Introductory Oceanography PDF

GEOL 3377 Lectures
GEOL 3377: INTRODUCTORY OCEANOGRAPHY (Maddocks)
LIST OF LECTURES
The numbers correspond to chapters of Thurman. Some lectures are divided into parts (a, b, c) for
convenience in downloading. There are no written lectures for chapters 15 and 16.
1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 5c, 6a, 6b, 6c, 7a, 7b, 8, 9a, 9b, 10, 11a, 11b, 12a, 12b, 13a, 13b,
14a, 14b,
ADVICE TO STUDENTS ENROLLED IN GEOL 3377
These are the notes that I lecture from, as printed in the Green Course Book. However, in
the classroom I may not say all of these things, or I may say different things, or I may say
the same things differently, in a different order, with different emphases.
What can you do with these notes? You can bring them to class and write notes in the margins, you can
read them at home first to prepare for listening to the lecture, and you can read them at home afterward to
review what you heard in the lecture. You can study them at home instead of attending class. You can
use them as notes for an extemporaneous, talk-out-loud explanation-to-yourself to practice verbalizing
these concepts. You can even round up your long-suffering family, friends, pets or stuffed animals and
give your own oral lecture from these notes. (No joke! Talking out loud is an effective way to learn,
because it uses more parts of the brain than silent reading, and because a good test of whether you
understand something is to try to explain it to somebody else.)
For a few chapters, these lecture notes provide additional background information to supplement the text
chapter. For most chapters, the lecture content is substantially derived from the corresponding chapter of
the textbook, as you would expect in an introductory course, and the repetition will help you master this
material.
Bear in mind that in an actual lecture it is not likely I would follow this script exactly as written. Many
statements would be rephrased into oral English, with repetition and amplification. Other sections would
be condensed or omitted. Lecturing is an inefficient way to communicate information. Because of time
constraints, only part of the content of each chapter can be presented in the corresponding lectures.
Please do not assume that "everything important is in the lectures." Please do give priority to studying the
assigned chapters of the textbook.
WARNING TO EVERYONE ELSE
These lectures are provided in text form for the convenience of students enrolled in my section of GEOL
3377 at the University of Houston. They are not designed for use by anyone else.
Lectures are informal, individual, evolving, strategic teaching activities that cannot be captured on paper.
Lectures are not authoritative scholarly publications, because they contain little or nothing that is
original, the facts are unverified, no citations are provided for the references, the sources of information
are uncredited, they are not subject to peer review, and they are not written for the purposes of permanent
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GEOL 3377 Lectures
record and scholarly communication. If you are seeking reliable information, read a book. This is not a
book.
Return to home page for GEOL 3377.
By Rosalie F. Maddocks, July 30, 1998
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GEOL 3377 Lecture 1a Introduction and History
LECTURE 1:
INTRODUCTION, HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY
AND NAVIGATION
PART 1A: INTRODUCTION TO OCEANOGRAPHY

AND HISTORY OF MARINE EXPLORATION
What is Oceanography?
Academic Oceanography
Early Marine Exploration
History of Scientific Oceanography
Great Oceanographic Expeditions

Institutions and Agencies
WHAT IS OCEANOGRAPHY?
The earth is a watery planet, unlike any of the others, with 71% of its area covered by a film of liquid
water. Dry land and islands account for a mere 29% of planetary area. Most of this water is contained
within the ocean basins, which average 3800 meters in depth. A typical view of the planet should be a
seascape.
More than 97% of the water at the surface of the planet (the hydrosphere) is contained in the oceans.
Most of the remainder (just under 2%) is tied up in the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland. Ground
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waters account for a mere 0.5%, rivers and lakes 0.02% and water vapor in the atmosphere a mere
0.001%.
The world ocean is interconnected and forms a single functional unit, which is the subject of the science
of oceanography. The name is derived from two classical roots:
Oceanus, -i, Latin, the great river that surrounds the known world, the great sea, outer sea,
ocean. In Greek mythology, Oceanus was the husband of Tethys (a titaness, one of the
daughters of Uranus), father of the rivers and nymphs.
Graphos, Greek, to draw, write, describe.
Why study the ocean?
(1) Because it is there, making up 71% of the surface of the planet.
(2) Because marine processes influence and participate in land processes. Erosion and
weathering on land are controlled by sea level and climate, feeding rivers that discharge
water and sediment into the sea.
(3) Weather and climate are driven largely by energy captured by the ocean and influenced
by marine processes
(4) Most sedimentary rocks and some igneous rocks are of submarine origin. Hardly any
part of the land has not been at some time below the sea. Marine sedimentary processes and
marine tectonic processes shape the land.
(5) Life evolved in the sea and remains most diverse there.
(6) Man has many ancient and future uses for the sea in travel, recreation, commerce,
communication, fisheries, national defence, natural resources (metals, chemicals,
petroleum), and energy (thermal, tidal). Lawyers, economists, politicians, and military
strategists all need to know more about the sea.
ACADEMIC OCEANOGRAPHY
Oceanography is an interdisciplinary science, encompassing the application of the four basic sciences
(physics, chemistry, biology and geology) as well as many applied and descriptive sciences
(meteorology, geography) to the study of the oceans.
Traditionally oceanography is divided into four subdisciplines: physical, chemical, biological and
geological. Applied oceanography includes and interacts with many interdisciplinary fields, such as
ocean engineering, mariculture, environmental management, marine policy, marine law and commerce,
etc.
The study of oceanography as a professional discipline requires prior foundation in the basic sciences
and math. Most schools do not offer a BA or BS. Oceanography is a graduate speciality pursued after
baccalaureate preparation in one of the four preparatory sciences.
About 20 universities in the U. S. offer graduate work in oceanography. The largest oceanographic
research and educational institutions are Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California;

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts; Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory in

New York; and the School of Marine and Atmospheric Science of the University of Miami in Florida.
Others include the University of Rhode Island, Texas A&M University, the University of Southern
California, Oregon State University, the University of Washington, and the University of Hawaii.
Many other schools offer smaller programs that emphasize coastal processes and problems or that train
professionals and technicians in certain fields, such as Maine Maritime Academy in Castine or the
Marine Science program at Texas A&M at Galveston.
Much oceanographic research is directly or indirectly sponsored by federal agencies, such as NOAA
(National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration), which includes such agencies as the
National Ocean Survey (formerly the Coast and Geodetic Survey), the National Marine Fisheries
Serivice, and the Sea Grant program.
Other agencies that conduct extensive programs of marine research include the Office of Naval Research,
the Environmental Protection Agency, the Coast Guard, the U. S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Land
Management, and the State Department.
EARLY MARINE EXPLORATION
Wherever scientists and explorers have gone, they have found human settlements and evidence of long
voyages by peoples before them. All continents except Antarctica and most islands have been inhabited
for hundreds to thousands of years. Since Neolithic times some peoples have been great seafarers with a
practical understanding of ocean phenomena and marine resources.
The ancient Greek world map placed the Mediterranean Sea (which they named Thalassa) at the center of
the world, surrounded by land (Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa), which in turn was encircled by the
great river Oceanus. The Greek historian Herodotus recorded the first circumnavigation of a continent:
before 600 BC Phoenician sailors sailed down the Red Sea and the east coast of Africa, returning to the
Mediterranean by the Strait of Gibraltar more than three years later. The Phoenicians also reached Britain
(to trade for Cornish tin). They crossed the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean as far as Malaya and the
eastern Pacific.
From 500 BC to 1500 AD, Arab traders explored the Indian Ocean. To this day, their fixed-sail dhows
use the seasonal monsoon winds between East Africa and southeast Asia, following the monsoons from
the southwest in the summer, and returning with the northeast trade winds in the winter.
Islands of the eastern Pacific and Indian Ocean were settled by several waves of sea-faring peoples
between 600 and 1200 AD. The Polynesians became the world's most skilled long-distance navigators,
constructing stick charts to record the directions of consistent swell, winds, and islands.
Irish monks under St. Brendan reached Iceland (and perhaps North America) before the Norsemen. Late
in the 10th century the Vikings settled Iceland and Greenland. In 982 Eric the Red sailed west from
Greenland and discovered Baffin Island. In 995 his son Leif Ericson spent the winter in Newfoundland
and then explored south. Viking colonies may have been established briefly in America. These
explorations, made possible by a time of climatic warming, came to an end in the ealy 13th century.
Climatic deterioration (the Little Ace Age) brought crop failures and southward extension of shelf ice
and icebergs, and many of their colonies disappeared.

The magnetic lodestone was known to the Chinese and adapted by them for use as a compass in
navigation. It was introduced to Europe in the 13th Century.
Each set of early mariners developed a body of navigational lore, passed on orally from one sailor to
another. The emphasis was on coastal navigation and avoiding dangerous features, not unlike our
"Sailing Directions" today. Little was written down, and there was little scientific investigation of the
oceans until the late 19th Century.
Tides, unknown to Mediterranean sailors, were described and recorded, although their cause was not
understood. A tide table for London Bridge was drawn up by a British abbot around 1200 AD and
remained in use until the 17th Century. In 1416 Prince Henry of Portugal established a school for
mariners, focussing not just on navigational skills but on improved design of charts, instruments and
ships.
The European "Age of Discovery" was triggered by the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, which closed the
last remaining overland route to the Indies for the spice trade. In the late 15th and early 16th centuries
Spanish and Portuguese explorers rapidly doubled the size of the "known world."
Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1497 and continued up the east coast of Africa,
looking for the way to India. In 1492 and three later voyages Christopher Columbus attempted to reach
India by sailing west across the Atlantic, discovering San Salvador and other Caribbean islands.
Columbus was following Ptolemy's estimate of the circumference of the earth (18,000 km). (Had he used
Eratosthenes' estimate instead (40,077 km), he would have realized that he was less than half-way there.)
The new lands he discovered stimulated further Spanish exploration of the New World. Not until 1513
did a European, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, cross the Isthmus of Panama to see the Pacific Ocean for the
first time.
From 1519 to 1522 Ferdinand Magellan crossed the Atlantic, navigated the Strait of Magellan, crossed
the Pacific, and discovered the Philippine Islands. There he was killed, but one of his ships successfully
completed the first circumnavigation of the world. Magellan's skill as a navigator resulted in greatly
improved charts of the world. He established the length of a degree of latitude and accurately estimated
the circumference of the earth.
The search for the Northwest Passage began as early as 1576 to 1616 with Arctic explorations by Sir
Martin Frobisher, Henrik Hudson, and William Baffin.
HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC OCEANOGRAPHY
For many centuries, ocean exploration was driven by the search for treasure, for natural resources, for the
establishment of colonies, and for trade. Progress in oceanographic science was largely restricted to
collecting information about currents, depths, and navigation routes. It could hardly be otherwise,
inasmuch as the basic sciences on which scientific oceanography depends remained rudimentary until the
18th century. Nevertheless, developing national pride, economic forces, and military conflict provided
motivation for steady improvement of charts and practical navigational skills.
Sir Isaac Newton published his unifying theory of gravity in 1687 ("Principia"), which provided an
explanation for tides.
The ocean is big, and collecting oceanographic data is expensive. Little could be done toward studying

ocean processes on a global scale until governments decided to make substantial investments in national
oceanographic programs. National hydrographic offices were established by France in 1720 and by the
British Admiralty Office in 1795. In the 18th Century numerous exploring expeditions and the rapid
progress of basic science let to the systematic study of ocean processes.
In 1768 Captain James Cook of the Royal Navy sailed to the South Pacific, first to observe a transit of
Venus for the Royal Society, and then to explore for the rumored "Terra Australis." He sailed to 40oS
without finding it. He then sailed to New Zealand and the east coast of Australia, charted these coasts and
discovered the Great Barrier Reef.
In 1773 Cook was commissioned to continue these explorations of the Southern Ocean. This time he
sailed south to the Cape of Good Hope, into the southern Indian Ocean, the southern Pacific, and the
southern Atlantic, reaching 71o10'S. latitude. He established that if any southern land existed, it must be
beyond the impenetrable field of pack ice. On his return home, he was honored for the use of lime juice
to prevent scurvy (a disease of vitamin C deficiency) among his sailors.
In 1777-1779 Cook commanded a third voyage to explore the northern Pacific, visiting New Zealand,
Tonga, the Society Islands, and Hawaii. He also sailed along the Pacific coast of North America as far
north as 70o44'N latitude, before being stopped by pack ice. Returning, he was killed in Hawaii.
Cook's expedition added greatly to scientific information about the oceans. He determined the outline of
the Pacific Ocean, measured subsurface temperatures, recorded winds and currents, took depth soundings
as deep as 400 m, and described coral reefs. His voyages also proved the worth of John Harrison's
chronometer.
Baron Alexander von Humboldt (for whom the Humboldt Current of the southeast Pacific is named)
made a five-year exporation (1799-1804) to South America. He was the first naturalist to explore that
new continent systematically.
In the American colonies, Benjamin Franklin, Deputy Postmaster General, noticed in 1770 that Yankee
trading ships crossed the Atlantic up to two weeks faster than did the British mail packets. Gathering
information from captains, he deduced the existence of the Gulf Stream and published a map of it in
1777, counseling mariners to ride it eastbound and avoid it westbound.
In 1802 Nathaniel Bowditch published the "New American Practical Navigator." After his death in 1838
the U.S. Navy bought the copyright, and his book has been continually in print to this day. With
numerous revisions it has remained the standard text on navigation. The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
was established (as the "Survey of the Coast") in 1797 by President Thomas Jefferson. (It is now the
National Ocean Survey.) The U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office was founded as the U.S. Naval
Hydrographic Office in 1830.
Matthew Fontaine Maury of the U.S. Navy, Department of Naval Charts and Instruments, compiled data
from captains' log books about currents and weather conditions in the Atlantic. In 1853 he helped
organize the first International Meteorological Conference in Brussels, for the purpose of compiling and
sharing such information. This helped to standardize methods of collecting and recording such data. The
practical result was that voyages were shortened by days or weeks.
In 1854 Maury compiled bottom soundings into the first bathymetric map of the North Atlantic (contour

interval 6000 feet), in preparation for the laying of the first trans-Atlantic cable. In 1855 Maury compiled
his findings in "The Physical Geography of the Sea," which is considered to be the first English-language
oceanographic textbook. For this he is considered to be the academic "Father of Oceanography."
The United States Exploring Expedition (1838-1842) compiled much information about hitherto
unexplored regions and did much to advance the state of scientific research and education in this young
nation.
Sir John Ross in 1818 accomplished a sounding and a mud sample with living animals from a depth of
1919 m in Baffin Bay during one of his north polar expeditions.
His nephew Sir James Clark Ross headed three circum-Antarctic voyages (1839-1843) to chart the
Antarctic coast, make even deeper dredgings, collect biological specimens, and make soundings. He
found the same species of animals in the Southern Ocean that his uncle had found in the Arctic Ocean.
From this he reasoned that the deep ocean must be everywhere very cold.
From 1831 to 1835 the H.M.S. Beagle surveyed the coast of South America and made chronometric
measurements for longitude around the world. The expedition is best known for Charles Darwin's
observations on coral reefs, biogeography, and evidence for the Theory of Natural Selection. Darwin's
Subsidence Theory to explain the origin of coral atolls is still the accepted theory today.
Information on tides, currents, and shallow depth soundings continued to be collected by ship captains
and explorers, but deep soundings were difficult. In one attempt in 1818 to measure deep temperature, it
took 100 men an hour and twenty minutes to haul 8600 meters of line on board again.
Christian J. Ehrenberg in Berlin studied many kinds of rocks in microscopic thin section. He was first
(1836) to recognize the importance of skeletons of microscopic pelagic organisms as contributors to
marine sediment. In particular, he demonstrated that siliceous rocks such as chert are composed of the
microscopic skeletons of radiolaria, diatoms, sponges, and other siliceous plankton. These observations
make him one of the founders of micropaleontology.
Later, Thomas Huxley, Darwin's friend and champion, studied the Chalk (Upper Cretaceous) of the chalk
cliffs of Dover and found it to be composed of the tiny calcareous shells of animals and plants,
demonstrating the importance of marine micro-organisms as sediment generators.
The debate and acceptance of Darwin's evolutionary theory spurred a search for stable environments in
which primitive organisms might have survived without change from the very early days of life. It was
thought that the deep sea might be such a place. Thomas Huxley found a white slimy material in
sediment samples preserved in alcohol. He named it Bathybius haeckeli, considering it to be the
"primordial slime" from which everything else arose. (Unfortunately, this slime turned out to be a
chemical precipitate of calcium sulfate, caused by the addition of alcohol to sea water.)
In 1854 a sounding device with a weight at the end (that dropped off when the bottom was reached)
made it easier to tell when the bottom was hit. In the 1870's steel cable (piano wire) was substituted for
hemp rope. The invention of the steam winch also helped. Still, gathering readings and samples at deep
stations might take hours or a full day to accomplish.
Early thermometers could not give accurate readings at high pressures. There were difficulties with

handling sediment samples and biological specimens. In 1876 Johannes Müller developed a fine-mesh
tow net to collect microscopic organisms from surface water. In 1887 Victor Hensen made further
improvements to the net and gave us the term "plankton."
Edward Forbes, an English biologist, conducted dredgings in the 1850's in the North Atlantic and
Mediterranean. He observed that plants are restricted to lighted surface waters. He recognized the
stratification of animal assemblages (depth zonation), and he also noticed that fewer animals are found in
the trawl nets at greater depths. Projecting this trend, he suggested that life exists only down to about 600
m, and below that depth should be an "Azoic Zone." It was thought, as well, that the deep ocean should
be anoxic, thus impossible for animal life. However, the Norwegian biologist Michael Sars had collected
living animals, including stalked crinoids, from depths greater than 1000 m. A telegraph cable raised for
repairs from more than 2000 m in the Mediterranean had yielded living corals and other encrusting
organisms.
Bathymetric exploration in the 1860's was driven by the laying of the trans-Atlantic cable. Wyville
Thomson at Edinburg University conducted deep dredging off northwest Scotland and the Faroe Islands
in 1868 on the "Lightning" to 915 m, and in 1869 and 1870 on the "Porcupine" to more than 4300 m. His
book, "The Depths of the Sea" (1773) brought this work to public attention and helped to stir popular
interest in ocean exploration. The Royal Society capitalized on this interest to persuade the British
Admiralty to organize a comprehensive global oceanographic expedition.
GREAT OCEANOGRAPHIC EXPEDITIONS
The H.M.S. Challenger Expedition (1872-1876) was the first large-scale, interdisciplinary oceanographic
expedition, the most ambitious and innovative project ever undertaken. The "Challenger" was a
full-rigged steam corvette (sail with auxiliary steam, about the size of a small destroyer). Under Wyville
Thomson as Chief Scientist, its charge was to find out everything about the ocean -- to take water
samples, to take temperature measurements at surface and depth, to measure currents, to record
barometric pressures, to collect bottom sediments and organisms, to conduct plankton tows for surface
organisms, and to collect fish and every sort of living organism. The sole purpose of the voyage was
scientific research.
The "Challenger" traveled 68,000 miles, collected 133 pounds of rockand sediment, took 494 bottom
soundings, make 362 complete oceanographic stations, and collected 4,700 new species of marine life.
The deepest sounding was 8,180 m in the Challenger Deep of the Marianas Trench. Life was found at all
depths, everywhere in the ocean. The "Azoic Zone" does not exist.
Sir Wyville Thomson was knighted on his return. John Murray, his assistant, edited many of the
monographic reports (Q115, C4) that were published over the next 20 years. William Dittmars compiled
complete chemical analyses of the water samples, demonstrating that sea water has constant proportions
of constituent dissolved materials everythere.
National pride stimulated similar but mostly smaller expeditions by other countries. In the last 19th and
early 20th centuries oceanography became more quantitative and less descriptive, following the model of
the Challenger Expedition. In the U.S. scientific oceanography was largely funded by wealthy
individuals and private foundations, such as the Carnegie Institution and the Rockefeller Foundation.
U.S. government agencies were more concerned with practical charting and navigation.

The U.S. Fish Commission Steamer "Albatross," the first U.S. ship specially equipped for oceanography,
was financed by Alexander Agassiz, a wealthy Swiss immigrant. He also served as scientific director for
numerous cruises, 1882 to the 1920's. He became especially famous for his hauls of deep-sea and
mid-water fish.
Prince Albert I of Monaco (1848-1922) equipped four private schooners as research vessels, studied mid-
and deep-water fishes, and established the famous national museum and oceanographc institute.
Fridtjof Nansen was a Norwegian explorer who was interested in charting the currents of the polar seas.
He designed a wooden vessel, the "Fram," able to withstand pressure of freezing into the polar ice pack.
With a companion, Nansen left the stationary "Fram" and attempted to reach the North Pole by dog sled.
He did not reach the pole, spent the winter on the ice, and returned home with another polar expedition.
Meanwhile, the "Fram" drifted with the Artic pack ice for almost three years (1893-1895) and 1100 km
before it was freed, from Siberia to Spitzbergen. This proved that no northern continent existed and that
the Arctic Ocean is connected to the Atlantic.
The "Fram" later (1911) took Roald Amundsen to Antarctica for his successful march to the South Pole.
It was Amundsen (1903-1906) who first completed the Northwest Passage from Norway to Alaska by
ship.
The German "Meteor" Expedition (1925-1927) was the first to make continuous echo-sounder depth
recordings along the course. This expedition concentrated on the South Atlantic and was the first to
demonstrate the true relief of the sea floor.
INSTITUTIONS AND AGENCIES
World War II interrupted civilian oceanographic research but stimulated naval research. Submarines
needed accurate bathymetric charts. Submarine tracking devices needed better understanding of the
acoustical properties and temperature structure of the ocean. Allied troops needed information on coral
reefs for amphibious landings on Pacific islands. Improved instrumentation (radar, sonar, automated
wave detectors, temperature-depth recorders) was developed.
Jacques Cousteau perfected the "Aqua-Lung," now called SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater
Breathing Apparatus). A series of tethered and mobile submersibles, such as August Picard's "Trieste,"
succeeded William Beebe's "Bathysphere." The Research Submersible "Alvin" ushered in a new age of
underwater planetary exploration. Modern research submersibles have been augmented by an array of
tethered, remote-controlled and robotic devices for remote sensing of the ocean floor.
Such applications brought oceanography to public view as never before. After the war there was much
more general appreciation of the general benefits of oceanographic work and of the importance of basic
research in science. It was also realized that deliberate, systematic cooperation of nations, agencies and
institutions is necessary for real success. An alphabet soup of federal agencies became involved in
marine research: the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation, the Coast and Geodetic
Survey, and even the Atomic Energy Commission (Bikini). Navy vessels were refitted for ocean
exploration, and then new ships were designed and built specifically for oceanographic research. More
recently, specialized vessels have been built for many purposes.

In the '50's the earth sciences flourished in this new atmosphere. As oceanography moved onto university
campuses as a separate science, there came a need to compile and summarize information for the
education of students. In 1942 Harald U. Sverdrup, Martin W. Johnson and Richard U. Fleming
published "The Oceans," which compiled the scientific data collected up to that time from the world
ocean. For decades it was the standard text for university courses, and even today it is a useful
one-volume reference.
The International Geophysical Year (IGY, 1957-1958) was organized under the International Council of
Scientific Unions (under UNESCO, a branch of the United Nations). Sixty-seven nations participated.
The IGY program conducted upper atmosphere observations during a period of high sunspot activity,
discovered the Van Allen belts that show the shape of the earth's magnetic field in space, collected
information on tides, currents, atmospheric pollution, and deep-ocean circulation, compiled observations
of gravity and heat flow, and mapped the mid-ocean ridges. It was a huge success, so much so that it
became a model for other cooperative programs.
In 1964-1965 the International Indian Ocean Expedition conducted basic oceanographic research in the
least explored and most poorly understood of the three oceans.
This flood of new information generated a more ambitious program, begun in 1964 to drill through the
crust of the earth into the mantle, called "Project Mohole." Technology for deep drilling was developed,
and a pilot hole was drilled.
Meanwhile, in the mid-1960's, rapid progress in integration of geological and geophysical observations
generated new hypotheses about global structure and the nature of continents and ocean basins. The
amalgamation of "Sea-Floor Spreading", "Continental Drift," and vast quantities of new geophysical
observation produced a revolutionary new paradigm, "Global Plate Tectonics." Project Mohole was
abandoned in favor of a far more ambitions program to test this new idea by drilling the ocean floor. The
first drill-ship was invented, the "R.V. Glomar Challenger." Thus began the JOIDES (Joint
Oceanographic Institution for Deep Earth Sampling) program, succeeded by the DSDP (Deep Sea
Drilling Project), ODP (Ocean Drilling Program) and now IPOD (International Program of Ocean
Drilling). Satellite navigation (courtesy of the space program) keeps the drill-ship on site and is now
routine for ships at sea. The cores and other data collected provide a huge resource for shipboard and
long-term land-based scientific investigation.
In the 1970's the IDOE (International Decade of Ocean Exploration) included such projects as
GEOSECS (Geochemical Ocean Section Study), a program to study the distribution of chemical
properties of water, MODE (Mid-Ocean Dynamics Experiment) to study large-scale eddies and
mid-ocean mixing; the Seabed Assessment Program, which studies processes by which minerals and
hydrocarbons are concentrated in marine sediments; the Coastal Upwelling Project, and the International
Geodynamics Project to study the global plate tectonic model.
The frequent name changes are bewildering. In 1965 there was the Environmental Science Services
Administration (ESSA). By 1970 it had become the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), including the National Ocea Survey, National Weather Service, National Marine Fisheries
Service, Environmental Data Service, National Environmental Satellite Service, Environmental Research
Laboratories, and National Sea Grant College Program.

