Week 1- Oceanography

Question 1

What is functional biology?

Answer 1

how an organism carries out basic functions eg. reproduction, locomotion, feeding, and cellular processes

Question 2

What is ecology?

Answer 2

the interactions between organisms and their environments

Question 3

what is Biodiversity ?

Answer 3

the variety of species

Question 4

how much percentage of the earths surface is water and how much of that is the ocean?

Answer 4

70% of earths surface is water and 97% of this is ocean

Question 5

what were the earliest life forms?

Answer 5

methane- producing archaea 4.5 billion years ago

Question 6

the early ocean was entirely what?

Answer 6

anoxic- in the absence of oxygen

Question 7

Are resources in the ocean divided equally?

Answer 7

no

Question 8

how is the ocean split up?

Answer 8

Into zones defined by depth and proximity to continents

Question 9

what is the earths crust broken up into?

Answer 9

into plates that move up to 100m a year

Question 10

How many plates are there on the earths crust?

Answer 10

8

Question 11

Is oceanic crust thicker or thinner than continental crust?

Answer 11

much thinner- on average 100km versus 250km

Question 12

what is the pacific plate like?

Answer 12

huge and at its fringes interacts with smaller ones around it causing this activity

Question 13

What is the ring of fire?

Answer 13

a string of volcanoes, substantial seismic activity and earthquakes all caused by plate tectonics

Question 14

what are the three ways that the plate boundaries move?

Answer 14

• divergent
• transform
• convergent

Question 15

explain divergent plates?

Answer 15

• they are spreading so moving away from each other
• they are constructive (oceanic lithosphere created)
• create ridges and volcanoes
• eg. mid Atlantic ridge

Question 16

explain transform plates?

Answer 16

• lateral sliding ( move side by side)
• constructive ( oceanic lithosphere neither created or destroyed)
• no major topography
• no volcanoes

Question 17

explain convergent plates?

Answer 17

• one plate is pushed under the other (subduction)
• destructive ( oceanic lithosphere is destroyed)
• trench and volcanoes
• eg. mariana trench

Question 18

what is isostasy?

Answer 18

whereby gravity and buoyancy act on the earths outer layers to bring them closer together

Question 19

what is bathymetry?

Answer 19

the measurement of ocean depths and the charting of the shape of the ocean floor. First taken by the greeks

Question 20

what are ocean ridges?

Answer 20

occupy 33% of total ocean floor area and continuously spreading

Question 21

what are abyssal plains ?

Answer 21

gradients less than 0.05 and are the flattest ocean feature, only interrupted by seamounts. They are covered in deep layers of sediment

Question 22

what are sea mounts?

Answer 22

most are ocean floor volcanoes that don’t rise above
sea level. Slope angle as great as 25. The Mauno Loa sea mount is as as high as mount Everest. Flat
topped seamounts (Guyots) have been planed off by wave erosion