SOL 5.6 Oceans
Question/Answer Packet
1. About how much of the Earth’s surface is
covered with water?
70%
2. What is the bottom of the ocean floor
covered with?
Sediments
(sand, mud and rocks)
3. What are five important features of the
ocean floor?
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4. Describe the Continental Shelf.
 Is relatively shallow
 Is home to most of the ocean life
(including plants and animal).
 It begins at the shoreline and gently
slopes underwater.
5. Describe the continental slope.
It begins at the edge of the continental shelf
and gradually deepens.
6. Describe the continental rise.
7. Describe the trench.
8. Describe the abyssal plain.
9. What are the 3 motions of the ocean?
Continental Shelf
Continental slope
Continental rise
Trench
Abyssal Plain
A gently sloping area that connects the
slope to the bottom of the ocean.
It is the deepest part of the ocean.
The flat area of the ocean floor.
 Waves
 Tides
 Currents.
10. What is a wave?
It is the up and down movement of water
caused by wind.
11. What are tides?
They are the rise and fall of the ocean water.
There are 2 lows and 2 highs in a 24 hour
period.
12. Describe a current.
13. What is the Gulf Stream?
14. Explain what happens as the depth of
the ocean increases.
15. What is salinity?
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Caused by wind patterns
Moves in a circular motion
Flows like a river through the ocean
Differences in water density
(temperature and salinity)
It is a warm current that is located off the
east coast of North America.
 The pressure increase.
 The amount of light decreases.
 The temperature decreases.
 These factors affect plant and animal
life.
A measurement that describes the saltiness
of the ocean.
16. Why does salinity vary in different parts
of the ocean?
 Rate of evaporation
 Amount of runoff water from the land
17. What is phytoplankton?
 Microscopic organisms that carry out
most of the photosynthesis on Earth.
 They provide much of the Earth’s
oxygen
 They are the base of the ocean food
web
18. What is the difference between
phytoplankton and zooplankton?
19. State 3 factors that can affect where an
organism lives.
Phytoplankton is plant –like, and
zooplankton is animal – like.
 Depth
 Salinity
 Temperature