OCS 1005

Mathew Fontaine Maury

"Father of Physical oceanography"

Christopher Columbus

"discovered" the new world in 1492. Although in reality he never saw the mainland of North America, his stories inspired other explorers to follow.

divergent

(spreading centers) Example: mid-ocean ridges Characteristic: hydrothermal activity, pillow lavas, shallow earthquakes

convergent

(subduction zones) Example: deep ocean trenches Characteristic: volcanoes, island arcs, deep earthquakes

transform-fault

(two plates sliding past each other) Example: fracture zones, faults

poorly-sorted sediments

* Sediments with a mixture of sizes. * Where energy fluctuates over a wide range. * Near submarine canyon by turbidity current

radioactive decay

Age of various rocks can be dated by measuring _______

sand, silt, and clay

Although boulders, cobbles, and peddles occur in the ocean, most marine sediments are made of finer particles:

wealth and degree of civilization

Chinese navigator's ships were laden with gifts designed to show China's _____ and ________.

James Cameron

Completes Record-Breaking Mariana Trench Dive, The first human to reach the 6.8-mile-deep (11-kilometer-deep) undersea valley solo

low-energy conditions, high- energy conditions

Fine-grained sediments suggest ______ , while coarse sediments suggest ________.

Polynesian migration in the Pacific Ocean

First demonstration of ability and knowledge to navigate transoceanic voyages

guyots

Flat-topped seamounts eroded by wave action are called

titan

Saturn's largest moon, may have an ocean of hydrocarbons

oceanography

Scientific study of the ocean

east, west

Sun rises from the _____ and sets in the _____

Mathew Fontaine Maury

Organized the vast amount of data on wind, current and weather recorded in ships logbooks

nuclear fusion

Our sun, like all normal stars, is powered by

chemosynthesis

Rich biological communities flourish near vents -vent community based on ________

ocean exploration and voyaging

The early history of oceanography/marine science is closely related to the history of

boundary layer

Water flowing near a solid surface is slowed down by friction along the boundary, and the region of flow influenced by proximity to the surface is called the

Most of the substance of Earth, its ocean, and all living things, was formed by stars. Every chemical element heavier than hydrogen was manufactured and released into space by stars.

What do stars have to do with the ocean?

Mariana Trench 11,022 m

deepest spot in the world oceans

Local noon time

defined as the time the sun is exactly over your head

turbidites

deposit laid down by turbidity currents. (more prevalent in Atlantic than Pacific. Trenches in the Pacifc trap most of the turbidites)

Mantle Convection

driven by the heat escaping from the Earth's interior provides energy to maintain sea floor spreading

Alfred Wegener

proposed ContinentalDrift (1915). He could not explain the source of energy to move continents.

Harry Hess

proposed Seafloor Spreading

Wegener

published "The origin of continents and oceans" and proposed the Continental Drift theory

Benjamin Franklin

published the first map of the Gulf Stream (a swift current circulating clockwise in the North Atlantic Ocean) in 1770.

Vasco Da Gama

reached India by sailing around the tip of Africa

Seafloor features

result from a combination of tectonic activity and the processes of erosion and deposition.

Seismographs

revealed a pattern of volcanoes and earthquakes.

Echo sounders

revealed the shape of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and sense the contour of the seafloor

.007

rivers and lakes ____%,

turbidites

sediment deposits formed by turbidity

mid-ocean ridges, continental rise

sediments are thinnest near the ______, and thickest near the _______

oozes

sediments of at least 30% biological origin (Calcareous ooze, siliceous ooze). -dominate in deep water

Chinese navigators

set out in the 1400s to explore the Indian Ocean, Indonesia, Africa and the Atlantic.

low density

something that is light for its size has _____

high density

something that is small but heavy is considered to have ____

shelf break

the abrupt transition from continental shelf to the continental slope

0.001

the atmosphere _____%.

Ocean Basin

the deep seafloor beyond the continental margin

meteor expedition

the first scientific expedition to use an echo sounder was ______

The journey of the Magellan expedition

the first voyage around the world

geological, physical, chemical, and biological

the four marine processes of oceanography are:

30%

How much percentage of the Earth's surface is covered by land?

