Seafloor & Ocean Zones Flashcards
Name the zones of the ocean top to bottom
- Epipelagic
- Mesopelagic
- Bathyelagic
- Abyssopelagic
- Benthic
Every Morning Breakfast And Bagels
Characterisicts of the Epipelagic Zone
- upper-most portion (0-200m)
- Photic zone (has the most light)
- abundant productivuty due to its high levels of light and nutrients
- Contains most life (planktonic, corals, kelp algae)
What are HABs
Harmful Algal Blooms
- caused because of chmicals and pesticides fertilziers and runoff
- makes anoxic water (without oxygen)
2 Zones of the Epipelagic
- Neritic: near shore (most important to humans)
- Oceanic: beyond the continental shelf
Characteristics Mesopelagic
- light slowly degrades from 200m-1000m where it becomes completely abesent
- due to the low nutrient and lack of oxygen some organisms are specialized (some bacteria use nitrate instead of oxygen to breath)
aka twilight zone
enough light for organisms to see but not to photsynthesis
Characteristics of the Bathypelagic Zone
- 1000m-4000m in depth
- organisms surivuve on marine snow (falls from epipelagic zone)
- complete darkness and thus may be transperate or bioluminscent
What are benthos and what are included?
animals that live in benthic region
- crustaceans
- echinoderms
and polychaetes (if you can remember)
depths of
the deep sea
- Bathypelagic Zone (1,000m-4,000m)
- Abyssopelagic Zone (4,000m-6,000m)
- Benthic (6,000m-sea floor) Consists of the ocean trenches
largest habitat in our planet
Characteristiscs of life in the deep sea
- small in size
- have reduced eyes since there is no light
- Hermaphroditic
- some are biolumiescence
What is Hermaphroditic
They can change genders
this helps if they come across another of there species they can ensure that they can procreate
Define
Intertidal Zone
area of land between high and low tide
define
Continental shelf
shallowest part of the the continental margin
define
Continental slope
begins at the Shelf Break (slope abruptly gets steeper) and descends down to the deep sea
define
Continental Rise
Where the sedimentation from the slope collect and forms a more gradual decline
define
Abyssal Plain
a very gentle slope less than 1 degree toward the mid-ocean ridge
(at transform and divergent boudries)
define
Mid-ocean ridge
an underwater mountain range, formed by plate tectonics
What is SONAR
way to map the seafloor
- it uses sound pulses and the time between emissiosn and return of pulse
What does light penetration depend on
waveleght of the light and the turbidity (clarity) of the water
