Oceanography exam 1

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Most processes that affect the ocean's salinity occur?

at the oceans surface

How can we map the topography of the sea floor from satellites?

by very accurately measuring the elevation of the sea surface

Atolls are related to plate tectonics because?

Volcanoes created at hotspots and ridges subside as they are carried away from their point of origin

The components of the ocean water whose proportions are not accounted for by the weathering of surface rocks are called?

excess volatiles

the velocity of sound in water is?

faster than in air

Currently in more carbon dioxide moving from the atmosphere into the oceans, or from the oceans into the atmosphere

from the atmosphere to the oceans

The amount of gas that sea water can hold in solution will be?

greater in colder water

The speed of sound in water is ___ the speed of sound in air?

greater than

The deepest parts of the Pacific Basin are located

near the margins of South America, Japan, and the Marianas islands

Which is greater the average height of the continents or the average depth of the ocean?

the average depth of the ocean

We can determine salinity if we know?

the chlorinity of a water sample

Land bases evidence for plate tectonics can be seen in

the distribution of Glossopteris flora and fauna, evidence of ancient glaciations, the alignment of mountain ranges, and the correlation of similar rocks in now widely separated continents.

The ions presented in seawater alter the characteristics of pure water in the following ways EXCEPT

the ions cause cells placed in sea water to burst

IS it possible for two samples of water to have the same density at different combinations of temperature and salinity. True/False

true!

What is the name of the outermost solid layer of the Earth?

Lithosphere

About one quarter of the Earth's surface is between what two elevations?

+1000 to 0m

The average salinity of the world ocean is closest to what?

34 0/00

About what percent of the volume of the oceans is contained in the "deep zone" beneath the pycnocline?

80%

Roughly how fast do most lithospheric plates move?

About 3cm a year

A "mystery" in our understanding of plate tectonics has been, until recently, the nature of the power source capable of moving the plates and the continents embedded within them. Recent evidence indicates the power source to be

Convection currents with in Earth's mantle are moving the plates

Oceanic salinities are lower at the Equator because?

Equatorial regions are an area of rising air heavy rainfall

At a depth of 50 meter, a red object would probably look?

Gray or black

Where are the Earth's oldest rocks found?

In the cores of continents

Name of professor?

Mark Stewart

A turbidity current is?

None of the above.A turbidity current is a current of rapidly moving, sediment-laden water moving down a slope through water, or another fluid

Dissolved oxygen levels tend to be high near the ocean's surface, and carbon dioxide levels are lower near the surface. Why?

Photosynthesis uses carbon dioxide and releases oxygen

The property of water that accounts for the ability of liquid water to absorb heat and change only very little in temperature is called?

Specific heat or heat capacity

Residence time is?

The average length of time an element spends in the ocean

Which of the following statements best describes the conservative constituents of seawater?

The concentrations of conservative constituents change very slowly in the open ocean

The most pronounced thermoclines exist in?

The tropics

What do paleomagnetism, seafloor spreading, Pangea, benioff zones, transform faults, fracture zones, seamount chains and Pacific hotspots all have in common?

They are all involved with plate tectonics

What is the approximate mixing time of the world ocean?

about 1,600 years

The wavelengths of light that penetrate deepest into the ocean are?

blue and violet

The temp of most of the world ocean is the?

deep and bottom waters

Why did N. American geologists reject Wegener's theory of continental drift?

he did not have a plausible explanation for how the continents moved

Karl Popper stated the to be considered a valid scientific theory, a theory

must be capable of being found to be false (tested)

The Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean was supported by the large copper deposits of the Troodos Massif on the island of Cyprus. These deposits are contained in a/an

ophiolite in a convergent boundary

Analysis of plate motion suggests that

part of California west of the San Andreas Fault is moving northward

The widest continental shelves are associated with _____ margins

passive

The trailing edge of a continent on a moving crustal plate is most likely to exhibit?

passive continental margins

Ocean depths are routinely determined by?

sending ships through the water and determining the time required for it to return to the ship

The ocean's deep sound channel (SOFAR layer) is characterized as a zone in which?

sound is horizontally concentrated rather than diffused as it moves through the water, acoustical energy losses are relatively small sound waves travel great horizontal distances and sound velocity is at a minimum.

In 1929, transatlantic telephone and telegraph cables on the continental slope in the north Atlantic near Newfoundland broke sequentially, from close to the coast first, to farther from the coast last, after an earthquake. The cables were probably broken by?

turbidity currents

Active sonars differ from passive sonar in that active sonar?

use sound to probe as well as listen

Why is it harder to get sea water to freeze than freshwater

when you cool sea water, it gets more dense and sinks


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