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NR 150:exam two

Black Smokers
-hydrothermal vents -develop temps of 400 degrees -teeming with life forms such as oysters and crabs -exist for a short time and then collapse
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the landscape of the seafloor can be best described as...
huge abyssal plains with ridges, hills, and seamounts
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Hydrothermal vents that support biological communities exist because of primary productivity in the form of ____________
chemosynthesis
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At an ocean to ocean plate boundary, which plate will be subducted ?
the older plate, because it is usually cooler
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Which plate is subducted when an oceanic plate converges with a continental plate ?
oceanic plate
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Turbidity current
A fast dense current of water that carries sediments offshore.
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where do submarine canyons occur?
at the junction between the continental shelf and the continental slope.
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The Continental Shelf
gently sloping platform with a variable landscape
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The great heaps of unconsolidated sediment at the base of the continental slope are known as?
the continental rise
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The leading edge of a moving continental crustal plate is most likely to exhibit features associated with...?
frequent earthquake activity active continental margins widespread volcanism
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Active margin
The continental margin near an area of lithospheric plate convergence
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continental margin
the submerged outer edge of a continent which includes the continental shelf and the continental slope
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Guyot
-flat-topped seamounts eroded by wave action -submerged inactive volcano
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island arc
A curving chain of volcanic islands and seamounts almost always found paralleling the concave of a trench.
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oceanic ridge
A mountainous chain of young, basaltic rock at an active spreading center of an ocean
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Passive margin
the continental margin near an area of lithospheric plate divergence
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If oceans were absent on our Planet and instead just consisted of landmasses, what would happen to the surface temperature?
they would be more extreme
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Where is most water stored on our planet?
oceans
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when temperature increases, what happens to the density of water?
it will decrease
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What happens to pH levels in regions where there is more carbon dioxide present ?
The pH level decreases in these regions and waters become more acidic.
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the lower the pH level, the....
more acidic it is
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what is the hydrological cycle powered by?
solar radiation
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pycnocline
the zone that isolates surface water from the denser layer below
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which of the following substances has the highest heat capacity (salt, sand, rock, or water)?
water
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the aphotic zone
the dark ocean below the depth to which light can penetrate.
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The zone of the ocean below the pycnocline in which there is little additional change of density with increasing depth is known as the
deep zone
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halocine
The zone of the ocean in which salinity increases rapidly with depth
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Photic Zone
the thin film of lighted water at the top of the world ocean
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principle of constant proportions
The principle that proportions of major conservative elements in seawater remain nearly constant is known as the
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the middle zone of the ocean in which density increases rapidly with depth; temperatures fall and rise in this zone.
pycnocline
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hydrothermal vents are associated with....?
seafloor spreading
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Why does the Mid-Atlantic Ridge have a steeper profile than the East Pacific Rise?
The plates are moving more slowly
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the process by which organisms get their energy in order to survive
chemosynthesis
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Organisms around hydrothermal vents are the same in the Pacific as in the Atlantic, true or false
FALSE
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Why are hydrothermal vents so much smaller on land than in the ocean?
erosion by wind and water
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Transform faults only occur on the edges of ocean basins, true or false?
FALSE
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Corialis effect
objects are deflected to the right in the northern hemisphere.
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Air masses move ____ at the boundary of circulation cells?
vertically
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doldrums
The area of surface winds where the two Hadley cells meet
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atmospheric cells that converge at the equator
hadley cells
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___________ moves farther away from the equator during the Northern summer that the Southern one due to the north-heavy arrangement of the continents.
The intertropical convergence zone, ( ITZC )
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Warm air _____ and cool air ____
Warm air _____ and cool air ____
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Why do we have seasons on earth?
The earths' orbital tilt relative to the plane of its orbit around the sun
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gyre
a system of four currents completing a flow circuit around the periphery of an ocean basin
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The Earth's rotation influences currents by a "force" known as
Coriolis Effect
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Currents tend to move in large ____ patterns in the northern hemisphere
clockwise
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The only ocean current that continues in an uninterrupted circle around the circumference of the Earth without encountering land is the:
Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
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North Atlantic Deep Water generally moves ____ than the surface currents above, and flows in ____ direction as the Gulf Stream.
slower; the opposite
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The largest of the western boundary currents is the:
gulf stream
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downwelling
One source of dissolved gases and nutrients to deep waters
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is ekman spiral influened by coriolis?
no
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The Canary Current is....?
a shallow cold water current
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a surface current that connects eastern-boundary and western-boundary currents.
