chapter 13 section a

Question 1

The _________ are vast bodies of salt water that desperate the continents. They cover about 71% of the earth’s surface and hold over 97% of all the water on the planet.

Answer 1

oceans

Question 2

_________ are marine scientists and engineers from almost every field who work to better understand and use the oceans.

Answer 2

oceanographers

Question 3

_________ _________ investigate the plant and animal life in every ocean environment.

Answer 3

Marine biologists

Question 4

___________ study the influence of the oceans on weather and climate.

Answer 4

meteorologists

Question 5

___________ analyze the distribution of various elements and compounds in the oceans and the ways those chemicals affect ocean processes.

Answer 5

Chemists

Question 6

____________ model the distribution of energy in the oceans and the motion of its great currents.

Answer 6

Physicists

Question 7

____________ ____________ develop methods and vehicles to investigate and use the oceans.

Answer 7

marine engineers

Question 8

means suitable for drinking

Answer 8

potable

Question 9

a large section of ocean mostly surrounded by land or islands is called a ________.

Answer 9

sea

Question 10

__________ are the largest bodies of water, separating the continents.
__________ are small-to-large bodies of sea-water, usually partly or completely surrounded by land.
__________ are similar to seas, but they are usually smaller.
__________ are generally smaller than gulfs.
__________ are narrow ocean passages separating bodies of land.

Answer 10

oceans, seas, gulfs, bays, straits

Question 11

________ _______ _______ is the height of the ocean’s surface at a given point on the earth’s surface. It changes mainly with the tides, but passing weather systems and storm waves affect it too. Or, an always-changing height of the ocean surface at a given location.

Answer 11

Local sea level

Question 12

Oceanographers measure local sea level with ______ ______ mounted along shorelines, or from satellites far above the ocean using radar.

Answer 12

tide gauges

Question 13

Mean (or average) ______ ______—what most people call “______ ______”—is the computed average height of high and low tides at a location. Mean ______ ______ (MSL) is the zero height that cartographers and aircraft pilots use to measure elevation.

Answer 13

sea level

Question 14

Scientists estimate that MSL has risen at an average
rate of ____ mm per year over the past 100 years, so this recent
change suggests that something new must be affecting MSL.

Answer 14

1.8

Question 15

Water ________ as it gets warmer, so that would make the sea level ________.

Answer 15

expands, higher

Question 16

A ________ is a strip of land that separates the coastal region from the ocean.

Answer 16

shore

Question 17

The __________ is an ever-changing place that extends underwater beyond the shore. 🫧

Answer 17

beach

Question 18

The ________ is the area where only the highest tides or storm waves can reach. It is usually soft, coarse sand, or large cobbles left by the largest storm waves.

Answer 18

berm

Question 19

The zone between the high- and low-tide shorelines is the ________ ________. It may be wet, compact sand or fine pebbles.

Answer 19

beach face

Question 20

Beyond the beach zone, the bottom slopes out gently from the continent, forming a __________ __________. They are the submerged edges of continental plates.

Answer 20

continental shelf

Question 21

The __________ __________’s upper edge is the beginning of the deep ocean basin.

Answer 21

continental slope

Question 22

Young-earth oceanographerz believe __________ __________ were carved by currents of water full of sediment flowing off the continents late in the Flood.

Answer 22

submarine canyons

Question 23

A _________ __________ is a smooth transition from the continental slope to the deep, relatively flat ocean floor.

Answer 23

continental rise

Question 24

The relatively flat, deep sea floor is the _________ _________.

Answer 24

abyssal plain

Question 25

The relatively flat, deep sea floor is the _________ _________.

Answer 25

abyssal plain

Question 26

Oceanographers
study the makeup and history of the sediments by removing
long cylindrical samples called __________ __________.

Answer 26

sediment cores

Question 27

Every ocean basin has one or more __________ __________. As you learned earlier, these are submerged mountain ranges at the margins of diverging tec- tonic plates. They formed when the mantle pushed up on long, faulted sections of sea-floor crust that line both sides of the plate margins.

Answer 27

mid-ocean ridges

Question 28

__________ __________ usually have a relatively steep slope on the side towards the continental plates and a gentle slope on the seawrd side.

Answer 28

oceaning trenches

Question 29

long, curved strings of volcanic islands formed by submarine volcanoes breaking the ocean surface

Answer 29

island arcs

Question 30

_______ _______ are important marine geologic features that form from the activities of animals. _______ are tiny animals that usually live in warm ocean waters. They live in groups called colonies.

Answer 30

coral reefs, coral

Question 31

Coral reefs that grow right up to the beach along a coastline are _________ _________.

Answer 31

fringing reefs

Question 32

_________ reefs are farther from the land. They form a lagoon between the reef and the land.

Answer 32

Barrier

Question 33

An _______ is a ring of low coral islands and reefs surrounding a central lagoon. Geologists believe that most of these began as barrier or fringing reefs around volcanic islands.

Answer 33

atoll