Taylor Beckham

Marine Biology
Period 2
Mr. Stradling
September 19, 2016
Chapter 2 Project
For chapter two we have earned a lot of new things about marine biology and
how to explore it. For example we did a few labs on how to make a bathymetric map
and read its data. We had also learned about plate tectonics and seamounts, which are
underwater volcanoes. Bathymetric maps are generally used with seamounts. We have
also learned about deep sea life and the geographical features of the deep blue. Most of
those features were created by magma produced long ago. Learning all of these cool
things about marine biology has made me excited to learn about the next unit.
Bathymetry is the measure of depth of water in oceans, seas, or lakes. Some of
you may ask, well how to I measure bathymetric data and
read it easily? Well, in order to take bathymetric data you will
need to learn how to do it first. I great example on how to take
bathymetric data would be completing a lab. You would pour
water into a shoebox with a seamount and on a transparent
piece of paper, draw contour lines. A contour line is basically
an outline of where the water touches the surface. The
smallest contour line is
the highest point of the water. And the biggest contour line is
serc.carleton.eduthe lowest point where the water touches land.
There are many different kinds of bathymetry maps. Some of them include
seamounts, while others include islands and other mountainous parts in the ocean.
Bathymetric maps could also be used to monitor rainfall and predict how much rain will
fall in the next time period to be measured. The different maps include, Topo/Bathy
maps, which measure the bathymetry, and the US geological survey. Another
bathymetric map is the fishing map that helps fishermen out by identifying sediment
types at the bottom of the ocean. Geophysical maps also measure sediment data, but
more detailed. Preliminary maps provide bathymetric information for some areas where
maps have been compiled, but are not published.
The SONAR is a very powerful tool in marine
biology. SONAR technology
became available shortly after the fall of the soviet union.
SONAR technology is beneficial for many marine
travellers. It helps detect objects under the surface of the
water and objects at the top of the surface of the water.
The sinking of the titanic is believed to be the trigger of
marine detecting technology. An example of how the titanic triggered

en.wikipedia.orgunderwater

detection systems, was how In response to the sinking of the

titanic, Reginald Fessenden developed the Fessenden oscillator to detect icebergs
and the sea floor. I believe that SONAR systems are very helpful to keep people safe on
their ships, especially big ships like yachts and cruise ships.
Plate tectonics are a major component of marine life and life in general. The way
plate tectonics move, is because of the intense heat in the Earths core causes molten
rock in the mantle layer to move. It moves in a convection that forms when warm
material rises, cools, and sinks down. As the cooled material sinks down, it is warmed
and rises again which also starts the whole process again. scientists believe that plates
help themselves move. Hot magma rises to the surface at ridges and forms new crust,
which pushes the rest of a plate out of the way. This is called ridge push. Old parts of a
plate sink into the mantle at subduction zones. This action is called the slab pull.
Earthquakes are caused by plate tectonics as well. The plate tectonics are part of
the Earth's crust. At the boundaries between these plates,
the plates sometimes move apart, and magma, or molten
rock, come to the surface, where it becomes something
called lava. It cools and forms new parts of the crust and this
happens over and over again in a cycle. The line where this
happens is called a divergent plate boundary. In other
occasions plates will brush against each other which also
causes earthquakes from the friction easyscienceforkids.com
and movement between the two plates. At the region between the two plates, called a
transform boundary, energy builds in the rock. Most earthquakes happen along
transform boundary fault lines.
Hot spot volcanoes are an area in the mantle from which heat rises as a thermal
plume from deep in the Earth. Some hotspots but not all are located on a volcanic
island. Most volcanoes and hot spots take a long time to form and evolve. Some even
take hundreds of years. Hot spots have an initial eruption from the sea floor. During the
final eruption, the hot magma which forms inside the volcanoes comes out of the
exterior of the hot spot creating an explosion of hot lava, because magma turns into
lava when it reaches a surface, or to oxygen. Magma is made out of minerals and other
melted rock. When the magma, or lava solidifies it forms new crust to the earth.
Oceanic basins are everywhere underwater. In fact, about 70% of the earths
surface is oceanic basins. Oceanic basins are regions in which are underwater. Also,
oceanic basins hold a majority of earths water which was a fact I did not know until my
research. Ocean basins can be either active or inactive. An inactive basin does not
really do much except collect sediments at the bottom of it. One thing interesting about
oceanic basins is how it connects to plate tectonics. It seems that everything we had
learned in this unit tied back to plate tectonics.
A submarine canyon is a steep-sided valley cut into the seabed of the continental
slope, sometimes extending well onto the continental shelf, having nearly vertical walls,

and occasionally having canyon wall heights of up to 5 km, from canyon floor to canyon
rim. Submarine canyons are usually underwater canyons. But, there are exceptions for
some canyons that are just above sea level. The canyons that are just above sea level
are used for water to flow through. Three percent of submarine canyons include shelf
valleys that have cut transversely across continental shelves.
Over 60 percent of our world is covered by water. Most of that water is very deep
and most likely it has been left unexplored. The deep sea is also the largest part of the
world that is a living habitat. More people have been into space than into the deep blue.
Most people are familiar with the ocean. But most people dont have much information
and knowledge on the deepest parts of the ocean, if any. Life is abundant closer to the
surface because that is where the sunlit water is. And sunlight contributes to
photosynthesis which is what some sea animals need to survive.
Most people are only familiar with the sea life closer to the surface of the water,
which is where there is a lot of life. But the ocean is so big that a lot of people still have
no idea about what lives at the bottom of the surface. Sure, there are plenty of fish you
could see but what you cannot see is truly amazing. There are species of sea animals
that you would not be able to visualize with just using your imagination, you would need
to explore the ocean for yourself, which is sure to be quite an adventure.

Works Cited
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By the Mid-1920s, Researchers Had Identified Echoes from Fish, Gadus Morhua, in the
Traces from Their Echo Sounders. The First Tank Experiments Establishing the Basics
for Detection of Fish Were Performed in 1928. Through the 1930s, the Use of SONAR
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Twentieth Century." The Development of SONAR as a Tool in Marine Biological
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HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks.com, n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2016.
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By Some Estimates, There Is More Energy Locked up in the Methane Hydrates than in
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