Plate Tectonics
The Earth’s crust is divided into ____ major plates which are moved in various directions.
12
List three ways humans increase the amount of carbon in the oceans.
What are the common units of salinity?
PPT and PSU
What is the biogeochemical cycle?
The continuous flow of elements and compounds between organisms and the earth.
What is a dead zone? Give an example.
Dead zones are hypoxic (low-oxygen) areas in the world’s oceans and lakes.
Ex. There is a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
Describe what happens at a transform boundary and give an example of one.
Plate boundaries where plates slide past each other.
Ex. San Andreas Fault
The lower the pH of a substance, the ___________ H+ ions, and the ___________ acidity
More, higher
What are the two primary types of ocean currents?
Surface Currents and Deep Currents
The Biogeochemical cycle involves what four interconnected spheres?
What is a key characteristic of El Nino Southern Oscillation?
Increased surface ocean temperature in the equatorial Pacific.
Volcanos are formed by.....(3)
Subduction
Rifting
Hotspots
The capture and storage of carbon is known as....
carbon sequestration
What are the ocean’s three layers?
Mixed or surface layer
Thermocline
Deep Ocean
What proof do we have of global warming? List at least 3 types of proof.
Temperature and CO2 Data
Glaciers are melting (we have proof in pictures and measurements)
Global Sea Level Rise (Satellite and tide gauge records)
Why do we care about El Nino?
During El Niño (and La Niña) years, more destructive weather events tend to occur:
Droughts and brush fires
Intense hurricanes
Intense tropical storms
Severe coastal flooding
Decline of some marine species (to figure out why, think about what happens during upwelling)
What are the three styles of convergent plate boundaries? Provide an example of each type.
-Continent-Continent Collision
-Ex. European Alps and Himalayas
-Oceanic-Continent Collision
-Ex. Andes
-Oceanic-Oceanic Collision
-Ex. Mariana's Trench
How is marine life affected by ocean acidification?
Sensitive ecosystems like coral reefs may decline due to change in pH and slower construction of coral exoskeletons.
Reduced abundance of small shelled organisms may cause problems for those larger species that prey upon them for food and shift food webs and reduce biodiversity. How coral reefs will survive in an era of rapidly acidifying ocean
What drives ocean currents?
Density gradients (differences) drive deep ocean currents
Upwelling brings cold, nutrient-rich water from the depths up to the surface
Wind is one of the primary drivers of surface currents
What are the effects of global warming?
More frequent and severe storms, heat waves, floods, and droughts
Drought conditions jeopardize access to clean drinking water, fuel out-of-control wildfires, and result in dust storms, extreme heat events, and flash flooding in the States.
Global Warming effects health through poor air quality, increase in food and airborne illnesses and disease-carrying insects.
Sea Level Rise effects our coastal communities and ecosystems.
Animals and plants have migrated to other areas due to global warming.
Unless greenhouse gas emissions are severely reduced, global warming could cause a quarter of land animals, birdlife and plants to become extinct.
How does Nitrogen get in the ocean?
Nitrogen is part of the biogeochemical cycle.
Human activities like those in the picture cause nitrogen to enter the water.
For example: agriculture, industry, and water treatment.
Describe how the Hawaiian island chain was formed.
The Hawaiian Islands were formed by such a hot spot occurring in the middle of the Pacific Plate. While the hot spot itself is fixed, the plate is moving. So, as the plate moved over the hot spot, the string of islands that make up the Hawaiian Island chain were formed.
If Temperature or salinity increases what happens to the amount of gas seawater can absorb?
It decreases
List four reasons ocean currents so important?
Influence world climate and weather
Ocean navigation and transportation
Support marine life (transport mechanism, food source)
Transport of materials (both helpful and harmful) and energy to different regions and depths of the ocean
How does the biological pump bring carbon from the surface to bottom of the ocean?
Phytoplankton use CO2 for photosynthesis.
As phytoplankton die and decompose, the carbon in them settles to the deep ocean.
Carbon moves up the food chain as primary consumers like zooplankton eat phytoplankton
Carbon moves further up to secondary and tertiary consumers
When they die and sink to the bottom to decompose the carbon in them settles in the deep ocean.
What causes plankton blooms and how do plankton blooms lead to dead zones?
-Excess Nitrogen causes plankton blooms.
-When plankton die, the settle to the bottom and decompose.
-Bacteria use up oxygen as they decompose plankton, causes a hypoxic or anoxic environment, mobile species leave and the organisms that can't or do not leave will die off.