Exam 15: The Dynamic Ocean

A north south oriented shoreline has land to the east and the major storm waves arrive from the southwest.A headland abuts westward along the shoreline and exposes a distinctive black basalt that is rapidly eroded by waves pounding the coast.Where would you expect to find black sand derived from this headland?

Rip currents are dreaded by surf swimmers everywhere.The standard recommendation for swimmers is if you get caught in a rip current,swim parallel to the shore.Why?

You are walking along a rugged coastline in British Columbia,Canada.As the tide goes out you realize there is a beautiful flat surface that is nearly as smooth as a highway and underlain by 1-2cm of gravel sitting on solid rock.The tide has exposed a ________.

The largest daily tidal range occurs in association with spring tides.

Hurricane Sandy produced some of the greatest destruction along the New Jersey coast in communities situated along narrow strips of land between the beach and a coastal lagoon to the west.These communities were vulnerable because they were built on low-lying terrane of ________.

As the tide rises,water flows in toward the shore as the ebb tide.

Because of the Coriolis effect,surface ocean currents are deflected to the ________ of their path of motion in the Northern Hemisphere.

Fetch refers to ________.

A sand ridge connecting an island to the mainland or to another island is a ________.

Prevailing winds toward a shoreline typically produce upwelling.

In the Cretaceous period of earth history there is clear evidence that the climate was much warmer than today.It was so warm that areas near the pole had tropical vegetation like palm trees,and there was almost certainly no sea ice and glaciers probably only existed at very high altitude.This produced widespread anoxia (stagnant,no-oxygen condition)on the floor of the oceans.From your knowledge of ocean circulation,which of the following explanations could account for the anoxia?

Rock breakwaters will produce erosion of beaches on the lee side of the breakwater.

A variety of techniques and efforts are used to stabilize shorelines throughout the world.Are all of these efforts only temporary measures or are any of them permanent? Also,does urbanization and development of coastal areas always contribute to shoreline erosion? Explain.

One result of wave refraction is that wave energy is concentrated ________.

The energy that creates surface ocean currents comes from prevailing winds.

The Coriolis effect causes ocean currents in the Southern Hemisphere to be deflected to the right of their path of motion.

A barrier island is a static feature that has been unchanged for thousands to hundreds of thousands of years.

The movement of sand parallel to the shore ________.

Anyone who has ever gone swimming in heavy surf will tell you that if a wave is about to crash over you,the best thing to do is dive down,under the wave.Why does this keep you from being swept up in the wave,like being in a washing machine?