The 80's were advertised to be the "Decade of Ocean Resource Use and Management." The 80's and 90's
brought the consolidation of some agencies and institutions and proliferation of others. Through the 70's,
80's and 90's there has been continued reduction in funding for basic research but occasional increase in
special temporary funding for particular targets.
In 1974 the Law of the Sea Conference was convened by the U.S. to negotiate conflicting needs and
laws. The treaty completed in 1981 markedly changed the legal status of the ocean. Territorial sea was
extended to 22 km (12 nautical miles), with a 200-mile (370 km) exclusive economic zone.
The space program produced an enduring image of a unique blue planet, with oceans and swirling
clouds, unlike any other body in the solar system.
The 1980's and 1990's saw the development of satellites and computers for many scientific purposes.
Today, much oceanographic data is collected by remote sensing methods from observational satellites.
Applications include precise navigation, environmental monitoring, and investigations of long-term
global change.
Return to the list of lectures.
Return to the Oceanography home page.

GEOL 3377 Lecture 1b Elementary Geography

Department of Geosciences, University of Houston
LECTURE 1: INTRODUCTION, HISTORY,

GEOGRAPHY
AND NAVIGATION
PART 1B: ELEMENTARY GEOGRAPHY AND NAVIGATION
Elementary Geography
Earth's Orbit and Seasons
Latitude and Longitude
Time Zones
Distance, Speed and Course
Measuring Latitude
Measuring Time and Longitude
Maps, Charts and Scales

Mariners' Charts
The Compass
ELEMENTARY GEOGRAPHY
The earth is nearly perfect sphere, a very slightly oblate spheroid, flattened at the poles and bulging at the
equator. Its equatorial axis (diameter) measures about 12,757 km (7,927 statute miles), and its polar or
rotational axis about 12,714 km (7,900 statute miles). For all practical computations we will use the
average radius as 6371 km (3959 miles).
This difference occurs because the earth is not a rigid sphere. Centrifugal force associated with the earth's
rotation causes it to bulge at the equator. Other minor departures from sphericity are related to the
unequal concentration of land in the Northern Hemisphere.
The earth is quite smooth. The highest point of the solid earth is Mt. Everest (8,840 m = 29,000 feet
http://www.uh.edu/~rmaddock/3377/3377lecture1b.html (1 di 9) [28/04/2000 10.54.17]

above sea level), and the deepest part is the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench (11,000 m = 36,000
feet). However, these deviations are minor compared to the size of the planet, analogous to the skin of a
grapefruit or the surface of a basketball.
The axis of rotation intersects the surface at the North and South Geographic poles.
EARTH'S ORBIT AND SEASONS
The earth orbits the sun in a period of a little less than 365.25 days. The plane in which this orbit lies is
called the plane of the ecliptic.
The earth rotates west to east with a period of one day. Therefore, the sun appears to rise in the east and
set in the west each day.
The rotational axis of the earth is tilted with respect to the plane of the ecliptic by 23.5 degrees from
perpendicular. Therefore, the sun's position in the sky appears to migrate from south to north and then
back again during the course of the year.
The sun's rays strike the earth perpendicularly at the equator only at the Vernal Equinox (March 21) and
the Autumnal Equinox (September 23). On those days, the day and night are of equal length all over the
earth.
On June 21, the Summer Solstice (sun-standstill) and the longest day of the year in the northern
hemisphere, the sun's rays strike perpendicularly at the Tropic of Cancer, 23.5oN. Above the Arctic
Circle (66.5oN), there is continuous daylight, and below the Antarctic Circle (66.5oS) there is continuous
darkness.
On December 22, the Winter Solstice and the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, the
sun's rays strike perpendicularly at the Tropic of Capricorn, 23.5oS.
LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE
The Equator is the great circle formed by the intersection with the earth's surface of a plane perpendicular
to the axis. The equator is equidistant from the poles, every point on it being 90o from each pole. It
divides the earth into the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere.
A great circle is a circle upon the earth's surface formed by the intersection of a plane passed through its
center. There is an infinite number of such circles.
Meridians of Longitude are great circles, formed by the intersection with the earth's surface of planes
perpendicular to the equator and passing through the poles. All meridians are equal in length and meet at
the poles. Distances along the meridians between any two parallels are equal.
Parallels of Latitude are small circles, formed by the intersection with the earth's surface of planes
parallel to the equator. The length of the parallels decreases from the equator to the poles. At Latitude
60o, the circumference of the parallel is one-half the circumference of the equator. Parallels and
meridians always meet at 90o (on the earth's surface but not on maps).
Lines of Latitude and Longitude provide a coordinate system (grid) for reference (location). To identify
any point on the earth's surface, we use the crossing of latitude and longitude lines. There are 360o

degrees in a circle. Each degree of arc is divided into 60 minutes, each minute of arc may be divided into
60 seconds, and each second of arc may be divided into tenths.
The Latitude of a place on the surface of the earth is the arc of the meridian (angular distance from the
center of the earth) intercepted between the equator and that place. Latitude is reckoned North and South,
from the equator as an origin, through 90o to the poles.
The Difference of Latitude between any two places is the arc of a meridian intercepted between their
parallels of latitude.
The Longitude of a place on the surface of the earth is the arc of the equator intercepted between its
meridian and that of some place from which the longitude is reckoned.
Longitude is measured East or West through 180o from the meridian of a designated place, termed the
Prime Meridian. The Prime Meridian divides the world into Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Most
countries, including the United States, use the Prime Meridian at the Royal Naval Observatory in
Greenwich, England.
Some Russian charts refer to a prime meridian at St. Petersburg, 30o19'40" east of Greenwich. Some
Italian charts refer to Naples, 14o15'26" east of Greenwich. Some Norwegian charts refer to Christiania,
now called Oslo, 10o43'23" east of Greenwich. Older French charts are based on a prime meridian at
Paris, 2o20' east of Greenish. Dutch (The Hague), Portuguese (Lisbon) and Spanish (Cadiz) charts may
also refer to alternate prime meridians.
The Difference of Longitude between any two places is the arc of the equator intercepted between their
meridians. It is an angular distance.
The Departure is the linear distance, measured along a parallel of latitude, between two meridians,
reckoned in a linear distance unit such as miles. It varies with the parallel of latitude on which it is
measured; it is greatest at the equator and zero at the poles.
At the equator, the linear distance associated with a degree of longitude equals that of a degree of
latitude. To the north or south of the equator, while the degrees of latitude remain always of the same
length, the distances between degrees of longitude (departures) become less and less.
TIME ZONES
The surface of the earth is divided into 24 time zones, each representing 15o of longitude and one hour of
time (1/24 of a day). The initial, or zero, zone is centered on the Prime Meridian at Greenwich.and
extends 7 1/2o east and west. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is also known as Coordinated Universal
Time or Zero Meridian Time or Zulu Time.
Time zones are numbered from 0 to 12 and designated as - (west) or + (east). (Some atlases show the
reverse (+ is west and - is east.) Thus, it is easy to calculate the local time for any point by adding or
subtracting the number of time zones separating it from Greenwich. (The irregularities in the actual zones
arise from political and economic factors.) Daylight Savings Time adds another factor, which we will
ignore in this course.
DISTANCE, SPEED AND COURSE

The line which joins any two places on the earth's surface, cutting all the meridians at the same angle, is
called the Rhumb Line, Loxodromic Curve, or Equiangular Spiral. The constant angle which this line
makes with the meridians is called the Course. The length of the line is the Distance between those two
places.
A Great Circle Course between any two places is the route along the circumference of the great circle
which joins them. Except when the two points are on the same meridian, or when both lie upon the
equator, the great circle track will always differ from the rhumb line, and the great circle track will
intersect each intervening meridian at a different angle.
When two parallel lines are cut by a third straight line, corresponding equal angles are formed. But,
meridians of longitude are not parallel. A great circle course will intercept each meridian at a different
angle. A great circle line is the shortest distance between two points, but the compass course along that
line is constantly changing.
Distance is measured by the International Nautical Mile. One International Nautical Mile is equal to
one-sixtieth part of a degree of a great circle of a sphere whose surface is equal in area to the area of the
surface of the earth. That is, one nautical mile equals one minute of latitude.
One nautical mile (1 nm) = 1' Latitude = 6,080 feet (American or English) = 1.15 statute miles = 1852
meters = 1.85 km.
The statute mile is used for land and freshwater measurements. One statute mile = 5,280 feet.
The knot is a measure of speed. 1 knot = 1 nautical mile per hour.
MEASURING LATITUDE
The projection of the earth's rotational axis is a line of sight to the North Star (Polaris). At the North
Pole, Polaris is directly overhead (90o). At the equator it is on the horizon (0o).
A mariner in the Northern Hemisphere measures the angle of the North Star above the horizon (tangent
to the earth's surface at that point) with a sextant to determine latitude. If the sighting is taken at a time
other than local noon or midnight, a correction must be applied from a table. In the Southern
Hemisphere, the Southern Cross may be used.
Sights of the sun and other stars may also be used. Tables for diurnal and other corrections are in the
Nautical Almanac.
MEASURING TIME AND LONGITUDE
The earth rotates through 360o per day and 15o per hour. After John Harrison invented the chronometer
(a very accurate clock or time-keeper), ships carried a chronometer set to Greenwich Mean Time. At
local apparent noon, when the sun is at its daily zenith (maximum height), the time shown by the
chronometer is recorded. The difference between local and Greenwich time may be converted into
angular distance (longitude).
For example (See p. 507, Appendix II of Thurman, 8th ed.): "A ship sets sail west across the Atlantic
Ocean, checking its longitude each day at noon (when the sun crosses the meridian running directly
overhead). One day when the sun is at the noon position, the captain checks the chronometer. It reads

16:18 h (0:00 is midnight and 12:00 is noon). What is the ship's longitude?"
Greenwich time = 16:18 h = 4.18 PM
360o in 24 hours = 15o per hr
15o/60 min = 0.25o per min
The earth rotates through 1/4o (15') of arc per minute of time = 15'/min
4 hr X 15o/h = 60o of longitude
18 min (of time) X 15'/min = 270 '
270' divided by 60 '/deg = 4.5o
60o + 4.5o = 64.5 W longitude
MAPS, CHARTS AND SCALES
It is not possible to represent the curved surface of the globe on a flat surface without distortion. On
large-scale maps the distortion may be negligible. On small-scale maps it is considerable and may cause
misconceptions.
A map projection is a systematic transformation of locations on the earth to locations on the map. It is a
grid of parallels and meridians on which a flat map can be drawn.
The number of possible projections is infinite, and hundreds are in use. All involve distortion of spatial
relations. A flat map cannot depict area, shape, angle and scale all truthfully. For a particular map need, it
is possible to conserve one property at the expense of others, or to compromise some at the expense of
others.
The maps in a typical atlas generally strive to give equality of area, to conserve shapes, and to keep the
parallels parallel. Inevitably, as one is conserved, other properties are distorted. An Equal-Area
projection seeks to conserve area. A Conformal projection seeks to conserve shapes, but areas are
distorted.
There are three principal systems of projection in use: The Mercator, the Polyconic, and the Gnomonic,
based respectively on the cylinder, cone and tangent. The Mercator is principally used for navigation.
The Mercator Projection results from the development, upon a plane surface, of a cylinder which is
tangent to the earth at the equator. The various points of the earth's surface are projected upon the
cylinder in such a manner that the loxodromic curve or rhumb line appears as a straight line preserving
the same angle of bearing with respect to the intersected meridians as the ship's track. (A straight line on
a Mercator chart is a line of true direction. It represents, not the actual track to be traversed and not the
distance, but the ship's constant heading.)
In a Mercator projection, the projected meridians appear as equidistant straight lines,
parallel to each other and perpendicular to the equator. The projected parallels will appear as
straight lines parallel to each other and to the equator, intersecting the meridians to form a
system of rectangles. The altitudes of these rectangles vary, increasing from the equator, so

that the angles made by the rhumb line with the meridian on the chart may maintain the
required equality with the corresponding angles on the spheroid.
Distortion will be evident in a Mercator chart that covers any large extent of surface. An
island near the pole (Greenland) will be represented as very much larger than one of the
same size (Madagascar) near the equator.
The blank world map used for Geography Exercises in the course is a Mercator projection.
The Polyconic Projection is based upon a series of cones, one for each parallel of latitude,
each having the parallel as its base and its vertex in the point where a tangent to the earth at
that latitude intersects the earth's axis.
The degrees of latitude and longitude on this chart are projected in their true length, and the
general distortion of the figure is less than in any other method of projection. Relative
magnitudes are closely preserved.
The Gnomonic Projection has the plane of projection tangent to the earth at some given point and the eye
of the spectator at the center of the earth. It sees every great circle projected as a straight line. In a
gnomonic chart the straight line between any two points represents the arc of a great circle and is the
shortest distance between those points.
Gnomonic charts are not used for navigation except in polar regions. They are used chiefly
for finding course and distance in great circle sailing.
The scale of a map represents the relationship (proportionality) between distances on the map to
distances on the earth's surface. The form in which the scale of a map or chart is given may be verbal,
graphical, or a ratio or fraction.
A verbal scale is expressed in words, and units must be specified on both sides of the = sign:
"1 inch = 5 miles."
A graphical scale is drawn as a bar with increments marked on it; the unit must be specified.
A ratio or fractional scale is expressed as a ratio or fraction: 1:63,360 or 1/63,360. Units are
never specified. A ratio scale is unitless; that is, the units are the same on both sides of the
colon, and the relationship is true regardless of what units are used. For example, 1:316,800
means that 1 inch on the map = 316,800 inches on the ground (5 miles X 5280 feet/mile X
12 inches/foot). It also means that 1 centimeter on the map = 316,800 centimeters on the
ground (3168 meters or 3.168 kilometers).
For a large-scale map this number is large, and the area depicted is correspondingly small. A
small-scale map depicts a large area.
MARINER'S CHARTS
A chart is a representation on a plane surface of a portion of the navigable waters of the globe. It is
framed by a network of parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude. It generally includes the outline
of the adjacent land, together with the surface forms and artificial features that are useful as aids to
navigation.

A bathymetric chart records the water depths, especially in the near approaches to land, by soundings at
points that are fixed in position by accurate determinations. The soundings show water depth in fathoms
(6 feet) or meters (3.281 feet).
Often there are abbreviated annotations about the nature of the bottom: Cl = clay, Co = coral, G = gravel,
M = mud, rdy = rocky, S = sand, Sh = shells, St = stones, Wd = weed, fne = fine, crs = coarse, stf = stiff,
sft = soft, bk = black, rd = red, yl = yellow, gy = gray.
To produce a visual image of bathymetry, the soundings may be contoured. Unlike topographic maps on
land, usually the original soundings (data points) are retained, and except near shore the contour interval
is usually quite large. A contour line connects points of equal depth below sea level.
For example, the shoreline (the intersection of sea surface with the land surface) is also the 0
contour. Everywhere along the 10 fathom contour, the water depth is exactly 10 fathoms. If
sea level were to drop by 10 fathoms, the former 10 fathom contour would become the new
shoreline.
Contour lines can never intersect or cross. A contour line can never stop; it either closes on
itself (circle) or runs off the edge of the chart (but continues on the next chart).
Contouring may be applied to numerical data of all kinds, not just bathymetry and
topography, and we will see other examples later on.
Sea-floor features may be shaded or drawn in visual perspective with relief emphasized to produce a
physiographic map of the sea floor. For more effective imagery, colors may be added.
THE COMPASS
The traditional Mariner's Compass has a circular card divided on its periphery into 360o, numbered from
0o at North and South to 90o at East and West. It is further divided into 32 divisions of 11 and 1/4o each,
called points, which are further divided into half-points and quarter-points.
The four Cardinal Points are North, South, East and West, each differing from the adjacent
one by 90o or 8 points.
Midway between the cardinal points are the Inter-Cardinal Points, Northeast, Southeast, etc.,
at an angular distance of 45o or 4 points.
Midway between any cardinal and intercardinal point, at an angular distance of 22 1/2o or 2
points, is a point whose name is a combination of the two: North-Northeast, East-Northeast,
East-Southeast, etc.
Midway between each of these, at an angular distance of 11 1/4o or 1 point, are points
named by joining the name of the cardinal or intercardinal point with "by" to that of the
cardinal point in the direction of which it lies: North by East, Northeast by North, Northeast
by East, etc.
To recite the points in their order around the compass is called "Boxing the Compass." Seamen years ago
had to learn to do this, but we will not do it in this course.

North to East East to South South to West West to North

N E S W
N by E E by S S by W W by N
NNE ESE SSW WNW
NE by N SE by E SW by S NW by W
NE SE SW NW
NE by E SE by S SW by W NW by N
ENE SSE SWS NNW
E by N S by E W by S N by W
The Mariner's Compass is not much used today, but if you read nautical history and fiction you will
encounter this system. In modern navigation and scientific oceanography, only the Navy Compass is
used.
A U. S. Navy Compass has the degrees numbered from 0o to 360o increasing to the right. (The eight
cardinal and intercardinal points are also shown.) To specify a particular course, state the direction in
degrees. "Mr. Jones, the course is 135 degrees." This numerical direction is unique, less confusing, and
less likely to be misunderstood as an oral command.
Never add "north" (south, east, or west) to a direction according to the Navy Compass. Just state the
number of degrees. A course of 135 degrees (Navy Compass) is equivalent to a course of "Southwest"
(Mariner's Compass), but we would never say "135o Southwest." Use one compass system or the other.
Never mix them.
A bearing is the angular distance between some feature and some line of reference (not True North).
Traditional mariners' terms for bearings relative to the ship are given in Pipkin Fig. 3-6.
COMPASS DIRECTIONS ON A MAP OR CHART

Usually, True North is at the top of a map or chart. If not, a North arrow will be provided. True North is
the direction toward the North Rotational Pole. Usually, Meridians of Longitude and Parallels of Latitude
will be drawn on the chart, or their intersections may be indicated as tick marks.
Every bathymetric chart has a compass rosette, showing the direction of True North and 360o marked
according to the Navy Compass.
To find the compass direction for the course between two points on a chart, there are two ways:
If meridians of longitude and parallels of latitude are drawn or indicated on the chart: Draw
the intended course as a neat straight line in pencil on the chart and extend it until it
intersects a meridian or parallel. Use a protractor to measure the angle and calculate the
equivalent according to the Navy Compass.
Draw the intended course as a neat straight line in pencil on the chart. Using triangles or
parallel rulers, draw a second line parallel to the first line and passing through the center of

the compass rosette. Read the course off the compass rosette. (The use of triangles is
described in more detail in Supplemental Exercise 3.)
A compass needle points to the Magnetic North Pole, which is near but not at the Geographic North Pole.
For every point on the planet, except along the great circle that includes the Magnetic North Pole and the
Geographic North Pole, the direction to Magnetic North is different from the direction to True North.
This difference between True North and Magnetic North is the Magnetic Declination.
Inside the compass rosette is a second rosette, showing directions to the Magnetic North Pole. The
amount of Magnetic Declination at the time the chart was published will also be stated in words. Because
the location of Magnetic North changes, the approximate direction and rate of movement at the time the
chart wad is specified.
Maps and charts are always drawn with respect to True North. Courses are always specified with respect
to True North. The mariner (explorer, mapping geologist) should adjust his compass for the local
magnetic declination, so that a Magnetic North reading coincides with True North.
By Rosalie F. Maddocks, December 16, 1999

GEOL 3377 Nature of Earth and Ocean
GEOL 3377: LECTURE 2:

NATURE OF THE EARTH AND OCEAN
PART 2A: ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY
Origin of Earth
Differentiation of the Interior
Evidence for Density Stratification
Earthquake_Seismology
Mohorovic Discontinuity
Phase Differentiation
Origin of the Atmosphere and Hydrosphere
Degassing Hypothesis
Cometary Ice Hypothesis
History of Ocean Basins

Origin of Life
Early Life Forms
Oceanic Composition and Salinity

Sources of the Substances in Sea Water
Dissolved Gases

Atmospheric Nitrogen
Rare Gases
Atmospheric Oxygen
Ozone Layer
Carbon Dioxide and pH of Sea Water
Origin of Life
Early Life Forms
ORIGIN OF THE EARTH

The universe we know may have originated in a single event, the Big Bang, as much as 15 billion years
ago. A recent estimate is about 11 to 12 billion years ago. Such estimates are based on the rare of retreat
of galaxies and the apparent rate of expansion of the universe. Matter was created at this time, in the
form of the element hydrogen, as well as the laws of physics governing mass and motion.
The first stars condensed from local concentrations of matter and began nuclear fusion, a set of processes
that release energy and that construct heavier elements. Those stars long ago completed their life cycles,
exploding in super-nova events that enriched nearby space in these heavier elements.
We believe the sun is a younger, second-generation sun, because the solar system is relatively enriched in
these heavier elements. The earth is one of a number of small planetary bodies (planets, satellites,
asteroids) that orbit a fairly ordinary star, the sun, in an orderly dynamic system, the Solar System.
By a variety of lines of reasoning, we estimate the age of the solar system at 4.5+ to no more than 6 or 7
by, and the age of the solid (accreted earth) at 4.5+ by. Certain lunar highland rocks and meteorites give
isotopic ages as old as 4.3 by. The Allende Meteorite is dated as 4.6 by.
Modern theories assume a cold chaotic origin from local eddies in a rotating cloud of dust and gas,
contracting and condensing under gravitational attraction. The early protoplanet was up to 1000 times
greater in diameter and 500 times greater in mass than the present planet.
The young sun began to shine, releasing radiation produced by nuclear fusion (fusing hydrogen atoms to
make helium), and also emitting ionized (electrically charged) particles (= solar wind). This solar wind
blew away dust and gas from space in the inner regions of the solar system. The radiation heated and
boiled away the primordial atmospheres (mostly composed of the light elements hydrogen and helium) of
the four smaller, inner (terrestrial) planets, with much of the gas being recaptured by Jupiter, Saturn and
Uranus (the large gas planets).
The protoplanet continued to contract under the influence of gravity, compressing the component gases
into smaller volume and causing interior temperatures to rise. (The temperature of a gas increases as the

pressure increases.)
Unstable isotopes decayed, releasing additional energy (heat) into the interior. There are many different
unstable isotopes, and some of them have short half lives. These were more abundant in the early days
than today, when only those with relatively long half-lives still remain. Thus, the amount of heat
contributed to the interior of the earth by isotopic decay was much higher in the early days. Even today,
it is significant.
Sources of interior heat:
Impact of captured matter (kinetic energy to thermal energy).
Gravitational compaction (kinetic to thermal energy).
Increased internal pressures (gas laws).
Radioactive decay of unstable isotopes.
The earth may have become molten, or more likely, may have experienced partial melting, during which
differentiation was accomplished. Heavier materials settled to the center to form the core, mantle, and
perhaps a thin crust, while gases escaped to the surface to form the fluid and gaseous envelopes.
Cratering was intense from 4.3 to 3.9 by ago, causing surface melting and formation of a secondary crust
(anorthositic gabbro). The oldest moon rocks, in the lunar highlands, crystallized at this time.
DIFFERENTIATION OF THE INTERIOR
The earth shows density differentiation into core, mantle, crust, hydrosphere and atmosphere.
Thickness Percent of Density Percent of
km volume g/cm3 Mass
Atmosphere - - 0.12X10-8 0.09 X 10-4
Hydrosphere 3.8 0.1 1.03 0.024
Crust 30 1.4 2.8 0.7
Mantle 2870 82.3 4.5 67.8
Core 3471 16.2 10.7 31.5
Total Earth 6371 100.0 5.3 100.0
EVIDENCE FOR DENSITY STRATIFICATION:

Orbital mechanics, precession of equinoces: The inertia of earth is that of a sphere averaging 5.5 g/cm3,
yet the average crustal density is only 2.8 g/cm3. The interior must be denser to compensate.
Meteorites may be planetary material. Their kinds (stony and metallic) and relative abundances support a
model for the structure of the earth's interior.
Earthquake seismology: The velocity of propagation of P-waves increases with depth, with more or less
abrupt increases (discontinuities) at inferred boundaries suggesting a layered structure.

EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY
Seismic waves represent the shock energy of an impact, an explosion, or liberated by the abrupt failure of
subsurface rocks, in the event we call an earthquake:
P-waves (pressure, push-pull): The direction of particle motion is parallel to the direction of
transmission of the wave. P waves are transmitted by both liquids and solids.
S-waves (shear): The direction of particle motion is transverse to the direction of
propagation of the wave. S waves can only be transmitted by solids.
(L-waves (long): The motion is horizontal, perpendicular to the direction of propagation.
These lateral shaking waves occur only at the surface.)
(R-waves (Rayleigh): The motion is elliptical in a plane oriented in the direction of
propagation, like water waves. These occur only at the surface.)
This energy originates at the focus (origin) and is propagated in all directions. The velocity of
propagation increases with increasing density and elasticity. Thus, if we know the time of the event and
the distance over which the wave has traveled, we can compute the speed, and hence the density of the
rocks through which it has traveled.
Seismic waves move outward in all directions from their source (the focus). Lines drawn perpendicular
to the wave front from the focus are called rays or ray paths. Visualize a wave front as the distance
reached after a certain time T, a snapshot of the exploding sphere of ray paths.
If the earth were homogeneous, the exploding waves would describe a series of enlarging spheres, and
the wave front at time T would be the surface of a sphere. The paths of P and S waves would be radii of
the sphere, straight lines from the center (source) to the surface, perpendicular to the surface of the
sphere.
But, the earth is not homogeneous, and the wave encounters material of different density and elasticity in
different directions. The wave front at time T is not spherical but deformed, as the waves are accelerated
or retarded. Remember that ray paths must be perpendicular to the surface of the wave front. Therefore,
the ray paths must bend, a phenomenon known as refraction.
Thus, as a seismic wave travels from one material into another material of different density and elasticity,
its velocity and direction of travel change. Earthquake waves are continually refracted as they pass
through layers of differing density and elasticity. The ray paths bend into (toward) less dense regions
having lower velocity, where the wave front is traveling more slowly. Thus, the ray paths are curved.
Recording the arrival times of seismic waves from earthquakes in all parts of the world, we are able to
reconstruct the velocities and hence the densities of the layers through which they have traveled.
Seismic rays are also reflected, much as light is reflected from a mirror. When seismic waves encounter a
boundary separating layers of different density and elasticity, some part of the ray's energy is reflected
back to the earth's surface.
If we know the wave velocity and the time required for it to travel from its source to the boundary and
back to the surfce, we can calculate the depth of the reflecting boundary. This seismic reflection tool lets

us map the thicknesses of sediment layers beneath the ocean or within the earth.
MOHOROVICIC DISCONTINUITY
The Mohorovicic discontinuity marks the boundary between the crust and the mantle. It separates rocks
with P-wave travel time 6 to 7 km/sec from rocks with travel times of 8 km/sec or more. A discontinuity
is an interface or boundary between regions with sharply distinct properties -- in this case, densities. The
Moho is located everywhere except beneath the midocean ridges, at depths ranging from 10 to 55 km. It
represents an abrupt density and compositional change separating mantle rocks (rich in olivine and
pyroxene) from crustal rocks (rich in feldspar).
Actually, for purposes of Global Plate Tectonics, the lithosphere/asthenosphere boundary is more
important tectonically than the crust/mantle boundary (Moho). The part of the earth that transmits
stresses in a solid manner and that yields by brittle failures is the lithosphere.
In the asthenosphere (asthenes = without strength, weak) where confining pressure and higher
temperatures permit plastic flow, stresses are accommodated by plastic flow (ductile behavior) instead of
by brittle failure. The asthenosphere is also called the low-velocity zone, because S waves are attenuated
(weakened). The top of the asthenosphere is located within the upper mantle at about 70 km.
Local partial melting in the asthenosphere provides a primary source of basaltic magmas. This is thought
to be the zone of weakness at which plate movement (slippage) takes place.
PHASE DIFFERENTIATION
The earth shows phase differentiation, with a metallic core and a stony mantle and crust of silicate
mineralogy. The core is thought to be divided into an outer liquid and an inner solid portion. Boundaries
between these phases are relatively abrupt and show up in seismic records as discontinuities in travel
times.
These major regions of the earth are not internally homogeneous. The subtle gradations and interactions
within these regions are only now being investigated by deep-earth geophysical methods, including three
dimensional seismic tomography. The results suggest that the mantle is more heterogeneous, more
structured, and more dynamic than we formerly supposed.
Differentiation of the interior was accomplished in a molten condition, probably fairly early, though
some theories suggest that differentiation may still be going on. Supporting evidence is provided by
meteorites, which come in two relatively distinct categories, stony and iron. Their relative abundances
correspond to the relative volume of core and mantle. It is suggested that they represent fragments of
differentiated protoplanets that failed to survive.
ORIGIN OF THE ATMOSPHERE AND HYDROSPHERE
Earth is the only planet with an ocean. Venus has very little water vapor in its atmosphere. Mars has a
small amount of ice but may earlier have had some liquid water, as suggested by images of the dry
valleys.
The present composition of the earth atmosphere is 78% N2, 21% O2, 0.9% Ar, 0.03% CO2, and varying
trace quantities of H2O, O3, etc. Water exists primarily in a liquid form, forming the oceans.

Comparison of the composition of the earth's atmosphere with that of the sun and other stars shows the
earth to be depleted in certain materials and enriched in others.
NH3 and CH4, which are important constituents of the atmospheres of the large gas planets, are very
minor constituents on earth. Local abundances are the result of biological processes, especially bacteria.
The earth's atmosphere is severely depleted in light elements, such as hydrogen and helium. The lighter a
molecule and the higher its temperature (kinetic energy), the greater its kinetic velocity, and the higher
the probability that it can escape the earth's gravitational field. The earth is today losing hydrogen and
helium, while heavier molecules such as water vapor and oxygen are retained.
It is also depleted in the relatively abundant noble gases, such as neon-18 and argon-40. Noble gases are
inert and do not combine with other elements to make compounds. Therefore, their absence from the
atmosphere suggests that they have escaped from earth. Their depletion in the present atmosphere
suggests that.the primeval atmosphere was lost during the thermal episode, and that the present
atmosphere was derived largely by degassing.
Because these relatively heavy gases are depleted, it is assumed that lighter materials such as water
vapor, nitrogen and oxygen should have escaped at the same time. Therefore, it is assumed that the
original atmosphere of the earth (whatever its composition) would have been lost during the thermal
episode 4.3 to 4 by ago.
Another set of elements is present in the ocean in greater quantities than can be accounted for by
chemical weathering of rocks. These are the so-called excess volatiles. These include water vapor and
carbon dioxide, as well as Cl-, Br-, I-, HCO3-, and SO4=.
If the earth had ever been totally molten, these excess volatiles should have been lost. Therefore,
differentiation during the early thermal episode must be accomplished in partial melting rather than total
melting. It is thought that these have been supplied incrementally as juvenile volcanic gases (new to the
earth's exterior) during 4 by of volcanism.
DEGASSING HYPOTHESIS
Most geologists think that the present atmosphere evolved by degassing of the interior of the earth during
differentiation. This may have been a relatively rapid, single, early event, or it may have continued
through a period of up to 2 by.
Melting within the mantle produces magmas (liquid rock), which rise to the surface to feed volcanism.
Liquids (including magmas) contain gases in solution, the solubility being a function of pressure. As
magmas rise to the surface and pressures decrease, these volcanic gases escape from solution. The top of
a subaerial lava flow that cooled while gases were still escaping may have a zone of congealed bubbles
(scoria, pumice).
Most water in volcanic gases is recycled ground water, heated by subsurface contact with hot rocks and
escaping as steam. If only 0.5% is juvenile water, and if outgassing has been continuous at the present
rate, this would be sufficient to produce the present volume of the oceans.
An additional source of water is from the minerals that compose these mantle rocks. Zeolites, amphiboles
and other silicate minerals may contain water as OH- (hydroxide ion). Stony meteorites, which are

thought to be an analogue for the composition of the mantle, contain about 0.5% water, on average (more
than enough to generate the oceans).
We know that volcanic activity has been continuous throughout geologic history. If anything, it may
have been more pervasive in Archean times than today. Juvenile volcanic gases are dominated by water
vapor, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and smaller amounts of hydrogen, chlorides and
sulfides but no free oxygen. This corresponds well with the composition of the atmosphere, except that
there is little or no free oxygen.
This growing atmosphere blocked radiation from the sun, reflecting about 60% of solar radiation back
into space. Ammonia and methane may have formed in reactions between hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen
in an anoxic environment.
Certain atmospheric gases, especially carbon dioxide, absorbed (trapped) long-wave energy (heat) in the
Greenhouse manner, slowing the rate of surface cooling. At the same time, atmospheric circulation
carried water vapor high into the outer atmosphere, where it froze to ice crystals, releasing large
quantities of latent heat into adjacent space and accelerating the cooling of the atmosphere. (Water has
high heat capacity and latent heat of vaporization.)
Eventually the surface cooled below the condensation temperature of water vapor, and rain fell under the
influence of gravity to accumulate on the surface of the earth as the first oceans. This was the ancestor of
the modern ocean, perhaps around 4 by ago. The oldest water-laid sedimentary rocks are more than 3.5
by old, and they contain fossils (cyanobacteria) and stromatolites.
This is an evolutionary view of the origin of the atmosphere and oceans. It assumes that the source of
water is from the mantle by volcanism. Between 33% and 90% of the present volume of the oceans may
have originated duing this differentiation event.
COMETARY ICE HYPOTHESIS
A rather new, controversial idea is the Cometary Ice Hypothesis. This suggests that the ocean water may
have been acquired from comets rather than from the interior of the earth. Recent observations from the
space shuttle show that every day hundreds of house-sized (9 m diameter) cometary blocks of ice (H2O,
CO2) puncture the atmosphere and melt harmlessly.
This rate of accumulation is more than enough to fill the oceans in 4 billion years. It is also possible that
simple and complex organic compounds and even primitive life forms might have reached the earth in
this way.
ORIGIN OF OCEAN BASINS
Both volcanism and cometary ice infall are continuous processes. Thus, the oceans may have grown
continuously through time. Does this mean that the oceans have covered more and more of the area of
the planet? Not, not necessarily, because another factor is involved. There is no direct relationship
between area and volume of the oceans. In fact, because of the growth of continents (continental crust), it
is possible that ocean area is less today than formerly.
The ocean basin is a function of the isostatic buoyancy of continents. Continental crust is less dense and
more buoyant than oceanic crust. As the volume of continental crust has increased, so the oceanic basins

may have become deeper and more distinctly demarcated. The area of continental crust probably has
grown, causing shrinkage and deepening of ocean basins.
ORIGIN OF LIFE
The scientific theory for the origin of life is spontaneous synthesis. Synthesis means that materials are
organized into more complex structures. Spontaneous means that, given the existing concentrations and
environmental conditions, a reaction is likely to happen. For spontaneous synthesis of organic materials,
certain conditions must be met: aqueous solution, basic conditions, appreciable concentrations of
materials yielding C,H,N,O, an energy source and no free oxygen.
Experiments show that many energy sources (electricity, visible light, UV, infrared) and many gas
mixtures will result in abiotic synthesis of simple organic compounds (carbohydrates and amino acids),
as long as no free oxygen is present. (Oxygen breaks down (oxidizes) complex organic molecules.)
The origin of life took place probably around 4 by ago. The oldest water-laid sedimentary rocks in which
a record of life could have been preserved do preserve marine algae (Cyanobacteria) and stromatolites
(laminated, dome-shaped sedimentary structures generated by the growth of Cyanobacteria). These are
dated at 3.5 by. Older rocks have been metamorphosed, and any fossisl record has been destroyed.
The early life forms originated and thrived in anoxic conditions as anaerobes. For much of the Archean
there was little or no free oxygen.
We may reconstruct a sequence of likely events from experiments and from our fundamental knowledge
of biological chemistry and conditions on the early earth. No direct record of this chapter has survived.
EARLY LIFE FORMS
Chemists distinguish between exothermic and endothermic reactions. Biological reactions are
endothermic, consuming energy, because complex organic molecules must be constructed.
Heterotrophs cannot synthesize all the organic molecules they need but must assimilate molecules that
have been synthesized externally by other organisms or processes. Presumably, the first living organisms
were heterotrophs.
Autotrophs can synthesize their own organic molecules, given a source of energy and appropriate
inorganic materials.
Chemautotrophs find this needed energy in the chemical bonds of simple inorganic molecules.
Chemautotrophs oxidize reduced compounds, using the energy released to assimilate food materials.
Photoautrophs capture the energy they need from the sun using special pigments called chlorophylls.
Then they use this energy to synthesize the compounds they need. This is photosynthesis. There are three
kinds of bacterial photosynthesis, but only green-plant-photosynthesis produces free oxygen.
6H2O + 6 CO2 + energy = C6H12O6 + 6 O2
Green-plant photosynthesis was invented by the cyanobacteria, probably more than 3.5 by ago. The
oldest known fossils are in stromatolites in the Warrawoona formation of Australia, dated at 3.5 by,
which contain cells and filamentous cell colonies of cyanobacteria.

Green-plant photosynthesis was inherited by all the photosynthetic eucaryotes (protists, marine algae,
and higher plants). Eucaryotes are complex cells with nuclei, mitochondria, DNA organized in
chromosomes, and special reproductive behavior (mitosis, meiosis, sex).
The age of the oldest eucaryotes is controversial. The earliest current estimate is 1.8 to 2.1 by, which
corresponds to an abrupt increase in the amount of ferric oxide (hematite) found in sedimentary rocks
(Huronian banded-iron deposits). Some authorities place the first appearance of eucaryotes as late as 0.9
by ago (in the Bitter Springs Formation of Australia).
The invention and proliferation of green-plant photosynthesis produced an ecological crisis of global
proportions, no doubt causing the extinction of many anaerobes. Other anaerobes were forced
underground, literally, but still thrive in local anoxic pockets today.
Animals appeared much later, perhaps as early as 900 to 1500 million years ago, or perhaps as late as
between 700 and 530 my ago. Animals have oxidative respiration. This is an exothermic,
energy-producing reaction -- exactly the opposite of green-plant photosynthesis.

GEOL 3377 Lecture 2b Nature of Earth and Ocean
GEOL 3377: LECTURE 2:

ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY OF
EARTH
PART 2B: OCEAN CHEMISTRY
Origin of Earth
Differentiation of the Interior
Evidence for Density Stratification
Earthquake Seismology
Mohorovic Discontinuity
Phase Differentiation
Origin of the Atmosphere and Hydrosphere
Degassing Hypothesis
Cometary Ice Hypothesis
History of Ocean Basins
Origin of Life
Early Life Forms
Bohr-Stoner Model of the Atom
Symbolic Notation

Chemical Bonding
Covalent Bonds
Ionic Bonds
Hydrogen Bonds
Van der Waals Bonds
Ocean Composition and Salinity
Sources of the Substances in Sea Water
Dissolved Gases
Atmospheric Nitrogen
Rare Gases
Atmospheric Oxygen
Ozone Layer
Carbon Dioxide and pH of Sea Water
BOHR-STONER MODEL OF THE ATOM

An atom is the unit of organization of matter, an indivisible, naturally occurring unit. Atoms are made of
subatomic particles: protons, neutrons and electrons.
The Bohr-Stoner Model of the atom is a scientific theory that explains the nature and chemical behavior
of matter. It treats the structure of the atom as a little solar system of electrons orbiting a nucleus,
composed of subatomic particles with mass and charge. See Fig. 2-9 and pages 32-35 of Thurman.
The fundamental particles are the proton, the electron and the neutron. The proton has a mass of 1 and
a positive electrical charge. The electron has negligible mass and a negative electrical charge. The
neutron has a mass of about 1 and is electrically neutral.
A element is composed of one kind of atom with a uniform set of chemical properties. There are 92
naturally occurring elements. All atoms of an element have the same number of protons. See the Periodic
Table on the front end paper of Thurman.
The atomic number is the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom (usually the same as the number
of electrons), which determines its chemical behavior. In the Periodic Table, the atomic number is the
upper of the two numbers. All atoms of an element have the same atomic number.
An isotope is composed of atoms of an element that have the same number of neutrons in the nucleus.
Many elements have more than one naturally occurring isotope, each with a different number of

neutrons. For example, naturally occurring carbon is composed of three isotopes: carbon-12 (most
abundant), carbon-13 (less abundant) and carbon-14 (least abundant). Isotopes of an element have the
same atomic number but different atomic masses.
The atomic mass of an element is the number of protons plus the number of neutrons. For elements with
more than one isotope, it is the weighted average of the isotopes (the atomic mass of each isotope
weighted by its relative abundance). In the Periodic Table, it is the lower of the two numbers.
A compound is a combination of two or more atoms, of the same or different elements. Its chemical
formula specifies the composition: how many atoms and of what elements.
A molecule is one unit of a compound. It is the smallest naturally occurring unit that has the properties of
this compound.
Electrons may be thought of as units of negative electrical charge with negligible mass orbiting the
nucleus so fast as to produce a statistical electron cloud. The radius of the orbit is related to the velocity
of the electron. It is not possible to specify the exact location and velocity of an electron at a moment in
time. It is only possible to describe a set of statistical probabilities through time (a probability
distribution function) called an orbital shell.
The innermost shell holds only 2 electrons. Outer shells hold a maximum of 8, but in the heavier
elements of the Periodic Table there can be interesting variations in the sequence in which the slots are
filled.
In an electrically neutral atom the number of electrons (negative charge) equals the number of protons
(positive charge). However, because an electron cannot be everywhere simultaneously, perfect neutrality
(absence of electrical charge anywhere) is achieved only if the outer shell is full. This is the inert gas
configuration (column VIII of the Periodic Table).
In most elements the outer shell is not full, and the atom tends to react with other atoms in such a way as
to bring about this stable condition. Electrons are easily added to shells that are almost full or easily
stripped away from shells that are far from full, producing an electrically charged condition called an ion,
cation if positively charged and anion if negatively charged. Atoms with shells that are sort of midway
full tend to combine to form a molecule in which electrons are shared between the two atoms so as to fill
both outer shells.
Valence refers the combining power or reactivity of an element, which is determined by the number of
electrons that must be lost or gained or shared to achieve a filled outermost shell. It is formally defined as
the number of hydrogen atoms with which one atom of an element may combine. An element that only
needs to lose or gain one electron to fill its outermost shell has a valence of 1.
A valence of 1 or 2 makes the element highly reactive; elements with valences of 3 or 4 are much less
reactive. Low valence means strong attraction, so the atoms cling more closely, but there are fewer atoms
in a molecule. High valence means weaker attraction and greater distances, so there is room for more
atoms to cluster around, and higher molecular-weight compounds may be made.
SYMBOLIC NOTATION
Three isotopes and one compound of the element hydrogen illustrate the symbolic notation used by
chemists (see Fig. 2-10):

1
1H = hydrogen (1proton, atomic number = 1, atomic mass = 1)
2
1H = deuterium (heavy water) (1 proton, 1 neutron)
3
1H = tritium (rare, radioactive) (1 proton, 2 neutrons)
H2 is a molecule composed of two atoms of hydrogen. It is the smallest possible unit of this
compound having the properties of the compound (free hydrogen gas).
CHEMICAL BONDING
Atoms whose outer shells are not full act as if they "feel incomplete," even though they are electrically
neutral. They tend to combine with other atoms, and the attachment is called a bond.
There are two strong kinds of bonds (covalent, ionic) and two weak kinds of bonds (hydrogen, van der
Waals). See Figs. 2-11 and 6-1.
Covalent Bonds
In covalent bonding the conjoined atoms share one or more electrons of the outermost shell, producing
discrete molecules composed of relatively few atoms.
An example of covalent bonding is water. Two 1H1 atoms with a valence of +1 each share an electron
with 8O16 with a valence of -2, forming the molecule and compound H2O.
The angle between the two bonds is 105o, so that the shared electrons spend more time with oxygen than
with hydrogen. This produces an uneven distribution of electrical charge, such that the molecule is
slightly positive on the hydrogen end and negative on the oxygen side. This dipolarity (two-pole
distribution of electric charge) will help to explain some of the behavior of water.
Ionic Bonds
In ionic bonding one or more electrons are stripped away from one atom to fill the outer shell of the
other atom, forming positively and negatively charged ions, which now attract each other and cling
together.
In ionic bonding a cation tends to attract anions from many directions, and vice versa. The result is a
regular, repetitive, three-dimensional arrangement of atoms in space that we call a crystal.
An example of ionic bonding is NaCl (rock salt, the mineral halite). Sodium loses an electron and
becomes sodium ion with a positive charge of one. Chlorine gains an electron, filling its outer shell to the
quota of 8, and becomes negatively charged chloride ion. The electrostatic attraction between oppositely
charged ions results in a regular crystalline array. Each Na+ ion is surrounded by 6 Cl- ions, and vice
versa.
Hydrogen Bonds
Hydrogen bonds are much weaker electrostatic attractions between dipolar molecules.

Water is a dipolar molecule with an uneven distribution of electrical charge. The oxygen end of one
molecule tends to be attracted to the hydrogen end of the other. These fairly weak, electrostatic
attractions are called hydrogen bonds.
The result is a tetrahedral arrangement of two water molecules, with four hydrogen atoms surrounding
each oxygen atom at angles of 105o, two tightly bound by covalent bonds and two less tightly bound by
hydrogen bonds. These hydrogen bonds account for many of the anomalous properties of water.
Van der Waals Bonds
Van der Waals bonds are weak, fleeting attractions between the positively charged nucleus of one atom
and the negatively charged electron cloud of a nearby atom.
Atoms close together are mutually repelled by the positive charges of their nuclei and the negative
charges of their electrons. There is also a weak countering attraction between the positive nucleus of one
and the negative electron cloud of the other atom, called the Van der Waals force.
This force is weak, operating only on atoms in close proximity, where it may be slightly stronger than the
mutual repulsion. It is stronger for heavier elements.
OCEAN COMPOSITION AND SALINITY
Carbon dioxide dissolved in rain partially dissociates to make carbonic acid (H2CO3), which attacks the
exposed rocks.
rainwater + carbon dioxide <--> carbonic acid <--> bicarbonate ion <--> carbonate ion
H2O + CO2 <--> H2CO3 <--> H+ + HCO3- <--> 2H+ + CO3-2
As the first rains fell, chemical weathering of the primary crystalline (igneous) rock began. Dissolved
compounds and particulate debris were carried by streams and accumulated in the ocean.
Geochemical reactions have to balance, that is, all the components freed by chemical weathering of
terrestrial rocks have to be found somewhere in the atmosphere, in the oceans, or in sediments and
sedimentary rocks. In fact, the geochemical equation balances pretty well. Most elements are accounted
for. Hydrogen and helium are depleted, but the earth's small size means that they have been lost into
space. Noble (inert) gases are depleted, and they likely were lost during the initial thermal episode.
Certain excess volatiles likely have been added as juvenile gases during 4 by of volcanism (H O, CO ,
2 2
SO4=, chlorides).
Has ocean salinity changed through time? Several lines of reasoning suggest that salinity has not changed
greatly in later geologic history, certainly not in the last 200 my, and very likely not since the Middle
Proterozoic or earlier.
The greatest contributor to salinity is Cl-, chloride ion, 55% of dissolved materials, which is also a
component of volcanic gases. There is no reason to suppose that the ratio of water vapor to Cl has varied
significantly with time. Therefore, salinity may have remained fairly constant.
The composition of ancient sediments suggests that the ratio of sodium to potassium in sea water has

risen from about 1:1 to its present value of about 28:1. (Na:K 1:1-28:1)
The ratio of magnesium to calcium has also risen from 1:1 to 3:1, as organisms have removed calcium to
build shells of calcium carbonate. (Mg:Ca 1:1-3:1) The changes in absolute quantities of these
constituents are much less than the shift in proportions, however.
The fossil record suggests that oceans have been near the present salinity for most of geologic time. The
steady state model postulates that ocean composition does not change with time. While this is unlikely to
be true over the whole of geologic time, it is a useful assumption for the present-day ocean. Given this
assumption, the additions to and removals from the ocean must balance. The geochemical equations must
balance. This steady state model appears to work well for many trace metals.
SOURCES OF THE SUBSTANCES IN SEA WATER
Volcanic gases yield water, chlorine, bromine, iodine, carbon, boron, sulfate ion, nitrogen, and various
trace elements: H , Cl-, Br-, I-, C+4, B+3, SO -2, N-3. Juvenile volcanic emissions provide a good source
2 4
for most of the major anions in sea water and many trace metals. Abundant submarine volcanism along
the oceanic ridges and rises is thought to be the chief source.
Weathering of igneous rocks yields most of the major and minor elements, especially calcium,
potassium, sodium, bicarbonate ion, silica, and aluminum silicates (clays). For example, the following
equations describe the weathering of K-feldspar, a common mineral in igneous rocks:
K-feldspar (orthoclase) + hydrogen ion + water --> potassium ion (alkali ion) + soluble
silica + kaolinite (an aluminum silicate, a clay mineral)
2KAlSi3O8 + 2H+ + H2O --> 2K+ + 4SiO2 + Al2Si2O5(OH)4
Igneous rocks also contain Na- and Ca-feldspars (albite = 2NaAlSi3O8, anorthite = CaAl2Si2O8). These
plagioclase feldspars weather similarly, yielding soluble compounds of sodium and calcium (the salts
that make hard water hard) plus soluble silica plus the clay mineral kaolinite.
DISSOLVED GASES
Dissolved gases are an important component of sea water. Atmospheric gases pass into solution at the
surface of the ocean.
The amount of gas that can be dissolved in water is a function of temperature and pressure; that total
amount is called saturation. Solubility increases with increased pressure. Solubility decreases with
increased temperature.
The composition of the atmosphere is a mixture of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon, 0.03%
carbon dioxide, variable amounts of water vapor, and trace amounts of neon, krypton, helium, radon,
argon and xenon.
Sea water everywhere is saturated with most atmospheric gases, except oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Concentrations of those two gases are regulated by biological processes.
ATMOSPHERIC NITROGEN

Nitrogen as N2 is the most common gas in the atmosphere and thus is abundant, usually near saturation,
in solution in the ocean. It is not usually involved in biological processes, because most organisms are
unable to utilize N .
2
Some nitrogen-fixing bacteria form soluble nitrate ion (NO3=) from dissolved N2. Dissolved nitrate is an
essential nutrient for all plants. These bacteria often live in symbiosis with plants in nutrient-poor
terrestrial waters and soil as well as in sea water.
Some bacteria living in oxygen-deficient waters produce N2 by breaking down nitrate ions (NO3=).
Because there is not usually much nitrate in ocean waters, this process is not volumetrically significant,
but it does help to restore the N in the atmosphere.
2
RARE GASES
Small amounts of helium and radon (Rn, an inert noble gas) are produced by the radioactive decay of
unstable isotopes in rocks and marine sediments.
Otherwise, these relatively rare gases, such as helium, argon, krypton and xenon, behave much like
nitrogen. They are simply present in solution in ocean waters but do not participate in geochemical
cycles.
ATMOSPHERIC OXYGEN
No free oxygen (O2) is present in volcanic gases. Igneous rocks are undersaturated with respect to
oxygen. The many iron-containing minerals in igneous rocks usually have iron in the ferrous rather than
ferric ionic state (valence), and any oxygen encountered would be used immediately to oxidize ferrous to
ferric compounds.
4 FeO + O2 --> 2Fe2O3
Neither is oxygen gas produced by chemical weathering. The only possible source for most of the
atmospheric oxygen is from green-plant photosynthesis, which was invented more than 3.5 by ago. This
endothermic reaction has become the dominent form of photautotrophy:
6H2O + 6CO2 + energy --> C6H12O6 + 6O2
The oldest stromatolites and the oldest preserved cells (probably cyanobacteria) are found in rocks 3.5 by
old. The oxygen they released was quickly consumed by (used to oxidize) reduced compounds nearby.
By 2.0 by ago the increasing abundance of red-colored sedimentary rocks containing ferric oxide
suggests that small amounts of oxygen were accumulating in the atmosphere, at least locally or
seasonally. Perhaps not until near the beginning of the Paleozoic, 600 to 700 my ago, was there sufficient
oxygen to sustain animal-type oxidative respiration.
The concentration of dissolved oxygen in sea water is regulated by biological activity. The amount of
oxygen in sea water varies from saturation or near-saturation in surface waters where photosynthesis is

happening to lower levels in deeper water masses, or even to near zero.

