Table of contents:
Introduction to Plate Tectonics Worksheet
Introduction to Mid-Ocean Ridges Worksheet
Hydrothermal Vents
Food Web Lab
Exploring the Ocean Worksheet/Mapping the Ocean Lab
Introduction to Plate Tectonics Worksheet
Introduction to Mid-Ocean Ridges Worksheet
Hydrothermal Vents
Food Web Lab
Exploring the Ocean Worksheet/Mapping the Ocean Lab
Introduction to Plate Tectonics Worksheet
1. How many earthquakes occur every year around the world?
2000 earthquakes.
2. What is the Tectonics Theory? Explain.
The Theory of Plate Tectonics says the surface of the Earth is not fixed, but is always moving, shifting the shapes, sizes, and locations of continents, creating and destroying them, and creating mountains and volcanoes.
3. Where do the Tectonic forces originate?
Tectonic forces originate deep inside the earth.
4. What are Earth’s 3 main layers?
The core, in the center, the mantle, and the crust, on top.
5. Where is Tectonic activity concentrated?
Tectonic activity is concentrated in the top 700km., in the crust and upper mantle, the top 700 km. of the earth.
1. How many earthquakes occur every year around the world?
2000 earthquakes.
2. What is the Tectonics Theory? Explain.
The Theory of Plate Tectonics says the surface of the Earth is not fixed, but is always moving, shifting the shapes, sizes, and locations of continents, creating and destroying them, and creating mountains and volcanoes.
3. Where do the Tectonic forces originate?
Tectonic forces originate deep inside the earth.
4. What are Earth’s 3 main layers?
The core, in the center, the mantle, and the crust, on top.
5. Where is Tectonic activity concentrated?
Tectonic activity is concentrated in the top 700km., in the crust and upper mantle, the top 700 km. of the earth.
6. What is the Lithosphere? Where is it located?
The lithosphere is formed by the crust and the upper mantle. It encases the Earth and is 100 km. thick. It is divided into plates.
7. What is the Asthenosphere? Why is it important to plate tectonics?
The asthenosphere is the next level of the upper mantle, solid but soft. It can flow, but very slowly, so the plates essentially float. Heat from the core makes it move, causing the plates to move, albeit very slowly, and since there are no open spaces in the earth, they interact with one another. This is what causes plate tectonics.
8. How fast do plates move (average?)
Plates move about as fast as fingernails grow.
9. What are the 3 types of plate boundaries?
Divergent boundaries, where plates pull apart, convergent boundaries, where they collide, and transform boundaries, where they slide past one another.
The lithosphere is formed by the crust and the upper mantle. It encases the Earth and is 100 km. thick. It is divided into plates.
7. What is the Asthenosphere? Why is it important to plate tectonics?
The asthenosphere is the next level of the upper mantle, solid but soft. It can flow, but very slowly, so the plates essentially float. Heat from the core makes it move, causing the plates to move, albeit very slowly, and since there are no open spaces in the earth, they interact with one another. This is what causes plate tectonics.
8. How fast do plates move (average?)
Plates move about as fast as fingernails grow.
9. What are the 3 types of plate boundaries?
Divergent boundaries, where plates pull apart, convergent boundaries, where they collide, and transform boundaries, where they slide past one another.
10. What happens at Divergent Boundaries? Where are these mostly located?
Plates pull apart, forming narrow rift valleys, from which lava spurts and geysers spurt hot water. New crust is formed by hot magma coming up and hardening. These are mostly located in the ocean.
11. What kind of rock is Oceanic Crust made of?
Basalt.
12: What happens at Convergent Boundaries? What is often formed? Explain.
Two plates collide at these boundaries. Often, one or both plates buckle around the edges and mountain ranges are formed. Other times it bends one plate into a deep sea trench. Also, volcanoes often form parallel to the boundary, the trench and the range.
13. What is Granite? Where is it found?
Magma formed from melting plates solidifies and becomes granite, a light-colored, low-density granite. Granite makes up continental crust and is found there.
