EPSS 15: Oceanography

FINAL EXAM Questions

David Jewitt. The exam will consist largely of a random subset of the
following questions, will be closed book, no electronics, no talking, no
telepathy, channeling of the dead or mysticism of any kind. I will add a few
extra questions between now and the exam. The final exam will be held on
Wednesday, June 10, 2015, 11:30am-2:30pm, in Ackerman Grand Ballroom.
Thanks - Dave
Question 1)
At one scale height, the pressure of the atmosphere is roughly half its surface value.
What is the pressure at 4 scale heights, relative to the surface value?
a) the same
b) 1/4
c) (1/2) * 4 = 2
d) 1/32
e) 1/16
Question 2)
The mass of water in the oceans divided by the mass of earth is about
a) 0.03%
b) 0.3%
c) 3%
d) 30%
e) none of the above
Question 3)
When plates collide, the outcome
a) depends on the thicknesses of the two plates
b) sometimes results in the plates sticking together
c) can cause earthquakes and volcanos
d) sometimes builds a mountain range
e) all of the above

Question 4)
You are given a map of the Earth and asked to locate a likely collision between two
continental plates. Would you look for
a) a subduction zone
b) a mountain range
c) an island
d) a deep ocean trench
e) b and c
Question 5)
The Earths plates move at a speed near
a) 0.1 - 1 mm /yr
b) 1 - 10 mm /yr
c) 1 - 10 cm/yr
d) 10 - 100 cm/yr
e) 100 - 1000 cm/yr
Question 6)
Roughly X% of ocean oil pollution is unconnected with human activities. What is X?
a) 100%
b) 50%
c) 10%
d) 1%
e) 0.5%
Question 7)
The depth of the thermocline is affected most by
a) the time of day
b) the salinity of the water
c) the Coriolis force
d) the latitude
e) c and d
Question 8)
Why are the high salinity regions of the Earths oceans found mostly at low latitudes?

a) most rivers occur at low latitudes and rivers are sources of salt
b) high latitude water is diluted by melting polar ice
c) ocean currents move salty water equatorward
d) higher temperatures encourage evaporation at low latitudes
e) b and d
Question 9)
The diagram shows how the temperature of water (y-axis) changes as energy is added
(x-axis).

What is happening to the water molecules at A in the diagram?

a) The water molecules are vibrating more and more as energy is added
b) Hydrogen bonds between molecules are breaking as energy is added
c) Hydrogen bonds between molecules are forming as energy is added
d) a and b
e) a and c
Question 10)
Suppose that the rotation of the Earth speeds up from once per 24 hours to once per 12
hours. Would the Coriolis force?....
a) deflect objects moving in the Northern hemisphere to the right
b) deflect objects moving in the Northern hemisphere to the left
c) be stronger
d) be weaker
e) a and c

Question 11)
In the Gaia Hypothesis
a) Life completely controls the temperature of the surface environment
b) The surface environment controls life
c) There is feedback between life and the environment to make the latter suitable for the
former
d) Life developed on all planets but could survive only on Earth
e) None of the above
Question 12)
What is the largest possible crest-to-trough height of a wave that has a wavelength of
70 meters?
a) 1 meters
b) 5 meters
c) 10 meters
d) 15 meters
e) 20 meters
Question 13)
Waves break in shallow water because
a) they hit rocks
b) constructive interference between independent waves destroys them
c) they speed up in shallow water and cannot tolerate the high speeds
d) they slow down in shallow water and their lost kinetic energy becomes potential
"
energy
e) none of the above
Question 14)
Two waves having trough to peak heights 4 meters and 4 meters interfere. What will be
the maximum and minimum wave heights of the two combined?
a) 16 and 8 meters
b) 12 and 4meters
c) 8 and 0 meters
d) 16 and 0 meters

e) 0 and 4 meters
Question 15)
With its natural greenhouse the Earth is about X degrees hotter than it would otherwise
be. What is X?
a) -13 degrees C
b) 273 K
c) 13 degrees C
d) 30 degrees C
e) 300 degrees K
Question 19)
Evidence for the existence of oceans on other worlds includes
a) Dry river channels on Europa
b) Apparent icebergs on Enceladus
c) Outgassing through cracks on Europa
d) Magnetic evidence for a conducting layer on Europa
e) All of the above
Question 20)
The main greenhouse gases are
a) Nitrogen
b) Water
c) Water and Nitrogen
d) Methane, carbon dioxide and water
e) Methane, carbon dioxide and oxygen

Question 21)
The small wiggles on the Keeling Curve are caused by
1) Atmospheric storm systems
2) Death of carbonate-shelled
organisms in the acidified ocean
3) Seasonal variations in plant growth
4) Cyclic variations in outgassing of
CO2 from volcanos
5) 3 and 4

