Geological Oceanography
What are the 3 types of plate tectonic boundaries?
Divergent, convergent, transform
How many low and high tides do we experience here in KW per day?
2 high and 2 low
What is the difference between a hurricane and typhoon?
Location, otherwise they are exactly the same
What was the name of the huge oil spill in 2010?
Deep Horizon
What is the oldest/largest ocean basin?
Pacific
What did the transform plate tectonic boundary create?
San Andreas Fault
What two things create the bulges during tides?
Gravity and Inertia
Name 2 things that can cause a tsunami
earthquakes, landslides, volcanic activity, certain types of weather, and near earth objects
Where is the oil stored? How do we get it out?
-bottom of the ocean
-drill and puncture though earth's surface and drill through rock layers to extract the fossil fuels
What is a gyre?
Large systems of rotating ocean currents
What is an abyssal plain?
Extensive flat gently sloping or nearly level region at abyssal depths
What motion do waves occur in?
circulation motion
What is a big sign that a tsunami is coming?
the water level residing quickly
What is crude oil?
a mixture of naturally occurring hydrocarbons(compounds containing only carbon and hydrogen), petroleum
What is the Coriolis Effect?
-A mass moving in a rotating system experiences a force acting perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of rotation
-In simple terms: Makes things traveling long distances around the earth appear to move at a curve as opposed to a straight line
How long is the Mariana Trench?
More than 1,500 miles long
What is thermohaline circulation?
A process driven by density differences in water due to temperature(thermo) and salinity(haline) in different parts of the ocean
What degrees latitude do hurricanes/typhoons/ and cyclones form in?
5 to 20 degrees latitude
Why are marine spills so harmful to marine mammals? Looking for the answer specifically to marine mammals.
-If oil saturates the fur, it ruins the ability for the fur to retain heat
-They will then experience hypothermia
What causes garbage/marine debris to get caught in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?
-The circular motion of the gyre draws in the debris into the center where it then gets trapped
-The center is calm and the debris will stay in the center
What is the exclusive economic zone?
zone extending 200 nautical miles off a country’s coast, a country has the right to explore and exploit the living and nonliving things in its EEZ
What is a rip current?
A localized current that flows away from the shoreline toward the ocean, perpendicular or at an angle to the shoreline
What does the wind in mph need to be to be considered a category 5?
Greater than 155 mph
What is the size of tar bar usually compared to?
-coins
-largest known to be a pancake size
What is an Elkman Spiral?
-Consequence of the Coriolis effect
-When surface water molecules move by the force of the wind, they drag deeper layers of water molecules below them
-Each layer of water molecules is moved by friction from the shallow layer and each deeper layer moves more slowly than the layer above it until the movement ceases at a depth of 100 m
-The deeper water is deflected by the coriolis effect