oceans Flashcards
Pacific Ocean
Holds the Mariana Trench
Atlantic Ocean
It has the about half the volume as the Pacific
Indian Ocean
Third-largest ocean
Arctic Ocean
The smallest ocean
Southern Ocean
The ice fish family is in that ocean
Salinity
a measure of the given amount of dissolved salts in a given amount of liquid
Surface zone
warm top layer of ocean water
Thermocline
is the second layer of ocean water
Deep zone
is the bottom layer that expands from the base of the thermocline to the bottom of the ocean
water cycle
the continuous movement of water from the ocean to the atmosphere to the land and back to the ocean
evaporation
liquid to a gas
condensation
has to a liquid
precipitation
liquid falling
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
which is the base of the continental slope, is made of large piles of sediment
abyssal plain
is the broad, flat part of the deep-ocean basin
mid-ocean ridge
a long undersea mountain chain that forms along the floor of the major oceans
rift valley
a long narrow valley that forms as tectonic plates separate
seamount
a submerged mountain on the ocean floor that is at least 1,000 m high and that has a volcanic origin
ocean trench
a steep , long depression in the deep sea floor that runs parallel to a chain of volcanic islands or a continental margin
plankton
the mass of mostly microscopic organisms that float or drift freely in freshwater and marine environment
Nekton
all organisms that swim actively in open, water independent of currents
Benthos
the organisms that live at the bottom of the sea or ocean