Question 22)
Water is a polar molecule because
a) It is frozen at the Earths poles
b) It is strongly affected by the Earths magnetic field, especially near the poles
c) The O and H ends of the molecule have different charge, allowing the O of one
molecule to attract the H of a nearby molecule
d) When the hydrogen bond breaks it releases energy
e) The hydrogen bonds allow water to be relatively difficult to freeze or boil
Question 23)
The scale height (effective thickness) of the atmosphere is about
a) 100 m
b) 1 km
c) 10 km
d) 100 km
e) None of the above
Question 24)
The barycenter of the Earth-Moon system is

a) where a line drawn between the Earth center and the Moon center intersects the
surface of the Earth
b) where a line drawn between the Earth center and the Moon center intersects the
surface of the Moon
c) inside the Earth
d) outside the Earth
e) b and c
Question 25)
A bird eats a fish. What is the difference in trophic levels between the consumer and
the consumed?
a) 0
b) 1
c) 2
d) 3
e) 4
Question 25)
Oceanographically important properties of water that result from its dense network of
hydrogen bonds are
a) ice floats in water
b) water is made of two of the most abundant elements
c) water has large latent heats
d) water has no smell
e) a and c
Question 26)
The orbit period of the Moon is roughly
a) a day
b) a week
c) a month
d) a year
e) none of the above
Question 27)
A longshore bar is
a) a place to buy beer near the beach
b) a ridge of sand on the beach caused by winter storm waves

c) a ridge of sand blocking the estuary of a river

d) an artificial construction to reduce wave damage to the beach
e) an underwater ridge of sand close to the shore and parallel to it
Question 29)
A drift net is
a) an elongated, bag-shaped net designed to catch fish in an end pouch
b) a net like a draw-string bag
c) a net whose anchor or connecting rope has broken
d) a fence-like net that floats freely in the water
e) an old fishing device rejected because of its inefficiency
Question 30)
The tragedy of the commons is
a) a product of modern technology
b) a sad story about a farm
c) unregulated over-use of a public resource for private gain
d) unavoidable
e) a and c
Question 31)
Using the tides to obtain energy is
a) a good idea because it is relatively pollution-free
b) not sufficient to power civilization
c) practically inexhaustible
d) already done in some places
e) all of the above
Question 32)
The snow line is
a) the distance from the Sun inside which comets likely formed
b) the distance from the Sun inside which water is stable as ice
c) the distance from the Sun outside which asteroids likely formed
d) the distance from the Sun inside which asteroids likely formed
e) none of the above
Question 33)
Which of these is true? Sand moves southwards along the west coast of the US
because
a) the prevailing deep ocean current near the coast is to the south
b) the wind blows north-to-south most of the year
c) there are more storms in the north than the south and so more waves from the north
d) the statement is not true: sand does not move from north to south

e) none of the above

Question 34)
The euphotic zone is
a) the region of the ocean in which photosynthesis is possible
b) the distance over which water (and ice) starts to look blue
c) the region of the ocean in which sunlight can be detected
d) the dark region of the ocean
e) the bottom layer of the ocean, adjacent to the seabed
Question 35)
Effects of the Moon include
a) an increase in the length of the year (the time taken to orbit the Sun)
b) shortening of the length of the day
c) an increase in the crime rate
d) an increase in the rate of mental illness
e) none of the above
Question 36)
Water is blue because
a) It reflects the sky
b) It is colored by photosynthetic bacteria (so-called blue-green bacteria)
c) Red light light is preferentially absorbed, leaving only blue light
d) Our eyes are most sensitive to the blue region of the spectrum
e) a and c
Question 37)
What happened at ~2.5 billion years in
this plot?
a) photosynthetic bacteria suddenly
increased their activity
b) a supercontinent broke up through
the action of plate tectonics
c) the Earths atmosphere thickened
due to the impact of either a comet or
an asteroid
d) the Sun changed its output of energy
e) all of the above

Question 38)
Most sand is produced by
a) parrotfish
b) cliff erosion
c) corals and shells
d) glacial erosion of rock
e) rivers

Question 39)
This organism is most likely to be a
a) cyanobacteria
b) dinoflagellate
c) diatom
d) artificial
e) none of the above

Question 40)
Which is the most accurate statement?
Osmosis is
a) The diffusion of small molecules of a gas into larger molecules of another gas

b) The diffusion of large molecules of a gas into small molecules of another gas
c) The diffusion of one gas into another gas
d) The preferential diffusion of small molecules across a membrane
e) The preferential diffusion of large molecules across a membrane

Question 41)
Desalination of sea water is a poor source of drinking water because
a) too many fish are killed in the extraction pumps
b) very pure water tastes bad
c) even without salt, seawater is contaminated with pollutants and bacteria
d) it is very expensive
e) most world populations live too far from the sea

