Going to the beach this summer? Test your knowledge of the Earth’s oceans.
1. The most abundant element in the universe makes up almost two-thirds of the atoms in the ocean. What is it? Oxygen; hydrogen; methane; nitrogen.
2. In early marine history, what group of people made the longest voyages? Vikings; Phoenicians; Polynesians; Greeks.
3. What’s the name of the scientific device used to sample water? Hansen bottle; Nansen bottle; Mansen bottle; Jansen bottle.
4. True or false: A Fjord is created by tsunamis?
5. What’s the name of the ship that embarked on the first scientific expedition of the ocean? HMS Columbia; HMS Challenger; HMS Beagle; HMS Yorktown.
6. True or false: A flat-topped, submerged volcanic mountain is called a guyot.
7. What’s the name of the range of the underwater mountains that run between the North American continent and Europe? Oceanic Ridge; European Ridge; Mid-Atlantic Ridge; North American Ridge.
8. What’s the mass, horizontal flow of water in the oceans called? Tidal waves; floods; tsunamis; currents.
9. Finish the sentence: Seaweeds are classified into three groups: Chlorophyta (green), Rhodophyta (red), and ____________________? Silverphyta (silver); Aquaphyta (blue); Phaeophyta (brown); Orophyta (gold).
10. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution surveyed the amount of solid waste pollution off the northeast coast of the U.S. How many pieces of plastic did the survey show polluted each square mile of ocean in that area? 460; 460,000; 4,600; 46,000.
11. Some oceans are continually growing. This is due to: tidal waves; the revolving of Earth; rainfall; seafloor spreading.
12. What’s the topography of the ocean floor called? Seafloor mapping; seismology; bathymetry; aqualogy.
ANSWERS:
1. Hydrogen. 2. The Polynesians started from the islands now called the Philippines, and inhabited islands as far north as Hawaii, and as far west as Easter Island. These voyages were taken without navigation aids, or any other scientific means. 3. Nansen bottle. This device was created by the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen. 4. False. Fjords occur where glaciers form undersea U-shaped valleys; consequently, they are found in the northern latitudes. 5. The HMS Challenger began its first voyage on December 21, 1872. The space shuttle that exploded on take off on January 28, 1986 was named after this ship. 6. True. Pronounced “ghee-OH”, these were first discovered by USN Cmdr. Harry Hess during World War II. They are named after Professor Arnold Guyot, Princeton’s first professor of geology. 7. Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Many of the mountains are actively volcanic, resulting in seafloor spreading. 8. Ocean currents occur in many layers of the ocean, from the surface to the seafloor. Sometimes, the visible current on the surface is flowing in the opposite direction lower in the water column. 9. Phaeophyta - brown. 10. 46,000. These pieces of plastic include Styrofoam cups, fishing line, netting, and plastic food ware, to name just a few. One hundred thousand marine mammals and 2,000,000 seabirds die each year from this waste. 11. Seafloor spreading. Since the beginning of the planet, the ocean geography has changed radically. 12. Bathymetry. Early peoples charted the seafloor using weighted lines, called line sounding.