Oceanography Chap 1

North Pole

90 degrees North

Nebula

A rotating interstellar cloud of dust and gas

13.8 Billion

Approximately ______ years ago, the Big Bang initiated the formation of the universe.

Longitude

Because ___ lines rotate with Earth, 360 degrees in twenty-four hours, it is necessary to know the time of day and the position of the Sun or the stars relative to one's line

Universe

Big Bang is the currently accepted theory about the origin of

Tropic of Capricorn

During the winter solstice for the Northern Hemisphere, the Sun is directly overhead at which location

Seasons

Earth's tilt of 23.5 degrees as it orbits the Sun is responsible for this which occur in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres at opposite times of the solar year

worldwide now and extremely accurate

GPS (Global Positioning System) navigation is widely used because ______

4 eons

Geologic time is divided into major ___ the Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic, and Phanerozoic

Water Hemisphere

Southern Hemisphere other name

Zenith

Sun at the highest elevation above a reference longitude

1. appearance and disappearance of fossil types 2. radiometric dating

The boundaries of geologic time units were first established by ______, and now a more accurate method, ______, is common

29.5 days

The lunar month, whereby the Moon passes through all four phases, takes ______

1. Earth's mantle, some of which is brought to the surface through volcanic activity 2. continual addition of water from outer space

The most probable (original) sources of the water in Earth's ocean are ______

Billion Years (Earth's age)

The most widely accepted age of Earth is between 4.5 and 4.6

No earth axis tilt

There would be no perceived seasons on Earth and global day lengths and temperatures would be uniform

Water Solid. Liquid, Gas

What element can exist in 3 states because Earth's mean surface temperature is about 61°F

hydrologic cycle

a constant movement of water into and out of reservoirs

clusters

a group of galaxies

Latitude

angle of location (line) makes with the equatorial plane at Earth's center

Residence Time

average length of time a water molecule spends in any one reservoir

Latitude

can be calculated by your angle in reference to the bright star, Polaris

Hypsographic curve

compares relationship between elevation of land vs earths area

Galaxy

composed of clumps of stars, and one example is the Milky Way

equatorial radius vs polar radius

greater radii

Theory

if hypothesis is supported consistently by different observations or experiments, it may be advanced to the level of a(n)

Pacific Ocean

largest world ocean

temperature and size

major changes in the state of the universe that occurred immediately after the Big Bang

Oxygen

most important gaseous element to accumulate in Earth's atmosphere, which had to await the evolution of photosynthesis in order to exceed its loss to space

The force of rotation

primary force that causes Earth to have a greater equatorial radius than the polar radius

Month

time period based on lunar cycle

Our galaxy

Milky Way