Oceans

Question 1

Pacific ocean

Answer 1

is the largest and deepest of Earth’s oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east.

Question 2

Atlantic Ocean

Answer 2

is the second largest of the world’s oceans, with an area of about 106,460,000 square kilometers. It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earth’s surface and about 29 percent of its water surface area. It separates the “Old World” from the “New World”.

Question 3

Indian Ocean

Answer 3

is the third largest of the world’s oceanic divisions, covering 70,560,000 km². It is bounded by Asia on the north, on the west by Africa, on the east by Australia, and on the south by the Southern Ocean or, depending on definition, by Antarctica

Question 4

Arctic Ocean

Answer 4

is the smallest and shallowest of the world’s five major oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization recognizes it as an ocean, although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply the Arctic Sea, classifying it a Mediterranean sea or an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean.

Question 5

Southern Ocean

Answer 5

also known as the Antarctic Ocean or the Austral Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica.

Question 6

Salinity

Answer 6

is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water. This is usually measured in

Question 7

surface zone

Answer 7

The surface layer of the ocean is known as the epipelagic zone and extends from the surface to 200 meters (656 feet). It is also known as the sunlight zone because this is where most of the visible light exists

Question 8

Thermocline

Answer 8

a steep temperature gradient in a body of water such as a lake, marked by a layer above and below which the water is at different temperatures.

Question 9

deep zone

Answer 9

is a zone of the world’s oceans occupying intermediate position between the abyssal polemic region and the sea bed.

Question 10

water cycle

Answer 10

also known as the hydrologic cycle or the hydrological cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth

Question 11

Evaporation

Answer 11

is water from the ocean that turns the water into gas

Question 12

Condensation

Answer 12

is a gas that turns into a liquid

Question 13

Precipitation

Answer 13

the action or process of precipitating a substance from a solution

Question 14

continental shelf

Answer 14

the area of seabed around a large landmass where the sea is relatively shallow compared with the open ocean. The continental shelf is geologically part of the continental crust

Question 15

continental slope

Answer 15

the slope between the outer edge of the continental shelf and the deep ocean floor.

Question 16

continental rise

Answer 16

is an underwater feature found between the continental slope and the abyssal plain. This feature can be found all around the world, and it represents the final stage in the boundary between continents and the deepest part of the ocean

Question 17

abyssal plain

Answer 17

is an underwater plain on the deep ocean floor, usually found at depths between 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) and 6,000 metres (20,000 ft). Lying generally between the foot of a continental rise and a mid-ocean ridge, abyssal plains cover more than 50% of the Earth’s surface

Question 18

mid-ocean ridge

Answer 18

is an underwater mountain range, formed by plate tectonics. This uplifting of the ocean floor occurs when convection currents rise in the mantle beneath the oceanic crust and create magma where two tectonic plates meet at a divergent boundary

Question 19

rift valley

Answer 19

a large elongated depression with steep walls formed by the downward displacement of a block of the earth’s surface between nearly parallel faults or fault systems.

Question 20

Seamount

Answer 20

a submarine mountain

Question 21

ocean trench

Answer 21

are topographic depressions of the sea floor, relatively narrow in width, but very long. These oceanographic features are the deepest parts of the ocean floor

Question 22

Plankton

Answer 22

are the diverse collection of organisms that live in large bodies of water and are unable to swim against a current

Question 23

Nekton

Answer 23

aquatic animals that are able to swim and move independently of water currents

Question 24

Benthos

Answer 24

the flora and fauna found on the bottom, or in the bottom sediments, of a sea, lake, or other body of water.

Question 25

desalination

Answer 25

is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in soil desalination, which is an issue for agriculture