BIOL-124-365: Unit 1
Which of these is not an island arc?
Hawaiian Islands
The average land elevation is approximately ____.
840 meters (2,756 feet)
About ____% of Earth's water is found in the ocean.
97
If two oceanic plates collide and one is older and cooler (and therefore, denser) than the other, what will happen?
A deep trench will form.
A cross section of Earth reveals a layered structure that has different thicknesses and densities. How do geologists know this?
from observing the transit times through Earth of seismic waves generated by earthquakes
Which statement most accurately describes how the continental rise is formed?
from the accumulation of sediments at the base of the continental slope
Which of these series is arranged from least dense to most dense?
granite, basalt, mantle, outer core, inner core
Flat-topped seamounts that once rose near or above sea level are called ____.
guyots
Which statement is true with regard to latitude and longitude?
Latitude and longitude comprise a system of imaginary lines dividing Earth's surface into a grid.
The deepest location in the ocean is the ____.
Mariana Trench
The first attempt to test the idea of biosynthesis in the laboratory was conducted by
Miller in 1953
Which of the following is true of primary (P) and secondary (S) seismic waves?
P waves travel through Earth nearly twice as fast as S waves
The Hawai'ian Islands formed as they pass over a hot spot in the middle of the ____.
Pacific Plate
Earlier than 200 million years ago, the continents were joined into one supercontinent called ____.
Pangaea
Which of the following was formed by transform faulting?
San Francisco Bay
Which of the following was the first oceanographic institution in the U.S.?
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
The idea of the supercontinent of Pangea was proposed
Wegener
The term Oceanography was officially coined by
Wyville Thompson and John Murry (Challenger)
Which statement accurately describes a turbidity current?
a fast, dense current of water and sediment that runs down slopes
The hot, partially melted, slowly flowing layer of Earth is called the ____.
asthenosphere
Stars spend their lives changing its hydrogen and helium to ____.
carbon, oxygen, silicon, and iron
A(n) ____ is a graphic representation that depicts information about the ocean and ocean features.
chart
Which of these devices is not used by satellites to sense ocean surface conditions?
chronometer
The mid-ocean mountains, such as the ridges and rises, are ____.
constructed of volcanic basalt
The Himalayan Mountains were formed as a result of ____.
continent-continent convergence
The submerged outer edge of a continent is called the ____.
continental margin
The apron of accumulated sediment at the base of the continental slope is known as the ____.
continental rise
The transition between the shelf and the deep seafloor is the ____.
continental slope and rise
Which of the these is probably most important in driving the movement of plate tectonics?
convection cells in the asthenosphere
Submarine canyons ____.
cut into the continental shelf and slope, often terminating on the deep seafloor
Most of the matter of the known universe consists of
hydrogen
What comprises the most abundant form of matter in the universe?
hydrogen and helium
Wachtenhauser porposed the idea that life may have begun
in deep sea hydrothermal vents
Earth's inner core is primarily made of ____.
iron
Like evolutionary theory, atomic theory, and cell theory, the theory of plate tectonics is called a theory because
it is supported by a vast amount of empirical evidence and is the best scientific explanation of the large scale structure of continents and oceans
During its initial formation by the accretion of particles, the young Earth was ____.
likely chemically homogenous throughout
The rigid outer layer of Earth that comprises the continental crust, oceanic crust, and the uppermost mantle is called the ____.
lithosphere
The ____ accounts for 83 percent of Earth's volume.
mantle
New sea floor is produced and spreads out from the
mid-ocean ridges
The presence of large amounts of water on Earth's surface __ global temperatures
moderates
What are the abundant elements that make up the composition of Earth's present-day atmosphere?
nitrogen and oxygen
What process allows the sun to generate light and heat?
nuclear fusion
The deepest places in Earth's crust are ____.
ocean trenches
Active continental margins are located ____.
on the west coasts of both North and South America
Japan is located along the "Pacific Ring of Fire" and experiences many earthquakes. The majority of the earthquakes around Japan occur ____.
