Download OCN 201 Fall 2009 Exam 1 Study Guide Exam 1 will be held on

OCN 201 Fall 2009
Exam 1 Study Guide
Exam 1 will be held on Friday, October 2nd during the normal time and place for class.
Past exams are posted on the OCN 201 web site,
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/oceanography/courses_html/OCN201/exams.html
It is highly recommended that you review the old exams, and then consult the TA’s during office hours to
answer any of your remaining questions. This review is not guaranteed to be complete, or indicative of
topics that will be covered on the test.
You MUST bring a #2 pencil and your UH student ID to the exam!
Key Terms and Concepts:
scientific method
observation
hypothesis
prediction
theory
Polynesian navigation
home reference system
dead reckoning
Library of Alexandria
longitude problem
origin of the Universe
parallax
Doppler effect
Big Bang Theory
nuclear fusion
supernova explosion
chemical differentiation
rocky planets
gas giants
ice giants
bulk composition of Earth/Sun
volatile/refractory compounds
accretion
outgassing
crust
mantle
inner/outer core
lithosphere
asthenosphere
mesosphere
shadow zone
P-waves
S-waves
comparative planetology
hypsometric curve
isostasy
Alfred Wegener
Pangaea
Panthalassa
magnetic pole
true north
polar wandering
shrinking earth theory
continental drift
seafloor spreading
paleomagnetic "tape recorder"
subduction
convection
mobile belts
cratons
terranes
divergent boundary
constructional boundary
convergent boundary:
ocean-ocean
ocean-continent
continent-continent
destructional boundary
conservative boundary
continental shelf
continental rise
continental slope
shelf break
Atlantic-type margin
Pacific-type margin
slab pull
mid-ocean ridge
trench
island arc
andesite
basalt
dry/wet melting
fracture zones
transform fault
guyot
atoll
abyssal plain
abyssal hills
seamount
hot spot
mantle plume
LIPs
aseismic ridge
Wadati-Benioff zone
detrital sediments
chemical sediments
CCD
Sediment classification
deep-sea sampling
deep-sea sediments
Practice questions
(These questions come almost exclusively from past exams. Please look at past exams for the most
thorough review of the material).
1. What indicators did ancient Polynesian navigators use to recognize the presence of islands up to 30
miles away?
2. What is chemical differentiation, and how is this related to the distribution of planets in our solar
system?
3. Scientists believe that Earth formed by the infall of planetesimals. What formed the planetesimals?
What evidence tells us that they were cold and that they accreted rapidly?
4. What are the theories for the origin of the moon? Which one do scientists most strongly believe?
5. How old is the earth, and how do we know this?
6. What are the four most abundant elements on earth?
7. Why do we have oceans on earth?
8. We believe that the earth’s early atmosphere contained no free oxygen. Why do we have free oxygen in
the atmosphere today?
9. What evidence do we have that the earth’s outgassing is not yet complete?
10. What is the structure of the earth’s interior?
11. Why do we believe that the earth’s inner core is solid and the outer core is liquid?
12. What is the chemical equation for photosynthesis?
13. What is the chemical equation for the weathering of silicate rocks?
14. Why does Venus, which is similar to Earth, not have oceans?
15. List the basic characteristics of the Pacific and Atlantic basins. How are they similar? How are they
different?
16. What is the evidence for continental drift and seafloor spreading?
17. How will the rate of seafloor spreading affect ocean basin volume?
18. How are continents formed?
19. What is the ultimate driver of lithospheric plate motion? What four specific forces are involved?
Which of these four is the most important?
20. Describe the three types of plate boundaries. (Of these three types, one has three additional types).
21. How does an Atlantic-type continental margin look? How does a Pacific-type continental margin
look?
22. How do hot spots form island chains, seamounts, guyots, and atolls?
23. What is the Darwin point? Why do atolls reach the Darwin point?
24. What are the different ways in which sediments can be classified?