A transverse current
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El nino effect
when offshore winds blow warm surface area water away from shore. results in: -an increase in ocean surface temperature in the eastern pacific -increase in rainfall in west coastal countries or states of the American continents and -An often catastrophic decrease in the commercial fisheries of the affected countries.
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If you were sailing from Europe to the Americas and you wanted to take advantage of the prevailing winds, you would choose to sail with the
trade winds
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When viewed from above, tropical cyclones rotate_________in the SOUTHERN hemisphere.
clockwise
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Which of the following storm systems is NOT a tropical storm? (hurricane, typhoon, cyclone, nor'eastern)
Nor'eastern
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salinity
total amount of dissolved solids in the ocean
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what are the two most abundant elements dissolved in seawater?
sodium and chloride
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what happens when carbon dioxide enters the ocean?
it forms carbonic acid
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the % of gases in the atmosphere are the same as the % of these gases in the ocean, true or flase
FALSE
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what moves the water evaporated from the oceans surface?
wind
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what occurs at the boundaries of circulation cells?
winds more vertically where the boundaries meet
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how many atmospheric cells are there in the northern hemisphere?
3 (hadley ferrel and pollar)
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which cell is the closest to the equator?
Hadley cell
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Monsoon
a pattern of wind circulation that changes with the seasons
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horse latitudes
between hadley and ferrel cells, sinking air
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deflection of path of moving objects 
coriolis effect *to the right in the northern hem *to the left in the southern
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bathymetry
the study of the ocean floor contours
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advances in bathymetry
-echo sounding -multibeam systems -satellite altimetry
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satellite altimetry
measures the sea surface height from orbit using radar pulses
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3 differences between active and passive margins
active: converging plates, high volcanic activity, pacific-type margins passive: diverging plates, low volcanic activity, atlantic-type margins
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continental shelf is shaped by
1. tectonics 2. ocean currents 3. sea level
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continental slope
Transition between continental shelf and and the deepocean floor bottom of the slope is the true edge of the continent
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shelf break
abrupt transition from continental shelf to continental slope
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where do submarine canyons form?
at the junction between continental shelf and continental slope
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when do continental rises form
when sediments accumulate
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Abyssal plains
Flat, cold, sediment-covered ocean floor between continental rise and the oceanic ridge
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Abyssal Hills
Small sediment-covered extinct volcanoes or rock intrusions; we think they are associated with seafloor spreading
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ice age
time in the past when continental glaciers covered large parts of earths surface
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what percent of precipitation from the hydrological cycle falls back into the ocean?
~80%
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what holds water molecules together?
hydrogen bonds: when the positive end of one water molecule bonds to the negative end of another 
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when water freezes does it become more or less dense?
LESS
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three density zones that the ocean is stratified in to?
pycnocline thermocline halocline
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what travels farther in the ocean, sound or light?
sound
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does sounds travel faster in water or air?
water
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what happens when water freezes or thaws
water radiates heat as it freezes and absorbs heat as it thaws ex:ice cream cooler always so hot
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chemical bond
the force that holds two atoms together
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thermocline, halocline, pycnocline
thermocline = stratification based on temperature halocline = stratification based on salt content pycnocline = stratification based on density
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polar molecule
molecule that is slightly negative on one end and slightly positive at the other
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What can water do because it is polar?
act as a solvent
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ionic bond
chemical bonds formed by opposite charges of ions attracting each other
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difference between weather and climate?
weather is the state of the atmosphere at a specific time and place climate is the long-term statistical sum of weather
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what is the atmosphere mostly composed of?
Nitrogen, oxygen, and water vapor 
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is humid air more or less dense than dry air?
less dense bc water vapor molecules weigh less than nitrogen and hydrogen molecules
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heating of the earth near the equator vs near the poles?
equator: more heat absorbed than radiated back into space poles: opposite than ^
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amount of nitrogen and oxygen in atmosphere vs ocean
atmosphere: 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen ocean: 48% nitrogen, 36% oxygen more nitrogen in atmosphere, more oxygen in ocean
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Two factors governing global air circulation
-Uneven solar heating -Circulation cells on a rotating sphere ( Coriolis effect)
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directions of Cyclones in the Northern andSouthern Hemispheres
NH: counterclockwise SH: clockwise
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how do hurricanes form?
warm moist air rises, it cools, forms clouds, creates area of LOW pressure over ocean, tropical depression forms bringing thunder and wind. when winds exceed 119km its a hurricane
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