Ocean Vocabulary Quiz

Semester 1 Review

• Definitions: Write a full sentence definition for each vocabulary word on a separate piece of paper.
  • SCUBA - "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus"
  • Trench - A long, narrow depression in the ocean floor
  • Continental Shelf - The gently sloping, shallow area of the ocean floor that extends outward from the edge of a continent
  • Abyssal Plain - A large, flat area of the deep ocean floor
  • Seamount - An underwater mountain
  • Mid-Ocean Ridge - An underwater mountain range
  • Lagoon - A shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by reefs or sandbars
  • Sea - A large body of saltwater
  • River - A natural flow of fresh water from higher to lower ground
  • Lake - A body of water surrounded by land.
  • Fringing Reef - A reef that forms close to and around the shore of an island or continent
  • Patch Reef - A coral reef that is isolated from other reefs
  • Surface Tension - The tendency of liquid surfaces to shrink into the minimum surface area possible.
  • Convection - The movement of heat from one place to another, mostly through fluid
  • Adhesion - The force that holds molecules of different substances together
  • Salinity - The concentration of dissolved salts in water.
  • Coriolis effect - An effect where the Earth's rotation causes moving objects to deflect to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere
  • Wavelength - The distance between two corresponding points on a wave.
  • Crest - The highest point on a wave
  • Hydrogenous - a sediment that was formed or precipitated from water
  • Cosmogenous - a sediment that formed from outer space
  • Photic Zone - The region of the ocean that receives sunlight
  • Spring tide - A tide that occurs when the sun, moon, and Earth are aligned
  • Diurnal - Occurring once a day
  • Mixed semi-diurnal - Two high tides and two low tides each day that are roughly the same height
  • Convergent Boundary - The boundary between two tectonic plates that are colliding
  • Transform Boundary - The boundary between two tectonic plates that are sliding past each other
  • Height - The vertical distance between the crest and trough of a wave
  • Trough - The lowest point on a wave
  • Terrigenous - a sediment that was formed on land
  • Biogenous - sediment/material that formed from the remains of organisms
  • Hotspot - A location on the Earth's surface where a plume of hot mantle material rises to the surface
  • Aphotic zone - The ocean zone that does not receive sunlight, usually below 200 meters
  • Neap tide - A tide that occurs when the sun, moon, and Earth form a right angle
  • Semi-diurnal - Two high tides and two low tides each day; they are approximately the same height
  • Swells - large, long waves that are formed by storms or other disturbances far from the shore

Additional Questions and Answers

• A water molecule consists of one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms
• Ice floats in water because the ice is less dense than the liquid water
• Chemical equation for oceanic salt (table salt): NaCl
• A molecule with positive and negative ends is called a polar molecule
• Formula for density: D = M/V (density = mass/volume)
• 97% of Earth's water is located in the oceans
• Coriolis effect deflects to the right in the Northern Hemisphere
• If stuck in a rip current, float with the current and swim parallel to the shore