Oceanography 100—Mr. Foss
(Revised 4/03)
About the final exam:
The final exam will consist of 100 items, each worth one point. You will need a Scan-tron #882 and a #2 pencil. About 10-15% of the final will pertain to material covered since Test #VII. The remainder will consist of comprehensive material. If you need to take the final exam at any time other than the scheduled time for your class, see me. Be prepared for the comprehensive nature of the exam; we have covered a lot of material.
I do not “curve” the final exam grade as I do with the 30-point tests. Occasionally questions are thrown out if they are missed by an exceptionally high number of students, but your grade will not be related to the high scores in the class. If a student’s point total is “borderline” between two letter grades for the class, I will consider the score on the final in my grade determination, as the final is my best indicator of what the student has learned and retained from the course.
Topics to emphasize:
(Don’t worry about memorizing dates, places, and/or names associated with the history of oceanography.)
You should know the geographic place names and their locations (map).
Metric units: don’t forget these!
Origin and age of the earth, oceans, and atmosphere; density stratification, outgassing
Earth structure: properties of layers in the earth, two types of crust
Plate tectonics—very important! Know how it works, plate boundaries, rate of plate movement, geographic examples (locations)
Continental margins, features of the ocean floor, and their significance to plate tectonics.
Types of sediments: know general characteristics, how formed, where found, examples
Seawater: atomic structure, the water molecule, properties, dissolved components in seawater, how physical processes affect ocean water properties, ocean layering, the “cline family”
Atmospheric circulation: Coriolis effect, wind belts of the world and calm zones between the wind belts
Currents: names/locations, gyres, eastern and western boundary currents and their attributes, western intensification, surface vs. deep circulation, upwelling, Ekman transport, ENSO
Waves: terminology and “anatomy”, orbital motion, refraction/reflection, wave interference, breaking waves, tsunami
Tides: bulges and positions of earth-moon-sun, spring/neap tides, monthly cycle, tidal patterns, tidal phenomena
Beaches: terminology, movement of sand on and along the shore, man’s influence, hard stabilization, beach nourishment, coastal features, rip currents
Marine pollution: types and effects of pollutants
Life in the ocean: photosynthesis, adaptations to physical factors, trophic relationships (the food web), depth of photic zones
The pelagic and benthic environments and their provinces (not too much detail on biozones)
Pelagic communities: know characteristics and examples of phytoplankton, zooplankton, and nekton
Benthic communities: know examples and adaptations of the kelp forest, the intertidal zone, coral reefs, and hydrothermal vent communities
Know important types and adaptations of marine fishes and marine mammals