Challenger expedition

Woods Hole, Massachusetts Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford Scripps Institute of OceanographyFriday Harbor Labs, Washington

Submersibles

R/V FLIP, floating instrument platform

Scientific Method What? Why? How?

Inductive approach: from specific observations to the general Deductive approach: use general principles in predicting specific outcomes

Ocean Basin Geography

Interconnected World Ocean system

How did we get these ocean basins? Continental drift –all the continents had once been joined in a single ‘supercontinent’ called Pangaea Plate tectonics Sea floor spreading

Mid Ocean Ridge Continuous chain of submarine volcanic mountains encircling the globe –Largest geological feature on earth –Is not static; slips and slides

Sea floor spreading As ridges separate, molten mantle rises up through rift

Moving plates

Collisions Creates trenches or subduction zones –Earthquakes & volcanos –Less dense continental crust floats on top; lasts forever –Form volcanic islands

Kilauea, Hawai’i