Week 1- Oceanography Flashcards
What is functional biology?
how an organism carries out basic functions eg. reproduction, locomotion, feeding, and cellular processes
What is ecology?
the interactions between organisms and their environments
what is Biodiversity ?
the variety of species
how much percentage of the earths surface is water and how much of that is the ocean?
70% of earths surface is water and 97% of this is ocean
what were the earliest life forms?
methane- producing archaea 4.5 billion years ago
the early ocean was entirely what?
anoxic- in the absence of oxygen
Are resources in the ocean divided equally?
no
how is the ocean split up?
Into zones defined by depth and proximity to continents
what is the earths crust broken up into?
into plates that move up to 100m a year
How many plates are there on the earths crust?
8
Is oceanic crust thicker or thinner than continental crust?
much thinner- on average 100km versus 250km
what is the pacific plate like?
huge and at its fringes interacts with smaller ones around it causing this activity
What is the ring of fire?
a string of volcanoes, substantial seismic activity and earthquakes all caused by plate tectonics
what are the three ways that the plate boundaries move?
- divergent
- transform
- convergent
explain divergent plates?
- they are spreading so moving away from each other
- they are constructive (oceanic lithosphere created)
- create ridges and volcanoes
- eg. mid Atlantic ridge