Question 42)
Which of these is true? Primary productivity is
a) generally higher in warm water than cold
b) highest in the euphotic zone
c) lowest in the euphotic zone
d) highest in the benthic zone
e) all of the above
Question 43)
Roughly what fraction of the carbon-rich material produced in surface ocean waters
reaches the bottom of the ocean?
a) 0.0%
b) 0.03%
c) 0.3%
d) 3%
e) 30%
Question 44)
In shallow water
a) waves bend away from the coast line because they are refracted
b) waves bend towards the coast line because they are refracted
c) waves slow down
d) a and c
e) b and c

Question 45)
Blue-green bacteria are
a) blue
b) red
c) blue-green
d) green
e) all of the above

Question 46)

Feature A is a

a) longshore bar
b) barrier island
c) sandspit
d) bay barrier
e) tombolo
Question 47)
The time taken for floating debris to cross the ~10,000 km wide Pacific Ocean is about
a) 1 month
b) 10 months
c) 2 years
d) 5 years
e) 10 years

Question 48)

This is the US coast north of Atlantic City.

Feature A is most likely to be
a) longshore bar
b) barrier island
c) sandspit
d) bay barrier
e) tombolo

Question 49)

Experiments show that it takes 10 tons of iron sulphide to produce a phytoplankton

bloom covering 10,000 km2 of the ocean. If the Pacific is a circle with a radius of 5000
km, about how many tons of iron sulphide would be needed for a geoengineering
project to cause an ocean-wide bloom?
a) 7,000
b) 70,000
c) 170,000
d) 1.7x106
e) 1.7x107
Question 50)
Suppose that 1) there are 100,000 sperm whales and that 2) they each live for 100
years and that 3) when they die, they fall and are consumed by benthic organisms
within 10 years of death. How many sperm whale bodies should be found on the ocean
floor at any one time?
a) 10
b) 100
c) 1,000
d) 10,000
e) 100,000
Question 50)
The mammalian diving reflex protects against drowning by
a) slowing down the heart to reduce oxygen consumption
b) speeding up the heart to send more blood to the lungs, where oxygen is extracted
c) sending blood preferentially to the brain and heart
d) filling interior void spaces with fluid
e) a c and d
Question 51)
From the trophic triangle estimate the mass of phytoplankton needed to support a 10
ton (104 kg) whale.

a) 107 kg
b) 108 kg
c) 109 kg
d) 1010 kg
e) 1011 kg

Question 52)
Which of these is an example illustrating the tragedy of the commons?
a) factory pollution of a river leading to an algal bloom that kills the fish
b) fishing north Atlantic cod to near extinction
c) two countries fighting for ownership of an otherwise useless island in order to gain
access to the fishing and mineral rights surrounding the island
d) the addition of fluorine to drinking water to decrease the incidence of tooth decay
e) a and b

Question 53)

What kind of camouflage is this fish using?

a) Razzle-dazzle
b) Blending-in
c) Mimicry
d) a and b
e) b and c
Question 54)
Melting of the polar ice would cause the oceans to rise by roughly
a) 10 m
b) 100 m
c) 300 m
d) 1 km
e) 3 km
Question 55)
Most deep-ocean hotspots are powered by
a) serpentinization

b) tidal heating
c) chemical heating
d) escaping volcanic heat
e) frictional heating
Question 56)
This is the phase diagram of water. Which processes occur in moving from A to B to C?
a) Boiling then freezing
b) Sublimating then melting
c) Condensing
d) Condensing then evaporating
e) Condensing then freezing

Question 57)
In the water phase diagram, which processes occur in moving from C to D to B?
a) Freezing then evaporating
b) Evaporating then melting
c) Melting
d) Condensing then sublimating
e) Sublimating then condensing
Question 58)
A Hadley Cell is
a) an isolation room where they keep Bradley Manning
b) a circulation pattern caused by the Coriolis force
c) a circulation pattern caused by non-uniform heating and convection
d) a result of thermal expansion
e) c and d

Question 59)
The human diving record is 100 meters. The pressure on the body at this depth owing
to the weight of the water above (unit units of the atmospheric pressure = 1 bar) is
a) 10 bar
b) 100 bar
c) 1000 bar
d) 10000 bar
e) None of the above
Question 60)
Tides cause
a) the Moon to approach the Earth by about 40 cm/yr
b) the Earths rotation to speed up
c) the Moon to move away from the Earth by about 40 cm/yr
d) the Earths rotation to slow down
e) c and d
Question 61)
Which is true?
Spring tides
a) Occur each spring because the Sun is closest then
b) Occur each spring because the Moon is closest then
c) Occur only in the Spring
d) Do not occur in the Spring
e) Occur every month, whether it is Spring or not

Question 62)
Which is the best answer?
The thickness of the euphotic zone is about
a) 10 meters
b) 100 meters
c) 1000 meters
d) 4000 meters
e) 6000 meters
Question 63)

