Oceans Flashcards
Pacific Ocean (Fact)
The largest Coral Reef (The Great Barrier Reef) is located in the Pacific Ocean.
Atlantic Ocean (Fact)
It is the SECOND LARGEST ocean.
Indian Ocean (Fact)
It is the WARMEST of all the oceans.
Arctic Ocean (Fact)
A lot of its surface is covered with ice.
Southern (Fact)
It covers 4% of the Earth’s Surface.
Salinity
a measure of the amount of dissolved salts in a given amount of liquid.
Surface Zone
known as the sunlight zone because this is where most of the visible light exists. With the light come heat.
Thermocline
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.
Deep Zone
The deep zone is an area of very cold water that extends from the bottom of the thermocline to depths of 4000 meters or more. Within the deep zone, the temperature decreases slightly.
Water Cycle
the continuous movement of water from the ocean to the atmosphere to the land and back to the ocean.
Evaporation
the process by which water changes from a liquid to a gas or vapor.
Condensation
water which collects as droplets on a cold surface when humid air is in contact with it.
Precipitation
the action or process of precipitating a substance from a solution.
Continental Shelf
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.
Continental Slope
the slope between the outer edge of the continental shelf and the deep ocean floor.
Continental Rise
a sediment 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.
Abyssal Plain
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.
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 separates.
Seamount
a submerged mountain on the ocean
Ocean Trench
Oceanic trenches are topographic depressions of the sea floor, relatively narrow in width, but very long.
Plankton
Plankton
Nekton
aquatic animals that are able to swim and move independently of water currents.
Benthos
the flora and fauna found on the bottom, or in the bottom sediments, of a sea, lake, or other body of water.
Desalination
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.