Photosynthesis is restricted to the very shallow waters (30 m, max 100 m) of the photic zone. Thus,
surface waters are saturated in oxygen or nearly so.
At greater depth where light does not penetrate, oxygen is not produced (because there are no plants),
and what oxygen is present is consumed by animal and microbial respiration and by oxidative decay of
organic detritus. Deeper water masses of the ocean are depleted in oxygen, though never anoxic in the
modern open ocean.
In the Black Sea and in other places where vertical circulation and mixing of water masses does not
occur, bottom waters may become anoxic. In the Black Sea no animals live below about 200 m. This
stagnation is caused by density stratification. Freshwater inflow produces a low-salinity, low-density
surface layer. The subtropical setting means that temperature remain relatively warm year-round, and
temperature-driven density overturn does not occur. A shallow sill restricts mixing of Mediterranean
waters except at the surface.. Black anoxic sediments with H S and reduced organic matter are
2
accumulating.
OZONE LAYER
Water molecules in the upper atmosphere (stratosphere, 15-30 km above the surface) are bombarded by
high-energy, short-wavelength ultraviolet radiation (UV). The hydrogen escapes into space, the oxygen
remains, quickly combining with another to form O or with O to form O (ozone).
2 2 3
H2O + energy <=> H2 + O
O= + O= <=> O2
O= + O2 <=> O3
This photodissociation process may have begun as soon as there was water vapor in the atmosphere,
producing small but consistent traces of oxygen in the atmosphere. However, for a long time that oxygen
was quickly consumed by oxidation of reduced or under-oxidized compounds at the surface.
The modern ozone layer is maintained by high-energy UV radiation, which breaks the bonds of the O2
molecule. The O= produced quickly combines with another O2 to form O3. This ozone is concentrated
especially in a layer of the stratosphere between 15 to 30 km above the surface.
O3 is unstable, breaking down to O2 + O= about as quickly as it forms, and the O= immediately seeks
another partner. Thus, the ozone layer represents a steady-state dynamic equilibrium between O=, O2 and
O3.
The modern ozone layer screens (absorbs) most of the high-energy UV radiation, greatly reducing the
amount that reaches the surface of the earth. This makes it possible for eucaryotes to live in shallow
marine and terrestrial habitats.

Organisms, especially eucaryotes, are vulnerable to UV because it causes damage to the DNA. The
origin and history of the ozone layer is important to an understanding of the origin of life and the
colonization of land. Before the origin of the ozone layer, life would have been restricted to sheltered
habitats beneath a cover of water, sediment or skeletons.
The ozone hole over the Antarctic forms seasonally at the end of each Antarctic winter. Ozone is
depleted by 40 to 60% over an area three times that of the United States. The area covered by this hole
includes Antarctica, the Southern Ocean and part of Australia. Recent surveys show that more than 75%
of Queensland residents over 65 have skin cancer and cataracts, both of which are linked to UV damage.
A similar but less distinct "hole in the stratosphere" forms over the Arctic, averaging about 10%
depletion over the last four decades. It may be increasing. By 1993 the Arctic hole was about 20% below
normal. What has caused the enlargement of this ozone hole?
CFC molecules (chlorofluorocarbons) contain Cl and F. CFC's are used as propellants in spray cans, as
freeon in air conditioners, and in the manufacture of plastic foams such as styrofoam. Sunlight breaks off
the Cl atom, which reacts with O to form O + ClO (chlorine monoxide), which is unstable and so splits
3 2
apart repeatedly to react again with another O3. One Cl atom can destroy as many as 100,000 molecules
of O3.
CFC's released today at the surface take 15 to 25 years to reach the stratosphere. They will stay there for
50 to 100 years. The ozone damage measured today is from gases released decades ago. The total amount
of CFC already released may be enough to destroy the ozone layer. The Montreal Protocol signed in
1987 by 24 nations and the European Community stipulated CFC reduction by 40% over the next
decade. Too little, too late?
Processes of global change have a certain time scale. They cannot be reversed instantly. Damage caused
over a century cannot be erased overnight.
CARBON DIOXIDE AND pH OF SEA WATER
Acids are compounds containing hydrogen that partially dissociate when dissolved in water, producing
free H+ ions. Acidity refers to the abundance of H+ ions in an ionic solution.
The parameter called pH is a measure (negative logarithm) of the abundance of H+ ions). Chemists
measure the acidity or alkalinity of a solution by a pH scale that ranges from 0 (highly acid) to 14 (highly
basic or alkaline), with 7 being neutral.
The ocean is slightly alkaline (about 8.1), and most complex organic compounds require a slightly
alkaline solution for stability. Biological reactions require slightly alkaline solutions. The range of pH in
sea water is small, from about 7.5 to 9.0. Both lower and higher pH values are found in terrestrial waters.
This alkalinity of the ocean has been maintained through long geologic time and is very stable. The
reason has to do with the complex behavior of CO in water.
2
Carbon dioxide exists in four successive states of dissociation in sea water:

As dissolved CO2 gas

As carbonic acid (H2CO3)
As bicarbonate ion (HCO3-)
And as carbonate ion (CaCO3=)
Together, they form a buffered equilibrium. The stability of each state depends upon the pH. If the pH
changes, the relative amounts of these four states will shift. That shift, in turn, increases or decreases the
abundance of H+ ion and thus changes the pH in the reverse direction. A self-regulating system of this
sort is a dynamic equilibrium and well buffered against permanent change.
CO2 <==> H2CO3 <==> H+ + HCO3- <==> H+ + CO3=
dissolved gas <==> carbonic acid <==> bicarbonate ion <==> carbonate ion
stable at low pH <--------------------------------------> stable at high pH
At the normal (8.1) pH of sea water, more than 80% of the carbon in sea water is present as bicarbonate
ion (HCO -).
3
If the pH rises, the balance point of the reaction moves to the right, meaning that some of the carbonic
acid dissociates to form additional H+ + HCO -, and therefore the pH falls to the normal level (because
3
there are now more H+ ions).
If the pH falls, the excess H+ combines with HCO3- to form H2CO3. This drives the reaction to the left
and restores the normal pH (because there are now fewer H+ ions).
Ca++ ion in sea water combines with CO3= ion to make CaCO3. This removal of carbonate ion from sea
water causes further dissociation of bicarbonate ion, and so forth, pulling the equilibrium to the right and
restoring the proper pH. Surface waters are normally at or near saturation with respect to calcium
carbonate.
Dissolution of calcium carbonate adds carbonate ion to sea water and drives the reaction to the left,
restoring normal alkalinity. This occurs chiefly in cold or deep waters, which are undersaturated with
respect to carbonate ion.
This equilibrium is said to be buffered, because any change triggers additional, opposing changes that
tend to restore the original condition. This buffered equilibrium has existed in sea water for a very long
time, certainly since the late Proterozoic, and the stable alkalinity that it provides is an essential precursor
to the chemical reactions producing life.
Organisms (animals, plants, protists) remove Ca++ and CO3= from sea water to make calcareous
skeletons. After death these become sedimentary particles and ultimately fossils in sedimentary rock.
Bacteria also cause precipitation of calcium carbonate. Much of the original quantity of CO has been
2
locked away in sedimentary rocks as limestone.

In the late Proterozoic these limestones may have been chemical precipitates or bacterial precipitates. In
the Phanerozoic we find that precipitation of calcium carbonate is largely biologically mediated, by
plants, animals, protists, and bacteria.
Smaller amounts of CO2 may be accounted for in fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) in sedimentary rocks. Fossil
fuels accumulate where organic remains accumulate in anoxic conditions. Today we are tapping this
stored energy resource from the past.

GEOL 3377 Lecture 3a Global Plate Tectonics
LECTURE 3:
GLOBAL PLATE TECTONICS
PART A: EARLY TECTONIC THEORIES
Continental Drift
Gravity
Isostasy
Paleomagnetism
Polarity Reversals and Sea Floor Spreading
Heat Flow and Bathymetry
Volcanism and Seismicity

Hot Spots and the Deep Mantle
Plate Boundaries
Divergent Boundaries
Transform Boundaries
Convergent Boundaries
Historical Plate Tectonics
The Greek verb tektonikos means to construct. Tectonics is the branch of geology that studies earth

structures and movements. We live on a dynamic earth, and change is a fundamental principle of the
young science of geology. Yet, until relatively late in the 20th century, we did not realize the global scale
on which earth movements and geologic change take place.
Global Plate Tectonics is a unifying theory that unites and provides context to many smaller theories,
analogous to the Theory of Biological Evolution. It is a supertheory or unifying theory, which has
incorporated and provides an explanatory fabric for many smaller theories.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
Most textbooks present plate tectonics as a successor to continental drift, which is somewhat misleading.
Continental Drift theory was an attempt to integrate and explain many observations from continental
rock exposures:
Close fit of continental shorelines (a better fit is obtained at mid-slope).
Similarity of rock types, rock ages, and truncation of structural trends across continent
edges.
The Gondwana Rock Succession: A similar lithological sequence and climatic history for
the Late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic is found on all the southern continents.
Similar types of fossils, especially terrestrial plants and vertebrates (Glossopteris,
Lystrosaurus) on the southern continents.
Disjunct endemism of modern biotas. For example, lungfishes are found only in small,
isolated regions of three Gondwana continents.
Paleoclimatic evidences inappropriate for modern latitude, such as Carboniferous glacial
tills in low latitude, coral reefs and evaporites at high latitudes.
Apparent polar wandering tracks.

Alfred Wegener, a German meteorologist compiled much of this evidence into a book about 1912. He
began with F. B. Taylor's idea that about 200 my ago, all of the earth's continents were assembled into a
single land mass, Pangea. Pangea was surrounded by a single world ocean, Panthalassia, with an
embayment on the east corresponding to the Tethys Ocean. Pangea began to break up about 180 my ago.
Northern Hemisphere geologists were slow to agree. In the middle of the 20th Century, Continental
Accretion and Geosynclines were the reigning theories. In part, this was because the northern continents
were thought to show evidence of an accretionary history (incremental growth in place). They lack the
tidy fit and simple patterns of the southern continents. (Geosyncline theory was an attempt to explain the
stratigraphic successions and structural deformation that characterize fold-mountain belts. We no longer
use the term geosyncline today.)
There were also mechanical difficulties with the theory of continental drift. Continents are thin,
averaging about 30 km thick, but with areas of 10 to 20 million km2. Crustal rocks are weak and brittle,
unable to support and transmit the immense forces that would be needed to shift such large, thin pieces of
crust. "Wet tissue paper" is the analogy used. Because continents have deep roots, up to 55 km locally

beneath mountain ranges, moving continents must plow through (displace) denser mantle rocks. No
mechanism was known that could do this. This would require force, like swimming through water.
We now think that continents do not move independently. The continents are merely passive passengers
on the lithospheric plates.
The driving mechanism for plate movement is thermal convection in the mantle. The lateral movement
is accomplished in the asthenosphere (seismic low velocity zone), located at roughly 70 to 200 km
depth, where plastic flow is possible.
Much of the new evidence that gave rise to plate tectonics theory was generated from observations in the
ocean basins by methods of marine geophysics. After World War II, rapid advances in geophysics and
oceanography brought a much better understanding of the sea floor and of the interior of the earth. In the
1950's and 1960's came the hypotheses of Polar Wandering and Sea Floor Spreading. Project Mohole
was later replaced by the Deep Sea Drilling Program (Ocean Drilling Program). In this chapter we will
look at these separate components to see how they contribute to the integrated fabric of plate tectonics.
GRAVITY
Newton formulated the law of universal gravitational attraction:
F = G (m1 X m2) / D2
The force of gravitational attraction between two masses is proportional to the product of the two masses
and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers.
If the earth were a perfect sphere, gravitational attraction would be equal everywhere. Actually, because
rotation generates centrifugal force, an object at the equator weighs slightly less. Objects at sea level
weigh slightly more than those at higher elevations.
Geologists measure gravity with a sensitive instrument called a gravimeter. Local departures from the
expected force of gravity are gravity anomalies. A positive gravity anomaly is caused by a local mass
excess, a negative anomaly by a mass deficiency.
Mountain ranges have excess mass above sea level, but they do not produce positive gravity anomalies of
the magnitude one would expect. A plumb bob on the Indian plain is deflected toward the Himalayas,
indicating a mass excess, yet not as much as it ought to be if these mountains represent a simple excess
of mass piled on the crust.
In the last century it was proposed that, in addition to projecting high above sea level, the Himalayas and
other mountain ranges have a low-density root that extends to some depth, effectively displacing denser
mantle rock. Thus, the mass excess above is compensated for by a mass deficiency below.
ISOSTASY
The Principle of Isostasy states that the lithosphere is mechanically weak and cannot support a load. On
a global scale, slabs of surface rock are weak (yield readily to stres) and brittle (yield in a brittle rather
than ductile manner). In other words, instead of withstanding stress (supporting a load), they break.
The Principle of Isostasy states that blocks of lithosphere float at elevations that are proportional to their

thickness and density. They float on the denser mantle rock beneath in the asthenosphere, which can
adjust by plastic flow.
(Remember, the lithosphere is this brittle outer part of the carth, including the crust and the outermost
mantle. The effective thickness of the lithosphere ranges from a few km beneath the ocean ridges to
about 70 km below mountain ranges. These thicknesses are insignificant compared to the radius of the
earth (6371 km).)
We are familiar with this concept of flotation by the way that ice floats on water. Water has a density of
1 g/cm3. The density of ice is 0.91 g/cm3. If a block of ice is added to water, it will sink until it displaces
the equivalent of its weight in water. It will float with 91% of its mass submerged and 9% of its mass
above water level.
A ship displaces a mass of water equivalent to its weight including its cargo. This
displacement phenomenon is Archimedes' Principle of Buoyancy.
As the ice melts or the ship is unloaded (removal of mass), the remaining block will adjust
its elevation (rise) to maintain neutral buoyancy. This is isostatic uplift. If a weight is added
(put a nail on the ice, add cargo to the ship), it will sink (isostatic subsidence). This
behavior is isostatic adjustment (compensation).
Similarly, we think that blocks of lithosphere stand in isostatic equilibrium. Mountain ranges have deep
roots; lower elevations have shallower roots. Thinner blocks stand at lower elevations. Continents stand
topographically higher than ocean basins, because they are composed of rocks with lower density, so
they are buoyant.
If mass is removed, as by the erosion of mountain ranges or the melting of an ice sheet,
there will be compensating isostatic uplift. (This is why mountains remain at relatively high,
though decreasing, elevations for a very long time, in spite of high erosion rates.)
If mass is added, as by deposition of sediments or growth of an ice sheet, the crust will
subside to restore a balance.
In general, climatic change, causing accumulation or melting of ice sheets, can occur more rapidly than
isostatic compensation (crustal subsidence or uplift).
Today we live in an interglacial stage within an ice age. Major ice sheets melted from
continental regions in temperate latitudes only a few thousand years ago. Sea level rose
quickly as water was restored to the ocean. Crustal uplift (isostatic rebound) is occurring,
but more slowly.
Large regions of the northern continents are not yet in isostatic equilibrium. This has
produced drowned landscapes, such as Hudson's Bay and Chesapeake Bay.
The Principle of Isostasy assumes that the outermost part of the earth below some depth is in balance
with equal pressures everywhere (isobaric). This depth or horizon within the uppermost mantle at which
these masses are balanced and pressures are equal (isobaric pressures prevail) is called the
Compensation Depth.
At this depth, which is thought to be approximately 50 km below the surface, pressures are

equal everywhere, in spite of the varying compositions and thicknesses of the overlying rock
columns. Local departures from isostasy should indicate that forces are being applied.
Local anomalies -- departures from isostatic equilibrium -- do exist. In such cases we suspect that local
subcrustal heating has made the overlying crust less dense and more buoyant. Thus, the crust there can be
thinner (for its elevation) or stand at a higher elevation (for its thickness) than we would otherwise
predict.
For example, the Colorado Plateau stands at a relatively high elevation, though the crust
there is relatively thin. We suspect that this uplift has been caused by subcrustal heating.
On average, continents (density 2.8 g/cm3) are 85% as dense as upper mantle (density 3.3 g/cm3), and
therefore we would expect about 85% of continental mass to be submerged within the mantle.
(Thurman p. 46 says 91%; the difference has to do with the water, sediment and oceanic
crust in the ocean column above the mantle. In the ocean basin, the column above the
isobaric horizon includes not only mantle rock but less dense oceanic crust, low-density
oceanic sediments, and about 4 km of water. Therefore, the continental column has a density
about 91% that of the oceanic column overall.)
However, continental crust tends to have an insulating effect, reducing heat flow from the interior of the
earth. The trapped subcrustal heat causes rocks to expand, lowering densities and increasing continental
elevations. Perhaps this is why supercontinents seem to start breaking up soon after they form. Perhaps
this is why continents have a collage history, being ripped apart about as often as they are reassembled.
PALEOMAGNETISM
The Dynamo Hypothesis postulates that the earth's magnetic field is generated at the core/mantle
boundary as a result of frictional perturbations associated with the earth's rotation. Movement of
electrically charged material generates a magnetic field; movement of charged particles (electrons)
within that field tends to strengthen it.
The earth's magnetic field is bipolar, and the north and south magnetic poles have on average been
located at or near the rotational poles. The strength and configuration of this field changes on shorter and
longer time scales.
Magnetically susceptible atoms, such as iron, suspended in a fluid tend to behave as little compasses.
Therefore, at the time of cooling (magma crystallization), the iron atoms in magnetite (Fe3O4) in a lava
flow tend to adopt a preferred orientation (declination) and dip (inclination) with respect to the
prevailing magnetic field. Similarly, particles of iron oxide in a sediment may tend to show a statistically
preferred orientation.
That three-dimensional orientation has two components, horizontal and vertical, called declination and
inclination (dip). Inclination shows the angle of dip toward the interior of the earth. It should be 0o at the
equator and 90o at the poles. Therefore, it is an indicator of paleolatitude for the time of crystallization.
Declination is the horizontal component, which shows the bearing or direction on the earth's surface
toward the North Pole. An ordinary compass measures declination.
After crystallization this fossil orientation is called remanent magnetism. It is stable so long as the rock

is not reheated over 600oC (the Curie Point). Declination provides only a bearing and therefore one
reading does not provide a unique solution of pole location. Inclination provides a direct reading of
paleolatitude.
If pole positions (declinations) are obtained from a series of rocks of different ages in one place, they
trace a shifting geographic position. This is called an apparent polar wandering track. (We now think
it shows plate movement, not pole movement).
Tracks from different continents generally diverge over the past 70 to 180 my, showing the breakup of
Pangea. The tracks can be reconciled by reuniting the continents and then rotating the merged continent,
restoring the apparent pole to an appropriate latitudinal position. Each track reflects the relative direction
of plate movement since break-up.
POLARITY REVERSALS AND SEA-FLOOR SPREADING
For reasons unknown, at irregular intervals the strength of the earth's magnetic field wanes to zero and
then builds again with opposite polarity, a phenomenon we call polarity reversal. A detailed history of
polarity through time (a polarity time scale) has been built up by obtaining exact radiometric dates from
rock successions with a known polarity record.
By towing a magnetometer behind a ship a continuous record of the magnetic field may be obtained. In
the 1960's such records were obtained at sea for the first time. They revealed a repetitive pattern of
positive and negative anomalies arranged in zebra-stripe fashion parallel to the midocean ridges.
Each negative anomaly represents a region of the seafloor where the crust is magnetized
with reversed polarity (interfering with and weakening the reading of the present-day
magnetic field). Positive anomalies are regions of normal polarity (which strengthens the
signal).
The sequence of stripes is symmetrical on both sides of the ridge. It appeared that older
polarity zones were represented away from the ridge.
The sea-floor spreading hypothesis, proposed in the middle 1960's, claimed that oceanic crust is
generated at the ridges. Newest crust is found at the ridge crest, as older crust is pushed or pulled away to
either side.
Oceanic crust is formed by submarine volcanism and igneous intrusion. Atoms of iron (in the accessory
mineral magnetite, for example) in the cooling basalt assumes an orientation parallel to the prevailing
magnetic field. Frederick Vine used the analogy of a tape recorder to express the conveyor-belt aspect of
this process.
To test this hypothesis, it was necessary to get actual oriented core samples of the seafloor
crust, on which remnant magnetism could be measured and radiometric dates could be
obtained. Knowing rock ages and the width of each band, rates of crustal generation could
be calculated.
It was also predicted that there should be little or no sediment blanket at the ridge crest.
The sediment immediately above the crust should be no older than the age of the crust and
should contain the appropriate index fossils. The thickness and age-span of accumulated

sedimentary record should increase away from the ridge.

Project Mohole of the early 1960's had developed the drilling technology to take long, deep-sea cores. It
was converted into the Deep Sea Drilling Program, now the Ocean Drilling Program (International
Program for Ocean Drilling) (DSDP, ODP, IPOD). The interdisciplinary charge was to core sea-floor
sediments and oceanic crust, all over the world, to read the accumulated history, fossils, radiometric
dates and paleomagnetism. This effort is still going on.
If ocean crust is being generated at the ridges (spreading centers), it must be consumed somewhere else,
or else the area of the earth's surface would be increasing. We think that crust is consumed at subduction
zones.
Actually, the unit of plate movement is not the crust but the lithosphere, including crust plus upper
mantle. The lithosphere is the cool, outer, rigid shell of the earth, where pressures and temperatures are
sufficiently low that it behaves as a solid -- meaning that stress accumulates, to be relieved suddenly by
brittle failure. Its thickness ranges from a few km near the ridge (because of heating) to more than 200
km beneath some continental regions, averaging 70 km.
Beneath the lithosphere is the asthenosphere. Here, higher temperatures combined with still relatively
low pressures allow rocks to yield to stress by plastic flow, carrying the rigid lithospheric plates like a
raft on a current.
HEAT FLOW AND BATHYMETRY
Heat in the interior of the earth is generated by decay of unstable isotopes in the mantle (94%). The
remainder of the heat (6%) is probably escaping from the core and residual from the original aggregation
and compaction of the planet.
Rates of heat flow (heat escaping to the surface of the earth) are high (as much as 8X earth average) at
the mid-ocean ridges, where lithosphere is thin, and magma reservoirs are present only a few km below
the surface. Heat flow rates are low in ocean trenches (as low as 1/10 earth average).
Heat transfer (movement of thermal energy from one place to another) takes place by three processes:
by conduction (between materials in contact),
by radiation (radiant wave energy in the infra-red band) and
by convection (transfer of material by density currents).
Rocks are poor conductors of heat, and rock temperatures are relatively cool (low in the infra-red band).
Therefore, most heat transfer in the interior of the earth takes place by convection.
Convection is transfer of heat by density-driven currents. Heating decreases the density, which causes
the heated material to rise buoyantly relative to colder material around it. At the surface the material
loses heat, cools and sinks, forming the return portion of a convection cell.
Thermal convection in the mantle was proposed early in the century by Arthur Holmes and resurrected
in the 1960's by Harry Hess as a driving mechanism to explain heat flow-data and sea-floor spreading.
The spreading centers would correspond to up-drafts of mantle convection cells. Rising plumes in the
mantle bring hot material to the surface at hot spots and spreading centers.

Ocean bathymetry confirms this model. The ocean ridges stand high, not far below sea level, because
they are composed of young, warm crust fed by volcanism at an upwelling zone. Away from the ridge,
older, colder crust stands at a lower elevation, forming the abyssal plains.
Crustal cooling causes subsidence. The greatest depths are in the ocean trenches, where subduction
begins the complementary downwelling, cold return part of the cycle.
As the lithosphere moves (is pushed or pulled) away from the spreading centers, it encounters lower
rates of heat flow from underlying mantle. This causes the upper asthenosphere to cool gradually and to
be converted to rigid lithosphere.
The lithosphere thickens progressively away from the ridge, corresponding to the increasing age of
crustal rock and decreasing rate of heat flow.

