Underlined texts are hotlinks to helpful information.  The hyperlinks titled "Facts to know"  are a way to evaluate your preparation for  the test after reading the corresponding chapters - all the answers are in your textbook.

Important: Before starting Unit 1 you must pass a "Geography Proficiency Test." Geographic proficiency requires locating 100 global sites of geographic, oceanographic, and geo-political importance. You must correctly identify the locations of at least 8 of 10 places (randomly chosen from the list of 100) on a world map to pass the geography proficiency test. Once this test is passed, you may proceed with the course material. Click on the tab above for the list of locations you must learn.

MAIN CONCEPTS TO LEARN

1. Summary statistics: Distribution of water; average depth, temperature and salinity of oceans.

2. Scientific Exploration ­ from the United States Exploring Expedition to the present.

3. Understand the differences between scientific hypotheses, theories and laws.

4. Current hypotheses on the origins of the universe and stars.

5. Current hypotheses on the origins of Earth, ocean and life; age of Earth and time of life's origin.

6. Latitude and longitude (how is the Earth divided; where are high, mid and low latitudes?).

7.  Facts to know.
 
 REFERENCES

1. Text ­ Chapters 1 and 2 (including terms and boxes); Appendices I, III, and IV

(NOTE: ALL measurement units used on tests will be in the Metric System).

MAIN CONCEPTS TO LEARN

1. Layered structure of Earth's interior and how it is determined.

2. Differences in composition, and relative density and ages of oceanic and continental crusts.

3. Wegener and the hypothesis of continental drift.

4. Understand how and where oceanic crust is formed and destroyed; processes occurring at plate boundaries.

5. Characteristics of the three types of plate boundaries.

6. Boundaries of the North and South American Plates.

7. Further evidence in support of plate tectonics: hot spots, guyots and seamounts, and paleomagnetism.

8. History of the current sea floor spreading phase since breakup of Pangaea (Fig. 3.14).

9. Shape of ocean floor and its features, including:

10. Characteristics and subdivisions of continental margins, both active and passive,

11.  Submarine canyons,

12. Oceanic ridges,

13. Island arcs and trenches, and

14. Deep-ocean basins.

15. Be able to sketch an east-west cross section of the Atlantic Ocean basin from the U.S. to Europe.

16. Compare the U.S. east and west coast continental margins. What is the difference between active and passive margins? Be able to draw cross sections of these margins.

17. Location and significance of hydrothermal vents.

Facts to know.
 
 REFERENCES

1. Text ­ Chapter 3 and 4  (including terms, etc.)

MAIN CONCEPTS TO LEARN

1. How sediments are classified (by size and source).

2. Factors controlling the occurrence of terrigenous, biogenous, and hydrogenous sediments.

3. Especially, factors controlling the occurrence of calcium carbonate sediments and oozes.

4. Sources of terrigenous, biogenous, and hydrogenous sediments.

5. How oceanic sediments are collected and studied; importance of ocean sediments to Earth history.

6. Facts to know.
 
 

REFERENCES

1. Text ­ Chapter 5 (including terms, etc.)

MAIN CONCEPTS TO LEARN

1. Structure and polarity of the water molecule; types of bonding within and between water molecules.

2. Salinity: what it is, how it is measured; its six major components; sources of the salts; constant proportions.

3. Residence time vs. mixing time.

4. Factors controlling concentrations of dissolved gases (especially oxygen and carbon dioxide).

5. Importance of the carbon dioxide-carbonic acid system to the pH (acid-base balance) of seawater.

6. Thermal properties of water; its specific heat and thermostatic effects.

7. Differences between the physical properties of seawater vs. fresh water (i.e., effect of salinity).

8. Earth's heat budget

9. Factors controlling the density of seawater; density structure of the ocean.

10. Other physical properties: refraction of light, light penetration, sound transmission in water vs. air.

11. Facts to know.
 
 