14. What happens at Transform Boundaries? What is special about transform boundaries?
At these boundaries, two plates slide against each other. They split apart anything built spanning the two plates, and pulverize anything inside them. As plates jam against each other, earthquakes are caused often. These boundaries are special because no magma or crust are being created or destroyed.
Plates pull apart, forming narrow rift valleys, from which lava spurts and geysers spurt hot water. New crust is formed by hot magma coming up and hardening. These are mostly located in the ocean.
11. What kind of rock is Oceanic Crust made of?
Basalt.
12: What happens at Convergent Boundaries? What is often formed? Explain.
Two plates collide at these boundaries. Often, one or both plates buckle around the edges and mountain ranges are formed. Other times it bends one plate into a deep sea trench. Also, volcanoes often form parallel to the boundary, the trench and the range.
13. What is Granite? Where is it found?
Magma formed from melting plates solidifies and becomes granite, a light-colored, low-density granite. Granite makes up continental crust and is found there.
14. What happens at Transform Boundaries? What is special about transform boundaries?
At these boundaries, two plates slide against each other. They split apart anything built spanning the two plates, and pulverize anything inside them. As plates jam against each other, earthquakes are caused often. These boundaries are special because no magma or crust are being created or destroyed.
Introduction to Mid-Ocean Ridges
1. Who is NOAA?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
2. What is the mid-ocean ridge system? What happens there?
A 65,000 km. long system of ridges, where new sea-floor is created. Formed by places under the ocean where plates meet in a divergent boundary.
3. How long/wide the is mid-ocean ridge system? Where is it located?
It is 65000 km. long and 1500 km. wide. It is located underneath the sea at divergent plate boundaries. where the sea floor is being spread apart and new ocean crust forms
4. What type of plate boundary forms a mid-ocean ridge system? Explain.
At divergent plate boundaries, where the sea floor is being spread apart and new ocean crust forms, where the continents are torn apart.
5. Explain how ridges form:
There is a rift valley at every divergent boundary. Here, lava flows in and fills in the space between the continents. As the plate thins the underlying mantle melts and magma comes up and fills in the cracks. Because this makes the rift zone more dense and less buoyant, it makes the crust around the rift rise up and form a mountain range, or ridge.
6. What forms most of the ocean crust?
Most of the ocean crust is made of basaltic dikes, in the lower 7-9 kilometers of the crust, which is made by magma that cools before it leaves the crust. The top 1-3 kilometers are made of pillow basalt, which is formed by magma that reaches the surface and is cooled by the ocean.
7. How does hot lava respond to cold sea water? (Pillow Basalt)
The sea water makes the outer skin of the lava flow harden instantly, while the inner flow keeps moving and slowly cools. This makes the shape of the resulting basalt surface lumpy and irregular, hence "pillow basalt."
8. What is happening at the Juan de Fuca Ridge?
At the Juan de Fuca ridge, the spreading process makes 6 meters of new crust every hundred years.
9. What does the rate of spreading dictate?
The rate of spreading dictates what kind of ridge is formed; quickly-moving crust forms wide, gentle slopes, and slowly-moving crust forms sharp, narrow ridges.
10: How hot can sea water be heated to at the mid-oceanic ridges?
400 degrees Celsius.
11. Explain how HYDROTHERMAL Vents are formed:
Seawater seeps through cracks in the crust near mid-ocean ridges. As it does this, it heats up to boiling temperatures. Eventually it finds its way to the surface of the crust and spurts upwards like underwater hot springs. The water also carries minerals with it.
12. Why is the hot mineral water so important? What do they support?
The mineral water is important because it supports a variety of strange life that only exists at hydrothermal vents.
13. What is chemosynthesis? How does it differ from photosynthesis?
Chemosynthesis is when an organism derives energy from minerals in the water, as opposed to photosynthesis, which is when an organism derives energy from the sun.
1. Who is NOAA?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
2. What is the mid-ocean ridge system? What happens there?
A 65,000 km. long system of ridges, where new sea-floor is created. Formed by places under the ocean where plates meet in a divergent boundary.
