Geography of Oceans
Textbook Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Geography of Oceans explores the physical and human dimensions of the worlds oceans, examining their formation, structure, and dynamic processes such as currents, tides, and waves. The course delves into the role of oceans in global climate, weather patterns, and the water cycle, while also considering the distribution of marine life and ecosystems. Students will learn about the economic, cultural, and political significance of oceans, including resource extraction, maritime transportation, and territorial disputes. Emphasis is placed on contemporary issues such as ocean pollution, overfishing, and the impacts of climate change, fostering an understanding of the interconnectedness between oceans and human societies.
Recommended Textbook Essentials of Oceanography 6th Edition by Tom S. Garrison
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Chapter 1: The Origin of the Ocean
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Q1) The ocean holds more than 97 percent of Earth's water.
A)True
B)False Answer: True
Q2) The ocean is divided up into distinct natural divisions called oceans and seas.
A)True
B)False Answer: False
Q3) Which of the following statements is TRUE concerning the temperature of the ocean about 4 billion years ago?
A) The temperature was about the same as today's ocean.
B) The temperature was much colder than that of today's ocean.
C) The temperature was extremely hot as compared with today's ocean.
D) The temperature was only slightly warmer than today's ocean
Answer: C
Q4) The universe began to form around 13 billion years ago.
A)True
B)False Answer: True
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Chapter 2: A History of Marine Science
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Q1) The first technology to replace weighted lines for making detailed measurements of the contours of the ocean floor was:
A) echo sounders
B) satellites
C) bathyscaphes
D) submersibles
Answer: A
Q2) The Portuguese explorer who first attempted to circumnavigate the world in the early 1500's was:
A) Magellan.
B) Forbes.
C) Thompson.
D) Cook.
Answer: A
Q3) The invention of the compass is attributed to the:
A) Americans
B) Chinese
C) Spanish
D) British
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: Earth Structure and Plate Tectonics
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Q1) The Hawaiian Islands were formed within the last 2 million years under a hot spot that is now inactive.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) How has the history of plate movement been captured in residual magnetic fields?
Answer: A compass needle points to the magnetic north pole because of the persistent magnetic field caused by the movement of molten metal in the Earth's outer core. As new seafloor is produced at spreading centers, the magnetic minerals' (naturally occurring in basaltic magma) align with the Earth's magnetic field. As the new rock cools and hardens, the orientation of the Earth's magnetic field at that particular time is frozen and records information like a fossil does. Scientists use this information to measure spreading rates and are able to create detailed charts of the ocean floor dating back about 200 million years.
Q3) One piece of evidence that suggests the existence of Pangaea is continuous mountain ranges spanning Australia and Antarctica.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Ocean Basins
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Q1) The deepest part of the ocean is the:
A) Peru-Chile Trench.
B) Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
C) Mariana Trench.
D) Abyssal plains.
Q2) The continental shelf:
A) is a narrow strip on the East Coast of the United States.
B) is a steep zone dropping off to the deep seafloor like a cliff.
C) is a featureless plain unlike the neighboring continent.
D) is a gently sloping platform with a variable landscape.
Q3) A guyot is found at spreading centers.
A)True
B)False
Q4) An example of a continental rise that is extraordinarily wide is found:
A) in the Red Sea.
B) in the Pacific at the active margin called the "Ring of Fire."
C) in the Bay of Bengal.
D) off the east coast of Florida.
Q5) Abyssal Plains and Abyssal hills cover about 25% of the surface of the earth. How are these features characterized?
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Ocean Sediments
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Q1) An example of a siliceous ooze are those formed from radiolarian shells.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The white cliffs of Dover are chalk-like deposits of coccolithophores and are around 100 million years old.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Most of the floor of the North Pacific Ocean is covered with:
A) manganese nodules.
B) biogenous oozes.
C) red and brown clays.
D) evaporites.
Q4) A depression along the boundary of a seamount where sediment has built-up is a: A) scour moat.
B) guyot.
C) island arc.
D) abyssal plain.
Q5) What is sediment and what are the 4 classifications of marine sediments based on their origin?
Q6) What are the main sources of terrigenous sediments?
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Chapter 6: Water
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Q1) The density of seawater is affected by both temperature and salinity.
A)True
B)False
Q2) As carbon dioxide dissolves at the surface of the ocean, it combines chemically to form a weak acid called carbonic acid.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Heat and temperature both measure random vibrations of an atom or a molecule.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The components of ocean water whose proportions are NOT accounted for by the weathering of surface rocks are:
A) residue surface constituents.
B) trace elements.
C) conservative constituents.
D) excess volatiles.
Q5) Describe the factors that affect the distance and the rate at which sound travels in the ocean. Would you expect sound to travel faster through warm or cold water? Shallow or deep? Why?
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Chapter 7: Atmospheric Circulation
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Q1) Describe atmospheric convection.
Q2) When viewed from above, tropical cyclones rotate ____ in the southern hemisphere.
A) clockwise
B) counterclockwise
C) in either direction depending on the storm
D) poleward
Q3) The uneven heating of the surface of Earth results in atmospheric convection currents.
A)True
B)False
Q4) There are ____ main wind bands in each hemisphere of the Earth.
A) 2
B) 3
C) 4
D) 5
Q5) Near the poles (both in the north and south) the jet stream flows west to east.
A)True
B)False
Q6) What is a hurricane and how are they formed?
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Chapter 8: Ocean Circulation
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Q1) El Niño results due to an interruption of flow of the ____ Current in the Pacific.
A) Kuroshio
B) Equatorial
C) Canary
D) Antarctic Circumpolar
Q2) All of the following statements accurately describe Geostrophic gyres EXCEPT:
A) One of the 6 gyres is the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
B) Gyres are influenced by the Coriolis effect and the position of continental land masses.
