Oceanography Final Exam 2026/2027 |
Comprehensive Study Guide with Practice
Questions & Answer Key
71% - correct answer-What percent of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans?
78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen - correct answer-What are the two most abundant
gases in the atmosphere? What is the percentage of each by volume?
Infiltration - correct answer-Water moves from surface of Earth into ground
Glacial ice, Antarctica, Greenland - correct answer-What is the 2nd largest
reservoir in the hydrosphere, and where is it located?
Continental crust - correct answer-Mostly granitic, thicker and less dense
Oceanic crust - correct answer-Mostly basalt, is thinner and denser
Seafloor spreading - correct answer-Movement of the seafloor away from a mid-
ocean ridge
, Convection in the Earth's mantle - correct answer-What is the driving force
behind continental drift?
Alfred Wegener and Frank B. Taylor - correct answer-Who proposed the idea of
continental drift?
Oceanic crust - correct answer-What type of lithosphere is created at a divergent
plate boundary?
Pillow basalt - correct answer-Lava that cools rapidly on the ocean floor
Black smoker - correct answer-Substance that precipitates from hydrothermal
vent waters; accumulate as dark clouds and accumulate in the form of conical
chimneys
Mid-Atlantic Ridge - correct answer-What is an example of a divergent plate
boundary?
Age increases, depth increases, heat flow from mantle decreases - correct
answer-What happens to the age of the ocean floor, the depth, and the heat flow
from the mantle as you move away from a mid-ocean ridge?
Almost ten times faster - correct answer-How fast is the spreading rate of the
East Pacific Rise compared to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?
Melting of subducting plates - correct answer-How does an island arc form?
Comprehensive Study Guide with Practice
Questions & Answer Key
71% - correct answer-What percent of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans?
78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen - correct answer-What are the two most abundant
gases in the atmosphere? What is the percentage of each by volume?
Infiltration - correct answer-Water moves from surface of Earth into ground
Glacial ice, Antarctica, Greenland - correct answer-What is the 2nd largest
reservoir in the hydrosphere, and where is it located?
Continental crust - correct answer-Mostly granitic, thicker and less dense
Oceanic crust - correct answer-Mostly basalt, is thinner and denser
Seafloor spreading - correct answer-Movement of the seafloor away from a mid-
ocean ridge
, Convection in the Earth's mantle - correct answer-What is the driving force
behind continental drift?
Alfred Wegener and Frank B. Taylor - correct answer-Who proposed the idea of
continental drift?
Oceanic crust - correct answer-What type of lithosphere is created at a divergent
plate boundary?
Pillow basalt - correct answer-Lava that cools rapidly on the ocean floor
Black smoker - correct answer-Substance that precipitates from hydrothermal
vent waters; accumulate as dark clouds and accumulate in the form of conical
chimneys
Mid-Atlantic Ridge - correct answer-What is an example of a divergent plate
boundary?
Age increases, depth increases, heat flow from mantle decreases - correct
answer-What happens to the age of the ocean floor, the depth, and the heat flow
from the mantle as you move away from a mid-ocean ridge?
Almost ten times faster - correct answer-How fast is the spreading rate of the
East Pacific Rise compared to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?
Melting of subducting plates - correct answer-How does an island arc form?