3. How long/wide the is mid-ocean ridge system? Where is it located?
It is 65000 km. long and 1500 km. wide. It is located underneath the sea at divergent plate boundaries. where the sea floor is being spread apart and new ocean crust forms
4. What type of plate boundary forms a mid-ocean ridge system? Explain.
At divergent plate boundaries, where the sea floor is being spread apart and new ocean crust forms, where the continents are torn apart.
5. Explain how ridges form:
There is a rift valley at every divergent boundary. Here, lava flows in and fills in the space between the continents. As the plate thins the underlying mantle melts and magma comes up and fills in the cracks. Because this makes the rift zone more dense and less buoyant, it makes the crust around the rift rise up and form a mountain range, or ridge.
6. What forms most of the ocean crust?
Most of the ocean crust is made of basaltic dikes, in the lower 7-9 kilometers of the crust, which is made by magma that cools before it leaves the crust. The top 1-3 kilometers are made of pillow basalt, which is formed by magma that reaches the surface and is cooled by the ocean.
7. How does hot lava respond to cold sea water? (Pillow Basalt)
The sea water makes the outer skin of the lava flow harden instantly, while the inner flow keeps moving and slowly cools. This makes the shape of the resulting basalt surface lumpy and irregular, hence "pillow basalt."
8. What is happening at the Juan de Fuca Ridge?
At the Juan de Fuca ridge, the spreading process makes 6 meters of new crust every hundred years.
9. What does the rate of spreading dictate?
The rate of spreading dictates what kind of ridge is formed; quickly-moving crust forms wide, gentle slopes, and slowly-moving crust forms sharp, narrow ridges.
10: How hot can sea water be heated to at the mid-oceanic ridges?
400 degrees Celsius.
11. Explain how HYDROTHERMAL Vents are formed:
Seawater seeps through cracks in the crust near mid-ocean ridges. As it does this, it heats up to boiling temperatures. Eventually it finds its way to the surface of the crust and spurts upwards like underwater hot springs. The water also carries minerals with it.
12. Why is the hot mineral water so important? What do they support?
The mineral water is important because it supports a variety of strange life that only exists at hydrothermal vents.
13. What is chemosynthesis? How does it differ from photosynthesis?
Chemosynthesis is when an organism derives energy from minerals in the water, as opposed to photosynthesis, which is when an organism derives energy from the sun.
Hydrothermal Vents
Vent Basics:
Define the following (Make sure to include photos)
* Explain the process of a BLACK SMOKER
Near-freezing temperature water seeps down into the crust via cracks in the sea floor. The water flows deep into the ocean crust, where heat from molten rock beneath the crust heats it up to 350-400 degrees Celsius. When heated up, it reacts with the rock around it, causing it to become acidic, lose its oxygen, and pick up hydrogen sulfide and dissolved metals like iron, copper and zinc. Since hot liquids are less dense than cold ones, the hot water rises up through the ocean crust, carrying the hydrogen sulfide and dissolved metals with them. The fluids come up through the vent and goes out into the ocean, mixing with seawater. Due to the oxygen, which makes these materials combine, the metals carried up by the water mix with the hydrogen sulfide to create metal sulfides, giving the fluid the appearance of smoke.
Vent Boiling Points:
* Explain why the boiling point of water changes with depth in the ocean
The deeper you go into the ocean, the more pressure there is. At sea level, the pressure equals one atmosphere, but every ten meters you go, the pressure increases by one atmosphere. As pressure increases, so does the boiling point of water. Water boils at 100 degrees Celcius at sea level, but at 2000 meters it is 370 degrees Celcius, and when you reach 6000 meters it becomes 480 degrees. Vents are located at the bottom of the ocean, so water boils at a very high temperature there.
