Some of the topics to be covered in this course:


The science of marine biology
The sea floor, plate tectonics, early earth (project)



Marine ecology
Tsunamis (project)
El Nino / southern occilation






State of the world’s fisheries (overfishing the oceans)
Human impact on the marine environment
Coral reefs, ocean depths
Marine organisms and their ecology
Chemistry of the oceans
Etc…….

 Marine Science can be defined as the process of discovering the facts, processes, and unifying principles that explain the nature of the oceans and their associated life forms.
 Marine science consists of four branches of oceanography
 Oceanography is the science of recording and describing the ocean’s contents and processes.

 The four main branches of oceanography:
 Biological oceanography (Marine biology)
 Chemical oceanography
 Geological oceanography
 Physical oceanography

 Biological oceanography (also called marine
biology) studies the diversity of life in the ocean and the ocean’s role as their habitat.
 Chemical oceanography studies the chemistry of seawater
 Geological oceanography concerns itself with the geology of the ocean
 Physical oceanography is the study of the physics within the marine environment

 Marine science draws on physical science, life science, and Earth and space science
 Physical science is the study of matter and energy
(chemistry and physics)
 Life science is the study of living things and their interactions with their environment (physiology, biology,
ecology)
 Earth and space science is the study of the physical
Earth, the solar system, the universe, and their interrelationships. (Geology, astronomy, astrophysics)

 Because marine science is a broad field, marine scientist need more than a formal education in the sciences.
 mathematics
 History
 Technology
 Social sciences
 Literature
 arts