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114 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
What is the hydrosphere
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All of thw water on, under, and over Earth's surface
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What makes up the hydrosphere?
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Oceans (salt water), freshwater, atmospheric water, ice
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What percentage of earths water is usable?
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3
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Where is most of earth's water?
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in ocean
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Where does water come from?
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Water we used was recycled and has been around for a while
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What drives the water cycle?
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the sun
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How do humans alter the water cycle?
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agriculture, irrigation, damming rivers, deforestation, wells, urbanization, altering the atmosphere
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What is aforestation
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the making of a forest where there wasn't one before
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what is deforestation
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the taking out of the forest
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what is reforestation
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the replanting trees where a forest once was
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What is pH?
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The measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, the measure of free H+ ions in the solution.
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How can pH be tested?
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Using methyl yellow and other similar for specific pH and litmus paper for more general
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If pH goes up, what happens to H+ concentration?
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it goes down..becomes more basic
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What has an affect on the pH of water?
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Chemicals such as carbonic acid, pollutants
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What is turbidity?
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The cloudiness of a liquid caused by suspended particulate matter
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What are the most common measurement units for turbidity?
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FTU and NTU
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what is a nephelometer
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focuses a beam of light and the amount of scattered light is the turbidity
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what is a secchi disk
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lower this into water until it can't be seen. measures turbidity
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What causes turbidity?
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clay, silt, fine organic and inorganic matter, plankton, microscopic organisms
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What do humans do to increase turbidity?
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consturction - removal of stuff allows erosion, urbanization, mining
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Why is understanding turbidity important?
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bacteria and viruses can be carried on the particles and cause problems
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What is specific conductance?
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the ability of water to conduct electricity
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What is the SC of distilled water and why?
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low because there are not particles
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What is the SC of rain water and why?
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higher than distilled because there are some dissovled particles
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Whgat is the SC of seawater?
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high b/c of salt
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What does it matter what the SC is of water?
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amount of dissolved solids has an effect on the suitibility
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Where is ground water found?
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lakes, rivers, wells, springs, and aquifers
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What is a watershed?
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the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place
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Who is John Wesley Powell?
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A guy who had a better defnition of a watershed.
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What are the major watersheds in the US?
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Mississippi, Colorado
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WHat are the water sources for watersheds?
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ground water, lakes, rivers, reservoirs
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What are watersheds used for?
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irrigation (65%world wide) and industrial (15% world wide), recretational pruposes, environmental use
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What is the major Texas watershed for Nacogdoches?
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Neches
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What are the major Texas watersheds?
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Red, Rio grand, Neches, Neuases, sabine (many others)
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What aquifer is in the east texas area and is one of the biggest in the state?
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Carrizo-Wilcox
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What is evaluated about local watersheds?
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pH, turbidity, presence of E.coli, nitrate levels, levels of dissolved oxygen, conductivity tests
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HOw is the quantity of water evaluated?
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By measuing wrain fall, and run off rates, evaporateion rates, surfaces for recharge, estimating agriculture, industral, and urban usage
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What do floods do to watersheds?
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increase turbidity and erosion
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What is a meterological drought?
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not as much rain
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What is a hydroligical drought?
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lakes get lower
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What is an agricultural drought?
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lack of rain begins to effect growth
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what is a socioeconomic drought?
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drought is so bad that everything is effected
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What does constant irrigaion have the potential to do?
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deplete water sources, drain soils and cause compaction, chemicals can polute the waTER
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How much of earth do the oceans and marginal seas cover?
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71%
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Which hemisphere has the most ocean water?
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Southern
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What is the pacific ocean?
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Largest ocean, covers more than 1/2 earth's surface,
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What is the atlantic ocean?
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2nd largest, about 26% of ES, bounded by parallel continental margins
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What is the indian ocean
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3rd largest ocean, about 20% of ES, bounded by asia, africa, and australia
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What is the Artic ocean?
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smalles and shallowest. temperature and salinity vary greatly
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What is the southern ocean?
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proposed 5th ocean that is below 60oS.
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What is salinity?
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total amount of solid materal dissolved in water
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What is salinity expressed in?
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Parts per thousand
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What is sea waters average salinity?
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35%o
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What is found in sea water?
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NaCl, sulfate, mg, ca, k and other minor stuff
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Why is the ocean salty?
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chemical weathering of continental rocks and out gassing
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Why is the ocean salinity stable?
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because material is being removed at the same rate as it is being added
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How is salinity measured?
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refractometer or hydrometer
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Where is the ocean less salty?
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where there is more rain
the poles and the equator |
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Where is the ocean most salty?
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in areas where there is less rain and more evaporation, sub tropics
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Which of the poles shows a greater variance in salinity?
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North because of seasons
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Why would seasons change the amount of salt water?
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because as it is colder, there is more ice and less water. When it is warmer, there is more water and less ice
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How do surface temperatures vary?
