Oceanography Midterm Study Guide
Land-based evidence for plate tectonics can be seen in
all of these (the distribution of Glossopteris flora and fauna, evidence of ancient glaciation, the correlation of rocks in now widely separated continents)
Tropical cyclones are also called:
all of these (willis-willis, typhoons, hurricanes)
Geologists believe that a new ocean basin is forming:
along the East African divergent rift system.
The Japanese islands are an example of:
an island arc that formed along a trench
The mid-ocean mountains, such as the ridges and rises:
are constructed of volcanic basalt
In the process of lithification, sediments:
are converted into solid rock
Oxygen enters seawater:
as a byproduct of photosynthesis and diffusion from the surface.
The Earth's oldest rocks are found:
at the cores of the continents
Radiolarians and diatoms are both examples of:
creatures whose shells form siliceous oozes
The hydrogen bonds of water molecules account for all of the following EXCEPT?
Water is always safe for human consumption
England's weather is ____ than would be expected at that latitude because of the influence of surface currents.
Wetter and more humid
A system of four currents completing a flow circuit around the periphery of an ocean basin is collectively called:
a gyre
A zone in which the ocean's salinity increases rapidly with increasing depth is called:
a halocline.
Which of the following statements accurately describes ALL continental margins?
none of these (they are areas where lithospheric plates are actively moving apart, they are areas of frequent earthquakes and volcanoes, where lithospheric plates are converging or are in collision, they are regions of great geological stability)
Warm air _____________ and cool air _____________.
expands and rises; contracts and sinks
As carbon dioxide enters the ocean it:
forms carbonic acid
Winds generally move across the United States:
from west to east
The deepest parts of the Pacific Basin are located:
near the margins of South America, Japan, and the Marianas Islands.
The youngest seafloor rocks are found:
near the rift valleys of the mid-ocean ridges
The most abundant gaseous components of the Earth s atmosphere are:
nitrogen and oxygen
About 1.5 billion years ago, oxygen began to accumulate as a byproduct of ___________, drastically changing the composition of the Earth s atmosphere.
photosynthesis
The age of most marine sediments is:
rarely older than about 180 million years old
The Principle of Constant Proportions states that
that the ratio of major salts in samples of seawater from various places is a constant.
The word oceanography was first coined in association with:
the Challenger expedition
Which of the following voyages would qualify as the first 100 percent pure scientific oceanographic expedition?
the Challenger expedition
Carbonate sediments are rare in deep sea sediments because:
the carbonate shells are dissolved in deep water.
The power for tropical cyclones comes from
the condensation of warm, moist air
The great heaps of unconsolidated sediment at the base of the continental slope are known as:
the continental rise
The outermost solid layer of the Earth that comprises both continental and oceanic crust is called the:
Lithosphere
Earth is about
4.5 billion years old
Oceanographers believe the breakup of Pangaea occurred about:
180 to 200 million years ago
The average depth of the ocean is about ______________.
3,700 meters
The average salinity of the world ocean is about _______parts per thousand.
34
About _____ percent of Earth s surface is covered by water?
71
Which of these is generally not an El Niño effect?
A decline in the exotic (or non-commercial) species of fish and other forms of marine life in the affected waters.
If two oceanic plates collide at a relatively fast speed, and one is much older and cooler (therefore more dense) than the other, what will happen?
A deep trench will form and large earthquakes will occur
Which of the following statements about pH is not true?
A pH of 3 is alkaline, a pH of 10 is acidic.
During an El Nino event:
A strong equatorial countercurrent develops in the Pacific.
What is the approximate mixing time of the world ocean?
About 1,000 years
Which of the following men was the first to publish a reasonably accurate chart of an ocean current, specifically the Gulf Stream?
Benjamin Franklin
The hypothesis that best explains how the universe was formed is called the ____.
Big Bang Theory
Select the finest particles in this list
Clay
All of the following statements are true about an Ekman spiral EXCEPT:
Ekman spiral is not influenced by Coriolis
The first person to develop a picture of the large-scale wind and current systems of the Earth was:
Matthew Maury
The Hawaiian 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:
Pangea
Which of the following statements is TRUE regarding sound in the ocean?
Sound is scattered as it bounces off suspended particles in the water.
As early as the 1700s, scientists and explorers notice a remarkable coincidence of shape of the Atlantic coasts of Africa and which continent?
South America
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 (a high) heat capacity
All of the following statements are true about the formation of our solar system and planet EXCEPT:
Terrestrial planets are composed of gas and dust and remain in the inner solar system
Residence time is:
The average length time an element spends in the ocean
Which of the following statements is FALSE considering thermohaline circulation?
