1. Chapter 13: Oceans By: Sallie Back & Whitney Traynham

2. Salinity: the amount of salt in the ocean Water Cycle: the process in which Earth’s water leaves and returns to Eart h

3. between 3 & 7 hundred feet sea level where temperature drops faster than any other place on Earth Thermocline:

4. flat area of the continental margin Steepest part of continental margin

5. Base of continental slope Continental Rise:

6. Abyssal Plain: Portion of the deep-ocean basin

7. Mid-Ocean Ridge: Long mountains chain formed from divergent boundaries

8. Rift Valley: Valley forming a rift zone between divergent boundaries Seamount: individual mountain created from volcanic material on the abyssal plain

9. Ocean Trench: crack in the deep ocean basin that forms where an oceanic plate is forced under another plate

10. Plankton : microscopic organisms that float on the ocean’s surface Nekton: free-swimming organisms in the ocean

11. Benthos: Organisms that live on the ocean floor Benthic Environment: The ocean floor &all the organisms that live In or on it

12. Pelagic Environment: the entire of the ocean excluding the ocean floor Desalination: process of evaporating sea water so that water & salt separate

13. Nonpoint Source Pollution: pollution that comes from many sources with no specific source

15. Summary: In closing oceans are a dynamic part of our earth. They are made up of many different types of features and have many different elements that make them unique.