Bathymetry

The discovery and study of ocean floor contours is called

well-sorted sediments

-Composed of particles of mostly one size. -Where energy fluctuates within a narrow range. -Deep-sea floor

Pangaea

-Shape of shorelines -Mountains -Fossil records -characteristic features left by ancient glaciers explained by the supercontinent called ______

lithosphere, asthenosphere

A cool, rigid, less dense layer the _____ floats on a hot, slowly-flowing, more dense layer the _________

Mariana Trench

At the known deepest spot on the ocean bottom called ______ , pressure would be1.1ton/cm2 (7.82ton/in2)

turbidity current

Avalanche-like sediment movement caused when turbulence mixes sediments into water above a sloping bottom are called

chemosynthesis

Bacteria in the absence of sunlight, using chemical compounds such as ammonia, methane, hydrogen sulfide to produce food (carbon dioxide fixation) this is called

24

Earth rotates once in every____ hours

ocean

Earth's largest feature

German Meteor Expedition

Echo sounders were first used on the ______ in 1925 in the South Atlantic

Portugal's Prince Henry the Navigator

Established a center for seafaring in order to mount expeditions to open a new trading route to Asia

10, 1

Every ____ m in depth corresponds to ____ kg/cm2 (14.22 pounds/in2) in pressure

Henry the Navigator

Explorers under his patronage compiled detailed charts and explored the west coast of Africa.

Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island

Geographically, Polynesia may be described as a triangle with its corners at

Eratosthenes of Cyrene

He was the first to calculate the circumference of Earth. He also invented a system of longitude and latitude.

Mt. Everest 8848m

Highest spot on land

Early bathymetric studies were often performed using a weighted line to measure the depth of the ocean floor

How did early scientists study the ocean floor?

our sun will begin to die in 5 billion years -6 billion years from now the sun will enter the red giant phase and ingulf the inner planets

How long can Earth exist?

3.8

Intense bombardment of the early Earth by large bodies - comets and asteroids - probably lasted until about ____billion years ago.

97

More than ____% of the water lies in the ocean. Of all water at Earth's surface

terrigenous and biogenous

Most sediment deposits are mixture of _______ and ________ particles.

3,000

Note that more than half of Earth's solid surface is at least_______ meters (10,000 feet) below sea level.

70.8

Ocean covers ____% of the earth's surface

18 out of 260

Only ___ out of ______ sailors managed to return after three years of dangerous travel

Polynesian triangle

Polynesia is generally defined as the islands within the

convergent plate boundaries

Regions where plates are pushing together

photosynthesis

Single-cell plant organisms use ______

• Initiation of friendly relations with many native populations • Sampling marine life, land plants and animals • Verification of calculations of planetary orbits • Charting of New Zealand and the Great Barrier Reef, Tonga and Easter Islands • Recording data concerning the ocean floor and geological formations

Some of the accomplishments of James Cook and his scientists include:

Paleomagnetism

Study of geological past by examining the Earth's magnetic conditions recorded in the rock samples.

Library of Alexandria

Systematic study of the ocean began at the

The central rudder, Water-tight compartments, Sails on multiple masts, and Magnetic compass

The Chinese invented:

Governments

The First Scientific Expeditions Were Undertaken by

depth, elevation

The average _____ of the ocean (3,790 meters) is much greater than the average ______ of the continents (840 meters).

Chinese Ocean Exploration

The largest peacetime ocean exploration ever mounted which was made up of 7 voyages that lasted from 1405-1433

celestial navigation

The principles of_________ were invented at the Library of Alexandria.

many islands

The term "Polynesia" means

black smoker

When hot water circulating near the mid-ocean ridges comes in contact with cold surrounding sea water, precipitation of sulfur-bearing minerals takes place.

