Content Practice: Composition and Structure of Earth's Ocean

The oceans were filled during tens of thousands of years with water from _______________________ and possibly ice from comets and asteroids.

• abyssal plains

• energy

• precipitation

• minerals

The continental margins include the continental __________________, the continental slope, and the continental rise.

• shelf

• trench

• plain

• plate

The large, flat areas of the seafloor that extend across the deepest parts of the ocean floor are the _______________.

• shelf

• abyssal plains

• trenches

• ridges

The areas where tectonic plates collide, the seafloor has deep

• shelves

• plains

• ridges

• trenches

In areas where tectonic plates separate, the seafloor has mid ocean _____________.

• plains

• trenches

• ridges

• shelves

Oceanographers use ___________ to explore the seafloor.

• precipitation

• sunlight

• minerals

• submersibles

Physical characteristics that are used to classify the ocean into zones include water depth, temperature, salinity, density, and amount of __________ received.

• sunlight

• minerals

• oxygen

• brackish water

Water from a sea or an ocean that has an average salinity of 335 ppt is ____________.

• fresh

• pure

• seawater

• brackish water

Two main types of resources on the seafloor are __________ and _____________ resources.

• sunlight

• mineral

• energy

• vegetation

The measure of the mass of dissolved solids in a mass of water is called ______________.

• density

• buoyancy

• precipitate

• salinity