only on the east side of the island where the Pacific plate subducts
Volcanic venting of substances including water vapor is called ____.
outgassing
Which of these was not present in Earth's primitive atmosphere when life arose?
oxygen
What are the primary elements in Earth's continental crust?
oxygen, silicon, and aluminum
The magnetic striping of the seafloor is considered evidence of seafloor spreading and ____.
periodic reversals in the polarity of Earth's magnetic field
Oxygen first began to accumulate in Earth's atmosphere as a result of ____.
photosynthesis
Earth's strongest and deepest earthquakes are associated with
subduction zones
The word "oceanography" was first coined in association with ____.
the Challenger expedition
Which of these was formed by convergence?
the Himalaya Mountains
The primary evidence used by Wegener to support the theory of continental drift was
the apparent fit of eastern South America with western Africa
One of the many aspects of the theory of plate tectonics, which of the following is least understood?
the mechanism of plate movement
The field of marine science involves ____.
the scientific study of the ocean, its associated life-forms, and its bordering lands
Which of the following statements about subduction zones is false?
they are located adjacent to mid-ocean ridges
A boundary in which crustal plates slide laterally past one another is called a ____.
transform fault
California's San Andreas fault is which type of plate boundary?
transform plate boundary
Which of the following was not done on the first Challenger Expedition?
trawling and netting measurement of surface chlorophyll
Scientists believe that answers to questions are ____.
ultimately knowable
Hydrothermal vents are located near ____.
zones of rapid seafloor spreading
When using the scientific method, scientific theories must be ____.
tested and consistently supported by observations or experiments
On a planetary scale, the ocean comprises about ____% of Earth's mass.
0.02
The big bang occurred about __ years ago
14 billion
Scientists believe the breakup of Pangaea occurred about ____.
200 million years ago
About how many kilometers (miles) is it from the center of Earth to the crust?
6,370 kilometers (3,980 miles)
The largest known mantle plume is located beneath ____.
Africa
Which of the thse was formed by an oceanic-continental convergence?
Andes Mountains
Who is usually acknowledged to have been the first scientific explorer
Captain James Cook
Which individual would be most likely to receive the title of "first marine scientist"?
Captain James Cook
Which of these was formed by a divergence?
East African Rift
Which of the following first calculated the circumferance of the earth?
Eratosthenes
As early as the 1700s, scientists and observers noticed a remarkable coincidence of shape of the Atlantic coasts of Africa and ____.
South America
Where is the widest continental shelf located?
The Arctic Sea north of Siberia
What is the primary reason for the inside of Earth being hot?
The decay of radioactive elements is creating heat in Earth's inner layers.
Which statement accurately describes active continental margins?
They are areas of frequent earthquakes and volcanoes.
Roughly how fast do most lithospheric plates move?
about 5 centimeters per year
New planets formed in a cloud of dust and debris surrounding our young sun through a process known as ____.
accretion
What is the clumping of smaller particles into large masses?
accretion
The Andes mountains is an example of a(n) ____.
active margin
Even with the great advances in technology, obtaining one of the following still remains a difficult problem in deep sea research
adequate biological samples for laboratory analysis
Ocean trenches ____.
are arc-shaped depressions in the oceanic crust that occur at subduction zones
The discovery and study of ocean floor contours is called ____.
bathymetry
Background microwave radiation is important evidence in support of the ____ theory
big bang
How can a satellite sense the contours of the ocean bottom from space?
by using radar to sense the height of the sea surface over submerged features
As Earth formed in the early solar system the present layer of core, crust, and mantle started to separate by a process called
density stratification
The mid-ocean ridges are ____.
divergent plate boundaries
The origin of submarine canyons is not well understood but is most likely to be ____.
erosional, caused by a combination of stream erosion and turbidity currents
The islands bordering deep-sea trenches are ____.
eruptive volcanoes called island arcs