Geography and Seawater
What is the process whereby the pH of seawater drops as carbon dioxide diffuses from the atmosphere into the ocean?
Ocean acidification
What are cyclical changes in the levels of ocean water?
Tides
What is a chaotic, turbulent wave breaking along a shore called?
Surf
Which beach zone is always underwater?
Shoreface
Where are most of the world's fisheries located?
Continental shelves or coastlines
What is a wave-resistant ridge or mound built by corals or other marine organisms?
Reef
What is the lowest part of a wave?
Trough
What is a portion of a continent previously underwater that has become exposed as dry land?
Emergent coastline
Which beach zone is underwater during high tide but NOT during low tide?
foreshore
What are the small marine and freshwater organisms that conduct most of the photosynthesis and nutrient consumption in the ocean and form the base of the marine food web?
Plankton
What is the total quantity of dissolved salts in a body of water, expressed as a percentage?
Salinity
What is the vertical distance between the crest and trough of a wave, also called amplitude?
Wave height
The gradual movement of sediment (usually sand) along a beach, parallel to the shoreline, when waves strike the beach obliquely but return to the sea directly is called what?
Beach drift
Name one (1) source of sand for the sandy coastlines.
river deltas, glacial deposits, or carbonate reefs
What is the name of the uppermost layer of the ocean where light is available and most of the phytoplankton live?
The photic zone
What is a continuous flow of ocean water driven by wind and deflected by Earth's rotation?
Surface current
What is the deepening of ocean water driven by wind and deflected by Earth's rotation called?
Tidal bulge
What causes a wave to break?
The wave dragging against the seafloor
What is a long, narrow, low-lying island that extends parallel to the shoreline?
Barrier island
Catch rates of fisheries have declined despite improved techniques for locating fish. What is the main reason for this decline?
Overfishing
Gases which move between the ocean and the atmosphere are oxygen and what other gas?
Carbon dioxide
What is the movement of cold water and nutrients from the ocean depths to the surface?
Upwelling
Name two (2) causes of eustatic sea-level change.
Growth or melting of glaciers, changes in water temperature, and changes in the volume of the Mid-Ocean Ridge
Spit
Ocean acidification, warming seawater temperatures, increased silt deposition in oceans, fertilizer and sewage runoff