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129 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
What is oceanography?
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An interdisciplinary science- geology, chemistry, physics, biology, engineering
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Describe inner planets
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telluric, heavier materials with high melting and boiling temperatures
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Describe the outer planets
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cold giants, lighter elements with low melting and boiling temperatures
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When was the universe formed?
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15 billion years ago
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When did the Earth form?
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4.5 billion years ago
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Plate tectonics is a combination of what two ideas?
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1.) a combo of Continental drift and sea-floor spreading
2.) Describes the movement of plates and the forces acting between them 3.) Explains large-scale geological features that result from the movement at plate boundaries – mountain chains, volcanoes, earthquakes, sea-floor structures |
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What is continental drift?
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the moving of continents over the Earth's surface and in their change in position relative to each other
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What is sea-floor spreading?
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the creation of new oceanic crust at mid-ocean ridges and movement of the crust away from the mid-ocean ridges
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Who is Wegener?
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1.) German meteorologist proposed the idea of Continental Drift in 1912
2.) Continental Drift: large-scale movements of the continents over the globe 3.) Proposed that 200 million yrs ago a super-continent called Pangaea existed and slowly the continents split apart |
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What are the Hawaiian Islands?
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chain islands on top of a hot spot
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What were vessels made out of?
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animal or vegetal material
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How did the Greeks measure latitude?
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By measuring the north star (stars remained fixed in the horizon throughout the year, rotating about a common point)
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What were the Vikings famous for?
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they were raiders, sailors and had great ships (called Drakars), they were bad at writing things down, and they were the first to reach Iceland and Greenland
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What were the Chinese famous for?
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Boats with several masts and they discovered the compass
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Who were the 2 major expanding provincial realms?
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The vikings and the chinese
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How did the Europeans help with exploration in the 1400's?
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They did nothing because they thought the Earth was flat and that the ocean would boil
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Who is the father of oceanography?
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John Murry... also identified more than 4700 species, mapped ocean floor, recorded temperature, salinity, currents
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What did James Cook do?
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First to use the chronometer to determine longitude, he helped control diets of sailors and prevented scurvey
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Who invented scuba?
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William James in the 1900's
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Explain the Big Bang
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o Earth was formed due to density stratification, the elements that are heavier form the core and the lighter ones go to edge. Earth was formed 4.5 billion years ago. Say that there are other things are being tested – expanding and contracting. Testing in Switzerland
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What are the characteristics of ridges?
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slopes are steep and narrow
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what are characteristics of rifts?
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Slopes are gentle and wide and in the middle there are rift valleys
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Mid-ocean ridges are?
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a zone of earthquakes (active seismic)
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What do diverging plates do? What are examples?
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plates separate causing ridges, (Mid-oceanic ridge, Iceland, Red Sea)
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What do converging plates do? What is an example?
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move towards each other
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What is ENSO?
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El Nino Southern Oscillation... usually pressure the eastern Margin of the ecuatorial Pacific is at a higher pressure than the western margin.. but during an el nino the pressure will change.. low pressure sets over the middle to eastern margin of the ocean causing disruption of trade winds and intense rain in a dry region... also normally the South Equatorial Current Current moves warm water from east to west.. during an Southern Oscillation, the Southern Equatorial Current loses its driving force and dies.. other currents become strengthened and return warm water which blocks the normal upwelling that usually occurs
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What is an example of ocean divergent plates?
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Mid-oceanic Ridge
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What is an example of land divergent plates?
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Iceland
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What is an example of diverging sea plates?
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Red Sea
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What is an example of ocean convergent plates?
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Marianus Trench
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What is an example of land convergent plates?
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Himalayas
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What is an example of Ocean against land convergent plates?
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Andes Mountains
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What are the characteristics of water for life?
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1.) It retains heat
2.) moderates temperature 3.) its a solvent and dissolves many chemicals 4.) transports nutrients |
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What is climate?
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the average of 30 years of weather data
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True or False. Hurricanes only form in the North Atlantic
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False
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True or False. Hurricanes and tycoons are the same thing?
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True
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What are the components of Oceanography?
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Collaborative – ocean policy, management, conservation
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What are the sources of earth’s water?
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1.) Comets
2.) Outgassing |
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What are comets?
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primarily tiny ice comets, 30 ft in diameter, collided with earth providing water
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What is outgassing?
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gases released from volcanic vents, remains as water vapor to create clouds, and eventually rain. Mantle is formed 0.1-0.5 % weight of water
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What is life?
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1.) Capable of growing more complex
2.) Obtains and uses energy by breaking down chemical compounds 3.) Capable of self-replicating |
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When did ocean exploration begin?
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2000 years ago
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What was the first stage of ocean exploration?
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Development
1.) Man saw that things floated, made boats out of vegetation or animal skins |
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Who was the first to chart the Mediterranean?
