Oceanus Midterm

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The Universe has been expanding about _____.

14 billion years

America first appeared by name on a map in ______.

1507

Hawaii was populated by the Polynesians sometime around _____.

1780

The Earth's atmosphere is now about _____% oxygen

21

It takes about _____ years for Arctic surface waters to transit the Atlantic to Antarctica.

250

Earth is covered by about _____ water

70%

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

Greeks

James Cook discovered _____.

New Zealand and Hawaii

In the deep, dark sea, _____ is very important for communication

bioluminescence

Our solar system was formed by _____.

coalescing of dust grains into larger and larger pieces

The Andes Mountains are the result of a _____ boundary.

convergent

The "conveyor belt" theory of oceanic circulation states that a major driver is _____.

cooling at the poles

After a water mass delivers heat to a region, it _____.

cools , sinks and recirculates

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

cosmic rays

The second strongest currents in the oceans are _____ currents.

equatorial

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

Sound waves travel ______ in _____ water than in _____ water.

faster, fresh, salt

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

from west to east

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

gravity

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

height

A major climatic threat to coral reefs are _____.

hurricanes

Climatic scientists think that the _____, caused by Man, may be an important part of climate change

increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide

The presence of salt _____ the density of water.

increases

According to the climatic record in sediments, right now we are in a climatic regime that _____.

is in a set of values never seen before

The origin of the most abundant marine sediments is ______.

land

The main factor controlling seasonal productivity in the Antarctic is _____.

light

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

more than half

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

Photosynthesis is important because that's where _____ comes from

oxygen

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

oxygen production by plants

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

photosynthesis

The theory of plate tectonics proposes that the _____ float on the Earth's _____.

plates, asthenosphere

Which color of light is most absorbed by seawater

red

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

remains in question

Corals are very similar to _____.

sea anemones

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

seafloor spreading

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

sediments

Deep sea current circulation is a _____ process than surface current circulation.

slower

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

supercontinent, Pangea

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

thermohaline

New satellites allow the measurement of sea surface _____ with _____.

topography, radar

There are basically _____ types of earthquakes.

two

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

two centimeters

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

upwelling of nutrients

Hurricanes get their energy from _____.

warm water

Normally, during non- El Niño years, there's a pool of _____ water in the _____ Pacific

warm, western

The strongest currents in the oceans are _____ currents

western boundary

Earth holds the solar system as the ______ planet.

wettest

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

Challenger Expedition

What is the name of the effect that causes air masses to appear to turn from their initial course

Coriolis

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

Atmospheric circulation comes from _____ of heat at the equator and _____ at the poles.

an excess, a deficit

The most violent earthquakes occur _____.

at subduction zones

Oceans are _____ of years old

billions


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