oscs 1000

• 1. The ocean covers about ___% of the Earth's surface and contains about ___% of Earth's water.

  71 and 97
• The average depth of the ocean is about:

  3,700 m
• The first purely scientific oceanographic expedition was the voyage of the:

  HMS Challenger (1872- 1876)
• Compared to the Atlantic Ocean, The Pacific Ocean is:

  • Deeper
  • Colder
  • Less Salty
• What is true about density:

  It is equivalent to mass divided by volume and is inversely proportional to temperature
• When did the Earth form

  4.5 billion years ago
• What is true of oceanic crust

  • Thinner than continental crust
  • Average thickness of 6 km
  • Composed of basalt
• How old is the oldest ocean floor

  200 million years
• What is true about the asthenosphere

  It is made of a plastic like layer of the upper mantle, below the crust and is about 600 km thick
• True or false? The Carbon 14 dating technique can be used to date the most ancient rocks on earth

  False. Carbon 14 dating is limited to rocks 50,000 years old, while the oldest rocks in the world are over 4 billion years old.
• What is the name of the supercontinent which formed about 250 million years ago?

  Pangea
• Magnetic inclination is _____ degrees at the equator, and _____ degrees at the poles.

  0 and 90
• The lithosphere is

  The rigid, uppermost layer of the earth composed of solid crust and upper mantle.
• Convergant plate boundaries are typically characterized by

  • Trenches
  • Deep earthquakes
  • Volcanic island arcs
  • Intercontinental mountain ranges
• Tectonic plates are composed of

  • Oceanic crust
  • Continental crust
  • Upper mantle
• Divergent plate boundaries are characterized by

  The formation of rift valleys
• The two basic properties of sediment are

  texture and composition
• Which transport mechanism is important in the formation of deep ocean pelagic sediments?

  Fecal pellets
• True or false? For the past 13 million years, the overall trend of climate change on earth has been cooling?

  True
• True or false? Long term climate records on the earth indicates that human activity does not cause climate change, but significantly impacts the rate of which is occurs.

  True
• True or false? Water density decreases as salt is added?

  False
• True or false? Water has the highest specific heat of all substances?

  True
• What differentiates Lagrangian and Eulerian measurements of ocean currents?

  Langrangian measurements use drifting instruments whereas Eulerian measurements use stationary instruments
• What causes tsunamis?

  A disruption of the seafloor by plate movements, earthquakes, landslides or similar events.
• What colour of light penetrates the deepest into the ocean

  Blue
• Ocean current velocity refers to

  The speed and direction of the current
• Another word for the twilight zone is

  Disphotic Zone
• Surfers prefer waves known as

  Spilling breakers
• What generally determines the size of swell in the sea?

  • wind speed
  • direction
  • fetch
• The tides with the greatest tidal range during the month are known as

  Spring tides
• The three main facets of climate change in the ocean are:

  • Decreasing salinity
  • Increasing temperature
  • Decreasing PH
• Approximately what percentage of the worlds fish stocks are considered to be overfished?

  70-75% however some sources claim up to 90%
• Organisms that eat both plant and animal material are known as

  Omnivores
• What is a prokaryote

  An organism composed of cells that lack nucleus or any membrane-encased organelles
• What does autotrophic mean

  Capable of making nutritive organic molecules from inorganic sources
• True or False? Water density decreases as salt is added?

  False
• What property of water enables some insects to walk on it

  Surface tension
• What happens when seawater freezes

  The salinity of the surrounding water increases
• What is the difference in acidity between water samples with a PH of 6 versus 8

  PH 6 is 100 times more acidic than PH 8
• The wavelengths of light that penetrate the least into the ocean are

  Red and yellow