Exam 1 Flashcards
Which requires greater energy: Heat of Vaporization or Heat of Fusion
Water’s heat of vaporization is much greater than its heat of fusion.
What is Conduction?
The transfer of energy, such as heat or an electric charge, through a substance.
What is Convection? How does it relate to our oceans?
The movement of particles through a substance, transporting heat energy from hotter to cooler areas, due to density differences.
Convection causes magma and warm water to rise, and for cold/salty water to sink.
What is radiation?
Heat transfer due to electromagnetic waves.
Earth’s Tilt and seasons
The earth is tilted 23.5 degrees, and in the summer is tilted towards the sun and in the winter it’s tilted away
Compare and contrast lines of latitude and longitude
Latitude: Distance north or south of the equator
Longitude: Distance east or west of the Prime Meridian
What is wave refraction? Ex?
Refraction is when the wave bends as it passes through a different medium.
An example is how an object appears bent when half emerged in a glass of water.
What are the differences between continental crust and oceanic crust?
Continental Crust: Less dense, less iron/ more silica, thicker, and older
V.S.
Oceanic crust: More dense, more iron, thinner, and younger
Which era included: Majority of Earth’s history, the Cambrian Explosion, ocean formation, and oldest life
Precambrian, 1st, oldest
Which era included: Age of Reptiles (beginning)
Paleozoic, 2nd
Which era included: The asteroid impact
Mesozoic, 3rd
Which era included: Age of Mammals and appearance of humans?
Cenozoic, 4th, youngest
What are Earth’s compositional and physical layers?
Compositonal layers
- Crust: solid rocks and minerals, least dense/ floats, includes the continental and oceanic crust
- Mantle: Thick layer of silicate minerals
- Core: Iron and nickel, densest part of the Earth
Physical:
- Lithosphere: the solid, outermost layer of Earth, made of the crust and upper mantle.
- Asthenosphere: Semi-fluid layer
- Mesosphere: Strong solid layer due to pressure
- Outer Core: liquid layer of iron and nickel, part of Earth’s magnetic field
- Inner Core: solid iron and nickel, extremely hot and dense
What is a divergent boundary?
A gap that forms between two tectonic plates that are moving apart
- Magma rises to create new oceanic crust
- Convection drives plates apart
- Mid-Ocean Ridge is an example
What is a convergent boundary?
Where two tectonic plates move towards each other and collide
- One plate moves under another in a process called subduction
- Subducted plates melts and rises as magma, creating volcanoes
- Causes trenches
- Caused the Himalayas and Subduction zone at West South A.
what is a transformation plate boundary?
Where two tectonic plates slide past each other horizontally.
- San Andreas Fault
What is specific heat capacity? How does water heat capacity compare with others?
The amount of energy required to raise the temp of a substance by 1 degree
Water has a higher specific heat capacity, this moderates the temperature in coastal regions
Water density relationship with temp and salinity
Colder = denser
More Salty = denser
What temperature is water most dense?
4°C
What is Cline, when do they occur, and what are the 3 types?
A cline is a rapid change in the ocean, usually at 200m
- Thermo: change in temperature
- Halo: change in salinity
- Pycno: change in density
Basic rundown on waves and the electromagnetic spectrum
- Wavelength: distance between two crests or troughs
- Frequency: Amount of wavelengths per second
- Amplitude: height of wave, based on the amount of energy carried
- Blue light: high energy/frequency
- Red light: low energy/ frequency
- Spectrum: Radio, Microwave, Infrared, Visible, UV, X-rays, gamma rays
What is light attenuation?
The decrease in light intensity with depth, red looses it’s intensity first, and blue last
What is a mid ocean ridge
Underwater mountain range that is formed by divergent boundaries, where magma rises and creates new oceanic crust
- Ex: Mid-Atlantic Ridge
What is a Trench?
A deep, narrow depression in the ocean floor, formed by subduction zones
- Ex: Mariana Trench
What are island arcs?
A curved chain of volcanic islands that form along a subduction zone due to magma rising from the mantle.
- Ex: Aleutian Islands (Alaska)
What is a volcanic island
An island formed by volcanic activity, typically due to magma rising from a hotspot or subduction zone.
- Ex: The Hawaiian Islands.
What is a seamount?
An underwater mountain formed by volcanic activity but does not reach the ocean surface.
- Often found near mid-ocean ridges or hotspots.
- Ex: Loihi Seamount (near Hawaii).
What is a Guyot
A seamount that was once an island but has a flat top due to erosion and subsidence.
- These submerged flat-topped features are common in the deep ocean.
- Ex: The Emperor Seamounts.
What is an Abyssal Plain
A vast, flat, and deep region of the ocean floor, typically found between mid-ocean ridges and continental margins. It is covered in sediment and is one of the smoothest surfaces on Earth.
Ex: The Sohm Abyssal Plain.
The boundary between the crust and the mantle is known as the
Moho boundary
What is the s-wave shadow zone and how does it show us how big the core is?
The S-wave shadow zone occurs because S-waves can’t travel through the liquid outer core.
The bigger the shadow zone, the larger diameter of the core. The starting point of the shadow zone depends on how close the core is to the source of the seismic signal.
Describe evidence suggested by Alfred Wegener that supported his theory of continental drift.
- Fit of the Continents
- Fossil Evidence
- Rock and Mountain Correlations
Explain why Wegener’s theory was not widely accepted.
He had no explanation for how continents moved and received lots of opposition from geologists, considering that he was meteorologist.
Continental Shelf
The shallow, gently sloping area extending from the shore.
Continental Slope
A steep drop-off after the shelf, leading to deeper ocean waters. This is where the ocean floor starts to descend sharply.
Continental Rise
A more gradual slope at the base of the continental slope, formed by accumulated sediments that have moved down from the shelf and slope.
Compare and contrast active and passive continental margins.
Active margins are found at tectonic plate boundaries (convergent or transform). They are tectonically active, with earthquakes, volcanoes, and trenches.
Passive margins are found away from plate boundaries and are geologically stable, with wide shelves and thick sediment deposits.
How do magnetic reversals support plate tectonics?
Seafloor spreading records reversals – As magma rises at mid-ocean ridges and solidifies into rock, stripes of + and - polarity align with Earth’s magnetic field at that time.
How does the age of the seafloor support plate tectonics?
Rocks are younger close to ridges, when plates diverge and old crust subducts at convergent boundary
How does trench EQs support plate tectonics?
EQS get deeper as distance from trench increases
How does hot spot volcanoes support plate tectonics?
The age of sea-mount increases as distance from hot spot increases, a chain of islands form from plate moving over the hot-spot
Describe the role of sonar in detecting and tracking marine life.
- Active Sonar – Emits sound pulses and detects echoes bouncing off marine animals. Used for locating fish schools and tracking large marine species like whales.
- Passive Sonar – Listens for sounds made by marine life, such as whale songs or dolphin clicks, without emitting signals.
Describe the formation and importance of the SOFAR channel.
The SOFAR channel refracts sound waves along its path, enabling long distance transmission. The channel’s pressure, temperature, and salinity combine to inhibit the movement of sound through the water medium.
Identify ocean layers from the surface to depth based on light attenuation.
Epipelagic (sunlight)
Mesopelagic (twilight)
Bathypelagic (midnight)