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based on latitude
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Where are the coldest waters?
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near the poles
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Where is the range of surface waters the highest?
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mid latitudes where cold air blows off the continents in the winter and cools the oceans
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What happens to water temperature as the water is deeper?
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it decreases
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What is the thermocline?
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a rapid change in temperature as you get deeper in the ocean. only happens at mid latitudes.
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What is isothermal?
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At higher latitudes...temperatures stay more the same. No drastic changes.
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Why is density important in sea waters?
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Because it determines the water's vertical position and how the ocean is layered
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Cold water is dense than hot water
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More
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What is density influenced by?
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temperature and salinity
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What is pycnocline?
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At low latitudes as depth increases, so does density
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What is isopycnal?
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At higher latitudes, surface water is cold and as depth increases, temperature decreases. Density remains basically the same
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What are the three layers of the ocean based on density?
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Surface mixed zone (2%)
Transition zone (18%) Deep zone (80%) |
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What are colligative properties?
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properties of solutions that depend on the number of molecules in a given volume of a solvent and not the properties of the molecules.
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What are the colligative properties of ocean water?
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lowering vapor pressure, bioling point elevation, freezing point depression, osmotic pressure
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As you go lower in the ocean, what happens to the pressure?
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it increases
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What is bathymetry?
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measuring and charting ocean topography
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What are the three major topigraphic entities on the seafloor?
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Continental margins, Deep-ocean basins, oceanic ridges
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What are the two types of continental margins?
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Acitve and passive
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What is a passive continental margin and what are the different types
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Not associated with plate boundries, on atlintic cost:
Continental shelf, slope, and rise |
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What is the continental shelf?
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gently sloping submerged surface extending from the shorline toward the deep-ocean basin
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What is the continintal slope?
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found at the seaward edge of the continental slope. boundry between the continental and oceanic crusts
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What is the continental rise?
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gradual incline after the continental slop. Drops about 30 feet per mile, MAde of thick collection of sediment that is moved down the slope
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What is an active continental margin?
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Occur where oceanic lithosphere is being subducted beneth the edge of a continent
Common on the pacific rim. |
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What are the habitats based on the temperature stratification?
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littoral zone, neritic zone, pelagic zone, benthic zone
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What is a deep-ocean basin?
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between the continental margin and the ocean ridge and includes deep ocean trenches, abyssal plains, seamounts and guyots
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What are deep ocean trenches?
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long narrow troughs in the deepest parts of the ocean
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What is the largest known deep ocean trench?
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Mariana Trench in the pacific ocean
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What is an abyssal plain?
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deep flat area with thick accumulation of sediment that is brought in by turbidity currents
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What are seamounts and guyots?
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seamounts - submarine valcanoes
Guyots - flat top seamount |
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What is an oceanic ridge?
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elevated part of seafloor forming a broad linear swell, formed at divergent plate boundries
Lots of heat, faulting, and quakes |
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What is an ocean current?
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masses of ocean water that flow from one place to another
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What causes surface water movements?
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winds, continental deflection, and earth's rotation
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What are the two types of winds?
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Westerlies and trade winds
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How do waters move in the different hemispheres?
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to the right in the north and to the left in the south
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What are the gyres?
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circular currents in the ocean
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How many gyres are there?
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5 - one in each ocean
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How many currents are in each gyre?
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4 in each - n/s atlantic, n/s pacific, and indian
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How do currents effect climates?
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the help move water to other areas...such as the gulf stream to europe.
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What is an upwelling?
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the rising of cold water from the deeper layers to replace the warmer surface water
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What is deep ocean ciculation?
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also called thermohaline
Accounts for the mixing of deep waters |
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What causes thermohaline?
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the differen densities of the water
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What is a tide?
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Daily changes in the elevation of the ocean surface
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What are tides the result of?
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The gravitational attraction of the earth by the moon
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What is a spring tide?
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When the sun, moon, and earth, are all aligned straight
High tides are higher and low tides are lower happens in full a new moon |
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What is a neap tide?
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sun and moon are at right angles to each other and the daily tidal range is less
Happens in first or thrid quarter |
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What is a tidal bore?
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an actual tidal wave.
The leading edge of an incoming tide forms a wave of water that travels up a river or bay against the current of that bay. |
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What are the effects of icean tides?
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intertidal ecosystems, power generation, navigation
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What is an ecosystem?
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components of an environment
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what are the three types of eco systems?
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terrestrial, aquatic, artificial
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What is a biotic factor
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living things in the environment
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What is an abiotic factor?
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non living chemical and physical factors
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What is a biome?
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made of similar climactic regions on earh such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms
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WHat are some examples of biomes?
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Terrestrial - tundra, deserts, wetlands
Freshwater - ponds, lakes, wetlands Marine - coral reefs |