Vent Chemistry:
* Explain how the water chemistry changes in the hydrothermal vent system
Soon after the water enters the crust, oxygen and potassium are removed from it. Slightly deeper in, calcium, sulfate and magnesium are removed. Even deeper, beneath the pillow basalt, sodium, calcium and potassium from the surrounding crust enters the fluid. Still deeper in, where the fluids have reached their highest temperatures, copper, zinc, iron and sulfur from the crust dissolve in the fluid. The liquid rises through the crust to the vent, where it goes back into the ocean, mixing with cold, oxygen-rich seawater. Once in the water, the metals and sulfir form black metal-sulfide minerals. This process adds a lot of new chemicals to the seawater surrounding the vents.
Vent Basics:
Define the following (Make sure to include photos)
* Explain the process of a BLACK SMOKER
Near-freezing temperature water seeps down into the crust via cracks in the sea floor. The water flows deep into the ocean crust, where heat from molten rock beneath the crust heats it up to 350-400 degrees Celsius. When heated up, it reacts with the rock around it, causing it to become acidic, lose its oxygen, and pick up hydrogen sulfide and dissolved metals like iron, copper and zinc. Since hot liquids are less dense than cold ones, the hot water rises up through the ocean crust, carrying the hydrogen sulfide and dissolved metals with them. The fluids come up through the vent and goes out into the ocean, mixing with seawater. Due to the oxygen, which makes these materials combine, the metals carried up by the water mix with the hydrogen sulfide to create metal sulfides, giving the fluid the appearance of smoke.
Vent Boiling Points:
* Explain why the boiling point of water changes with depth in the ocean
The deeper you go into the ocean, the more pressure there is. At sea level, the pressure equals one atmosphere, but every ten meters you go, the pressure increases by one atmosphere. As pressure increases, so does the boiling point of water. Water boils at 100 degrees Celcius at sea level, but at 2000 meters it is 370 degrees Celcius, and when you reach 6000 meters it becomes 480 degrees. Vents are located at the bottom of the ocean, so water boils at a very high temperature there.
Vent Chemistry:
* Explain how the water chemistry changes in the hydrothermal vent system
Soon after the water enters the crust, oxygen and potassium are removed from it. Slightly deeper in, calcium, sulfate and magnesium are removed. Even deeper, beneath the pillow basalt, sodium, calcium and potassium from the surrounding crust enters the fluid. Still deeper in, where the fluids have reached their highest temperatures, copper, zinc, iron and sulfur from the crust dissolve in the fluid. The liquid rises through the crust to the vent, where it goes back into the ocean, mixing with cold, oxygen-rich seawater. Once in the water, the metals and sulfir form black metal-sulfide minerals. This process adds a lot of new chemicals to the seawater surrounding the vents.
Vents Around the World:
* Where can hydrothermal vents be found? Give a few examples.
Most of the world's hydrothermal vents are found along the Mid-Ocean, since in order for vents to form, volcanic activity needs to be present and magma needs to be nearby, which usually is only present at divergent boundaries. However, some vents are located in the middle of plates, like the vents in Hawaii, and the on-land vents in Yellowstone National Park. Other on-land vents include the ones on the North Island of New Zealand
* Where can hydrothermal vents be found? Give a few examples.
Most of the world's hydrothermal vents are found along the Mid-Ocean, since in order for vents to form, volcanic activity needs to be present and magma needs to be nearby, which usually is only present at divergent boundaries. However, some vents are located in the middle of plates, like the vents in Hawaii, and the on-land vents in Yellowstone National Park. Other on-land vents include the ones on the North Island of New Zealand
Vent Life:
*Name some of the critters found around hydrothermal vent systems
Tubeworms, zoarcid fish, bacteria and Archaea, jelly-fish related animals, whose colonies look like dandelions, and several different species of octopuses, mussels, crabs, shrimp and clams.
*Name some of the critters found around hydrothermal vent systems
Tubeworms, zoarcid fish, bacteria and Archaea, jelly-fish related animals, whose colonies look like dandelions, and several different species of octopuses, mussels, crabs, shrimp and clams.
Hot Topics on Vent Science:
* Pick ONE Hot Topic to report on.
