Chapter 13 Flashcards
Water cycle
The continuous movement of water from the ocean to the atmosphere to the land and back to the ocean
Continental shelf
Begins at the shoreline and slopes gently toward the open ocean
Continental slope
Begins at the edge of the continental shelf.
Continental rise
Is the base of the continental slope, is made of large piles of sediment
Abyssal plain
Is the board, flat part of the deep-ocean basin.
Mid-ocean ridge
Are mountain chains that form where tectonic plates pull apart.
Rift Valley
As mountains build up, it forms between them in the rift zone
Seamounts
Are individual mountains of volcanic material.
Ocean trenches
Are huge cracks in the deep-once a basin
Plankton
Organism that float or drift freely near the oceans surface
Nekton
Organisms that swim activity in the open ocean
Benthos
Are organisms that live on or in the oceans floor
Benthic environment
The region near the bottom of a pond, lake or ocean
Pelagic environment
The zone near the oceans surface and at the middle depths of the ocean
Desalination
A process of removing salt from ocean water
