As the size of plastic particles decreases the chemical toxicity increases.

True

Which is true of navigating with the North Star?

Height above the Horizon can be used to infer latitude.

Oceanography is more interdisciplinary than most sciences.

True

What was not a contribution of Eratosthenes?

He was the first to determine the depth of the Marianna Trench.

What major technological advances were associated with  the Ming Dynasty?

Large sailing ships and the compass.

Darwin's Beagle voyage was the first purely scientific expedition.

False

The Great Iron Catastrophe ...

Caused iron and nickel to settle to the core and was caused by a very large impact.

The Habitable Zone is the zone where liquid water can occur in our solar system.

True

The oxygen revolution was a sudden loss of oxygen in the Earth atmosphere.

False

Which are true about the Earth's magnetic field...

It deflects the solar winds, it allowed Planet Earth to retain its water, it requires radioactive heating, and it requires a fluid iron-nickel core.

The water that fill the oceans came from…

Comets, volcanoes, and rocks and minerals

Dolly Rope:

Bottom trawls

Microplastics:

Ingested - no nutritional value

Accurate time keeping needed:

longitude

Azoic zone:

No life

Echo sounder:

Water depth

Nanoplastic:

Can cross cell boundaries

Reverse tribute:

Chinese trade method

Which is NOT a type of plate boundary?

Hot spot

What occurs a divergent plate boundaries?

Spreading centers

Which are true about the Earth's magnetic field?

It requires a fluid iron-nickel core, it allowed Planet Earth to retain its water, it deflects the solar winds, and it requires radioactive heating

The thickest sediment  in the ocean is found closest to a mid ocean ridge.

False

Transform faults offset ocean ridges.

True

Stars make lighter elements from heavier ones.

False

Why is the Earth's interior still hot?

Radioactive decay

Why was Alfred Wegners hypothesis of Continental Drift initially rejected?

He wore funny hats, he didn't provide a viable mechanism, and he was not a geologist.

How does earthquake focus change at subduction zones?

Earthquake focus become progressively deeper.

Where do oceanic trenches occur and why?

At subduction zones, where "slab-pull" occurs.

The oldest rocks in the ocean are...

170 million years old.

Magnetic stripes record changes in the Earth's magnetic field.

True

How does a Tsunami change as it come ashore in shallow water?

It gets taller (height increases), wave shortens (wave length decreases), and it slows down.

Why do we have rocky and gaseous planets?

Solar winds swept lighter atoms away.

The crust has more aluminum and silica and less iron and nickel relative to the whole earth.

True

Which of the following is NOT a type of 'killer wave' discussed in the video?

Collapsing

The Earth's magnetic field has allowed the planet to retain its water and atmosphere.

True

What occurs at convergent plate boundaries?

Subduction zones

The asthenosphere is more "plastic" than the lithosphere.

True

What are the three types of plate boundaries?

Divergent, convergent, and transform.

The Curie Point is the temperature at which a reversal occurs.

False

Asthenosphere:

Soft/plastic

Trench:

Feature at a convergent plate boundary

Hot spots:

Stationary volcanoes

Mid ocean ridge:

Feature at a divergent plate boundary

Lithosphere:

Ridged and brittle

Crust:

Mostly silicate material

Outer planets:

Gaseous

Inner planets:

Rocky

Curie point:

Lock-in magnetism

Magnet stripes:

Magnetic reversals

Lower mantle and core:

Mostly iron and nickel

Island arcs:

Volcanoes at subduction zones

How did the volcanic eruption of Krakatoa create a killer wave?

Landslide into ocean

What do abyssal hills, seamounts, guyots and atolls have in common?

They were all originally volcanoes.

What ocean feature accounts for most of the area in the oceans?

Abyssal Plains

If you drill into the center of an atoll you will encounter volcanic rocks.

True

Passive continental margin:

No subduction

Chemosynthesis:

Oxidation of sulfides

Causes sea level to fall:

Glacial period

Turbidites:

Erodes off-shore canyons

Active continental margin:

Narrow

Causes sea level to rise:

Increased spreading rates

Seamount in tropical area:

Atoll

Trenches:

Trap sediment

Mid ocean ridge:

Spreading center

Flat topped Seamount:

Guyot

All seamounts are guyots but not all guyots are seamounts.

False

Narrow continental shelfs occur at passive continental margins.

False

What is the origin of the Bahamas Banks?

A build-up of calcium carbonate over time.

Black smokers are...

Hydrothermal vents near spreading centers.

Monterrey Canyon is a submarine trench formed by subduction.

False

Where do oceanic trenches occur and why?

At subduction zones, where "slab-pull" occurs.

Why is the Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico so Pock-marked?

Numerous salt domes

Which is a way to raise global sea level?

Increase spreading rates.

What chemical is discharged at hydrothermal vents?

Sulfides.

The reason mud volcanoes in the ocean grow so tall is because.

There is nothing to erode them.

Sea level was 130 meters lower during the last Ice Age.

True

Faster spreading rates  cause a lowering of global sea level.

False

Water is a dipolar molecule, meaning that...

It has a positive and a negative side.