* Pick ONE Hot Topic to report on.
Tubeworm Anatomy:
* Describe the tubeworm anatomy. Explain the symbiotic relationships that are found within tubeworms
On top of the tube worm is a red organ called the plume. It is red because it is filled with blood that has hemoglobin. It extracts oxygen, hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide from the sea water and transports it to the cavity. Directly beneath the cavity is a muscle that holds the worm in its tube. The worm tube is a white casing that runs the length of most of the worm. It is made of chitin, the same hard material on the outside of shrimp and crabs. It protects the worm from toxins and predators, and functions as a skeleton. A worm can never leave its shell. Inside the shell is a cavity. It is filled with bacteria, which produce sugars via chemosynthesis. The worm absorbs some of these sugars.
Chemosynthesis:
* Explain the different between photosynthesis and chemosynthesis
In photosynthesis, the leaves of the plant capture sunlight and carbon dioxide. Then, the leaves use water and the sun's energy to convert the carbon dioxide into sugars. Then they release oxygen into the air. In chemosynthesis, hydrothermal vents push out water containing hydrogen sulfide. The hydrogen sulfide is taken in by microbes, along with oxygen and carbon dioxide.These microbes break down the hydrogen sulfide into energy, and use this energy and oxygen to turn carbon dioxide into sugars. Finally, the microbes release sulfur and water.
* Describe the tubeworm anatomy. Explain the symbiotic relationships that are found within tubeworms
On top of the tube worm is a red organ called the plume. It is red because it is filled with blood that has hemoglobin. It extracts oxygen, hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide from the sea water and transports it to the cavity. Directly beneath the cavity is a muscle that holds the worm in its tube. The worm tube is a white casing that runs the length of most of the worm. It is made of chitin, the same hard material on the outside of shrimp and crabs. It protects the worm from toxins and predators, and functions as a skeleton. A worm can never leave its shell. Inside the shell is a cavity. It is filled with bacteria, which produce sugars via chemosynthesis. The worm absorbs some of these sugars.
Chemosynthesis:
* Explain the different between photosynthesis and chemosynthesis
In photosynthesis, the leaves of the plant capture sunlight and carbon dioxide. Then, the leaves use water and the sun's energy to convert the carbon dioxide into sugars. Then they release oxygen into the air. In chemosynthesis, hydrothermal vents push out water containing hydrogen sulfide. The hydrogen sulfide is taken in by microbes, along with oxygen and carbon dioxide.These microbes break down the hydrogen sulfide into energy, and use this energy and oxygen to turn carbon dioxide into sugars. Finally, the microbes release sulfur and water.
Hydrothermal Vent Bacteria
Despite the extremely high temperatures, sometimes approaching over 700 degrees Fahrenheit, hydrothermal vents are home to loads of bacteria. Perhaps the strangest and toughest of these are thermophiles, bacteria species that live around very hot vents and can survive at temperatures of up to 113 degrees Celsius. Many have simple diets consisting of only minerals, metals and gases from vent fluid. Some use chemosynthesis and only use sulfur, oxygen and carbon dioxide. Not many have been identified and some are completely unidentified. They often contain more viruses than average bacteria, since viruses are abundant at deep-sea vents.
Thermophiles have probably existed for a long time, some think since earth was a hot, volcanic planet 3.5 billion years ago.
It is likely that Earth is not the only planet with life in the universe. All that is required for life is water, and energy source and some sort of carbon. Mars and Europa both have these conditions. Studying thermophiles can help us search for past and present life on other planets. There is still an ice cap on Mars, and it is likely that liquid water still exists deep in the planet, and also volcanic activity much larger than Earth's existed there once. Any life found there is likely to be very similar to thermophiles.
Thermophiles also help us with daily life. They create enzymes that can be used in detergents because they eat away oily stains on clothing in hot water. Similar enzymes have been used in genetic research. These Pfu polymerase enzymes have helped scientists discover genetic diseases, map the human genome, and find criminals who may have left hair or blood at the scene.