GEOL 3377 Lecture 3b Global Plate Tectonics
LECTURE 3:
GLOBAL PLATE TECTONICS
PART B: MODERN PLATE TECTONICS
Continental Drift
Gravity
Isostasy
Paleomagnetism
Polarity Reversals and Sea Floor Spreading
Heat Flow and Bathymetry
Volcanism and Seismicity
Hot Spots and the Deep Mantle

Plate Boundaries
Divergent Boundaries
Transform Boundaries
Convergent Boundaries
Historical Plate Tectonics
VOLCANISM AND SEISMICITY

It had long been observed that volcanism is largely confined to two zones, midocean ridges and the

Pacific margin ("Ring of Fire") and other sites of active mountain-building (subduction zones). These
zones turn out to be the diverging and converging plate boundaries.
Although volcanism occurs at both diverging and converging plate boundaries, there are significant
compositional differences. Ridge volcanics tend to be basalts, whereas Pacific margin volcanics tend to
be andesites (more sialic).
Earthquakes are largely confined to these same narrow belts at plate boundaries. Earthquakes represent
the sudden release of energy when rocks fail in a brittle manner. Therefore the locations of earthquake
epicenters show where brittle lithosphere is being subjected to stress.
Deep-focus earthquakes are found only in subduction zones. Shallow-focus earthquakes occur in
subduction zones and also along mid-ocean ridges.
Summary of characteristics of ridges and trenches:
Ridge: Trench:
Thickness of lithospheric plate Thin Thick
Age of ocean floor Young Old
Thickness of sediment blanket Thin Thick
Age of oldest sediments Young Older
Ocean depth Shallow Deep
Heat flow rate High Low
Depth of earthquake foci shallow deep
Composition of volcanics gabbro, basalt diorite, andesite
Ridge-push? or Trench-pull?
Small gravity anomalies at trenches and ridges suggest that these regions are not in perfect isostatic
equilibrium. A force is operating. The nature of that force is being debated, and there may or may not be
a simple answer to this question.
HOT SPOTS AND THE DEEP MANTLE
Hot spots are places with especially high rates of heat flow. It is thought that these represent convective
transport of heat from deeper in the mantle, perhaps from near the core-mantle boundary, as columnar
mantle plumes.
The diameter of a mantle plume increases as the material rises toward the surface, because pressure
decreases. They may assume a mushroom shape with a large surface area. These magmas continuously
feed volcanoes, as the lithospheric plate moves over this site.
Fig. 4-22 shows 41 of these active hot spots at the present time. Most of these are located on spreading
centers. They have formed large islands such as Iceland. Others are located in plate interiors, such as the
Hawaiian Islands or Yellowstone.

Ancient hot spots may have formed such massive volcanic plateaus as the Deccan traps of India or the
Columbia-Snake River Plateau of eastern Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
Basalts of spreading centers (MORB = mid-ocean ridge basalts) typically have lower concentrations of
potassium, rubidium, cesium, uranium and thorium, whereas those from hot spots are enriched in those
elements. This distinction supports the hypothesis that mid-ocean ridge basalts originate in the upper
mantle, whereas hot spot basalts come from the lower mantle.
The internal structure of the mantle is poorly known. It appears to be layered, with density
stratification, and at least one distinct density boundary or interface (at 670 to 700) km that serves to
divide upper from lower mantle. This stratification should impede mixing, but it appears that mantle
plumes can punch their way through. Remnants of subducted plates may have been detected as deep as
1000 km.
A current three-dimensional spherical model for mantle convection postulates toroidal or doughnut-like
cell, with the up-draft forming a cylindrical plume, and the downwelling occurring in a ring-like sheet.
PLATE BOUNDARIES
The spherical surface of the earth consists of seven major lithospheric plates plus a number of smaller
ones. These plates are in motion at rates of up to 16 cm per year. More usual rates range from 1.5 cm per
year (American plates) to 10 cm per year (Pacific plate).
The interactions of moving plates produce compressional, tensional and shear stresses at the plate
boundaries. Most volcanic and seismic phenomena are confined to linear belts at these boundaries. We
say theses boundaries are "tectonically active."
Three types of boundaries can be recognized: diverging (constructive), converging (destructive), and
transform (shear).
DIVERGENT BOUNDARIES
Diverging plate boundaries correspond to the global system of mountainous submarine ridges, called
oceanic ridges or oceanic rises. They are spreading centers where new crust is being generated. The
spreading rate is measured as the total separation (sum) of the two diverging plates. For one plate it is
half of that.
The highest spreading rate is found on the East Pacific Rise (18.5 cm/year), and the lowest along the
south Indian Ocean ridge. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is generally spreading at rates of 2.0 to 2.5 cm/year in
the north and 3.5 cm/year in the south. The global total is 20 km3 per year of new crust.
The spreading rate controls the ridge topography. High spreading rate produces a broad, high ridge
with gently sloping flanks and generally smooth topography (low relief). Low spreading rate produces a
narrower but steeper ridge with irregular topography.
Along the ridge axis there is a rift valley (axial valley, axial summit graben). (A graben is a linear valley
bounded by high-angle (normal) faults.) Numerous small, parallel fissures are found within the valley,
produced by tensional stresses. Just below the surface, magma chambers may exist, which inject
magma into the crevices opened by spreading (trench-pull) or else forcibly intrude and force the plates

apart (ridge-push).
In a slow-spreading ridge the axial valley may be up to 30 km wide and 100 to 3000 m
deep. At the center of the axial valley the lithosphere is from 3 to 10 km thick.
On a rapidly spreading rise there will typically be an axial ridge 2 to 10 km wide and 100
to 500 m high. Along the axis of this ridge runs an axial valley less than 1 km wide and less
than 100 m deep.
At the center of the axial valley the lithosphere is less than 2 km thick. Beneath the base of the
lithosphere is a mushroom-shaped magma chamber, typically 4 km wide and 1 km thick. The "stem" of
the mushroom feeds melt from deeper in the asthenosphere.
The presence of this low-density molten or warm asthenosphere near the surface causes the rise to stand
at high elevation.
Topographic effect of spreading rate:
Slow spreading ridge: Rapidly spreading rise:

Axial ridge width ------------------- 2-10 km
Axial ridge height ------------------- 100-400 m
Axial valley width 30 km <1 km
Axial valley depth 100-3,000 m <100 m
Lithosphere thickness 3-10 km <2 km
Magma chamber ------------------ 4 km broad, 1 km thick
On a very rapidly spreading sector of a rise (such as the East Pacific Rise near 14oN), the axis of the rise
may be divided into segments as short as 20 km, which are offset by distances of 2 to 10 km.
The ends of adjacent segments may overlap, forming regions that are called Overlapping Spreading
Centers. They seem to reflect corresponding segmentation of magma chambers below.
At the overlaps, the axial ridge is lower and narrower, the axial summit graben is weak or absent, and
there appears to be no magma chamber (only hot rock) below. In the segments between the overlaps, the
axial ridge is higher and broader, the axial summit graben is well developed, and a continuous magma
chamber exists below, with its top as little as 1.4 km below the ocean floor.
Characteristics of Overlapping Spreading Centers:
In segments between
At overlaps:
overlaps:
Axial ridge Lower and narrower Higher and broader

Axial summit graben Weak or absent Well developed

Continuous, as shallow
Magma chamber No
as 1.4 km below surface
Spreading centers are sites of shallow-focus earthquakes, shallow because the lithosphere is thin. The
magnitude of energy released is related to spreading rate.
On a slow-spreading ridge such as the North Atlantic the maximum magnitude is about 6 (Richter scale).
Thicker, colder lithosphere can store energy longer, producing higher-magnitude events.
On a fast-spreading rise such as the East Pacific Rise the maximum magnitude is about 4.5, because the
lithosphere is warmer, on average, and energy is not stored for as long. The asthenosphere is near the
surface. (Earthquakes occur only in the lithosphere.)
TRANSFORM BOUNDARIES
On a spherical earth, spreading along a linear ridge produces new crust moving perpendicular to the
ridge. However, lines perpendicular to the edges converge toward the center of the plate. Stresses
generated in this way are relieved by transform faults, which are breaks perpendicular to the ridge axis.
Thus, in addition to diverging and converging plate boundaries, there must be transform boundaries,
where plates slip horizontally past each other.
Transform faults are lateral offsets along oceanic ridges. The oceanic ridges and rises are broken into
hundreds of segments, 10 to 80 km long, each centered over a magma chamber. Adjacent segments of a
ridge may be spreading at different rates. These adjacent segments are offset at their boundary, which is a
transform fault.
Between these offset ridge axes, the two lithospheric plates are moving in opposite directions on the two
sides of the transform fault. The sense of relative movement is transcurrent (strike-slip). The lithosphere
is likely to be thicker at these offsets, and therefore earthquakes there may be of larger magnitude (up to
7).
The length of a transform fault varies from a few km to hundreds of km. Longer transform faults may
form significant plate boundaries.
An example of a transform plate boundary is the San Andreas fault, which is now ripping
apart overlying continental crust. Because of the thick lithosphere, magnitudes as high as 8.5
have been recorded along the San Andreas.
To the outer side of each ridge, the transform fault (site of active displacement) is continued laterally by
fracture zones. These are largely inactive scars, providing evidence of former displacement along the
transform fault.
Whereas transform faults (active) are plate boundaries, fracture zones (inactive) are contained within a
plate and are largely aseismic.
Fracture zones coincide with vertical escarpments on the sea floor. This is because the crust on one side
of the fracture is older (colder) and has subsided more than the crust on the other side. The steep face of

the escarpment faces the older crust. The height of the escarpment is a function of the difference in the
crustal ages.
CONVERGENT BOUNDARIES
Island Arc Trench Systems
Converging plate boundaries (destructive boundaries) are sites of island arc trench systems. The surface
contact may be marked by a trench. Melting feeds an arcuate chain of volcanic islands and seamounts,
called an arc.
The new oceanic crust generated at spreading centers must be matched by consumption (subduction) of
crust in subduction zones. This hypothesis is supported by the known ages of oceanic crust. Most
oceanic crust is Cenozoic, a little is Late Mesozoic, and none is older than 180 my (Middle Jurassic).
The oldest crust (c. 170 my) is located in the northwest Pacific. Spreading rates have generally been
higher in the Pacific than in other oceans, as shown by the relative widths of crustal bands of the same
age. Because the Pacific is surrounded by subduction zones, it is shrinking today.
Convergent boundaries are sites of active seismicity and volcanism. At the trench, earthquake foci are
shallow.
The zone within which earthquakes originate forms an inclined planar zone about 20 km thick, called the
Wadati-Beniof seismic zone, which dips at approximately 45o (gentler at shallower depths, steeper at
greater depths). This zone corresponds to the descending slab of lithosphere.
(Calculations suggest that below depths of 70-100 km the descending lithosphere should become too
ductile to experience earthquakes (because of increasing pressure and temperature). Perhaps the cause of
earthquakes is not brittle movement but a phase change of mineralogy (from olivine to the denser morph
spinel). Pressure-temperature relationships suggest that this recrystallization should happen at 400 to 670
km depth.)
This old, cold slab of subducting lithosphere is carried down (falls down?) into the asthenosphere, where
it is heated. Water and other volatiles migrate from the subducting slab into the overriding
asthenosphere, lowering the melting point and generating local magma pockets. This zone of melting
begins at a depth of about 100 km. The volcanism fed by these magma chambers produces arcuate chains
of submarine volcanoes and volcanic islands, called arcs.
Continental Arc Trench System
If a continent happens to be located at the edge of the overriding plate, a Continental Arc Trench
System is formed. A continental arc of volcanoes forms parallel to the edge of the continent. The rising
basalt melt mixes with the continental crust (granite) it passes through, producing an intermediate
composition (diorite/andesite).
The surface contact may be marked with a trench, such as the Peru-Chile Trench. Alternatively, if the
subducting plate is very young, the angle of subduction is less, and sediment scraped off the descending
plate will fill the trench. If large volumes of sediment are contributed by erosion of a neighboring
continent, the trench may be kept filled.

For example, the Juan de Fuca Plate, produced at the Juan de Fuca Ridge, has oceanic crust that is less
than 10 my old. The Columbia River contributes large volumes of sediment, and therefore there is no
trench corresponding to the Cascades Volcanic Arc.
Neither continental crust nor sediments can be subducted, because they are low in density and buoyant.
Therefore they are left at the surface. The incremental accumulation of this material through geologic
history has contributed to the growth of continental crust.
Continental Mountain System
If continents are present at the leading edges of both converging plates, this is a continent-continent
collision zone. Because of the low densities of sedimentary rocks, the sedimentary wedges that have
accumulated at the margins of each continent will now be spectacularly deformed (folded and
thrust-faulted) and scraped off the subducting oceanic crust.
The events in these zones are termed mountain-building or orogeny, and the result is long
fold-mountain belts such as the Appalachians and Urals.
Ophiolites
Most (99.999%) oceanic crust is subducted and returns to the mantle. Occasionally, a small fragment is
obducted, thrust up onto the edge of the overriding slab and mixed with the deformed continental
sediments. This misplaced piece of ocean crust (with its overlying sedimentary blanket) is called an
ophiolite.
Ophiolites have been found in fold-mountain belts of all ages. These ophiolites are our only physical
remnants of long-vanished ocean floors and the spreading centers that produced them. These oldest
pieces of ancient sea floor are now found on continents (Newfoundland, the Ural Mountains) and in
island-arc-trench complexes (Barbados, Crete, San Francisco).
There is thought to be a characteristic stratigraphic succession of rock types (from bottom to top) within
an ideal ophiolite:
Rock type: Interpretation:
Black shales and chert Deep-sea sediments

Pillow basalts Submarine volcanic sea-floor eruptions
Sheeted dikes of basalts Intrusions filling vertical spreading fissures
Massive gabbro Slow cooling at the top of the magma chamber
Crystallization within upper part of magma
Layered gabbro
chamber
Peridotite (pyroxene &
Mantle rock
olivine)
Some ophiolite suites include ore deposits (sulfide minerals of copper, iron, manganese, lead, zinc)

within the submarine volcanics and overlying sediment. These minerals precipitate in hot springs
(hydrothermal vents) at the spreading centers where oceanic crust is produced.
The mechanics of obduction are controversial. Fig. 40 p. 107 presents one scenario.
The subducting lithosphere contains water (in minerals). Heating releases this water, which
migrates into the peridotite of the overlying asthenosphere, altering (metamorphosing) it to
serpentine.
This alteration is accompanied by a decrease in density, which causes isostatic uplift, so that
oceanic crust is raised above sea level. Compressional stresses fragment the brittle crust, and
slivers are incorporated into the mangled sediments (melange) at the edge of the continent.
HISTORICAL PLATE TECTONICS
Plate tectonics theory developed on a base of data from the present. Extended into the past, it provides a
framework for understanding earth history as recorded in rocks and structures. Generally, this means
applying new interpretations and a new vocabulary to features (evidences and history) already known
from a historical/descriptive point of view.
Plate movements have reshaped global geography (paleogeography) and biogeography
(paleobiogeography). New ocean basins have opened, grown wide and old, been consumed, and
disappeared in continental sutures, many times.
The breakup of Pangea and Panthalassia, which began in the Middle Mesozoic, about 180 my ago, has
produced a fragmented and diverse world of multiple oceans and continents. The Atlantic and Southern
oceans are young and growing; the Pacific Ocean is old and shrinking.
Oceanographic principles derived from studying modern oceans may be applied to the rock record to
interpret the history and behavior of ancient oceans. This is the discipline called paleoceanography.

GEOL 3377 Lecture 4a The Ocean Floor
LECTURE 4:
THE OCEAN FLOOR
PART A: GENERAL FEATURES AND PASSIVE

CONTINENTAL MARGINS
Bathymetry
Sea Level
Nature of the Ocean Basins
Hypsographic Curve
Volume of Ocean Basins
Formation of a New Ocean
The Five Oceans

Pacific Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Arctic Ocean
Indian Ocean
Southern Ocean
Passive Continental Margins
Continental Shelf
Continental Slope
Continental Rise

Submarine Canyons
Turbidity Currents
Active Continental Margins

Deep Ocean Floor
Abyssal Plains
Abyssal Hills
Oceanic Ridges and Rises
Sea-Floor Fracture Zones
Deep-Sea Trenches
Volcanic Islands and Seamounts
Hot Spots
Coral Reefs
Hydrothermal Vents
BATHYMETRY
Bathymetry is the measurement of ocean depths. A contour map of ocean depths is a bathymetric
chart.
Early mariners took soundings in shallow water with a weight on a line. Ship's captains and explorers
were primarily interested in locating navigational hazards and safe anchorages. Deep soundings were
difficult. In 1818, an attempt to measure deep temperature took 100 men 1 hour 20 minutes to get 8600
meters of line on board again.
In 1854 a sounding device with a weight on the end of it that dropped off when the bottom was reached
made it easier to tell when the bottom was hit. In 1870 steel cable (piano wire) was substituted for hemp.
The invention of the steam winch also helped. Still, gathering information and samples at deep stations
might take hours or a whole day to accomplish.
Old charts show sparse soundings and generalized contours. The Challenger Expedition (3.5 years,
68,000 miles) took 492 soundings, the deepest at 8,180 m in the Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench.
There are still large areas in the Southern Ocean and the Arctic Ocean where no soundings have ever
been taken.
World War II brought rapid development of sonar, the echo sounder, and the Precision Depth Recorder.
A high-frequency sound signal is emitted, which travels through water at a rate that is controlled by its
density (which controlled by temperature and salinity), bounces off an object or the sea floor, and returns
to the receiver. The travel time divided by 2 tells the distance to the object. This makes it possible to

record accurate continuous profiles of sea-floor depth along a traverse. The Heezen-Tharp map compiled
data from soundings and sonar traverses into the first fine-scale map of the ocean floor, revealing for the
first time its rugged character.
Seismic reflection profiles are constructed by using a stronger, more powerful, lower-frequency sound
source (generated by an explosion). The sound signal penetrates the sea floor and reflects off each buried
layer.
Depth (to the reflecting horizon) = V (velocity) X T (lapsed time) / 2
Interpretation of the seismic profile of multiple horizons constitutes a large part of exploration
seismology. Much of what we know about the geometry and stratigraphy of continental shelf sediments
has been compiled from seismic sections.
More recently, development of side-scan sonar with on-board computers allows mapping the
topography of a strip of sea floor. The width of the band is determined by the angle depends on the angle
and the water depth.
SEA LEVEL
The bathymetry of the ocean basins has proved to be more rugged and more spectacular than that of the
land. The base horizon for determining planetary elevations is mean sea level. However, sea level is not
exactly a spherical surface. A local mass excess by its gravitational attraction will cause local sea level to
rise.
Sea level falls by 4 m on average for each 1000 m of sea-floor depth. That's not much, but it can be
measured by satellite radar altimeters. This has allowed the bathymetry of poorly explored regions, such
as the Southern Ocean, to be mapped by satellite. Gravity measurements also provide bathymetric data.
NATURE OF THE OCEAN BASINS

The modern ocean totals 1,349,929 X 106 km3 (1.35 X 1012 km3) in volume. It occupies an area 362 X
106 km2 (72% of total area) and has an average depth of 3,729 m.
This water is unevenly distributed. The Northern Hemisphere has 39% land and 61% ocean, while the
Southern Hemisphere has only 19% land and 81% ocean. From another point of view, most of the land is
concentrated into a single hemisphere, with most of the water in the other (Pacific) hemisphere).
The depth of the oceans is negligible compared with the size of the earth. If the earth were a smooth
sphere without elevations or depressions, the thickness of the water cover would be 1,430 m. On average,
land elevations are 840 m above sea level, and the ocean basins are 3,800 m below sea level. This is
insignificant compared to the radius (6,371 km) or circumference (40,032 km) of the earth.
HYPSOGRAPHIC CURVE
The hypsographic curve shows frequencies of elevations. Most of the earth is either continent or deep
ocean basins, with average elevations 800 m above sea level or 5 km below sea level.
Only about 7% of surface is more than 1 km above sea level.

About 30% is within ±1 km of sea level.

About 8% is between 1 to 3 km below sea level.
About 54% is between 3 to 6 km below sea level.
Less than 1% is below 6 km below sea level.
The greatest height is Mt. Everest = 8,848 m.
The greatest depth is the Mariana Trench = 11,035 m.
These statistics are remarkably consistent for each of the three main ocean basins separately as well as
globally.
Atlantic Ocean, average depth 3926 m, 29.4% of ocean area.
Indian Ocean, average depth 3963 m. 20.6% of ocean area.
Pacific Ocean, average depth 4282 m, 50.0% of ocean area.
VOLUME OF OCEAN BASINS
In all of these oceans, certain elements of topography occur again and again. Their basic similarity shows
that a global explanation of their origin must be sought. These dominant levels represent planetary
features that must be considered in developing models of the structure and origin of the earth.
Recall that Continental crust is less dense than oceanic crust and must stand at a higher elevation to
achieve isostatic equilibrium. Continental crust has been accumulating throughout geologic time, because
it does not subduct.
Why is there just enough water to fill the ocean basins? This is actually a profound question. The answer
involves on the source of ocean water and tectonic processes in the interior of the earth.
It is likely that the continents have been growing both larger and thicker, making the ocean basins
relatively deeper through time. Perhaps the ocean basins have grown deeper at approximately the same
rate as the accumulation of juvenile water from volcanism. Some people think that the volume of the
ocean basins has approximately equaled the amount of water in the oceans through time.
FORMATION OF A NEW OCEAN
Continental rifting and the origin of a new ocean, such as the Atlantic Ocean, follow several sequential
steps.
Subcrustal heating causes density decrease and crustal uplift.
The tensional stresses stretch and break the crust. The result is rifting (normal faulting on a
large scale). This produces crustal thinning, because the same volume of crust is now spread
over a broader area.
Magmas generated by melting in the asthenosphere rise and invade these fissures. Repeated
injections (intrusions) over and over in the same place form sheeted dikes. This begins the

creation of new oceanic crust and sea-floor spreading.

The rifted, thinned continental edges subside below sea level. Cooling crust on the flanks of
the spreading ridge contracts and subsides. Sea water fills the expanding rift valley to form a
young, linear ocean.
Sediments eroded from the land accumulate at and below sea level, covering the rifted
terrain and building a lenticular wedge at the continental margin. This is the beginning of an
Atlantic-type coastal plain and continental shelf.
The weight of added sediment triggers additional isostatic subsidence (a feedback
mechanism) to perpetuate though not initiate the marginal subsidence. Continued subsidence
is essential for continued sedimentation. As the continental shelf wedge of sediments grows
outward, the site of subsidence shifts seaward.
The young, warm, rapidly spreading oceanic rise stands high and wide, not far below sea
level. The water thus displaced from the ocean basin spreads over the low-lying edges of the
continents in a marine transgression. Thus, the successive layers of sediments in the
passive-margin wedge encroach inland. This pattern is called stratigraphic onlap, because
each successively younger layer laps farther onto the continent than the previous one.
Later, if sea level stabilizes or falls and a high volume of sediment is contributed by rivers,
deltas will push the shoreline seaward (marine regression), forming patterns called
progradation and sedimentary offlap.
A continental margin with this history is a passive margin (because it is aseismic) or an Atlantic-type
margin (for the Atlantic Continental Shelf and Coastal Plain). The Gulf Coastal Plain and Continental
Shelf form the broadest, thickest passive-margin wedge of sediments (mostly Cenozoic) in the world.
THE FIVE OCEANS
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest, more than 1700 km wide, occupying more than one-third of the area of
the earth. It contains more than half of the earth's free water. It is the deepest and includes the oldest
oceanic crust. It is the least saline.
The eastern shoreline is rimmed by young, active mountain chains, formed along subduction zones
(destructive plate boundaries). As a result, few rivers drain into the Pacific, and little fresh water reaches
it from the interiors of the continents. The Pacific shows less continental influence than the others.
A chain of island arcs along the western margin delimits a series of marginal seas, to which great rivers
deliver large quantities of sediment. Large islands and microcontinents are associated with these arcs
(New Zealand, New Guinea, Japan). Islands in the central Pacific are volcanic, some capped with coral
reefs.
The boundary between the Pacific and the Atlantic is the narrow curved sill bordering the Scotia Sea
from Cape Horn to Palmer Peninsula. Tectonically, the Scotia Sea is an extension of the Pacific.
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is smaller but longer, with an irregular S-shape. It has the greatest north-south
extension of any ocean. It is relatively shallow, because it has relatively young crust, because it is
bordered by broad continental shelves, and because much of the center is occupied by the shallow
Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
It receives large quantities of river-borne sediment. The world's two largest rivers, the Amazon and
Congo, both flow into the Atlantic, as do the Mississippi and St. Lawrence.
There are relatively few islands. Most are volcanoes associated with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (Iceland,
Azores, Canaries, Cape Verde Islands, Bermuda, St. Helena, Tristan da Cunha).
The Atlantic is the warmest and has the highest salinity, because of the large area of marginal seas. In the
Mediterranean evaporation exceeds runoff, and large quantities of saline water flow out into the Atlantic
from the Strait of Gibraltar.
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is best considered as a landlocked arm of the Atlantic Ocean. It is quite shallow and
bordered by very broad continental shelves, especially around Eurasia (one-third of its area). It is almost
completely surrounded by land.
Much of it is covered by pack and shelf ice most of the year. Salinity is low, because large rivers (Lena,
McKenzie) deliver large volumes of water and sediment. The boundary with the Pacific is placed at the
Bering Strait, a fairly shallow threshold but one that permits considerable water exchange.
There is no comparable boundary with the Atlantic, and water from rivers draining into the Arctic
eventually flows out into the Atlantic.
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is much smaller and lies primarily in the Southern Hemisphere. Its boundary with the
Atlantic is arbitrarily placed at the 20oE meridian between the Cape of Good Hope and Antarctica. Its
Pacific boundary is arbitrarily placed at the 147oE meridian, which runs through Indonesia, Tasmania
and Antarctica.
It is bordered by rather narrow continental shelves. Three very large rivers (Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra)
deliver large quantities of water and sediment into the northern part. The Red Sea and Arabian (Persian)
Gulf are regions of excess evaporation. Little water or sediment enters from Africa.
There are few islands. Madagascar is a microcontinental fragment of Africa, as are the Seychelles and
several other banks. A few volcanic and coral islands exist.
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean is circum-Antarctic. Its northern border is placed at roughly 40oS latitude, where
two opposing water masses meet at the Subtropical Convergence.
PASSIVE CONTINENTAL MARGINS
Oceanic topography can be divided into two general features, the Continental Margin and the Deep
Sea. Continental Margins can be described as tectonically Active or Passive.

