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Exploring the Oceans Study Guide
1. Know the features of the topography of the ocean floor. Use pages 384 – 385 of your
textbook.
2. Know what sonar stands for and how sonar works. Sonar stands for sound navigation and
ranging. Scientists send sound pulses from a ship down into the ocean. The sound moves
through the water, bounces off the ocean floor and returns to the ship.
3. Be able to explain why you think that geological features in the ocean are bigger than the
ones on land. The geological features on the ocean floor are bigger because they do not
have the weathering and erosion that takes place on land.
4. How did water form on Earth? The Earth cooled enough for water vapor to condense.
5. The ocean helps to regulate temperatures. How does this help with regulating
temperatures between day and night, and how does it help in regulating temperatures at
different locations? If the ocean did not regulate the temperatures, there would be a great
difference in temperatures between the day and night. The temperatures are different with
the different locations.
6. What is salinity? A measure of the amount of dissolved solids in a given amount of liquid.
7. Explain the variation of temperature with latitude and time of year. Depending on the time
of year and latitude, it determines the temperature of the ocean.
8. Explain salinity with regard to climate: for example, hot, dry climate, what would be the
salinity of the ocean? If the climate is hot and dry, the salinity of the ocean would tend to
have high salinity.
9. Which zone is located between the high- and low-tide limits? The Intertidal Zone
10. Define the Water Cycle. The movement of water from ocean to the atmosphere to the
land and back to the ocean.
11. When using sonar, what might it mean if it takes a long time for the sound wave to
return to the ship? If it takes a long time for the sound wave to return, it is very deep.
12. What are the two zones in the pelagic environment? Neritic Zone and Oceanic Zone
13. What are the two major regions of the ocean floor? Continental Margin and Deep-Ocean
Basin
14. How are the regions of the continental margin divided? By depth and slope
15. What does the ocean help to regulate and how does it regulate it? Temperatures around
the Earth.