Despite the extremely high temperatures, sometimes approaching over 700 degrees Fahrenheit, hydrothermal vents are home to loads of bacteria. Perhaps the strangest and toughest of these are thermophiles, bacteria species that live around very hot vents and can survive at temperatures of up to 113 degrees Celsius. Many have simple diets consisting of only minerals, metals and gases from vent fluid. Some use chemosynthesis and only use sulfur, oxygen and carbon dioxide. Not many have been identified and some are completely unidentified. They often contain more viruses than average bacteria, since viruses are abundant at deep-sea vents.
Thermophiles have probably existed for a long time, some think since earth was a hot, volcanic planet 3.5 billion years ago.
It is likely that Earth is not the only planet with life in the universe. All that is required for life is water, and energy source and some sort of carbon. Mars and Europa both have these conditions. Studying thermophiles can help us search for past and present life on other planets. There is still an ice cap on Mars, and it is likely that liquid water still exists deep in the planet, and also volcanic activity much larger than Earth's existed there once. Any life found there is likely to be very similar to thermophiles.
Thermophiles also help us with daily life. They create enzymes that can be used in detergents because they eat away oily stains on clothing in hot water. Similar enzymes have been used in genetic research. These Pfu polymerase enzymes have helped scientists discover genetic diseases, map the human genome, and find criminals who may have left hair or blood at the scene.
Videos/Podcasts- Watch the video clips and podcasts on Hydrothermal Vents
Quizzes- TAKE THE QUIZZES and send Mrs. Ogo a screenshot of your quiz results!
Quizzes- TAKE THE QUIZZES and send Mrs. Ogo a screenshot of your quiz results!
Food Web Lab
In this lesson, we learned about what a food web is and what its levels are, and then conducted a food web of a hydrothermal vent. The purpose of this was to have us understand the flow of energy and materials in an ecosystem, and specifically hydrothermal vent ecosystems.
A food web depicts how energy and materials flow in an ecosystem, specifically by depicting which organism each other organism consumes, for example, like the one above. At the bottom of the food chain we studied, slightly different from the one above are the basic energy sources or chemicals that producers use to live, either the sun, oxygen and water for land environments (based on photosynthesis), or H2S, CO2, O2 and CH4 for sea environments (based on chemosynthesis). The one we used today used chemosynthesis. Above that are the producers which use the basic chemicals and energy sources to make their own energy. In hydrothermal vents these are usually thermophilic or symbiotic bacteria. The third level is the primary consumers, animals who eat producers, and the fourth level is first order, who eat primary consumers and sometimes producers. The highest level are top order carnivores, who mostly eat first order carnivores and consumers. Sometimes there is a level in between 1st Order and Top Order called Tertiary, or sometimes Top Order is called tertiary, but not in our web.
A food web depicts how energy and materials flow in an ecosystem, specifically by depicting which organism each other organism consumes, for example, like the one above. At the bottom of the food chain we studied, slightly different from the one above are the basic energy sources or chemicals that producers use to live, either the sun, oxygen and water for land environments (based on photosynthesis), or H2S, CO2, O2 and CH4 for sea environments (based on chemosynthesis). The one we used today used chemosynthesis. Above that are the producers which use the basic chemicals and energy sources to make their own energy. In hydrothermal vents these are usually thermophilic or symbiotic bacteria. The third level is the primary consumers, animals who eat producers, and the fourth level is first order, who eat primary consumers and sometimes producers. The highest level are top order carnivores, who mostly eat first order carnivores and consumers. Sometimes there is a level in between 1st Order and Top Order called Tertiary, or sometimes Top Order is called tertiary, but not in our web.
For the lab, we were given cards with the names of organisms that live around hydrothermal vents, and told to organize them into a comprehensive food web. Our team accidentally forgot to put the 1st. level, simple chemicals, in the chart because we did not have the cards. Otherwise, our web was relatively accurate. Here is the version Ms. Ogo created and used as our grading rubric:
Exploring the Ocean
Mapping the Ocean