Which of these is true? Algal blooms are bad for fish because
a) they can produce poisonous waste-products
b) they deplete oxygen water when they die and decay
c) they block sunlight and hence inhibit photosynthesis by other organisms
d) a and b
e) a, b and c
Question 64)
The fraction of CO2 in the atmosphere is about
a) 30%
b) 3%
c) 0.3%
d) 0.03%
e) 0.003%
Question 65)
Two ships off the coast of Peru fire their guns at each other. No matter how precisely
the guns are aimed, the gunners notice that their shells always strike to the left of the
intended target point. Possible reasons include
a) they forgot Coriolis force
b) random aiming errors
c) wave motions cause the guns to drift off target
d) they corrected for Coriolis force in the wrong direction
e) a and d

Question 66)
Red light is absorbed by water more strongly than blue light. At the bottom of the photic
zone, which of the following will be true
a) a blue object will appear bright
b) a red object will appear dark
c) a blue object will appear dark
d) a red object will appear bright
e) a and b

Question 67)
The hagfish is the only animal that has X but not Y. What are X and Y?

Answer

a)

tail

spine

b)

spine

brain

c)

spine

tail

d)

skull

spine

e)

jaw

tongue

Question 68)
The pressure experienced 3000 m beneath the waves is approximately
a) 3x atmospheric pressure
b) 30x atmospheric pressure
c) 300x atmospheric pressure
d) 3000x atmospheric pressure
e) none of the above
Question 69)
Whales migrate in latitude
a) To give birth in cold water environments
b) To give birth in warm water environments
c) To eat in cold water environments
d) To eat in warm water environments
e) b) and c)

Question 70)
Which of these is true?
a) Most beached whales are baleen whales
b) Whales are warm-blooded
c) Some whales can dive to over 8000 m
d) There are no fossil whales
e) All of the above
Question 71)
The speed of a shallow-water wave
a) increases with depth
b) is independent of depth
c) decreases with depth

d) increases with wavelength

e) decreases with wavelength
Question 72)
In general, the largest ocean waves are found near Antarctica because
a) The winds are strongest there
b) The ocean is deepest there
c) There are few mountains or land-masses to block the winds
d) The Coriolis force has maximum effect at the largest latitudes
e) a and c

Question 73)
Organisms that produce their own food
a) are mostly photosynthetic
b) are called hemotrophs
c) are called autotrophs
d) are called heterotrophs
e) a and c

Question 74)
Which processes increase the salinity of sea water?
a) evaporation
b) formation of sea ice
c) rainfall
d) melting of sea ice
e) a and b
Question 75)
Shallow water waves on two different beaches, A and B, travel at 3 and 6 meters per
second, respectively. What are the approximate water depths on the two beaches, A
then B?
a) 4 and 8 meters
b) 8 and 4 meters
c) 1 and 4 meters
d) 1 and 2 meters
e) 1 and 3 meters
Question 76)
The open-ocean speed of a tsunami wave is roughly
a) 10 m/s

b) 30 m/s
c) 90 m/s
d) 300 m/s
e) 9000 m/s
Question 77)
A whale with two blow holes is
a) likely to be a deep-diver
b) likely to be cold-blooded
c) likely to eat krill
d) likely to have echo-location
e) a) and d)
Question 78)
Neap tides occur
a) about once a day
b) about once a month
c) about twice a day
d) about twice a month
e) whenever the Sun, Earth and Moon are aligned
Question 79)
A rock collected 500 km from a mid-oceanic ridge is found to be 10 million years old.
What is the rate of plate motion?
a) 5 mm/yr
b) 5 cm/yr
c) 50 cm/yr
d) 5 m/yr
e) 50 m/yr
Question 80)
Possible evidence for life on Mars includes
a) The equatorial surface temperature is close to the minimum needed for liquid water
b) There is geological evidence for the past presence of liquid water on Mars
c) Methane has been detected in the atmosphere
d) Green patches near the equator
e) c and d
Question 81)
The dominant source of internal heat for icy bodies like Europa and Enceladus is
a) Radioactivity from unstable elements in the rocky component
b) Sunlight
c) Tidal heating
d) Chemical energy

e) Internal electrical currents

Question 82)
A river meanders because
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

water flows faster on the inside edge of a bend and sweeps away sediment there
water flows slower on the inside edge of a bend and sweeps away sediment there
water flows faster on the inside edge of a bend and drops more sediment there
water flows slower on the inside edge of a bend and drops less sediment there
none of the above

Question 83)
Science is a style of thought based most strongly on
a) Hypotheses
b) Observations
c) Theories
d) Belief
e) The word of authority
Question 84)
The salinity of the oceans is roughly
a) 0.03%
b) 0.3%
c) 3%
d) 30%
e) none of the above: all oceans are different