Ocean Basins
shelf, slope and rise are located in
What is the Continental Margin?
This occurs when one crustal plate plunges down under another plate
What is subduction?
The study of Earth's surface features, on land and on the ocean floor
What is topography?
Angle at which the sun's rays strike Earth's surface
What is angle of insolation?
Rivers, wind, ice, and other geologic processes erode and transport rocks and minerals into the sea; also called “terrigenous,” these particles make up most of the sediment near islands and continents
What are lithogenous sediments?
Trash that is not biodegradable, meaning it doesn't disintegrate - it simply breaks down into tinier and tinier pieces becoming
What is microplastics?
The deepest, steepest depressions on the ocean floor are
What is trenches?
The Supercontinent millions of years ago prior to continental drift
What is Pangaea?
Steep, V-shaped depressions that cut through the continental shelf, extensions of sunken river valleys
What are Submarine Canyons?
The amount of moisture in the air
What is humidity?
sediment that comes from the shells and exoskeletons of marine organisms; They cover most of the area of the sea floor
What is biogenous sediment?
Depleting the stock of fish in a body of water by too much fishing
What is Overfishing?
These small undersea mountains are formed by lava piling up on the seafloor and form over hot spots in the mantle
What are seamounts?
Segments of Earth's crust that float (with the continents on top) on the mantle
What is plates?
An area of intense geologic activity in the crust where a seamount forms
What is a Hot Spot?
A warming of Earth caused when heat is trapped in the atmosphere by water vapor and carbon dioxide
Sources may include minerals or chemicals that dissolve in seawater, river runoff, or hydrothermal vent water; they make up less than 1% of seafloor sediments and tend to form slowly
What is hydrogenous sediment?
A way for humans to combat climate change
What are renewable energy sources?
What are solar energy and wind power?
This Atoll is a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in American Samoa
What is Rose Atoll?
The moving apart of Earth's plates, caused by the upward movement of magma under the mid-ocean ridge
What is seafloor spreading?
What is Mid-Ocean Ridge?
Periodic warm ocean current that develops in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
Sources may include meteorites and cosmic dust. Least abundant of the four types of ocean sediments.
What is cosmogenous sediment?
A sort of whirlpool in the ocean that sucks things into it
What is a gyre?
The seamount near Ofu is
What is Vailulu'u?
This crack in Earth's crust that occurs at the margin of two plates, located in California
What is San Andreas Fault?
An area in the rift zone at which hot springs emerge
What is hydrothermal vents?
Coal, oil and gas combustion contributes to CO2 emissions and are often referred to as
What are fossil fuels?
It is made up of the remains of diatoms, microscopic phytoplankton, and Radiolaria.
What are Siliceous Oozes?
When commercial fishing vessels accidentally catch fish and other marine animals (turtles, sharks, whales) they don't want and typically throw them back into the ocean, dead.
What is bycatch?