Thermohaline circulation is caused by even and steady global heating of the ocean.
Which of the following statements is true regarding the islands bordering deep-sea trenches?
They are explosive volcanoes and are called island arcs.
What do these things have in common: Paleomagnetism, seafloor spreading, Pangaea, Wadati-Benioff zones, transform faults, fracture zones, seamount chains, Pacific hotspots.
They are involved with plate tectonics
Roughly how fast do most lithospheric plates move?
about 3 (or 5) centimeters per year
Hydrothermal vents are located near:
active areas of seafloor spreading
Contributions by early Chinese scientists and philosophers include:
all of the above (designing and developing rudders and watertight compartments, retrofitting their ships with multi-masts to sail more efficiently with changing winds, developing seagoing methods that allowed them to stay at sea for nearly four months)
The depth to which light can penetrate the ocean depends on:
all of the above (the amount of suspended material in the water, the angle of the sun above, and the smoothness or roughness of the sea surface)
Polynesian navigators depended on _____________ for accurate navigation.
all of the above (the direction and shape of waves that hit against the hulls of their vessels, stars, clouds, and the flight direction of birds, stories passed on from generations before them)
Underlying the unconsolidated sediments of the seafloor are:
basalt pillows and basement rocks
Which of the following sediments cover the greatest area of seabed?
biogenous sediments
The ocean originated from:
capture by the Earth's gravity of water molecules in space
Evidence suggests the universe began about 13.7 billion years ago in a:
cataclysmic expansion of energy and matter.
A(n) _____________ is a graphic representation that depicts information about the ocean and ocean features including depth.
chart
Sources of terrigenous sediments includes all of the following EXCEPT:
coccolithophores
San Francisco s characteristic cold and foggy weather is caused by a:
cold eastern boundary current
The densest water in ocean currents is the:
coldest and saltiest
Neritic sediments are found on the:
continental shelf
The deep-ocean basin includes all of the following features EXCEPT:
continental shelf
The primary physical property that sorts the Earth, ocean, and atmosphere is ______.
density stratification
The mid-ocean ridges are:
divergent plate boundaries
The amount of oxygen that seawater can hold in solution will be greater:
in cold water
Life on Earth most probably evolved:
in the ocean
A permanent and deep thermocline can be found:
in the tropics
The continental shelf:
is a gently sloping platform with a variable landscape.
The world ocean
is the dominant feature of the Earth and most of its living organisms.
One cubic meter of which of these would weigh the most?
mantle
Which of these is most abundant on or in the Earth?
mantle material
If our planet were without its ocean, but otherwise the same as it is today, surface temperatures would be:
more extremes of cold and heat
The first life forms on Earth arose:
more than 3.5 billion years ago.
In the scientific method, scientific theories:
must be tested and verified by observations
The ocean is stratified with respect to:
temperature
If you were standing on top of a high mid-Pacific island at 15° north latitude, from which direction would you expect the wind to come? (Hint: don t forget to consider Coriolis effect!)
northeast
Active continental margins are located:
on the west coasts of both North and South America.
The hydrogen atoms in a water molecule tend to bond to:
oxygen atoms of another water molecule
Which of the following lists represents the main components of the Earth s crust?
oxygen, silicon, and aluminum
The trailing (leading) edge of a moving continental crustal plate is most likely to exhibit features associated with
passive continental margins
The magnetic striping of the seafloor is considered evidence of seafloor spreading and:
periodic reversals in the polarity of the Earth's magnetic field.
According to the atmospheric circulation model developed in the text, air tends to
rise at 60° north and fall at 30° north
The two most abundant elements (ions) dissolved in seawater are:
sodium and chloride
The deepest layers of the ocean originate from
surface waters especially at high latitudes.
The term salinity refers to:
the total amount of dissolved solids in the ocean
The dependable surface winds of the Earth centered at about 15° north and south latitudes are called:
the tradewinds
The immediate source of surface currents is:
the wind
All of the following statements are true concerning subduction zones EXCEPT:
they are sites where lithospheric plates are diverging or pulling apart.
The Coriolis effect causes objects moving in the southern hemisphere to veer off course:
to the left, or counterclockwise when viewed from above
A boundary in which crustal plates move past one another is called a:
transform fault
Generally the fastest and deepest ocean currents are:
western boundary currents
Tropical cyclones tend to move:
westward and poleward in both hemispheres