| A | B |
|---|
| Oceanography | study of the Earth's oceans |
| salinity | measure of the amount of dissolved salts and other solids in a given amount of liquid |
| surface, thermocline, deep | 3 temperature zones |
| surface zone | warm, top layer of icean water; from surface to 300m below sea level |
| thermocline | 2nd layer of ocean water; 300-700m below sea level |
| deep zone | bottom lwyer of the ocean; from bottom of thermocline to bottom of ocean; 1-3 degrees C |
| water cycle | continuous movement of water from ocean to atmosphere to land and back again to ocean |
| condensation, precipitation, evaporation | 3 phases of the water cycle |
| sonar | technology based on echo-ranging behavior of bats which allows scientists to determine ocean depths |
| continental margin & deep ocean basin | 2 major regions of the ocean floor |
| continental shelf, continental slope, continental rise | 3 subdivisions of the continental margin |
| continental shelf | part of continental margin that slopes gently from shoreline toward open ocean |
| continental slope | part of continental margin that begins at edge of continental shelf and falls to flattest part of ocean floor |
| continental rise | base of continental slope; made of large piles of sediment, covering border between continental margin and deep ocean basin |
| regions and features of deep ocean basin | abyssal plain, mid-ocean ridges, rift valley, seamounts, ocean trenches |
| mid-ocean ridges | mountain chains that form where oceanic plates pull apart |
| rift valley | valley that forms between mountains of mid ocean ridges |
| seamounts | submerged mountains on the ocean floor that is at least 1,000 m high and is of volcanic origin |
| ocean trenches | steep, long depression in the deep-ocean floor that runs parallel to a chain of volcanic islands or a continental margin; form where one oceanic plate is pushed beneath a continental plate or another oceanic plate |
| Alvin and Deep Flight | mini subs designed to explore the deep ocean floor |
| plankton, nekton, benthos | 3 groups of marine life |
| plankton | organisms that float freely near the ocean's surface |
| nekton | organisms that swim actively in the open ocean |
| benthos | organisms that live at the bottom of the sea or ocean |
| benthic environment | region near the ocean floor and all the organisms that live on or in it |
| intertidal, sublittoral, bathyal, abyssal, hadal | 5 zones of the benthic environment |
| Intertidal zone | shallowest zone of benthic environment; between high and low tide limits |
| Sublittoral zone | zone of benthic environment that runs from end of intertidal zone to edge of continental shelf (ex. corals) |
| Bathyal zone | zone of benthic environment that runs fromedge of continental shelf to the abyssal plain (200-4,000 m below sea level (ex, sponges, sea stars, octopi) |
| Abyssal zone | zone of benthic environment that lies on the abyssal plain; can reach 4,000 m in depth (ex, tube worms, crabs, sponges |
| Hadal zone | deepest benthic zone; floor of ocean trenches and any organisms living there |
| pelagic environment | zone near the ocean's surface and middle depths, above the abyssal zone |
| neritic and oceanic zones | 2 zones of the pelagic environment |
| neritic zone | warm, shallow zone of pelagic environment that covers the continental shelf; contains largest concentration of marine life |
| oceanic zone | zone of the pelagic environment that includes the volume of water that covers the all of the ocean floor other than the continental shelf |
| desalination | process of removing salt from ocean water |
| non-point source pollution | pollution from many sources rather than from a single site |
| point-source pollution | pollution that comes from a single site |
| Exxon Valdez | oil supertanker that struck a reef in Alaska in 1989, spilling more than 260,000 barrels of crude oil |