The Passive Continental Margin includes the Continental Shelf, Slope and Rise. These are largely
depositional features. Some 78% of world sediment is trapped within this zone.
Upper Lower Percent of World
Width Slope
Depth Depth Sediment
Shelf 0 130 m 75 km 0o07' 33%
Slope 130 m 1,300 m 20 km 4o -
100-1,000
Rise 1,300 m 3,000 m 0.5o 45%
km
Continental Shelf
The continental shelf is a broad, nearly flat platform, which extends from the shoreline to the shelf
break, the zone in which slope increases. It continues the nearly featureless topography of the exposed
Coastal Plain.
Continental shelves cover nearly one sixth of world ocean area. Economically they are the most
significant part of the ocean.
Average width = 70 km.
Maximum width is 1,300 km (Siberia and Arctic North America, Alaska, Northern
Australia).
Average slope is 0o07' = 1.9 m/km = 10 ft/mile (undetectable by the naked eye).
Average depth of flattest part is 60 m.
Average depth of the shelf break is 130 m.
Maximum depth of the shelf break is 350 m off Antarctica.
60% of shelf area is hilly (has relief of 20 m or more).
35% of shelf area has depressions of 20 m or more.
Much of the topography of the shelf is related to recent glaciation. The shelves were above sea level
during glacial advances of the Pleistocene, as sea level fell to the edge of the shelf. Relict sediments
deposited at this time are common on the outer shelf.
In glaciated regions, such as the Gulf of Maine, we find very irregular submarine topography, with
numerous banks, basins, ridges, and trough-like valleys, scoured by glacial erosion. Also present are
glacial sediments (moraine), glacial outwash and submerged sedimentary landforms. Sediments in a
glaciated area are mixed, both coarse- and fine-grained.
In an unglaciated area, such as south of Long Island, the shelf topography is relatively smooth. Major
topographic features are controlled by strong currents, submarine canyons, or geologic structures (folds,
faults, salt domes). Because of recent sea-level rise, relict sediments are common.

Off coasts where there are very strong currents, such as the east coast of southern Florida, the continental
shelf may be extremely narrow. Here the Gulf Stream, flowing at velocities of up to 11 km per hour,
comes close to the mainland. The current is too strong to permit deposition. Even at depths of several
hundred meters on the Blake Plateau, the Gulf Stream has scoured bottom sediment.
Continental slope
The edge of the continental shelf is placed at the shelf break, where there is an abrupt increase in slope.
It is not possible to define this boundary in terms of depth, though it generally occurs between 100 and
130 m, or in distance from shore. The uniform depth of this feature in many different parts of the world
indicates that it is governed by Pleistocene sea-level history.
The average width of the continental slope is 20 km.
It may descend vertically for 1 to 5 km, or more if a trench is located at its base.
The average slope of the continental slope is 4o, with a range from 1o to 25o.
The relief and gradients are comparable to terrestrial mountain ranges. The steepest part of
the continental slope is located between 1 and 2 km. depth.
Slopes are gentler off quiet, broad shelves with active sedimentation, as off the eastern U. S.
and the Gulf Coast.
Steep slopes are found in tectonically active regions, such as the strongly faulted west coast
of North America, and where a trench is located offshore, as off the coast of South America.
Slopes in the Pacific Ocean average more than 5o.
Slopes in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean generally average about 2o or 3o.
In young seas formed by active rifting, the slope will be very steep, as in the Gulf of
California or Red Sea.
Where the continental platform is formed by coral reef growth (western Florida and Yucatan
carbonate platforms), the slope will be very steep.
Sediments of the continental slope are chiefly soft muds, finer than those of the shelf. Much of this
sediment was deposited during the Pleistocene when rivers emptied directly at the shelf edge.
Rock outcrops are common on steep and tectonically active slopes, where slumping is frequent.
Continental Rise
The continental rise begins at the break in slope where the continental slope flattens to about 0.5o. It is
usually between 100 and 1,000 km wide, much wider than the slope. Its depth ranges from 1,400 to 3,000
m.
The continental rise is composed of a wedge of accumulated sediments at the base of the slope, the
coalesced fans of many canyons. Sediments of shallow-water derivation are included. It is usually of low
relief, exclusive of submarine canyons and seamounts. Slump blocks may form low hills.

One of the largest of these deep-sea fans is the Amazon Cone, which extends for 700 km. It shows a
delta-like topography related to its construction by turbidity (density) currents. The meander loops and
cutoffs of the leveed distributary channels are very like those of the lower Missippi River.
On the western margins of ocean basins, the Western Boundary Undercurrent (WBUC or Slope
Current) reshapes the surface and sediments of the continental rise.
In the North Atlantic, the WBUC is a cold, saline water mass, generated in the Arctic,
which enters the North Atlantic through deep channels between Greenland and Scotland.
Because of the earth's rotation (Coriolis Effect) it is deflected to the western boundary
against the continental slope, where it forms a relatively rapid, narrow, defined south-bound
current. The velocity may reach 40 cm/s.
This current picks up fine sedimentary and organic particles to form a zone of suspended
sediment 100 m thick or more above the bottom. Bottom irregularities and lateral bends
slow the current, causing deposition in dune-like fashion.
The resulting deposits are called drifts or ridges, or mud waves, or lower continental rise
hills. Echo sounder profiles show the depositional nature of these mud waves, with a wave
length of to 2 km.
45% of the sediment in the world ocean occurs in the continental rise and slope. This sedimentary wedge
is thickest and most continuous along passive margins. It is the current frontier for petroleum
exploration, toxic waste disposal, and other economic exploitation.
A continental rise borders 85% of the Atlantic and Indian Ocean coasts, but less than 30% of the Pacific.
There is no rise present at converging plate margins; instead a trench borders the continental slope.
Submarine canyons
In some places, the continental shelf is crossed by deep valleys called submarine canyons. (These
exclude channels of glacial origin, like the channel between Georges Bank and the Nova Scotian shelf, or
those of obvious fault origin.)
Many submarine canyons have a winding course, V-shaped profiles, steep walls, a flat floor, and
accordant tributary canyons. They cross the continental shelf and slope, and some continue onto the
continental rise. Some but not all are located off the mouths of major rivers.
Submarine canyons cut through surface soft sediments and harder layers beneath, exposing a range of
rock types and ages, not only sedimentary but granites. They are clearly erosional features.
Monterey Canyon off Southern California has a greater relief than the Grand Canyon. Hudson Canyon
off the Hudson River extends seaward 240 km, and then it continues for another 240 km as a leveed
channel across the continental rise. Scripps and La Jolla canyons near Scripps Institution of
Oceanography occur seaward of a land canyon.
At certain times of the year, accumulated sediment in nearshore areas moves out through the
canyon by slumping and current transport into deeper water. This flow scours and enlarges
the canyons.

To a depth of 300 m these canyons are steep-walled and cut in rock. Seaward, the walls
become gentler, and the canyon is cut into softer sediments. Ripple marks and other current
structures have been photographed on the floor.
The canyon ends in a thick fan of stratified, coarse, size-graded sediments 35 km from
shore. The transporting agent is thought to be turbidity currents (density currents).
On the Atlantic coast submarine canyons are less likely to have tributaries, more likely to run
perpendicular to the shelf trend, to have V-shaped profiles, and to have rock outcrops. Currents are
strong, and the canyon ends in a fan of sediments.
The Atlantic continental slope is corrugated by these canyons. Canyons are more numerous and closer
together on the upper part of the slope and where the gradient is steeper, with the spacing showing a
direct relationship to the gradient.
Canyon cutting on the slope was initiated during Pleistocene low stands of sea level, when rivers
emptied directly at the shelf edge. They are maintained and extended downslope by turbidity currents. In
time they may extend headward back onto the continental shelf.
Turbidity currents
Turbidity currents (density currents, gravity currents) are flows of sediment-laden water propelled by
gravity because of density differences. Such flows have been directly observed in lakes. They have great
erosive power. The Grand Banks Earthquake of 1929 triggered currents that broke a series of
Trans-Atlantic Telegraph cables and deeply buried others.
The turbidity flow is initiated on an oversteepened slope by an earthquake or other disturbance, which
sets a submarine avalanche into motion. Some of the sediment mixes with water to form a dense
suspension, which moves downslope and onto the fan.
Coarser particles settle out of suspension first, causing size-grading both vertically and horizontally. The
fluid mechanics and the meandering, leveed-distributary pattern on the fan are very like those of rivers.

GEOL 3377 Lecture 4b The Ocean Floor
LECTURE 4:
THE OCEAN FLOOR
PART B: ACTIVE MARGINS

AND THE DEEP SEA
Bathymetry
Sea Level
Nature of the Ocean Basins
Hypsographic Curve
Volume of Ocean Basins
Formation of a New Ocean
The Five Oceans
Pacific Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Arctic Ocean
Indian Ocean
Southern Ocean
Passive Continental Margins
Continental Shelf
Continental Rise
Submarine Canyons
Turbidity Currents

Active Continental Margins
Deep Ocean Floor
Abyssal Plains
Abyssal Hills
Oceanic Ridges and Rises
Sea-Floor Fracture Zones
Deep-Sea Trenches
Hot Spots
Coral Reefs
Hydrothermal Vents
ACTIVE CONTINENTAL MARGINS

Along tectonically active coasts there is no coastal plain, and the continental shelf is absent. Elevated
wave-cut terraces may border the shoreline. The slope from bordering mountain peaks to the neighboring
trench may be narrow, steep and irregular.
On the west coast of South America, elevation drops from the peaks of the Andes (7 km high) to the
depth of the Peru-Chile Trench (8 km deep, for a total of 15 km relief) in a distance of 150 to 200 km.
Tectonically active coasts may have fault-controlled basins and sills, as off southern California.
Sediments are thin and bedrock outcrops frequent.
DEEP OCEAN FLOOR
The deep sea generally refers to depths of 3,000 m or more. The deep ocean basins are entirely
underlain by oceanic crust. Several kinds of topography characterize the deep sea floor: abyssal plains,
oceanic ridges, sea-floor fractures, trenches, islands and seamounts.
Abyssal plains
These are essentially flat regions of the sea floor at depths of 3,000 to 6,000 m. The slope averages 1 in
1000 (0.3o).
They are located fairly near the edges rather than at the centers of ocean basins. They are particularly
numerous and extensive in the Atlantic Ocean.
The smooth floor is produced by sediments filling in the underlying irregular topography. The low
elevation is isostatically controlled by old, cold crust.

Abyssal hills
Abyssal hills are volcanic basalt constructions less than 1 km high.
Large areas of the sea floor have hilly topography with 200 to 400 m relief, especially in the Pacific
Ocean. Such areas seem to occur where there has been insufficient sedimentation to cover this
topography. Similar hills are detected in seismic profiles beneath the sediment cover of abyssal plains.
Oceanic ridges and rises
The oceanic ridges and rises are mountain ranges on the sea floor that extend through all of the ocean
basins. A broader, more gentle ridge is called a rise.
They may be as broad as 1,000 km, standing up to 2,500 m above the adjacent plains, and individual
peaks may rise above sea level to form islands, such as Iceland. A rift valley up to 50 km wide and up to
2000 m in relief (peak to floor) extends along the crest of the ridge, floored by young volcanic lava
flows.
Slow-spreading ridges have steep slopes and rough topography. The axial valley may be up to 30 km
wide and 100 to 3000 m deep (relief).
Fast-spreading rises have gentler slopes and smoother topography. The average slope on the East
Pacific Rise is less than 0.5o. The axial ridge at the crest may be 2 to 10 km wide and 100 to 500 m high.
The axial summit graben may be less than 1 km wide and less than 1 km deep.
Transform faults break the ridges into offset segments 20 to 80 km long. The transform faults stand as
escarpments, because of the unequal crustal ages.
Sea-floor Fracture Zones
Sea-floor fracture zones up to 100 km wide and thousands of km long border the ridges and rises. They
have mountainous topography with linear escarpments. Relief may be as high as 1500 m.
These fractures represent the crustal offsets produced along formerly active transform faults at spreading
centers. They continue the trend perpendicular to the adjacent ridge. They are relatively aseismic, but
other details suggest they are tectonically active.
These zones are especially extensive in the Pacific, where they may be located near the continent.
Examples include the Mendocino Fracture Zone off northern California, the Murray Fracture Zone
off southern California, and the Eltanin Fracture Zone in the South Pacific.
The Mendocino Escarpment has vertical relief of more than 1,000 m, because the crust on the south
side is up to 40 my older than that on the north, and therefore it is colder, denser, and has subsided more.
The St. Paul Fracture Zone and Romanche Fracture Zone in the central Atlantic are especially
conspicuous features. When the Beagle visited St. Paul, Darwin collected peridotite (mantle rock).
Fig. 4-17 illustrates the profile for the Owen Fracture Zone in the Indian Ocean.
The escarpment separates a sharp-crested ridge 1,500 m high on one side from a V-shaped
deep more than 1,000 m deep on the the other.

Dredges of the wall of this escarpment yielded peridotites (ultramafic mantle rock). The
abyssal plain nearby is covered with normal sediments.
This is thought to be an intrusion of mantle rock, formed after the fracture zone by
compressional stresses associated with minor changes in the orientation of the offset
spreading axes.
Deep-sea Trenches
Deep-sea trenches and troughs are rectilinear or arcuate, elongate depressions in the sea floor. They
average 7 to 10 km deep. They may run for thousands of kilometers with widths of a few tens of
kilometers to more than 100 km.
The slope of the walls ranges from 4o to as much as 45o, usually much steeper on one side than the other.
There may be a midslope terrace on the inner (continental) side.
Trenches may be located at the base of the continent, or they may border island arcs separated from the
continent by a marginal sea, or they may border island arcs far from any continent.
The depth of a trench varies along its length. The depth depends in part on whether it is being filled with
sediment.
The deepest place in the world is the Challenger Deep, located in the southwest corner of the Mariana
Trench, depth 11,034 m. (See Table 4-1 p. 101.)
Trench Depth (m) Width (km) Length (km)
Aleutian 8,100 70 2,300

Japan 9,810 100 900
Java 7,450 - -
Kurile 10,542 120 2,200
Mariana 11,034 70 2,550
Mindanao 10,497 60 1,400
Peru-Chile 8,055 70 5,900
Puerto Rico 8,385 - -
South Sandwich 8,428 - -
Tonga 10,882 55 1,400
The tectonics of arc-trench systems is complex, and tensional structures are found as well as
compressional deformation. See Fig. 4-24 p. 102 for the Mariana Trench.
The hinge (45o bend, where the trench is located) in the subducting plate tends to migrate
seaward (away from the arc, away from the plate contact), prehaps because of the pull of the
dense cold crust "falling" into the mantle.
This seaward migration of the hinge and trench generates tensional stresses (stretching) in

the overlying plate where the arc is located.

Eventually these tensional stresses open fractures within the arc, which start spreading
(because they are conduits for magma) and generate new crust. These are called back-arc
spreading centers.
The spreading widens the distance between the two arc fragments, the outer of which
becomes inactive, progressively more separated from the still active arc, and becomes a
remnant arc.
As the hinge and trench continue to migrate seaward, in time the back-arc spreading center
loses its source of magma, becomes inactive, and founders (subsides because it is cooling).
Elevations of volcanic origin are everywhere on the sea floor. They are called abyssal hills if they rise
less than 1,000 m from the sea floor, seamounts if they rise higher than 1,000 m, and islands if they rise
above sea level. The average slope approaches 4o. There at least 20,000 of these in the Pacific alone.
Broad aprons of smooth lava form gently sloping archipelagic rises, which may surround individual
peaks. This hilly terrain averages 200 m of relief.
Undersea volcanoes taller than 1 km are called seamounts. They occur in swarms called seamount
provinces or in chains, such as those in the northeast Pacific. They are basaltic in composition (outside
the andesite line).
Flat-topped seamounts, called guyots or table mounts, may be found at all depths. Many are too deep
(average 1,800 to 3,000 m below sea level) and too old (at least 30 my) to be explained by erosion during
Pleistocene low stands of sea level. They are thought to represent wave-truncated volcanoes on old, cold,
subsiding crust. They were carried off the elevated ridge axis and ceased to be fed through conduits
(tensional fractures) from the central magma chamber.
Hot Spots
Especially in the Pacific, volcanic islands and seamounts tend to occur in arcuate chains, or nemataths,
such as the Emperor-Hawaii-Midway chain.
Radiometric dates of these volcanics increase to the north, indicating that this is an age-series of
volcanoes. They are thought to have been produced as the Pacific plate moves to the northwest, passing
over a hypothetical mantle plume or hot spot. The bend in this chain indicates a change of direction from
northwest to more northerly at about 45 my ago.
Hot spots are hypothetical mantle plumes, allegedly long-lived and stationary with a stationary lower
mantle source. However, some evidence now suggests that mantle plumes can migrate. Compositional
differences (enrichment in radioactive metals) suggest a source deep within the mantle.
The Superswell is a large region of the south central Pacific floor that includes the Society Islands,
Tahiti and the Tuamotus. It has heat flow rates that are too high (30% of total global heat flow), a
lithosphere that is too thin, and an average depth that is too shallow for the age of the crust (60-80 my) in
that region. The volcanics are enriched in radioactive isotopes (explaining the high heat flow), but this

does not seem to be a typical mantle plume.

Continental flood basalts are basalt plateaus that have flooded from below in a very fluid condition.
Enormous quantities erupted in a brief time (1 to 2 my), perhap fed by mantle plumes.
The diameter of a mantle plume expands as it approaches the surface, as pressure decreases, giving it a
mushroom-shaped head. This high-temperature plume heats the overlying lithosphere, which is elevated
and cracks open, so that the magma rises in huge volumes simultaneously through many fissues, pouring
over the landscape.
Famous ancient examples include the Deccan traps of India (65my) and the Columbia River Plateau
(17 my).
The largest such mass in the modern ocean may be the Ontong Java Plateau in the western Pacific. The
Hess Plateau in the northwest Pacific and the Kerguelen Plateau in the Southern Indian Ocean are other
important features.
Coral reefs
In tropical regions, a volcanic island or shallow seamount may be colonized by corals and other
carbonate-secreting organisms. Darwin explained how the subsequent evolution of the reef is controlled
by crustal subsidence. A fringing reef becomes a barrier reef and then an atoll with a central lagoon.
The atoll form results from the active growth of corals around the perimeter, while calcareous algae and
storm sediments fill the quiet lagoon. If the coral growth keeps up with crustal subsidence, the result may
be a coral island. For example, hundreds of meters of carbonate sediment cap the basalt foundation of
Bermuda.
Fig. 4-19 illustrates Darwin's theory of atoll formation. Drilling at Bikini and Eniwetok just before
and after WWII confirmed that theory.
HYDROTHERMAL VENTS
See Fig. 4-16. Hydrothermal vents are underwater hot springs. At the axis of an oceanic rise heat flow
rates are high and a magma chamber is located within a few km of the surface. Ocean water circulates
down into fractures in the volcanic ocean crust, is heated, expands, and rises as a submarine spring of hot
water. These rising plumes and their chimney-like deposits were referred to by early submersible crews
as warm-water vents (10o-20oC), white smokers (30oC to 330oC), or black smokers (350o).
Hot water is a good solvent, and the rising plumes are rich in metals etched from the basalt. Subsurface
waters become depleted in oxygen and rich in H2S. These rising, hot, acidic, oxygen-depleted, H2S-rich
waters encounter the cold (4o or less), alkaline, oxygenated waters at the sea floor.
At this interface (boundary), chemical reactions occur. First, at the highest temperatures, metallic sulfide
minerals are deposited (pyrite, galena, chalcopyrite). (Recall that sulfide minerals are black in powdered
form.) Farther from the center of the plume, at lower temperatures and higher oxygen levels, sulfate
minerals crystallize (such as gypsum), and this white "snow" accumulates as mounds and chimneys.
Similar ore deposits of hydrothermal metallic sulfide minerals are exploited in ancient rocks, though
their tectonic context for their emplacement was unclear until quite recently.

Chemosynthetic (chemautotrophic) bacteria live in the water at this interface. They take O2 from sea
water and use it to oxidize H2S from the rising hot water to get the H2. (The S then combines with other
ions to make sulfate minerals). This is an oxidation and thus an exothermic reaction, which they use as
their source of energy. They then use the H2 to fix carbon.
These chemosynthetic bacteria are the primary producers at the nonphotosynthetic base of a food chain
that includes a variety of suspension-feeding, predatory and scavenging animals.
Some animals culture these chemosynthetic bacteria as symbionts within their tissues, transporting
oxygen to them in hemoglobin-rich blood. (Symbiosis means that organisms are living together and
cooperating.) The large (1 m long) tube worms, belonging to the Subphylum Vestimentifera of the
Phylum Pogonophora, do this. They have no gut and do not feed.
These vent faunas were only discovered in 1977 on the Galapagos rift. Numerous "oases" have now
been discovered at many localities on other ridges.
This may be a very ancient ecosystem. It reminds us that not all communities depend on photosynthesis
and that bacteria control many planetary processes.

GEOL 3377 Lecture 5a Marine Sediment
LECTURE 5: MARINE SEDIMENT
PART A: GENERAL FEATURES AND

LITHOGENOUS SEDIMENTS
Marine Sediments Are Young
About Minerals
About Igneous Rocks
Chemical Weathering
Sediment Description
Sediment Transport
Classification of Marine Sediments
Lithogenous Sediments
Neritic Lithogenous Sediments
Bathyal and Abyssal Lithogenous Sediments
Abyssal Clay
Biogenous Sediments
Classification of Protista
Calcareous Sediments
About Calcium Carbonate
About CO2 in Sea Water
Carbonate Equilibrium and pH

Organisms and the Carbonate Equilibrium System

Carbonate Compensation Depth
Global CO2 Circulation
Coccolithophores
Planktonic Foraminifera
Pteropoda
Calcareous Ooze
Chalk
CO2 Cycle and the "Biological Pump"
Dolomite
Siliceous Sediments
The Silica Cycle
Silica in Sea Water
Diatoms
Radiolaria
Silicoflagellates
Siliceous Ooze
Stromatolites
Hydrogenous Sediments
Manganese Nodules
Cobalt Crusts
Phosphorite Nodules
Glauconite
Carbonates
Clay Minerals
Zeolites
Cosmogenous Sediments
Distribution of Oceanic Sediments

Is Continental Crust Growing?
MARINE SEDIMENTS ARE YOUNG

Marine sediments cover most of the ocean floor and more than half of the continents. Therefore, the
study of sedimentation and sedimentary rocks must be based on a sound understanding of marine
conditions and processes.
We know that the stratigraphic record on the continents is locally incomplete and interrupted. Using
principles of stratigraphy, we must build composite sections from numerous exposures to work out a
continuous history.
It was formerly supposed that a complete, uninterrupted sedimentary record would be found in the deep
sea. However, deep-sea drilling has proved that the sedimentary cover is young, just as the oceanic crust
is young. Deep-sea sediments older than Late Mesozoic (180 my) are not found in the ocean basins.
Paradoxically, for earlier oceanographic history we must look to the continental record. Plate tectonics
has shown that the fate of older oceanic sediments is to be subducted (destroyed) or to be crushed against
the edge of a continent at a converging plate boundary (mountain-building). This deformation is usually
accompanied by metamorphism, which alters the sediments and makes their earlier history hard to read.
ABOUT MINERALS
Rocks are composed of minerals. A mineral has a specified chemical composition and crystal structure.
(Crystal structure refers to the regular arrangement of atoms in a three-dimensional array or lattice.)
There are thousands of minerals but relatively few common rock-forming minerals. Categories of
minerals include oxides, sulfides, sulfates, chlorides, and carbonates, but most common rock-forming
minerals belong to the silicates.
Examples of minerals:
Category Name Composition

Hematite Fe2O3
Oxides Magnetite Fe3O4

Manganite MnO2
Sulfides Pyrite FeS2
Sulfates Gypsum CaSO4.2H2O
Chlorides Halite NaCl

Calcite CaCO3
Carbonates
Aragonite CaCO3
Quartz SiO2
Silicates
many others (SiO4)-4
Silicate minerals are based on the silica tetrahedron (1 Si+4, 4 O-2) in combination with metallic cations
(Al+3, K+1, Ca+2, Na+1, Fe+2, Mg+2). A silica tetrahedron (SiO4)-4 is one silicon atom surrounded by four
oxygen atoms. The tetrahedra may occur singly or may share atoms to form chains, loops, sheet
structures, and three-dimensional structures. Less common elements of appropriate diameter and valence
may substitute for Si and O to produce complex compositions.
Ferromagnesian silicate minerals are silicates of iron, magnesium and calcium. Examples include
olivine, pyroxenes such as augite, amphiboles such as hornblende, and micas such as biotite. Densities
range from 2.8 to 3.4 g/cm3.
Examples of ferromagnesian silicate minerals:
(Mg,Fe2SiO4 green,
Olivine
granular
Ca(Mg,Fe,Al)(Al,Si)2O6 black,
Augite
blocky
black,
Hornblende Ca2Na(Mg,Fe)4(Al,Fe,Ti)3Si6O22(O,OH)2
prismatic
black,
Biotite K(Mg,Fe)3AlSi3O10(OH)2 flaky
mica
Nonferromagnesian silicate minerals are potassium, sodium and aluminum silicates. They include
feldspars (K, Na, Ca), muscovite mica and quartz. Densities range from 2.6 to 3.1 g/cm3.
Examples of nonferromagnesian silicate minerals:
Orthoclase KAlSi3O8 white or pink, blocky

NaAlSi3O8 to
Plagioclase white or gray, blocky
CaAl2Si2O8
Muscovite KAl3Si3O10(OH)2 light, flaky mica
Quartz SiO2 colorless, gray
ABOUT IGNEOUS ROCKS