70.78

_____% of the Earth is covered by water

heat capacity

______ of water is much larger than that of land and air

Ferdinand Magellan

a Portuguese sailor

ooze

a biogenous sediment that contains more than 30% of the hard parts (shells) of planktonic marine organisms is called ____

A velocity gradient

a change of velocity with depth - exists near the boundary

James Cook

a commander in the British Royal Navy - his cruises are considered to be the first scientific ocean exploration and greatly contributed to scientific oceanography

Oceanic crust toward continental crust

a convergent plate boundary for example, the west coast of South America.

Continental crust toward continental crust

a convergent plate boundary one example is the Himalayas.

Oceanic crust toward oceanic crust

a convergent plate boundary that occurring in the northern Pacific

Highly interdisciplinary

a marine biologist who has to know currents to study movements of organisms.

continental rises

accumulated sediment found at the base of the continental slope

-echo sounding -multibeam systems -satellite altimetry

advances in bathymetry include:

4 billion years

age of the world oceans is about

Passive margins

also called Atlantic-type margins, face the edges of diverging tectonic plates. Very little volcanic or earthquake activity

Earth

also known as the "blue planet"

Submarine canyons

are a feature of some continental margins. They cut into the continental shelf and slope, often terminating on the deep-sea floor in a fan-shaped wedge of sediment

turbidity currents

are an underwater "avalanche" of sediments thought responsible for the sculpturing of submarine canyons and a means of sediment transport into abyssal plains.

Trenches

are arc-shaped depressions in the ocean floor caused by the subduction of a converging ocean plate

Abyssal hills

are flat areas of sediment-covered ocean floor found between the continental margins and oceanic ridges.

transform faults

are found on the ocean floor. They produce zig-zag plate margins, and are generally defined by shallow earthquakes.

Transform faults

are fractures along which lithospheric plates slide horizontally past one another. -Are the active part of fracture zones.

Deltas

are landforms that develop wherever a river enters a large body of water — whether ocean, lagoon, or even lake and deposits sediment more rapidly than can be eroded

The Polynesians

are one of the four cultures that inhabited some 1,000 islands in the central and eastern Pacific.

Hydrothermal vents

are sites where superheated water containing dissolved minerals and gases escapes through fissures, or vents

Abyssal hills

are small, extinct volcanoes or rock intrusions near the oceanic ridges

Seamounts

are volcanic projections from the ocean floor that do not rise above sea level.

dominant role of ocean

atmosphere interaction in regulating the earth's weather and climate (versus land-atmosphere interaction)

mantle

atmosphere is a portion of the _____

3,796m or 12,451 ft.

average depth of the world oceans

3.4

average salinity is about ____%

3.9 degrees celcius

average temp for the world oceans

Oceanic crust:

basaltic, denser, thinner and younger

satellites

can be used to map seabed contours

multibeam systems

can provide more accurate measurements than echo sounders do. Collect data from as many as 121 beams to measure the contours of the ocean floor

the outer and inner core

consist mainly of iron and nickel

Arabs

controlled the trading route to Asia (silk, spices)

HMS Challenger

expedition of 1872-1876 was the first oceanic expedition dedicated to scientific research. It was sponsored by Royal Society of London. It started Marine Biology

Europeans

explored the world by sea during the Renaissance

turbidity currents

flow down submarine canyons and deposit sediments as deep-sea fans

4.6 billion years ago

formation of the planets of the solar system was about

Marco Polo

from Venice, wrote a book (known in Italy as the "Book Million about miracles of the world") about his journey with his father and uncle to China via Silk Route (Great Silk Road)

Continental crust:

granitic, less dense, thicker and older

.8

groundwater ____%

Continental slope

has the steepest slope, and the abyssal plain is the flattest

1.7

ice on land contains about _____%

salt domes

in order to find oil you must find _____

density

is a key concept for understanding the structure of Earth and measures the mass per unit volume of a substance

Volcanic activity

is a major source of the Earth's ocean and atmosphere

echo sounding

is a method of measuring seafloor depth using sound pulses. The accuracy can be affected by water conditions and bottom contours

oceanic ridge

is a mountainous chain of young, basaltic rock at an active spreading center of an ocean

A hypsographic curve

is a plot of the area of the Earth's surface above any given elevation or depth above or below sea level

Rate of sedimentation

is almost always higher on continental shelves than in the deep ocean. Shelves are closer to terrigenous sources and usually high in biological productivity (source of biogenous sediments)

A fracture zone

is an oceanic feature, resulting from the action of offset mid-ocean ridge axis segments

sediment

is particles of organic or inorganic matter that accumulate in a loose, unconsolidated form. May be classified by grain size or by the origin of the majority of the particles.