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Ptolemy
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What were the Egyptians famous for?
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using sails and paddles
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What was the second stage of ocean exploration?
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Trade
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What is the third stage of ocean exploration?
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Age of Discovery
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What happened when the Europeans began exploring after the Crusades?
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There was a change from feudalism to mercantilism
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What is the 4th stage of ocean exploration? and what were the direct and indirect objectives?
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Charting the World... direct objectives- to increase domain... indirect objectives- to increase knowledge of natural history
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What is the Beagle?
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Charles Darwin the Theory of evolution
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What is the challenger?
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first devoted scientific ocean expedition
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What is the 5th stage of ocean exploration and what does it pertain to?
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20th century and beyond..
1.) More discovery after WWI and WWI 2.) Equipment" ecosounder, bathyscope, sonar, radar, satellites |
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Who invented scuba?
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William James
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Who developed modern scuba?
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Jacques Costeau and Emile Gagnan
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What is the Seasat?
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First oceanic satellite, measures sea surface height, waves, currents, winds, ocean floor topography
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What is the Trieste?
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A study underwater vehicle known as a bathyscaphe in which the deepest ocean dive took place – Jacques Piccard (1950s)
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What evidence is their of the continental split?
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1.) German meteorologist proposed the idea of Continental Drift in 1912
2.) Continental Drift: large-scale movements of the continents over the globe 3.) Proposed that 200 million yrs ago a super-continent called Pangaea existed and slowly the continents split apart |
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What is Pangea?
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1.) Super-continent that once existed
2.) Biological evidence: fossils 3.) Geological: rocks 4.) Meteorological: coal and glacial evidence in hot climates |
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How many plates is the Lithsophere broken up into?
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& major plates and 21 minor
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What is the Fire Ring?
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Line of volcanoes that circle most of the Pacific Ocean and is the sight of frequent volcanic eruptions
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What is the continental crust made of?
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Granite
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What is the oceanic crust made of?
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Basalt (which is heavier than granite)
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What are the components of the Earth's structure?
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Crust, Mantle, and Core
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What do transofrm plates do? What is an example?
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They move towards each other.. San Andres Fault, CA
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What is the crust?
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thin layer of solid rock, broken up into plates
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What is the mantle?
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hot, partly molten layer made up of thick, heavy material
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What is the outer core?
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molten mass of iron
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What is the inner core?
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large, solid ball of iron and nickel
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What is the shelf break?
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edge of continental shelf
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What is the continental slope?
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1.) Transition between shallow continental shelf and deep ocean basin
2.) Steepest part 3.) Submarine Canyons: canyons that cut through the shelf and slope caused by turbidity currents |
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What is the continental rise?
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Passive margin covering bottom edge of continental slope and edge of ocean basin
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What is the ocean floor?
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Variety of topographic features such as ridges, abyssal plains and hills, trenches, and island arcs
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What are Turbidity currents?
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undersea avalanche (Congo Canyon)
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What are abyssal plains?
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1.) Flat, deep sediment covering ocean floor
2.) Exist between ridges and inactive margins of continents 3.) The biggest plains on earth, unique characteristics because they have been isolated for thousands of years |
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What are abyssal hills?
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1.) Inactive volcanoes that pop up through the abyssal plains
2.) Seamounts: emerged 3.) Guyots: eroded flat, coral reefs form atolls |
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Explain the formation of hydrothermal vents
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1.) Cold water moves down into cracks in oceanic ridges
2.) Superheated from ridge heat source and rises back up through vents carrying dissolved minerals and gases |
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What are trenches?
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1.) Mostly found in the Pacific Rim
2.) Geologically active, large earthquakes 3.) Coldest water temperatures 4.) Longest continues trench is the Peru–Chile Trench 5.) Deepest is Mariana Trench |
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What are Arc islands?
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Chain of volcanic islands that are parallel to trenches (Aleutian Islands)
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What is the Eustatic Sea Level?
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World-wide sea level change by plate tectonics, earthquakes, ice cap melting
2) its been a common occurrence over the past one million years 3.) There has been an increase in eustatic sea level (100m) since about 18,000 BP to 3,500 BP due to the melting of glaciers from the last ice age. From about 3,500 BP to present, sea level has been relatively constant. If global warming due to industrialization is true, then we may see further increases in sea level in the not too distant future |
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What are characteristics of Local Sea Level?
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1.) Change due to weather
2.) Uplifting or subsiding coastline 3.) Currents, seiches and storm surges |
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Primary coasts are modified by?
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Land
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Explain erosional coasts
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1.) Coasts with erosional features that formed during low sea level and are now flooded
2.) Flooded coastal river valleys [ex.: Chesapeake Bay 3.) Flooded coastal glacial valleys (fjor |
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Explain depositional coasts
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Coasts that deposit more material than is removed by marine processes
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What are River Deltas?
