Chapter 14 - Ocean Motions

Question 1

What occurs when seawater piles up, as in the middle of a gyre or against a shore?

Answer 1

Downwelling

Question 2

What occurs when dense, cold, salty water moves from the abyssal regions to the surface?

Answer 2

Upwelling

Question 3

What is the daily or twice-daily change in local sea level due to the moon’s gravity?

Answer 3

Lunar tide

Question 4

What is set in motion by wind?

Answer 4

Surface current

Question 5

What is a type of density current?

Answer 5

Thermohaline current

Question 6

What is a lower-than-usual tide that occurs when the sun and moon are at a right angle to the earth?

Answer 6

Neap tide

Question 7

What is a higher-than-usual tide that occurs at new moon or full moon?

Answer 7

Spring tide

Question 8

True or False? The moon is the only astronomical body that affects Earth’s oceans.

Answer 8

False

Question 9

What is a current that flows parallel to the shore?

Answer 9

Longshore current

Question 10

What is formed by a wave that becomes unstable?

Answer 10

Breaker

Question 11

What is the distance between the crest and trough of a wave?

Answer 11

Wave height

Question 12

What is a narrow, fast current that gathers to flow offshore through gaps in offshore bars?

Answer 12

Rip current

Question 13

What is the distance from one crest to another crest of a wave?

Answer 13

Wavelength

Question 14

True or False? The very high tides that occur twice a month are caused by the sun, moon, and earth being arranged in a straight line.

Answer 14

True

Question 15

True or False? In the center of an ocean gyre, the sea level is usually lower outside the gyre.

Answer 15

False

Question 16

True or False? The greatest number of drownings is probably caused by longshore currents.

Answer 16

False

Question 17

True or False? Twice each month, lower-than-usual tides called neap occur.

Answer 17

True

Question 18

True or False? The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the result of man’s carelessness and a strong oceanic turbidity.

Answer 18

False

Question 19

True or False? A bulge current is a type of density current that carries a great amount of sediment and acts like an underwater mudslide.

Answer 19

False

Question 20

True or False? The wavelength of a series of waves is the horizontal distance from the crest of one wave to the crest of the next wave.

Answer 20

True

Question 21

True or False? The distance that blows over the water’s surface in one direction is the gyre of a wave caused by the wind.

Answer 21

False

Question 22

True or False? A stack is a mass of rock that has been cut off from the mainland by erosion.

Answer 22

True

Question 23

True or False? Density currents have a predictable path, but they move very slowly compared to the currents closer to the surface.

Answer 23

True

Question 24

A(n) _____________ is defined as the alternating rise and fall of local sea level.

Answer 24

tide

Question 25

A(n) __________________ is a higher-than-usual tide occurring twice a month.

Answer 25

spring

Question 26

A _____________ is the lowest part of the wave.

Answer 26

trough

Question 27

A ________________ is an unstable wave whose crest is falling forward.

Answer 27

breaker

Question 28

A(n) _______________ is a spit with a sharp bend.

Answer 28

hook

Question 29

A __________________ is a wave deposit that connects an island or a stack with the mainland.

Answer 29

tombolo

Question 30

A ______________ is a circular flow of currents within an ocean basin.

Answer 30

gyre

Question 31

A(n) _______________ is cold water rising to the surface.

Answer 31

upwelling

Question 32

The major warm current located in the West Atlantic Ocean is the __________________.

Answer 32

Gulf Stream