Buoyancy

is the ability of an object to float in a fluid by displacing a volume of that fluid equal in weight to the floating object's own weight.

The Big Bang

is the term used to describe the beginning of the universe, probably about 14 billion years ago. As the universe expanded, it cooled, eventually allowing the formation of atoms, which then formed galaxies and stars

mantle

is thought to consist mainly of silicon, oxygen, iron, and magnesium

Active margins

known as Pacific-type margins, are located near the edges of converging plates. - are the site of volcanic and earthquake activity

29.2

land covers ____% of the earth

The United States Exploring Expedition

launched in 1838 was a naval and scientific expedition

Comets

may have delivered some of Earth's surface water

Satellite altimetry

measures the sea surface height from orbit

John Harrison's Chronometer

needed to find longitude at sea

Radiometric dating

of rocks revealed a surprisingly young oceanic crust.

pelagic

of the open ocean of sediment deposits (contain a greater proportion of biogenies material)

neritic

of the shore or coast location of sediment deposits (contains mostly terrigenous material)

hurricanes

only form over warm water

Vikings

periodically raided various parts of Europe. By 1000 A. D. Colonized Vinland in Newfoundland (North America), though the colony was later abandoned.

Harry Hess

postulated that oceanic crust is formed at mid-ocean ridges and moves toward trenches, where it is destroyed

Outgassing

process releases water into Earth's surface.

bathymetry

the ocean floor is mapped by____

Continental shelf

the shallow,submerged edge of the continent.

clays

the smallest sediment category (<0.004 mm) -make up about About 38% of deep-sea sediments

marine geology

the study of Earth's crust and composition

chemical oceanography

the study of the dissolved gases and solids in the ocean

marine biology

the study of the nature and distri- bution of marine organisms

physical oceanography

the study of waves, currents, and climate prediction

continental Margins

the submerged outer edge of a continent

continental slopes

the transition between the continental shelf and the deep- ocean floor, has the steepest slope

sink, float

things that have density will _____, while things with low density will ______

Grand Banks Earthquake

triggered the turbidity current that damaged underwater cables

biogenous

type of sediment hard parts of some marine organisms. (siliceous-silicon-containing) and (calcareous-calcium carbonate)

terrigenous

type of sediment that comes from land

cosmogenous

type of sediment that comes from outer space

hydrogenous

type of sediment that precipitated directly from sea water.

Pytheas

was a notable Greek sea adventurer

The Library of Alexandria, in Egypt

was founded in the third century B.C. became a repository of maritime records describing the Mediterranean coast

Eratosthenes of Cyrene

was the second librarian at Alexandria.

-oceanic ridges -hydrothermal vents -abyssal plains and abyssal hills -seamounts and guyots -trenches and Island Arcs

what are some features of the deep-ocean floor?

passive and active margins

what are the 2 types of continental margins?

continental margins and ocean basin

what are the two classifications of ocean floor?

solar radiation

what drives the climate system?

erosion from the continent

what is the origin of most abyssal plain sediments?

-transportation -natural resources -high concentration of human population in coastal region -pollution -naval power

what is the utilization of the ocean:

The HMS Beagle

where Charles Darwin served as a naturalist, voyaged to South America and some Pacific Islands ("On the Origin of Species").

spreading centers

where New seafloor is being formed at mid-ocean ridges is called _____

subduction zones

where Old seafloor is being destroyed at trenches is called ______

-europa -mars -titan

where have scientists found evidence of water?

lithosphere

which layer is least dense?

magnetic compass and an accurate clock

you can find your location at sea with a ______ and _______