Rocks are composed of minerals. Rocks are classified by their origin as igneous, metamorphic or
sedimentary.
Igneous rocks crystallize from molten magma. They are classified by their texture (grain size) and and
by their chemical composition, which determines the assemblage of minerals.
The average grain size of an igneous rock will be small if a magma cools quickly but large if it cools
slowly. Therefore, extrusive volcanics and near-surface intrusives tend to be fine-grained, where-as
intrusions at greater depth are coarse-grained.
A magma that is silica-rich (sialic) will produce abundant nonferromagnesian silicate minerals (feldspars
and quartz), whereas a silica-poor (simatic) magma will produce more ferromagnesian silicate minerals
(olivine, pyroxenes, amphiboles).
Classification of Igneous Rocks:
sialic simatic
Silica content:
(silica-rich) (silica-poor)
Fine- grained: Rhyolite Dacite Andesite Basalt Komatiite
Coarse-grained: Granite Granodiorite Diorite Gabbro Peridotite
Minerals
present:
Quartz +++ ++ + - -
Orthoclase +++ ++ + - -
Muscovite + - - - -
Na Plagioclase + ++ ++ - -
Ca Plagioclase - - ++ +++ +
Biotite + + + - -
Hornblende + + + - -
Pyroxene - + ++ +++ +++
Olivine - - - ++ +++

Each mineral has a temperature of crystallization (freezing). The ferromagnesian minerals crystallize
at higher temperatures, but feldspars and quartz crystallize later, after the magma has cooled somewhat.
CHEMICAL WEATHERING
Chemical weathering refers to the chemical reactions that take place when rocks are exposed to water,
oxygen, and acids at surface temperatures. At surface temperatures ferromagnesian minerals are less
stable and are corroded quickly by chemical weathering. Quartz, the last mineral to crystallize, is stable
at surface temperatures and chemically inert, so it persists as detrital particles after other minerals have
vanished.
Chemical weathering of feldspars produces clay minerals plus soluble silica. Chemical weathering of
ferromagnesian minerals produces clay minerals plus iron oxides. These materials are carried in
suspension and in solution by streams down to the ocean.
The mineral composition of a sediment gives us information about the parent rock (in the source area)
and the weathering conditions (climate) there, as well as the accumulated time and distance these
particles have spent in the weathering environment and in transport.
SEDIMENT DESCRIPTION
Sediment Composition
A compositional classification of sediments distinguishes between lithogenous or clastic sediments
(clasts are fragments derived from pre-existing rocks), chemical sediments, which are precipitates
formed by chemical reactions out of water solution, and biogenic sediments, which are the accumulated
skeletons of organisms (who pulled the materials for those skeletons out of water solution).
Mineral composition
The mineral composition of a clastic particle gives information about the source rock and the weathering
regimen in the source area. Sediments that have experienced strong chemical weathering are likely to
consist chiefly of quartz, which is hard (7), has no cleavage, and is chemically inert. They would be
described as compositionally mature.
Sediment color
Sediment color reflects the oxidation state of the iron.
Strongly reduced compounds (sulfide minerals, hydrocarbons) tend to be black. Strongly reduced
sediments today accumulate where high nutrient levels support very high biological productivity, and
more organic material is contributed to sediments than decay bacteria can oxidize.
Less reduced compounds, such as iron carbonate, tend to be colorless or greenish gray. Oxides (hematite,
limonite) are red or brown. Most marine sediments are weakly oxidized with light brown or gray colors.
Strongly oxidized sediments are colored red (orange, brown, purple) by iron oxides, such as hematite.
They are characteristic of terrestrial weathering and exposure to atmospheric oxygen dissolved in rain
and ground waters.
Sediment Texture

Texture describes the particle size, rounding and sorting of a clastic sediment. Source means the site
(parent rock) from which the clasts were eroded. Energy means wave action, current velocity and
turbulence.
The size of a clastic particle refers to its diameter. The grain size-distribution of a sediment is a measure
of the energy condition under which it was deposited.
The Wentworth scale (Table 5-1) gives the standard vocabulary for particle size.
>256 mm boulder
64-256 mm cobble
4-64 mm pebble
2-4 mm granule
1/16 - 2 mm sand
1/256 - 1/16 mm silt
1/4096 - 1/256 mm clay
The degree of rounding of the individual grains, or particle sphericity, is a measure of the amount of
abrasion the sand has undergone, which is a function of the time and distance of transport. A mature sand
would have well rounded grains.
Sorting describes the particle size-frequency distribution, the relative proportions of different sizes of
particles in a sediment. A sediment that has particles that are mostly about the same size would be
described as well sorted. Sorting is a measure of the transporting agent.
SEDIMENT TRANSPORT
Sediments are carried from the source area to the depositional site by transporting agents, mostly moving
currents of wind or water. Clastic sediment from the erosion of land is contributed to the oceans by
rivers (via estuaries and deltas), by glacial icebergs, and by wind.
Rivers and marine currents transport a wide range of particle sizes and produce a variety of sediment
types, some of which may be quite mature (beach sand).
Ice (glaciers) and mass-wasting processes (debris-slides, avalanches) carry all sizes indiscriminately and
leave chaotic, unsorted deposits (glacial till).
Wind is an excellent sorting agent but can carry only the finest particles. Some of the dust particles serve
as nucleation seeds for rain and snow, which carry them to the ocean. Some reach the jet stream high in
the atmosphere and may be carried around the world. Wind-blown particles are especially conspicuous in
marine sediments downwind from the subtropical deserts (trade winds from Africa, prevailing westerlies
from China).
The size of particle that a current can carry is determined by current velocity, by particle density, and
by particle shape (surface/area to volume ratio). Except for very heavy or very light minerals and flaky
shapes, particle diameter is the most important parameter.

If velocity increases, the current erodes more particles and larger particles from the bottom. If velocity
decreases, the current deposits the larger particles that it can no longer carry.
Hjulstrom's Curve (Fig. 5-2) shows more exactly the relationship between current velocity, particle
size, and current capacity (erosion, transportation, deposition). It takes more energy to erode new
material than it does to continue transporting particles already in suspension. More energy is needed to
pick up clay particles, because their flaky shape and unsatisfied electrostatic charges make them tend to
stick together.
CLASSIFICATION OF MARINE SEDIMENTS
Somewhat arbitrarily, marine sediments can be classified into four categories by the origin of the
particles: Lithogenous, biogenous, hydrogenous, cosmogenous.
Marine sediments can also be classified by the site of deposition as neritic or oceanic.
Neritic sediments are deposited on or near the continental margins and are dominantly
lithogenous. They cover 25 percent of ocean area. They consist largely of particulate detritus
eroded from the continents, and accumulation rates are high.
Oceanic sediments form on the deep-sea floor away from the zone of circumcontinental
influence. They cover 75% of the ocean floor. Lithogenous particles are a minor though
widespread constituent, and biogenous and hydrogenous sediment types dominate.
Accumulation rates are low.
Directly or indirectly, the distribution of oceanic sediments is controlled by biological productivity in the
overlying surface waters, by dissolution rates, and by dilution by terrigenous or other influx.
Fig. 5-22 shows the world distribution of neritic and oceanic sediment types. It should be examined
closely throughout the following discussion.
LITHOGENOUS SEDIMENTS
Lithogenous sediments are derived from pre-existing rocks. A large fraction of this component is derived
from the erosion of rocks exposed on the continents. These erosional products are delivered by streams,
by wind, and (at high latitudes) by glaciers. Eruptions of continental, oceanic and submarine volcanoes
produce significant amounts of volcanic ash and other materials.
Lithogenous sediments are gravels, sands, silts and clays. "Muds" are cohesive mixtures of clay, silt
and sand. The clay minerals are largely kaolinite (formed by chemical weathering in the tropics) and
chlorite (eroded from metamorphic rocks exposed in the Precambrian shields of the continents).
Neritic lithogenous sediments
Neritic lithogenous sediments accumulate in the neritic environment on the continental shelf, and on the
continental slope and rise in the zone of continental influence. They are dominated by lithogenous
particles from subaerial weathering of continents, which are redistributed by marine waves, currents and
mass-wasting. Calcareous shell fragments typically are a minor component (6 to 7%).

Relict sediments on the continental shelf include fluvial and glacial deposits of Late Pleistocene and
early Holocene age (3000-7000 years ago), left from lower stands of sea level. About 70% of the area of
the modern continental shelves is occupied by relict sediments. Because of sea level rise, many major
rivers empty into drowned river mouths or estuaries, where terrestrial sediment is being trapped. This is
the case for the Atlantic and Texas coasts.
Glacial deposits are forming today around Greenland and Antarctica. Ice-rafted particles are found in
deep-sea sediments at high latitudes in the Southern Ocean and the high North Atlantic.
Asia is contributing more sediment to the ocean than any other continent. About 80% of world
terrigenous sediment is carried by the Hwang Ho, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Yangtze, Indus, Irrawaddy and
Mekong rivers. The Hwang Ho and Yangtze rivers empty into the East China Sea. The Mekong empties
into the South China Sea. The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Irwaddy rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal,
and the Indus empties into the Arabian Sea. The Amazon (#6), Mississippi (#7) and Colorado (#10) also
make the top 10 in sediment volume. The Amazon and Mississippi are feeding sediments to build
passive-margin continental shelves.
Particle-size distributions on the continental shelf are dominated by sand, silt and clay, with sand
deposited along the shore as beach deposits. Silt and clay-size particles are transported offshore to be
deposited in lower energy environmnents.
Sediment thickness is highest on the continental shelves. Sedimentation rates on the continental shelf
may be very high (more than 10 cm/1000 yr). Sediment is buried before there is significant chemical
reaction with water. (Diagenetic reactions take place, though. The gray to greenish color mentioned by
Thurman p. 125 signifies "lack of oxidation" in the interstitial environment of buried sediment, not at the
sediment/water interface.)
Bathyal and abyssal lithogenous sediments
Turbidity currents (density currents) transport shallow-water sediments downslope through submarine
canyons to the continental rise. Such deposits are called turbidites and are characterized by graded
bedding. Each turbidite layer is one flow event.
The deep-sea fans at the foot of the continents, which may be more than 10 km thick, contain more than
75% of oceanic sediment, leaving less than 25% in the deep ocean basins. Turbidite fans of terrigenous
clastics are particularly extensive in the Gulf of Mexico, off the eastern United States and Canada, off the
Amazon River, on the Aleutian abyssal plain, and off North Africa.
On oversteepened and tectonically active slopes, submarine avalanching and debris-flows may occur.
Where strong currents sweep the continental slope and rise, cementation of sea-floor sediments may
produce hardgrounds.
Abyssal Clay
Red and brown abyssal clays are composed chiefly of clay minerals (especially montmorillonite),
zeolites (especially phillipsite) and iron oxide. These authigenic clay minerals originate by marine
alteration of clay-size particles contributed by terrestrial weathering, volcanic ash and meteoritic dust.
Wind-blown dust is a significant component, especially in the central Pacific (where most

continent-derived sediment is trapped in the encircling trench systems).

Abyssal clays cover the deepest abyssal basins (38% of the ocean floor) and accumulate very slowly
(1mm/1000 yr).
Large expanses of abyssal clay occupy the North Pacific, the central South Pacific, and the southeast
Indian oceans. Smaller patches occupy the abyssal basins near the margins of the Atlantic Ocean,
especially the western basins.

GEOL 3377 Lecture 5b Marine Sediment
LECTURE 5:
MARINE SEDIMENT
PART B: CALCAREOUS SEDIMENTS
Marine Sediments are Young

About Minerals
About Igneous Rocks
Chemical Weathering
Chemical Weathering
Sediment Transport
Abyssal Clay
Biogenous Sediments

Coccolithophores
Pteropoda
Calcareous Ooze
Chalk
Dolomite
Siliceous Sediments
The Silica Cycle
Silica in Sea Water
Diatoms
Radiolaria
Silicoflagellates
Siliceous Ooze
Stromatolites
Manganese Nodules
Cobalt Crusts
Phosphorite Nodules
Glauconite
Carbonates
Clay Minerals

Zeolites
BIOGENOUS SEDIMENTS
Biogenous sediments are produced by organisms, mostly protistans, that secrete skeletal particles. They
get the necessary materials from solution in sea water.
Deep-sea biogenous sediments are either calcareous ooze (CaCO3) or siliceous ooze (SiO2.nH2O,
which is opaline silica or silica glass). The lithified equivalents (rock) are limestone (or chalk) and chert.
Deep-sea calcareous oozes are produced by planktic organisms: coccolithophores (calcareous
nannoplankton) and planktic foraminifera. Deep-sea siliceous oozes are produced by diatoms and
Radiolaria.
The rate of accumulation of deep-sea biogenic oozes depends on three factors:
The rate of production in surface waters,
The rate of destruction (solution) at depth,
The rate of dilution by introduced lithogenous and other components.
Where rates of production are high, and rates of destruction and dilution are low, calcareous and siliceous
oozes are generated on the deep-sea floor. Where rates of production are low, and rates of destruction are
high, only abyssal clay accumulates.
Shallow-water calcareous sediments are produced by benthic seaweeds (calcareous algae), animals
(corals), and benthic foraminifera. Siliceous sediments are not produced in shallow water.
CLASSIFICATION OF PROTISTA
Kingdom Protista: Organisms consisting of a single cell or colonies of single cells, not showing the
interdependence of cells that characerizes tissue development, with plant-like (photosynthetic) or
animal-like (ingestive) nutrition. The "protozoans" and "microscopic algae" of some classifications
belong here.
Phylum Chrysophyta: the golden algae; various photosynthetic flagellates.
Class Chrysophyceae: marine flagellates, mostly without skeletons.
Class Coccolithophorida: marine flagellates with an outer calcareous armor of
coccoliths.
Class Silicoflagellata: flagellates with siliceous tests.

Class Diatomaceae: Marine and freshwater, benthic and planktic,

nonflagellated cells with a bivalved, siliceous frustrule.
Phylum Pyrrhophyta: Dinoflagellates; flagellated, photosynthetic cells, often with an
external armor or cyst at one stage in the life cycle.
Phylum Euglenophyta: Flagellated, photosynthetic cells related to Euglena, without
skeletons.
Phylum Flagellata (=Zoomastigata): Non-photosynthetic, flagellated cells without skeleton.
Phylum Ciliata (= Ciliophora): Non-photosynthetic cells that move by cilia, mostly without
skeletons. Example: Paramecium.
Phylum Sarcodina: Protists that move by pseudopodia; non-photosynthetc, but many have
symbiotic photosynthetic zooxanthellae.
Class Rhizopodea: Thick, lobose, temporary pseudopodia; most have no
skeleton. Example: Amoeba.
Class Actinopoda: Very thin, radially extended, permanent pseudopodia.
Subclass Radiolaria: Marine plankton with siliceous test.
Class Reticularia: Very thin, branching, anastomosing pseudopodia.
Order Foraminiferida: Test agglutinate or calcareous; marine
benthos or plankton.
CALCAREOUS SEDIMENTS
Deep-sea calcareous oozes are generated by planktonic single-celled plant-like protists
(coccolithophores), by animal-like single-celled protists (foraminifera), and by planktonic animals
(pteropods).
In shallow water, calcareous sediments accumulate by the skeletal secretions of corals, calcareous
algae, benthic invertebrate animals, and benthic foraminifera.
Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) occurs as two minerals, calcite or aragonite. Calcite is stable at surface
conditions. Aragonite (the high-temperature morph) is metastable at surface temperatures and tends to be
dissolved or to have recrystallized to calcite in older rocks. In warm water, many organisms secrete
aragonite rather than calcite.
Many protists, algae and animals secrete calcareous skeletons, pulling Ca2+ and CO32- ions from sea
water. After death, these become sedimentary particles, accumulating on the sea floor as a lime mud or
lime sand. The lithified rock is a limestone.
Warm tropical waters are saturated with respect to carbonate, but nonbiogenic precipitation of carbonate
is rare (Mg+ ion interferes). There are two possible exceptions:

On very shallow carbonate platforms with high wave energy, the agitation helps to
encourate the inorganic precipitation of tiny (less than 2 µm) needles of aragonite, which
are carried off the platform to accumulate as a fine ooze in deeper waters nearby.
In shallow, wave-agitated environments, spherical crusts of inorganically precipitated
carbonate accrete around shell fragments, forming sand-size oolites (as large as 2 mm)
rolled by currents. (In fact, these are bacterially mediated).
Today sea levels are low and continental erosion rates are high. As a result, there are few extensive areas
of shallow-water carbonate sedimentation. The largest are the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, the
Florida and Yucatan Platforms, the Bahamas Platform, and the Persian Gulf, with smaller sites
associated with Indopacific reefs.
CO2 is highly soluble in sea water and is taken up in solution from the atmosphere at the sea surface.
Like other gases, it is more soluble at lower temperatures and higher pressures.
CO2 is also produced by the respiration of plants and animals and by the decomposition of
organic materials.
CO2 is consumed by plants for C-fixation and by marine organisms making calcareous
skeletons.
In chapter 2 we said that carbon dioxide exists in four phases (chemical species or states of dissociation
in sea water): as dissolved CO2 gas, as carbonic acid (H2CO3), as bicarbonate ion (HCO3-) and as
carbonate ion (CaO32-). Together, these co-existing phases (species) form a buffered equilibrium. See
Fig. 2-13 of Thurman.
H2O + CO2 <==> H2CO3 <==> H+ + HCO3- <==> H+ + H+ + CO32-
dissolved gas <===> carbonic acid <===> bicarbonate ion <===> carbonate ion
low pH (7.5) <==================================> high pH (9.0)
The concentration (abundance) of these phases (chemical species) is controlled by physical properties of
sea water (temperature and pressure), by pH, by biological processes (photosynthesis and respiration),
and by the formation or destruction of carbonate shells of marine animals and plants.
pH is the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion activity (= hydrogen ion concentration). A
pH of 7 is neutral, 0-7 is acidic, and 8-14 is basic.
[H+] = 1 / 10pH
[ ] means concentration of ...
Carbon dioxide is present as dissolved gas only at pH values below normal. At the normal (8.1) pH of
sea water, more than 80% of the carbon in sea water is present as bicarbonate ion (HCO3-).

Bicarbonate (HCO3-) ionizes very little, so the abundance of H+ ions is largely ruled by the abundance of
carbonic acid (H2CO3). Therefore, the abundance of H+ ions remains relatively constant. This means that
the pH (acidity-alkalinity) of sea water remains relatively constant (average 8.1).
There is a buffered equilibrium, such that if any phase is consumed, the amount in other phases shifts to
restore equilibrium. The carbonic acid phase acts as the buffer.
If the pH falls (by adding acid, adding H+), the excess H+ combines with HCO3- (bicarbonate ion) to
form H2CO (carbonic acid).
excess H+ + HCO3- <===> H2CO3
This drives the reaction to the left, meaning that the concentrations of CO2 and H2CO3 rise.
This causes the pH to rise, because there are now fewer H+ ions.
If the pH rises, some of the H2CO3 dissociates to form additional H+ + HCO3-,
H2CO3 <===> H+ + HCO3-
The balance point of the reaction moves to the right, meaning that more of the CO2 is
present as the species HCO3- and CO32-. This increases the concentration of H+, and
therefore the pH falls back toward the normal level.
The ratio of bicarbonate ion to carbonate ion in sea water is a function of pH:
[HCO3] / [CO32-] = 1 / K.10pH
where K is a constant that depends on temperature and salinity.

In other words, the lower the pH, the more HCO3- (bicarbonate ion) and the less CO32- (carbonate ion).

Many shallow-water marine organisms secrete skeletons of calcium carbonate (aragonite or calcite).
Ca++ + CO32- <===> CaCO3
Sea water is saturated with respect to Ca2+, so the precipitation of calcium carbonate is a
function of availability of CO32-.
Surface waters are normally at or near saturation with respect to carbonate ion. This makes it easy for
Ca2+ ion in sea water to combine with CO32- ion to make CaCO3. This removal of carbonate ion from
sea water causes further dissociation of bicarbonate ion, pulling the equilibrium to the right and restoring
the proper pH.
Deep and cold waters are undersaturated with respect to carbonate ion. Solution of calcium carbonate
adds carbonate ion to sea water and drives the reaction to the left, restoring normal pH.

Adding CO2 tends to lower the pH and increase the solubility of carbonate.
Removal of CO2 tends to raise the pH and trigger precipitation of carbonate.
Removal of CO2 reduces the concentration of H2CO3. This is restored by combining two
bicarbonate ions, as follows:
2HCO3- ===> H2CO3 + CO32-
This increases the concentration of carbonate ion. Thus, removing carbon dioxide from sea
water may favor the precipitation of carbonate.
Where photosynthesis is occurring, significant amounts of CO2 are being removed. Photosynthetic
plants remove CO2 from the water and favor the production of CaCO3, especially in warm, shallow
water. Presumably this is why calcareous shells are more abundant in warm shallow water.
Where water is being heated, CO2 escapes from solution, and precipitation of carbonate is easier. Both
processes are at work at the edge of a carbonate platform such as the Bahamas, where upwelling brings
cold water into the photic zone.
Example: On the Bahama Banks, cold deep water, rich in dissolved CO2 and calcium, is
forced to the surface and warmed. As CO2 escapes into the atmosphere, the pH drops, and
aragonite precipitates as clouds of tiny needles.
(Partial pressure is a relative measure of the concentration of a solution, meaning how close it is to
saturation, how much of the dissolved component is present relative to how much could be
accommodated in solution at these conditions.)
The partial pressure of CO2 increases with:
Rise in temperature
Rise in salinity
Respiration by animals and plants
Precipitation of CaCO3
The partial pressure of CO2 decreases with:
Decrease in temperature
Decrease in salinity
Photosynthesis
Solution of CaCO3

Surface waters are warm and have low pressure; little CO2 is in solution, and carbonate ion is at
saturation. At great depths the ocean is undersaturated in CO2, because waters are colder and pressures
are great. Gas solubility is higher. More CO2 in solution means deep waters are undersaturated with
respect to carbonate ion, and calcium carbonate starts to dissolve.
The zone in which solution of calcium carbonate takes place is the lysocline.
The Calcium Carbonate Compensation Depth (CCD) is the depth at which the rate of solution of
carbonate matches the rate at which carbonate is falling from above. Below the CCD, carbonate
skeletons and skeletons are not preserved -- all are dissolved.
Globally, about half of the skeletal carbonate production in surface waters is actually redissolved. Most
of this solution takes place below 3,500 m.
The actual depth to the CCD varies as a function of bottom-water temperature, rate of production of
carbonate in surface waters and rate of sedimentation (burial). It averages 4,500 m. Locally in the
Atlantic Ocean it may be as deep as 6,000 m, but in the central Pacific where productivity is low it may
be as shallow as 3,500 m.
The ocean ridges and rises in low and mid-latitudes are covered with calcareous ooze. As older crust on
the flanks of the ridge subsides, it passes beneath the CCD. The carbonate component of the pelagic
contribution is dissolved, and abyssal clays are the residual deposit. See Fig. 5-17 and 5-24.
In the Atlantic Ocean, Antarctic Bottom Water and North Atlantic Deep Water are deflected (by the
Coriolis effect) to the western margin of the ocean basin. Thus, temperatures at the same depth are colder
on the western flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge than the eastern, and the CCD is shallower by more than
1,000 m on the west (<5,000 m) than the east (>6,000m).
At low latitudes, surface waters are saturated with CO2. Here, CO2 escapes to the atmosphere and is
carried poleward by atmospheric circulation. There it goes into solution in cold water and is carried back
toward the equator in the bottom-water masses.
The ocean regulates the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere by these reactions. CO2 goes into solution or
escapes from solution at the sea surface relatively quickly (cycle time about 10 years), while the
bottom-water masses have cycling times of hundreds of years.
Calcareous oozes accumulate on the shallower parts of the sea floor by the accumulation of the
skeletons of coccolithophores, planktonic foraminifera and pteropods.
Coccolithophores
Coccolithophores are flagellated, photosynthetic golden algae (chrysophytes) that secrete an external
armor of calcareous (calcite) plates. The coccoliths range from 8 to 20 µm in size. Together with a few
extinct relatives, such as the discoasters, they are called calcareous nannoplankton.
They are the second most important primary producers in the world ocean today, second only to diatoms
and accounting for 30% of total primary production. In warm tropical waters they may be more abundant

than diatoms.
Their abundance is controlled by nutrient levels. They are most abundant near the convergences in the
Southern Hemisphere, near the Polar Front in the Northern Hemisphere, and in the equatorial region.
Planktonic foraminifera belong to the Superfamily Globigerinacea of the Treatise classification, and all
Globigerinacea are planktonic. These are zooplankton.
The abundance of planktonic foraminifera is controlled by that of marine phytoplankton, which in turn is
controlled by nutrient levels. Like coccoliths, they are abundant at zones of upwelling and major current
systems, and less abundant in central water masses.
The sea-floor dead assemblage may be modified, with smaller or more delicate species selectively
dissolved, and solution or secondary precipitation features on larger ones.
Pteropoda
Pteropoda are an order of planktonic Gastropoda, in which the foot is modified into two oar-like wings.
The aragonite shell is about 1 - 2 mm, thin and fragile, and coiled or straight.
Living pteropods are widely distributed in all oceans from pole to equator. Most live in the top 500 m.
Their shells are well preserved in calcareous oozes in relatively shallow marine basins, where surface
waters have high temperature and salinity. They are especially well preserved in the Mediterranean and
tropical Atlantic.
Because of their aragonitic composition, they are not abundant at high latitudes and are highly
susceptible to dissolution at depths approaching the CCD. They are uncommon fossils even in Neogene
rocks.
Calcareous ooze
Calcareous ooze may be termed coccolith ooze, foraminiferal (Globigerina) ooze, or pteropod ooze,
depending on which contributors are conspicuous.
Calcareous ooze is found where surface waters have high productivity of calcareous phytoplankton and
zooplankton, where the sea floor is shallower than the CCD, and where it is not diluted by significant
quantities of terrigenous sediment. It covers about half the deep sea floor (48%), especially the
mid-ocean ridges.
The shallowest and most productive ocean, the Atlantic, has 68% of its floor covered by calcareous ooze,
the Indian Ocean 54% and the Pacific Ocean only 36%.
Calcareous ooze is found in broad belts through the central Atlantic Ocean, the western Indian Ocean, the
southeast Pacific and southwest Pacific. See Fig. 5-22 and 5-23.
An individual coccolith would have a settling time of years or centuries and would almost certainly
dissolve before reaching the sea floor. Bottom or mid-water currents should displace them
geographically. Yet, calcareous oozes do accumulate, and the coccolith assemblage on the sea floor

resembles that of the surface waters. How come?

