Ocean Systems Test Study Guide
I. REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What is the composition of most ocean salt? One atom of sodium (Na) and two atoms of Chlorine
(Cl).
2. What is salinity? The amount of salt in a solution/dissolved solids.
3. Name three things that can affect ocean salinity. Evaporation of ocean water,
Rivers entering the ocean and Currents.
4. Where would the salinity of the ocean probably be the lowest? River Deltas.
5. What happens to the temperature of ocean water as you go deeper? Colder.
6. Name the four major oceans.
A) Arctic Ocean
B) Atlantic Ocean
C) Indian Ocean
D) PacificOcean
7. What is the Gulf Stream? Warm ocean current flowing from the Equator along the East Coast of
America to England.
8. Draw and label the ocean floor features.
#1 Continental Shelf
#2 Continental Slope
#3 Continental Rise
#1 Continental Shelf, #2 Continental Slope, #3 Mid Ocean Ridge, , #4 Volcanic Island , #5
Seamount, #6 Abyssal Plain, #7 Trench
9. What are surface currents? Ocean water moving within 200 meters of surface.
10. How are surface currents formed? Uneven heating of surface of Earth, spinning of the Earth, and
wind.
11. List three factors that control surface current. Global surface winds, continental deflection, and
spinning of the Earth (Coriolis Effect).
12. How do surface currents alter an area’s climate? Heat from the ocean is transferred to the adjoining
continents.
13. What are deep currents? Ocean water moving below 200 meters of the surface.
14. How are deep currents formed? Differences in water density. An increase in salt increases density
and causes water to sink. Also, colder water at the poles increases ocean density causing water to
sink. Warmer water at the equator flows towards pole and this creates the underwater current.
15. What is the Coriolis Effect? Curving ocean currents.
16. How is the Coriolis Effect formed? Earth’s rotation.
17. Ocean water often changes direction when it meets a land mass. What is this called? Continental
Deflection.
18. Draw and label the parts of a wave.
#1 crest
#2 Wavelength
#3 wave height
#4 trough
19. What is an undertow? Water rushing back to the ocean after a wave crashes at shore; it may be
strong enough to knock a person off their feet.
20. What is a storm surge and how is it formed? Wind pushing a large mass of water to shore; a typical
example is the flooding that occurs after a hurricane.
21. How are high and low tides formed? The gravity of the moon and centripetal force of the rotating
Earth.
22. What is a Spring Tide? An extremely high tide formed when the sun, moon and Earth are lined up.
23. What is a Neap Tide? An extremely low tide formed when the sun and moon form a 90 degree angle
with the Earth.
24. What is upwelling? Vertical movement of deep water to the surface.
25. What is an El Nino? Warm water flowing from the Southwest Pacific towards South America and
then continental deflection forces the warm water to flow north along the coast of Mexico and the
U.S.A. This warm water changes the climate of the western coast of South and North America.
26. What is a Tsunami and how is it formed? A Tsunami is a large wave that is formed by earthquakes.
27. 70 % of the Earth is covered in water and that is why most precipitation/rain falls on the Earth’s
oceans.
28. Draw a rip current
29. Draw a long-shore current
Vocabulary
Gulfstream –Warm ocean current flowing from the Equator along the East Coast of America to England.
El Nino - Warm water flowing from the Southwest Pacific towards South America and then continental
deflection forces the warm water to flow north along the coast of Mexico and the U.S.A. This warm water
changes the climate of the western coast of South and North America.
Upwelling - Vertical movement of deep water to the surface.
Coriolis Effect Neap Tide - An extremely low tide formed when the sun and moon form a 90 degree angle with the Earth.
Spring Tide - An extremely high tide formed when the sun, moon and Earth are lined up.
Trough - Waves have moving crests and troughs. A trough is the lowest point the medium sinks to.
Undertow - Water rushing back to the ocean after a wave crashes at shore; it may be strong enough to knock a
person off their feet.
Crest - Waves have moving crests and troughs. A crest is the highest point the medium rises to.
Salinity – the measure of the amount of dissolved salt contained in water.
Density – a property of matter representing the mass per unit volume.
Continental Shelf – the flat or gently sloping land that lies submerged around the edges of a continent and that
extends from the shoreline out to the continental slope.
Volcanic Island – are underwater volcanoes tall enough to reach above the surface.
Mid-Ocean Ridge – a long line of sea-floor mountains where new ocean crust is formed by volcanic activity
along a divergent boundary.
Sonar – a system that uses underwater sound waves to measure distance and locate objects.
El Nino – a disturbance of wind patterns and ocean currents in the Pacific Ocean that causes temporary climate
changes in many parts of the world.
Ocean Trench – are narrow, steep-sided clefts in the ocean floor.
Continental Slope – is land that drops down steeply at the edge of a continental shelf.
Continental Rise- A wide, gentle incline from an ocean bottom to a continental slope.
Abyssal Plain – is a wide, flat area of the ocean floor that is covered with a thick layer of sediment.
Seamount – A mountain rising from the ocean seafloor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level),
and thus is not an island.
Downwelling – the movement of water from the surface to greater depths
Upwelling – the vertical movement of deep water up to the surface.
Ocean Current – a mass of moving ocean water.