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1.) sediment deposited on the continental shelf by river
2.) they need broad continental shelf, low tidal range and mild waves and currents |
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What is a river-dominated delta?
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form in protected marginal seas (Mississippi)
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What is a tide-dominated delta?
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large tidal currents
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What is a wave-dominated delta?
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smaller, one primary channel
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What are Glacial Moraines?
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sediment deposited by the terminus
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What are volcanic coasts?
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formed from lava flows (ex Hawaii is constantly
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What are fault coasts?
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1.) Vertical fault movement along a coast can cause land to uplift or subside
2.) Horizontal fault movement can cause the opening of a gulf or a linear shoreline |
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What are secondary coasts?
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Coast dominated by marine processes, such as waves action, in conjunction with terrestrial erosion after they have become stable
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What is physical erosion?
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Abrasion
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What is chemical weathering?
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Dissolving
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What is a sea cliff?
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precipitous slope caused by collapse of wave cut
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What is a wave-cut platform?
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flat platform caused by underwater erosion
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What is a sea cave>
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cave cut waves at a zone of weakness in the sea
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What is a headland?
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protrusion in the coastline of more resistant rock
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What is a sea arch?
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two caves on opposite sides of a headland join
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What is a sea stack?
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a pillar of rock just off a headland formed by the collapse of a sea arch
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What is the beach?
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sediment from the erosion of the platform and cliff that is deposited between headlands
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What is Shore Straightening?
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1.) Refraction of waves towards headlands and away from bays eventually erodes headlands back
2.) Sediment is deposited in the relatively calm bays |
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What is wave refraction?
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1.) Waves are angled to the shore, moving sediment up the slope of the beach at an angle
2.) If they come straight on, they form a rip current |
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How are long-shore currents produced?
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Produced by wave refraction, carries the sediments along the shoreline
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What are the only kind of coasts that have coastal cells?
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Secondary coasts
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What are coastal cells?
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Sector of the coastline where input of sediments equals the outflow of sediments onto the continental shelf or in submarine canyons
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What is a sand spit?
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1.) Finger of sand that extends out into a the entrance to a bay
2.) Forms in the direction of the long-shore current and is deposited as the long-shore current losses velocity in the bay |
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What is a bay mouth bar?
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Sand spit that fully closes off the entrance to a bay
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What are inlets?
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Break in the bay mouth bar caused by tidal action
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What are Barrier Islands?
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1.) exposed sandbars that run parallel to the coast
2.) moving islands, migrate both toward the shore and parallel to the long-shore current |
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What is a lagoon?
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The shallow body of seawater between the barrier island and the shore
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What are the differences between summer and winter profiles?
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1.) Summer: gentle slope, long shore bar (sedimentation)
2.) Winter: steeper slope, no long shore bar |
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What are biologically modified caosts? Give examples?
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1.) Shaped by living things
2.) Mangroves in tropical, Salt marsh in temperate, Coral reefs |
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What is wind?
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the movement of air from an area of high pressure (heavy air) to an area of low pressure (lighter air)
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What are the main gases of the atmosphere?
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Nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide, water vapor
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What is the global heat budget?
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Distribution of energy throughout the earth, input = output, more input in the equator, output at the poles
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What is the thermal equilibrium?
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Averaged over time, the input of energy to the whole surface of the earth and atmosphere is equal to the output of energy to space
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What are the atmospheric gases?
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Water Vapor and CO2
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What is the greenhouse effect?
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1.) Atmospheric gases provide a natural warming of the earth that is necessary for life
2.) The energy is retained in the ozone layer which acts as a greenhouse – if we don’t have this our temp with be lower 3.) Concern of too much CO2 since the Industrial Revolution – global warming |
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Where are Hadley Atmospheric Cells?
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equator and 30 latitude (tradewinds)
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Where are Ferrel Atmospheric Cells?
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form between 30 – 60 latitude (Horse latitudes)
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Where are Polar Atmospheric Cells?
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form between 60 latitude and the poles (easterlies)
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What is the Coriolis effect?
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1.) Objects moving in the Northern Hemisphere are deflected to the right (clockwise)
2.) Objects moving in the Southern Hemisphere are deflection to left (counterclockwise) |
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What are the primary causes of circulation?
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1.) Wind
2.) Thermal expansion of equator – sea level is higher at equator than at poles pushing water away from the equator |
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What are the secondary causes of ocean circulation?
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continents and the hill in the middle of the gyre
Clockwise in N and counterclockwise in S Label gyres – N and S Atlantic, Indian |
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What are 5 geostrophic gyres?
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N Atlantic, S Atlantic, N Pacific, S Pacific, Indian Ocean
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What are 2 equatorial currents?
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Atlantic and Pacific
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What does the primordial pizza theory state?
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that life originated on the surface in pools
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What is the ekman spiral?
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the velocity distribution with depth
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