C) Gyres are formed by surface currents that flow in a continuous circuit around the 5 major basins.
D) Sea level is higher in the middle of the gyre as a result of the pressure gradient and the Coriolis Effect.
Q3) What is upwelling and why is it important for biological productivity?
Q4) Upwelling areas are:
A) only found near the equator.
B) usually nutrient poor.
C) sometimes interrupted during El Niño years.
D) not affected by Ekman transport.
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Chapter 9: Waves
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Q1) The period of wind waves is usually expressed in:
A) feet or meters.
B) miles per hour, or kilometers per hour.
C) seconds.
D) feet or meters per hour.
Q2) Celerity is a measure of wavelength and the units are meters.
A)True
B)False
Q3) A ___________ is a gravity wave formed by the transfer of wind energy over the water.
A) swell
B) capillary wave
C) wind wave
D) tsunami
Q4) The distance measured from trough to trough of a wave is:
A) the wavelength.
B) the wave height.
C) the wave period.
D) the orbit.
Q5) What is a storm surge and how does it differ from a breaking wind wave?
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Chapter 10: Tides
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Q1) The type of tide associated with the full and new moons are:
A) neap tides.
B) spring tides.
C) diurnal tides.
D) tidal currents.
Q2) Which of the following statements best characterizes neap tides?
A) Neap tides occur when the moon, Earth and sun form a right angle.
B) Neap tides represent extreme tidal ranges.
C) Neap tides occur at the new and full moons every month.
D) Neap tides correspond with the timing of spring tides.
Q3) Most of the energy from the daily rise and fall of the tides comes from:
A) the rotation of the Earth.
B) winds.
C) heat.
D) the movement of plates.
Q4) When the sun and moon are in a line with the Earth, the:
A) gravitational attraction will be less.
B) difference between high and low tides will be minimal.
C) arrival of high tide will be delayed.
D) highest high and lowest low tides will occur.
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Coasts
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Q1) The single most influential agent changing the shore and coast is:
A) wave action.
B) the tidal range.
C) alternate freezing and thawing of coastal cliffs.
D) prevailing winds.
Q2) The large waves of late summer modify the shape of sandy beaches. Huge "bites" of beach are removed from the exposed beach and end up in offshore sand bars. These "bites" are most evident in the form of a very large and high:
A) berm.
B) shore face, or beach scarp.
C) foreshore.
D) backshore.
Q3) What is a beach? Define the term and describe features and processes that may bound the limits of a beach.
Q4) The function of a breakwater is to:
A) divert sand away from a swimming area.
B) interrupt the progress of waves to the beach.
C) allow freshwater to flow readily into the ocean.
D) fill in a bay or an inlet.
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Chapter 12: Life in the Ocean
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Q1) An important part of Darwinian natural selection is that traits must be inheritable.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A _______________ is a group of organisms linked by complex feeding relations.
A) species
B) food web
C) trophic pyramid
D) population
Q3) All other factors being equal, a greater quantity of dissolved gas can be held in solution in ____ seawater.
A) cold
B) warm
C) high salinity
D) low salinity
Q4) Describe how energy is distributed through ecosystems and define the different trophic levels into which marine organism can be classified.
Q5) Describe how energy enters biological ecosystems in the ocean.
Q6) Why is evolution important in the study of the ocean?
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Chapter 13: Pelagic Communities
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Q1) The active swimmers of the pelagic realm are called the zooplankton.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Describe at least 3 ways that marine mammals are adapted to life in the marine environment.
Q3) The distribution of phytoplankton in the ocean is directly influenced by the distribution of nutrients.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which of the following groups of animals includes only pinnipeds?
A) dolphins, whales and manatees
B) seals, sea lions and walruses
C) sea lions, sea cows and dugongs
D) walruses, polar bears and otters
Q5) Members of Class Chondrichtyes include:
A) alligators and sharks
B) rays and skates
C) tuna and lampreys
D) rays and hagfish
Q6) Explain why phytoplankton is critical to all of life on Earth.
Page 15
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Chapter 14: Benthic Communities
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Q1) Hydrothermal vents that support biological communities exist because of primary productivity in the form of chemosynthesis.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Kelp forests are most common in tropical latitudes.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In Darwin's description of reef structures, a fringing reef:
A) usually forms on the lee side of a tropical island.
B) has a deep lagoon that separates the reef from the island.
C) is ring-shaped and is not associated with an island.
D) is formed as a volcanic island sinks.
Q4) Animals that are attached to the bottom are called:
A) sessile.
B) motile.
C) infaunal.
D) interstitial.
Q5) Is the distribution of benthic organisms random? Explain why or why not.
Q6) What is an atoll? Describe the steps that occur in the formation of an atoll.
Q7) Compare and contrast the stability of habitats found in the deep-sea.
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Chapter 15: Uses and Abuses of the Ocean
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Q1) Which of the following statements is FALSE concerning bycatch?
A) Bycatch are targeted species.
B) Bycatch sometimes greatly exceeds the target catch.
C) Bottom trawling is one of the methods that results in a lot of bycatch.
D) Sea turtles are an example of bycatch.
Q2) With a human population of nearly 7 billion, freshwater has become a very important natural resource for human success and prosperity. What is desalination and can it help? What challenges does this industry face?
Q3) An example of a fishing technique that is particularly disruptive is:
A) hook and line.
B) drift nets.
C) mid-water trawl.
D) spear fishing.
Q4) Most synthetic pollutants resist attack by water, air, sunlight, and living organisms because the compounds of which they are composed resemble nothing in nature.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Define "Bycatch" and explain how it is damaging to marine populations.
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