REFERENCES

1. Text - Chapter 6 (including terms, etc.)

MAIN CONCEPTS TO LEARN

1. Uneven solar heating and effect on atmospheric circulation; cause of the seasons.

2. Understand the Coriolis effect and its influence on atmospheric circulation.

3. Be familiar with global wind patterns, monsoonal winds, and land and sea breezes.

4. Know how and where extratropical and tropical cyclones (hurricanes) form.

5. Surface (wind) currents: major gyres and their currents; Coriolis Effect and Ekman transport.

6. Forces acting on geostrophic currents.

7. Characteristics of western and eastern boundary currents (especially in the N. Atlantic); why these currents exist.

8. How upwelling (coastal and equatorial) and downwelling occur.

9. Causes and significance of El Niño and La Niña; crises caused by El Niño.

10. Factors controlling thermohaline (density-driven) circulation; major water masses.

11. Facts to know. 
 
 REFERENCES

1. Text - Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 (including terms, etc.)

MAIN CONCEPTS TO LEARN

1. What is a wave; parts of a wave; water motion as a wave passes in open ocean.

2. Classification of waves and their disturbing forces.

3. Distinction between deep-water and shallow-water waves.

4. Characteristics of wind waves and factors affecting their maximum development.

5. Processes as waves approach shore.

6. Causes and characteristics of storm surges and seiches.

7. Tsunami and seismic sea waves - causes, characteristics, and effects.

8. Lunar and solar tides - their characteristics, causes and effects; spring and neap tides.

9. Tidal patterns - semidiurnal, diurnal, and mixed.

10. Tidal currents and amphidromic circulation.

11. Tides in confined regions (bays and river mouths); power from tides.

12.  Facts to know.

REFERENCES

1. Text - Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 (including terms, etc.)

MAIN CONCEPTS TO LEARN

1.  Classification, features and processes occurring on erosive and depositional coasts.

2.  Wave energy effects on shorelines.

3.  Movement of sediment by long shore currents.

4.  Beaches ("Rivers of Sand") and their features; high energy and low energy beaches.

5.  Other characteristics of depositional coasts (sand spits, barrier islands, etc.).

6.  Influence of organisms on coasts.

7. Types and features of estuaries based on their origin and on volume of river flow -

8. Comparison of east, west, and Gulf coastal regions.

9.  Modifications of coastal regions by human activity.

10. Facts to know.
     
     

REFERENCES

1. Text - Chapter 11 (including terms, etc.).

MAIN CONCEPTS TO LEARN

1. Relationship between living things and energy; how organisms obtain and use energy.

2. Trophic relationships and trophic levels; food webs (what is the first level of all food chains?).

3. Dependence of marine life on physical factors, especially light, nutrients, dissolved gases and temperature.

4. How organisms and dissolved carbon dioxide affect the pH of seawater.

5. How physical factors in items 3 and 4 above vary with depth in the ocean.

6. Classifications of the marine environment based on light and location.

7. System of biological classification; how organisms are named.

8. Communities of organisms and factors affecting their location, composition, and distribution.

9. Mass extinctions - disappearance of many life forms.

10. Facts to know.
 
 

REFERENCES

1. Text - Chapter 12 (including terms, etc.)

MAIN CONCEPTS TO LEARN

1.  Differences between pelagic and benthonic community.

2.  Differences between planktonic and nektonic

3.  Planktonic autotrophs

4. Zooplankton and  relationship with phytoplankton

5. Nektonic mollusks and arthropods. primary productivity and marine food chains

6. Classification, characteristics, and life styles of fishes.

7. Classifications, characteristics, and life styles of amphibians, marine reptiles and marine birds.

8. Classifications, characteristics, and life styles of marine mammals.

9. Facts to know.

REFERENCES

1. Text - Chapter 13 (including terms, etc.)

MAIN CONCEPTS TO LEARN

1.  Communities of organisms and factors affecting their location, composition, and distribution.

2. Examples and characteristics of important marine communities: intertidal (rocky, beach, salt marshes and estuaries), deep-sea floor, and hydrothermal vent

3. Evolution of reef shapes

4. Corals as reef builders; types of reefs

5. Facts to know.

REFERENCES

1. Text - Chapter 14 (including terms, etc.)

MAIN CONCEPTS TO LEARN

1. Physical resources from seawater and the sea floor - economic value and uses.

2. Biological resources from the sea - types and yields.

3. Use of the ocean for transportation and recreation.

4. Major types of pollution, their causes and effects.

5. How pollutants are "amplified" up the food web.

6. Global changes - ozone depletion and warming.

7. The lesson from Easter Island.

8. Exclusive Economic Zone

9. Facts to know.
 
 

REFERENCES

1. Text - Chapter 15 (including terms, etc.) plus Appendix V on third edition (p.326-327)