Lab-6 Ocean Provinces and Environments student answer form (1)

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Onondaga Community College *

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105

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Geography

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Oct 30, 2023

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Ocean Provinces and Sediments Lab Use the Google Earth (web version) link to explore the provinces and sediments of our ocean. The 3 major Provinces are: 1) Coastal Margin 2) The Abyssal Plains 3) The Mid-Oceanic Ridge Passive margins—East Coast of U.S. Active margins—Northwest coast of U.S. 1

USE: Google Earth link: https://earth.google.com/earth/d/1GpIVv-SwOf_o5lxBb7OUnOWD0mDmIy71?usp=sharing Starting Point: East Coast Coastal Margin. Here we are on a Beach in Northern New Jersey. Q1 . Go to 3D . How would you describe the topography of the Coastal Margin? Is it relatively flat, have mountains/cliffs or dunes? Q2 . What color is the sand? Q3 . What type of Coastal margin is this? Passive or Active? Click on: Stop 1: Be sure to be in 3D. Q5 . You have just crossed the Continental Shelf. What do you notice about the slope? Does it look steep or is it fairly flat? Q6 . Use the measurement tool and measure the width of the Continental shelf from The East Coast Coastal margin blue locator to the Continental shelf-slope break. Measure in Km Q7 . Look along the East Coast—is the width of the continental shelf the same everywhere? Yes or No? Click on image that pops up when you clicked on Stop1 to make it bigger. Check out the depth change from the Continental Shelf to the Continental Rise. This is called the Continental Slope. The continental slope can vary greatly in dip. Q8 . Watch the video showing the turbidity current. Describe how turbidity currents form the canyons found in the Continental Slope. 2

Stop 2: Q9 . Here we are at the Continental Rise. This is where the turbidity currents run out of energy and deposit sediments. Watch the video. Describe the shape of these sediment deposits. Stop 3: West Coast Coastal Margin Let’s look at another Coastal Margin. This one in Northern California. Q10 . How does this coastal margin look different from the east coast (Northern NJ)?— describe the features. Q11 . Use the measurement tool and measure the distance of the Continental Shelf. How is it different from the East Coast’s continental shelf distance? Q12 . What color is the sand? Is this sand color different than in NJ? If so, how? Q13 . What type of Coastal Margin is Northern California? Passive or Active? Stop 4: The Mid-Ocean Ridge. Q16 . What plate boundary type is the mid-ocean ridge? The image shows pillow basalts formed as the ridge separates—most volcanically active regions on Earth—creating new ocean crust. a. The video will show hydrothermal vents that are ___________m below the sea surface. 3

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The Video shows hot water vents that spew out metals and sulfides. These create some of the Hydrogenous cements like manganese nodules. Check out the abundance of life. Chemosynthesis allows organisms to live at these depths. Stop 5: Abyssal Plains Q18 . How many different kinds of life do you see in the images? Q19 . Zoom in and out and look at the Abyssal Plains. Are the Abyssal Plains flat? Yes or No? Stop 6: The New England Seamounts are off the coast of Cape Cod and they are part of the Abyssal Plains Province. Q20 . What are seamounts? What are Guyots? Check out the Bathymetric map to see these in more detail. Q20 . Scroll thru the images. Did you expect to see such an abundance of life? These corals are deep sea corals—they are heterotrophs. Do you recognize the rock found with these organisms ( hint look back at the mid-ocean ridge )? Q21 . This chain can illustrate the movement of the North American Plate. The oldest Seamount is nearest to the Continental Slope and the youngest is the furthest into the Atlantic. Based on this information what compass direction is the North American plate moving? You have now seen the three Marine Provinces.—Let’s look at a few subenvironments. 4

Stop 7: Reefs—subenvironment of the Coastal Margin Bahamian Island of San Salvador. The Bahamian Islands are formed by organisms—corals, calcareous green algae, sponges. These organisms build reefs—rock-like structures. This stop will take you thru the Reef Subenvironment of the Coastal Margin Province. Take some moments and explore stops 7a-7c. Stop 7a: Q22 . This beach is on the leeward side (western) of the island. Take a look at both the beach image and the sands (close-up on the finger). What type of sediment is here? Stop 7b: Q23 : Check out the image that shows you the length of the beach. Look at the Trash found on this beach. Take a look at the image showing the currents and winds. Why do you think trash ends up on this beach? Stop 7c: Q24 : All these images are of a patch reef. Take note of the hard corals, soft corals (called gorgonians), sponges, fish, and rippled sediment. Why do you think people often refer to reefs as the rainforests of the sea? Stop 8: no questions Estuaries are a very important subenvironment of the Coastal Margin. These are regions where special plants grow in a mix of seawater and freshwater. They are tidally influenced and are nurseries to marine life because they are quiet water habitats. We are still in San Salvador, but now we are looking at the Mangrove Estuary. The first image is of Red Mangroves above the water—take a look at their root system as it goes into the water. Stop 9: Mangrove estuaries are also found on continents as well. Here we are in Florida looking at the Mangrove swamps found along its shoreline. Q25 . What type of climate do you think mangroves live? Tropical, Temperate, or Polar? 5

Stop 10: We have come North but are still in an Estuary. This one is called a Salt Marsh Estuary because of the Salt grass that grows here. Zoom in on the Satellite image. Notice the Tidal Channels in the Salt Marsh. Make sure you are in 3D—Notice how the marsh areas are low-lying. These are continental regions that contain plants and organisms that have adapted to being exposed during low tide and flooded during high tide. Q26 . Now, take a look at the ground level image. Do you think this image was taken a high tide or low tide? Q27 . What type of climate do you think Salt marshes thrive? Tropical, Temperate, or Polar? Stop 11a-b: Volcanic Island We will now visit the Big Island of Hawaii. You can see the black rocks in the satellite images. Look how they flow right to the ocean. Q28 . What color is the sand? Q29 . How is this sand different than NJ and Northern California? Hypothesize what might influence the color of this (Hawaiian Sand). Q31 . Hapuna Bay patch reefs. Take a look at the beach sediment here. Why is it not black like the first stop in Hawaii? Q32 . Look thru the images of the patch reefs. Most of the corals are growing on rocks— not other corals as seen in San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Why do you think the reef here is so sparse and small? 6

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