Vocab
This ocean basin is described as the largest and deepest of all ocean basins
What is the Pacific basin?
Hydrothermal vents are also sometimes called this
What are deep sea hot springs?
This area represents the 'edge of a continent'
What is the continental slope?
List two major ocean processes that are affected by the geology of the ocean
What are 1) sculping a shoreline, 2) determining water depth, 3) determining sediment type, 4) forming features like islands and mountain ranges, and 5) affecting the condition of marine habitats?
A continental shelf ends at this point
What is a shelf break?
The supercontinent Laurasia consisted of:
What is 1) North America, 2) Greenland, 3) Europe, and 4) Asia (minus India)?
Give an example of an active continental margin
What is 'the west coast of the US, the west coast of South America?'
These are described as boundaries between oceanic and continental crust
What are continental margins?
This is the smallest and shallowest ocean basin
What is the Arctic basin?
Scientists believe that it took approximately this long for earth's atmosphere to form
What is two billion years?
This type of sediment is derived from the chemical and physical breakdown of rocks
What is lithogenous sediment?
This type of sediment is made up of microfossils
What is biogenous sediment?
The supercontinent Gondwana was made up of:
What are 1) Africa, 2) Antarctica, 3) Australia, 4) S. America, 5) Madagascar, and 6) India?
What is 61%?
This part of the continental margin can be thought of as an underwater river delta made of accumulated sediment
What is the continental rise?
What are 1) continental shelf, 2) continental slope, and 3) continental rise?
These areas are where trenches are formed
What are convergent boundaries/subduction zones?
Give a basic description of an active continental margin
What is 'usually associated with trenches and subduction zones, include intense areas of geological activity, are often rocky with sharp cliffs and drop-offs into the sea?'
Compare what occurs when two continental plates collide versus two ocean plates
What is 'when two continental plates collide, a mountain range forms; when two oceanic plates collide, many things can happen including formation of a trench, volcanoes, earthquakes, etc?'
This is why/how Wegener's theory of Continental Drift was rediscovered in the 1960s
What is 'due to major technological advancements following both world wars that made it much more feasible to study and collect data on the ocean floor?'
Briefly describe the significance of the continental shelf
What is 'the continental shelf makes up about 8% of the ocean's surface area, is the biologically-richest part of the ocean, and can extend out up to 750 km?'
If sea floor is always being created, why does the size of the Earth not increase?
What is 'because as sea floor is being created, it is also being destroyed/subducted at approximately the same rate?'
List the four major groups of organisms that contribute to biogenous sediments
What are 'Diatoms, Radiolarians, Foraminiferans, and Coccolithophorids?'
List and briefly explain the three major types of plate boundaries
What are 1) convergent boundaries - plates colliding; 2) divergent boundaries - plates moving away from each other, 3) transform boundaries - plates moving past each other?
Briefly explain how the chimney structures of hydrothermal vents are created
What is '1) water percolates down into cracks and pores in oceanic crust, 2) this water is heated upwards of 350 degrees C and is forced back up through the mantle, 3) as the water moves, it dissolves many minerals and 4) when the super heated water hits the cold ocean water, it rapidly cools and minerals solidify to form chimneys?'