Definitions
The portion of the earth's crust that primarily contains basalt, is relatively dense, and is about 5 km thick
What is oceanic crust?
The downward movement of 1 plate into the earth's mantle when 2 plates collide.
What is subduction?
This causes a deep sea creature being pulled up from the bottom to the surface appear bloated.
What is change in water pressure from high to low?
What is the Southern Ocean?
What are salinity and temperature?
The portion of the earth's crust that primarily contains granite, is less dense than oceanic crust, and is 20-50 km thick.
What is continental crust?
The total amount of salt dissolved in a solvent.
What is salinity?
Water molecules move in this motion in a surface wave.
What is in a circular motion under the water and back up to their original position?
What is the oceanic crust is denser than continental crust and floats lower on the semi-plastic mantle?
The amount of light that can enter the water depends upon this factor.
What is water's transparency?
A process involving the movement of large plates on the earth's mantle.
What is plate tectonics?
The way in which the rotation of the earth bends the path of the winds and resulting sea currents.
What is the Coriolis Effect?
This force drives the major currents of the ocean.
What is wind?
What is 2 plates move apart exerting less pressure on the mantle resulting in a rift. This allows the mantle material to rise up, cool and become new crust?
The ocean is blue for this reason.
What is the wavelength of blue light penetrates much deeper than the rest. Also the sky reflects off the surface of the ocean enhancing the blue color.
A continuous chain of underwater volcanic mountains encompassing the earth.
What is the Mid-ocean ridge?
Large, mostly circular systems of surface currents driven by the wind.
What are gyres?
A time of largest tidal range due to the gravitational pull of the aligned sun and moon (during full moon and new moon).
What is spring tide?
This is the process in which seafloor is lost.
What is subduction?
Name two (2) benefits hydrogen bonding provides marine organisms.
What is
1) makes ice less dense than liquid
2) high specific heat
3) Universal solvent
What is seafloor spreading?
The gently sloping area at the base of the continental slope?
What is the continental rise?
A tine of smallest tidal range due to the moon and sun being located at right angles to each other (during quarter moons).
What is neap tide?
This region of the ocean bottom contains the most sea life.
What is the continental shelf?
An organism in the deep layer of the ocean would have to cross this vertical part of the ocean to get to the warmer surface layer above it.
What is the thermocline?