Biol-203 Midterm

Organic material buried in marine sediments can break down into smaller and smaller molecules through time and under heat and pressure, forming ______.

oil and gas

James Cook discovered _____.

New Zealand and Hawaii

Oxygen concentration in the Earth's atmosphere is the biproduct of

biological activity

If the Earth's magnetic field reached zero, we would be at greater risk from _____.

cosmic rays

Below the main thermocline ocean water temperature _____ with depth.

decreases rapidly

When two plate margins converge and one is pulled down into the mantle, _____ are formed.

deep trenches

The presence of salt _____ the density of water.

increases

The origin of the most abundant marine sediments is ______.

land

Most water on Earth exists as _____.

liquid

The deep ocean floor comprises _____ of the Earth's surface area.

more than half

The surface of the ocean is important because that's where _____ takes place.

photosynthesis

When corals 'bleach', they expel _____.

symbiotic algae

Hurricanes get their energy from _____.

warm water

The strongest currents in the oceans are _____ currents.

western boundary

Earth holds the solar system record as the _____ planet.

wettest

True or False. Earthquakes always occur at plate boundaries.

False

True or False. Information on past climates is currently impossible to derive from ocean sediment data.

False

True or False. The British followed up on James Cook's voyages within 10 years with the Challenger Expedition, a major new oceanographic voyage of discovery.

False

True or False. Both temperature and salinity affect the density of sea water.

True

It is clear now that to be successful, oceanographic research needs to be a _____ effort.

collaborative and interdisciplinary

Plates come together at _____ boundaries.

convergent

What caused the depletion of iron from the oceans 2 billion years ago?

oxygen production by plants

Before there was significant oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere there was no _____ to reduce UV radiation.

ozone

The presence of abundant liquid water on other planets in our solar system _____.

remains in question

Each El Niño event is _____, so precise prediction is _____.

different, difficult

Plates are pulling apart at _____ boundaries.

divergent

True or False. James Cook found the Northwest Passage between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

false

The _____ of the Earth tends to deflect the path of any moving object [like air masses] from its initial course.

rotation

If spreading centers are creating new seafloor in the center of the ocean basins, then the oldest sediment and rocks will be found on the seafloor

farthest from the spreading center

Some oceanic organisms travel to the surface at night to _____, and descend to the depths at day to _____.

feed, escape predation

The Challenger Expedition is notable because it _____.

focused on the ocean as a system

The prevailing winds in the continental United States are typically _____.

from west to east

For deep ocean currents, the primary driving force is _____.

gravity

An ocean circulation pattern that is more or less circular is called a _____.

gyre

Corals are very similar to _____.

sea anemones

The most common location for hydrothermal vents is near areas of _____.

seafloor spreading

Satellite altimeters collect very accurate measurements of the _____ of the sea surface.

height

The continental rise is formed by _____ moving down the slope or through submarine canyons.

sediments

_____ rocks come out of volcanoes and are very hot when formed.

igneous

From the evidence in the sedimentary record, the Earth seems to be ______.

in a temperature range never before seen

The universe probably began _____.

in one explosive instant

The abyssal plain has a _____ bottom and _____ turbulence.

smooth, low

Wegener's idea was that all the Earth's landmasses had once been a _____ called _____.

supercontinent, Pangea

ultraviolet radiation from the Sun can _____.

tear apart organic compounds

The climate system is a complex interaction between _____.

the land, atmosphere and ocean

What climatic zone is typified by higher solar radiation and warmer ocean temperatures?

the tropics

Tropical reefs are called the rain forests of the sea because of _____.

their biological diversity

Water circulation driven by differences in temperature and salinity is called _____ circulation.

thermohaline

Recent measurements shown the European and North American plates to be moving apart at about ____ per year.

two centimeters

The Universe has been expanding about _____.

14 billion years

America first appeared by name on a map in ______.

1507

Which area would be more productive?

Antarctic ocean

The first explorations dedicated exclusively to marine sciences were carried out on the _____.

Challenger Expedition

The _____ were the first civilization to go beyond the sight of land and into the Atlantic ocean

Greeks

James Cooks was sent to ______ in 1768 to _____.

Tahiti, observe the transit of Venus

_____ can track and find prey with sound, much like a submarine would use sonar.

Toothed whales

Traditional methods of oil and gas extraction routinely recover _____ of the resource from the field.

about half

A big push for oceanographic research after World War Two was due to our wartime lack of knowledge to support _____.

amphibious landings

When two pieces of lithosphere collide and grind against each other at a subduction zone, pent up strain energy can be suddenly released as ____.

an earthquake

The commonly accepted scientific theory for the origin of the Universe is known as the:

big bang theory

Oceans are _____ of years old.

billions

Which color of light is least absorbed by seawater?

blue

"Profiling floats" are able to rise and fall through the sea water column by _____.

changing their density

The Hawaiian Islands are being formed as a plate _____.

moves over a hot spot

If the thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic were slowed down or stopped by ice melting at the poles, Europe would probably have _____.

much cooler temperatures

Ocean currents are important for delivering _____, especially along coastlines.

nutrients

Plates slip past each other at _____ boundaries.

transform

True or False. The continental shelves have valuable mineral resources like oil and natural gas

true

Another important factor explaining high productivity in Polar Regions is _____.

upwelling of nutrients

Without the moderating effects of water, Earth would more closely resemble the planet _____.

venus

Divergent plate boundaries are where the lithosphere is being rifted apart. What fills in the area of the rift?

volcanic activity

Deep/thermohaline circulation can be thought of a conveyor belt, because it carries _____ waters to the poles where they _____ and then eventually return to point of origin.

warm surface, sink

Which of these is the most important constituent of the atmosphere, in terms of climate regulation?

water vapor

Continental shelves are shaped primarily _____.

when sea level is lowest