Most coccoliths are transported packaged in copepod fecal pellets and those of larger invertebrates and
fish. Their larger size (50-100µm) gives settling times of 10 to 15 days.
Another concentration mechanism is the mucus webs of salps (pelagic tunicates).
Sediment-trap studies measure particle flux at different depths. Suspended organic detritus is greatest
just beneath the surface waters where animals live and again near the bottom, where currents stir up
bottom detritus to produce the nepheloid layer. Not surprisingly, flux is greater following seasons of high
productivity.
Chalk
The lithified equivalent of calcareous ooze is chalk. Because both coccoliths and planktonic foraminifera
expanded greatly in the Middle and Late Cretaceous, this time was a time of widespread chalk
sedimentation. Before the Jurassic, when these groups evolved, this lithology was unknown.
Before the planktonic ecosystem revolution of the Cretaceous, most limestones originated in shallow
water. In the Cretaceous and Cenozoic, the preponderance of carbonate sedimentation has been in the
deep sea.
CO2 cycle and the "biological pump"
The atmosphere today contains less than 1% CO2, though it probably had much more contributed by
volcanism in the early days. Most of this CO2 has been removed and locked away in the form of
limestone, some as fossil fuels.
Today, organisms run the CO2 cycle, a situation that Thurman calls the "biological pump."
Photosynthetic organisms incorporate atmospheric CO2 into hydrocarbons. Lime-secreting organisms
incorporate atmospheric CO2 into calcareous skeletons.
By the burning of fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution, the atmospheric concentration of CO2 has
increased by 25% (2.1 Gigatonnes/year). However, the current output should cause it to increase by
much more (5.3 Gt/year).
Where does this missing excess go? Part, perhaps, into terrestrial photosynthesis. Most, probably, into
solution in the oceans, to be used for photosynthesis by marine protists, and to be transformed into
carbonate skeletons by organisms.
See Fig. 5-6. "Flux" means flow or rate of transfer of material from one place to another. A "reservoir"
is a storage or accumulation site.
Dolomite
No organism secretes the mineral dolomite = CaMg(CO3)2.
The mineral dolomite forms by secondary alteration of calcite or aragonite. This reaction occurs beneath
tropical supratidal salt flats (sahbkas) and saline coastal lagoons. High evaporation rates produce saline,
dense brines, which migrate downslope through interstitial pore spaces and react with previously

deposited calcium carbonate to form dolomite.

At high salinities in evaporite basins both limestone and dolomite precipitate without biological
intervention.

GEOL 3377 Lecture 5c Marine Sediment
LECTURE 5:
MARINE SEDIMENT
PART C: SILICEOUS AND

HYDROGENOUS SEDIMENTS
Marine Sediments Are Young

About Minerals
About Igneous Rocks
Chemical Weathering
Sediment Transport
Abyssal Clay
Biogenous Sediments
http://www.uh.edu/~rmaddock/3377/3377lecture5c.html (1 di 8) [28/04/2000 10.55.31]


Coccolithophores
Pteropoda
Calcareous Ooze
Chalk
Dolomite
Siliceous Sediments
The Silica Cycle
Silica in Sea Water
Diatoms
Radiolaria
Silicoflagellates
Siliceous Ooze
Stromatolites
Manganese Nodules
Cobalt Crusts
Phosphorite Nodules
Glauconite
Carbonates
Clay Minerals

Zeolites
SILICEOUS SEDIMENTS
The Silica Cycle
Dissolved silica, produced from terrestrial weathering of silicate minerals, is brought to the ocean by
rivers. A second source is volcanic ash (glass) from marine volcanism, which is rapidly dissolved.
Silica exists in solution in the ocean as hydrosilicic acid: H4SiO4.
Organisms remove silica from sea water to make skeletons of opaline silica: SiO2.nH2O. This is silica
glass (not crystalline). Most (90 to 99%) of these skeletons will dissolve back into sea water after the
organisms dies. Some (1-10%) will be buried (by more skeletons) before being dissolved, so skeletons
accumulate on the sea floor to form a siliceous ooze.
Silica leaves sea water to enter the crystal structure of growing (authigenic) marine clay minerals and
zeolites in sea-floor sediments.
Silica in sea water
Most particulate opaline silica in suspension in sea water is of biological origin, about 70% diatom
skeletons and the rest radiolarians. Silicoflagellates also secrete siliceous skeletons.
The amount of dissolved silica in sea water far outweighs the amount of particulate silica in suspension,
by 4 to 50 times. Thus, organisms never deplete sea water of silica (because the essential nutrients nitrate
and phosphate are depleted first).
Sea water is undersaturated with respect to silica at all depths. Therefore, biological silica in contact with
water dissolves again unless it is buried. Betweeen 90% and 99% of biogenic silica is redissolved after
death.
Siliceous skeletons are secreted by planktonic single-celled plant-like protists (diatoms), by animal-like
single-celled protists (radiolaria), and by silicoflagellates. The only siliceous-shelled animals are
benthic sponges, which may be locally abundant near sites of submarine volcanism.
Because calcareous organisms are less abundant in cold waters, siliceous-shelled organisms may be
relatively more abundant there.
Diatoms
Diatoms are photosynthetic Protista that have a siliceous frustule composed of two valves. Benthic
diatoms live on all submerged surfaces in the photic zone and provide food for grazing animals. Planktic
diatoms live in the water column in the photic zone and provide the main food for many zooplankton.

Diatoms are the most important primary producers in the present-day ocean and have been so since the
Late Cretaceous. They first appeared in the Late Cretaceous, have been expanding throughout the
Cenozoic, and have colonized fresh waters very sucessfully.
Accumulation of diatom frustrules produces diatomaceous ooze. The equivalent sedimentary rock is
diatomite. Burial and compaction of siliceous ooze produces partial recrystallization to the
cryptocrystalline rock type chert.
Diatom abundance is controlled by nutrient supply. Diatoms are abundant in the coastal zone, where
rivers bring nutrients to the sea, but they are marked by terrigenous sediment and not likely to be well
preserved in lithogenous sediments. In lower latitudes and equatorial regions, diatoms are abundant but
masked by the even greater productivity of calcareous plankton.
In the oceanic zone, diatoms are most abundant in zones of current divergence and upwelling, where
nutrient-rich waters well up from depth into the photic zone. Thus, diatomaceous oozes accumulate
especially in the Sub-Antarctic belt and the Boreal Front in the North Pacific. In deep water and below
the CCD, solution of the calcareous component may enhance relative abundance of the siliceous
component of a sediment.
Radiolaria
Radiolaria first appeared in the Cambrian and have been important marine plankton ever since.
Because Radiolaria feed primarily on coccolithophores, they are more abundant in warmer waters where
coccolithophores are abundant. Although Radiolaria are found in all water masses of the world ocean at
all depths and latitudes, they are most abundant in or just below the photic zone, where food is most
plentiful.
Minor quantities of Radiolaria occur in diatomaceous oozes. Radiolaria dominate siliceous oozes in
equatorial regions, especially in the equatorial East Pacific, where surface waters have high productivity
of coccolithophores and Radiolaria, but the sea floor is below the CCD.
Silicoflagellates
Silicoflagellates are siliceous phytoplankton (Chrysophyta). Occasional silicoflagellates are found in
siliceous sediments, but they are never abundant enough to be the dominant component.
Siliceous Ooze
Siliceous oozes (diatomaceous or radiolarian) cover 14% of the sea floor. Diatomaceous ooze is found in
a Circum-Antarctic zone below the Antarctic Convergence at about 50oS. Diatomaceous ooze is also
found in a narrow belt in the North Pacific.
Radiolarian ooze is found in a narrow zone in the equatorial East Pacific, because radiolarians feed on
coccolithophores, which are abundant there, and the sea floor is beneath the CCD. Less continuous
equatorial belts of radiolarian ooze are found in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. See Fig. 5-22 and 5-25.
There is no compensation depth for silica. Siliceous oozes can accumulate at any depth. However, they
are generally masked above the CCD by carbonate production or terrigenous influx. Ethmodiscus (a very
large diatom) ooze is accumulating in the Philippine and Marianna trenches.

At high latitudes where calcareous-shelled organisms are less abundant, siliceous-shelled organisms
become more abundant by default and contribute to siliceous oozes.
STROMATOLITES
Stromatolites are laminated, mounded sedimentary structures caused by the growth of cyanobacteria.
Filamentous cyanobacteria are encased in a gelatinous sheath, which is sticky and traps sediment,
burying the surface algal mat. Stromatolites form where algal mat is left undisturbed in shallow inshore
waters, intertidal, and terrestrial aquatic environments. The sediment may be of any composition.
Stromatolitic layering is common in Precambrian marine and freshwater limestones and in freshwater hot
spring deposits (chalcedony) of any age.
Modern stromatolites are rare, probably because grazing and burrowing animals (bioturbation) destroy
them. The best known locality is hypersaline Hamelin Pool in Shark Bay in Western Australia.
Small stromatolites are also growing on Eleuthera Bank on the Bahamas Platform. See Fig. 5-14. (They
are oolitic only because the available sand is oolitic.)
HYDROGENOUS SEDIMENTS
Hydrogenous sediments are chemical precipitates arising from reactions with dissolved constituents of
sea water. Actually, most of them are probably bacterially mediated.
Manganese nodules
Manganese nodules are oxides of Mn (30%) and Fe (20%) with lesser concentrations of Cu, Co and Ni
oxides. These metals are contributed to sea water originally by the weathering of terrestrial rocks, by
reaction with submarine volcanics, and by solution actvity of hydrothermal systems at oceanic rises.
Manganese nodules are most common on deep parts of the ocean floor with low sedimentation rates
(<7mm/1,000yr). Bottom-water chemistry does not vary much from place to place, so another
explanation for their localization is needed.
Geographic differences in composition and growth rates appear to be related to biological productivity in
surface waters overhead.
In central oceanic regions, where surface waters are poor in nutrients and have low
productivity, the nodules are rich in iron and cobalt, and they grow slowly (<5 mm/1000yr).
Where surface waters have moderate productivity, as in the equatorial Pacific, nodules have
higher concentration of copper and nickel, which are economically significant. Growth rates
are intermediate (5-10mm/1000yr).
Where surface waters have very high productivity, the manganese content is very high, and
copper, nickel and cobalt much lower. Growth rates are high (10-200mm/1000yr).
Volcanism and hydrothermal vents contribute Mn, Fe, Co, Cu and Ni to sea water, and concentrations of
these metals are high near ridge axes. However, these nodules form in the abyssal plains far from the
ridge axes, where bottom-water concentrations are much lower and uniform.

The mechanisms responsible for the concentration of these metals are very poorly understood. It is likely,
however, that organisms are the vehicle of transport for metals from surface to bottom waters.
Siliceous skeletons adsorb metals as they fall through the water. Most are redissolved,
leaving no trace of this transport mechanism. (Adsorption means attraction to a surface.)
Organic detritus (carcases, fecal pellets) adsorbs metals as it falls through the water, being
eaten and re-eaten. On the sea floor, burrowing and scavenging animals and decomposers
recycle organic matter, leaving no trace of the transport mechanism.
Molds of coccoliths and radiolarians within nodules at one site suggest a replacement
mechanism by which manganese oxide has replaced calcium carbonate and silica.
Microorganisms, especially bacteria, have been found within these nodules and are likely responsible for
their growth.
Cobalt crusts
A related mechanism may be responsible for forming cobalt-rich manganese crusts in somewhat
shallower water. The greatest abundances are found between 1000 and 2500 m, on the slopes of volcanic
islands and seamounts in the central Pacific ocean.
Because cobalt is an important strategic metal, and ores are uncommon outside of Africa, these crusts
may be the first target for undersea mining ventures.
Phosphorite nodules
Phosphorite is P2O5. It occurs as nodules and as a thin crust on some areas of continental shelf and on
banks shallower than 1,000 m depth, especially off the coast of Peru. Dana's Mineralogy says these
marine phosphate deposits are collophanite, which is a massive, cryptocrystalline, impure, concretionary
form of apatite = Ca5(F,Cl,OH)(PO4)3. Apatite is in bone, and large deposits correspond to
accumulations of animal bone.
Phosphate-rich sediments are localized beneath surface waters of exceptionally high biological
productivity, where upwelling replenishes nutrients, and much organic detritus is contributed to
sediments. For example, off Peru persistent upwelling maintains high nutrient levels to nourish high
standing crops of phytoplankton, which support heavy stands of fish, which are fed upon by sea birds.
The uneaten dead carcasses, feces, and bones accumulate in the sediments below.
Another site for accumulation of phosphate-rich sediment is in mildly dysaerobic conditions where the
oxygen-minimum zone (800-1,000 m) intersects the slope. On a much smaller scale, fillings of shells are
likely to be phosphate-rich.
Phosphorite nodules form on the surface of the sediment and grow downward into the sediment by
diagenetic reaction with dissolved P and other ions in interstitial water in this mildly dysaerobic
environment.
Glauconite
Glauconite is a complex clay mineral, a potassium-iron-magnesium-silicate. It is a secondary or

diagenetic mineral that grows in shallow-marine, mildly dysaerobic, organic-rich sediments after
deposition.
The "grains of sand or silt size" mentioned by Thurman are the glauconitized fecal pellets of suspension
feeders. Green pelletal glauconite is abundant in the shallow coastal and lagoonal Eocene claystones and
sandstones (the "Texas Greensands"). Weathering in a humid environment oxidizes the iron, producing
the red soils of East Texas.
Carbonates
Although Thurman lists calcareous sediments under the heading of hydrogenous sediments, this is
misleading. Most -- virtually all -- precipitation of calcium carbonate is by organisms. Many carbonate
deposits without obvious biological (skeletal) structure are now thought to be precipitated by bacteria.
Oolites are sand-size carbonate grains with microscopic concentric layering. It is thought that they form
in current-agitated shoals in warm, shallow, carbonate-saturated waters. Oolitic sands are widespread
today on the Bahamas platform. Actually, it is likely that the actual secretion of carbonate is done by
bacteria.
Clay minerals
Clay minerals have sheet-like lattices like micas but much more complex. Often there are unsatisfied
charges that encourage the trapping of water between layers. We see this in montmorillonite, an
expandable clay.
Authigenic marine clays form by the alteration of ferromagnesian minerals in volcanics on the sea floor,
as well as by slower, poorly understood reactions of sea-floor sediments with sea water.
Zeolites
Zeolites are hydrated silicates of Al, Ca, Na and K. Hydrated means that OH- ion is attached at certain
locations. They have lattices that allow abundant substitution and that can can readily absorb or lose OH-.
Kitty litter is a zeolite-rich material.
Zeolites may exceed 50% of so-called "deep-sea clays." The K-rich mineral phillipsite gives abyssal
clays their red color.
COSMOGENOUS SEDIMENTS
Cosmogenous sediments are of extraterrestrial origin. Meteoritic particles are of three types, metallic
chondrules (iron-nickel), silicate chondrules (olivine, augite and other pyroxenes), and glass particles
called tektites (melted during impact). They range from 10 µm to 640 µm (colloidal to sand) in size.
The rare-earth, platinum-group metal iridium (Ir) is somewhat more common in meteorites than in
volcanic rocks on earth. Some workers think that iridium enrichment in marine sediments is evidence for
an impact event. Others suggest that it is symptomatic of large-volume volcanic eruptions derived from
deep in the mantle.
DISTRIBUTION OF OCEANIC SEDIMENTS
A global sediment map shows that the distribution of characteristic types of ocean sediment is highly

predictable. Lithogenous sediments are found in the neritic zone of continental influence, including the
continental shelves, slopes and rises. Biogenous oozes are found in the oceanic realm where biological
productivity is high in overlying waters and solution rates at depth are low. Thus, calcareous ooze
blankets the midocean ridges and the shallower parts of the abyssal basins above the CCD at low and mid
latitudes. Siliceous ooze is found in a broad circum-Antarctic belt and a small equatorial region of the
central Pacific. Red clay occupies the deepest abyssal basins and regions beneath surface waters with low
biological productivity.
These maps have been laboriously compiled by sediment sampling programs. Special sampling
equipment includes grab samplers, box corers, piston corers, and vibracorers. The Ocean Drilling
Program has accumulated a repository of cores from all over the world. Detailed paleontological and
stratigraphic studies of these deep-sea cores have provided much information about the history of oceanic
processes and conditions, a discipline known as paleoceanography.
IS CONTINENTAL CRUST GROWING?
The life expectancy of ocean crust is 110 my, and the average ocean crust is only 55 my. Continents, on
the other hand, have grown larger through time and may be growing still.
On p. 140 some calculations suggest a maximum rate of 1.35 km3/yr for continental growth. However,
the rates of some of these are still very poorly known.

GEOL 3377 Lecture 6a Properties of Sea Water
LECTURE 6:
PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL
PROPERTIES OF WATER
PART A: ELECTRICAL AND THERMAL

PROPERTIES
Electrical Properties of Water
Solvent Properties of Water
Anomalous Properties of Water
Physical States and Thermal Properties
Thermal Properties of Water

Freezing and Boiling Points
Heat Capacity
Latent Heat
Evaporation
Sublimation
Thermal Properties of Salt Water

Physical Properties of Water
Surface Tension

Viscosity
Wettability
Compressibility
Density
Chemical Composition of Sea Water
Materials in Sea Water
Sea Water as an Ionic Solution
Salinity
Residence Time
Hydrologic Cycle
Addition of Materials to Sea Water
Removal of Materials from Sea Water
Light in the Ocean
About Waves
Solar Radiation
Absorption and Perception
Color of Sea Water
Transmittance of Sea Water
Sound Transmission in the Ocean
About Sound
Velocity of Sound
Sound Channel and Sound Shadow
Absorption and Scattering
Reflection and Sonar
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF WATER

Water is a dipolar molecule. The electron cloud of this molecule is uneven, producing negatively and
positively charged ends. In the presence of an electrical field these polar molecules tend to assume an
oriented configuration. This tends to cancel (weaken) the electrical field.

Therefore, pure water is a poor conductor of electricity. It is the electrically charged ions in solution that
give water its reputation as a good conductor.
SOLVENT PROPERTIES OF WATER
Water is a dipolar molecule. The dipolar water molecules tend to form bonds with one another, the
oxygen end of one being attracted to the hydrogen end of the other. These fairly weak electrostatic
attractions are called hydrogen bonds.
This hydrogen bonding weakens the electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged ions that may be
present, causing them to dissociate and form ionic solutions.
Once dissociated, positive ions (cations) are attracted to the oxygen end of the water molecule, and
negative ions (anions) to the hydrogen end. Thus, each ion surrounds itself with oriented water
molecules, becoming hydrated. This hydration sheath of oriented water molecules surrounding each
ion prevents recombination of cations and anions and makes ionic solutions possible.
Hydration also occurs in solutions of non-ionic molecules, which do not dissociate to form ions, but
which have irregular charge distribution. Water molecules are attracted to sites of high positive or
negative charge, surrounding the molecule and tending to keep it in solution.
Outside this hydration sheath surrounding ions in solution, there is a zone of less rigidly oriented water
molecules, in which the attraction to the ion overrules (is stronger than) cluster formation (hydrogen
bonds). The inner zone (the hydration sheath) is more dense and less fluid; this outer zone is less
structured and somewhat more fluid. The formation of these electrostricted zones is thought to explain
the behavior of many solutions.
Now we see why adding salt to water changes its properties. Because of the hydration sheaths of water
molecules around ions, salt water has a higher boiling point and a lower freezing point than fresh water.
Extra energy is needed to overcome these extra bonds.
ANOMALOUS PROPERTIES OF WATER
Liquid water has anomalous properties for which hydrogen bonding must be responsible. Compared with
other liquids, water is more fluid and freezes with more difficulty.
The physical properties of water and the changes in these properties with temperature are explained by
the existence of ephemeral clusters of molecules, held by hydrogen bonds, in addition to free
molecules. See Figs. 6-5, 6-6.
The number of molecules bound in such clusters decreases with increasing temperature, but the number
of clusters increases (more but smaller clusters at higher temperatures). The clusters have open structure
and are less dense than an equal volume of unstructured water molecules. This may explain why water
becomes more fluid with higher pressure, as the clusters are broken down.
PHYSICAL STATES AND THERMAL PROPERTIES
Matter exists in three physical states: solid, liquid, gas:
In solids, atoms vibrate in place, keeping a fixed position close together, and the van der Waals force
produces a strong attachment. Solids have fixed size, shape and atomic arrangement. The atoms are

positioned in a definite array, called crystalline structure. The atoms are bound into fixed positions in
that array, within which their motion is very limited (vibration).
In liquids, atoms have more energy. Atoms are free to move about, and no atom has a fixed position to
respect to any other. They vibrate, rotate,and can occasionally overcome the van der Waals force to move
in space (translation), although they are still attracted to each other. Bonds break and form at a much
greater rate. Liquids flow.
In gases, the atoms (molecules) exist separately and are free to move (translation) independently, at
random, colliding with each other but not remaining together. The van der Waals forces are inoperative.
A gas has neither size nor shape. The volume of a gas is that of its container.
To change matter from one state to another, energy in the form of heat must be added or removed to
break down or build the van der Waals forces. In water, hydrogen bonds must be broken down or built,
as well.
The temperatures at which there is a change in organization from one state to another are called the
freezing (melting) and boiling (condensation) points for that substance. The melting and boiling points
tend to be higher for higher molecular-weight compounds, because of the extra energy needed to
overcome the Van der Waals bonds.
At any temperature above absolute zero, all matter is in motion. Atoms and molecules have kinetic
energy (energy of motion). The higher the velocity of motion, the higher the temperature.
Heat is a form of energy. The unit of measure of heat is the calorie = the amount of heat required to raise
the temperature of one gram of water one degree Celsius. (The "calorie" used to measure food energy
value in nutrition is actually a kilocalorie = 1000 calories.)
The temperature of a substance is a measure of the average kinetic energy (energy of motion of the
molecules). Temperature is measured in degrees Celsius (or Fahrenheit or Kelvin). If heat is gained, the
temperature of a substance rises.
The Celsius (Centigrade) temperature scale is based on the boiling (100o) and freezing points (0o) of
pure water at 1 atmosphere (average sea level pressure).
Heat capacity measures the amount of heat needed to change the temperature of a substance. Heat
capacity is the number of calories required to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance one
degree Celsius. The heat capacity of liquid pure water is 1 calorie (1 cal/1g/1oC).
Specific heat is the heat capacity of a substance divided by the heat capacity of pure water. Numerically
it is the same number as heat capacity, but unitless.
THERMAL PROPERTIES OF WATER

The thermal properties of water are anomalous. Water molecules in ice are held together in a fixed
crystal structure by hydrogen bonds, forming six-sided zigzag rings arranged in layers. See Figs. 6-3,
6-10. This is a fairly open lattice. Ice has rather low density (0.92 g/cm3) compared with liquid water (1.0

g/cm3 at 20oC).
Water is not a normal liquid. Its melting point and boiling point occur 80oC and 170oC higher,
respectively, than they should by comparison with similar compounds. If water were a normal liquid, it
would exist on earth only as a gas. It is an unusual substance, because it occurs naturally as a solid, liquid
and gas.
The freezing and boiling points of a compound should be proportional to its molecular weight, higher in
heavier compounds. For example, the compounds H S, H Se, and H Te have freezing and boiling points
2 2 2
that form a straight line on a plot of temperature versus molecular weight, a predictable function of
molecular weight.
Not so H2O, which has actual freezing and boiling points much higher than predicted by its molecular
weight. The higher temperatures are a measure of the strength of the hydrogen bonds that must be
overcome for this dipolar molecule, in addition to van der Waals forces.
Heat Capacity
Heat capacity is the number of calories required to raise one gram of a substance one degree Celsius.
See Fig. 6-5 again. The heat capacity of liquid water is 1 calorie (by definition). This is much higher
than any other substance except ammonia and reflects the energy needed to overcome the hydrogen
bonds.
The high heat capacity of water makes the oceans an excellent temperature buffer and heat reservoir.
Water temperatures fluctuate much less diurnally and seasonally than atmospheric temperatures.
Continental extremes on the planet range from -50oC in the Antarctic to 50oC in the Sahara, while
surface ocean temperatures vary only from -2oC in the Antarctic to 28oC in the tropics. Coastal regions
with maritime climates experience much less diurnal and seasonal atmospheric temperature fluctuation
than interior continental climates.
Water exerts a thermostatic effect on planetary temperatures. Ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream
carry large quantities of heat from the equatorial zone into higher latitudes, minimizing the global
latitudinal temperature gradient.
Latent Heat
As a solid substance is heated, its temperature rises steadily until it reaches the melting point. At that
point the temperature ceases to rise, although energy is still being added. The energy is being used to
overcome van der Waals forces (in water, hydrogen bonds must also be broken). No rise in temperature
takes place until all bonds have been broken and all of the substance is in the new state.
Latent heat of melting (fusion) and latent heat of vaporization (boiling) are measures of this
additional energy that must be put in to accomplish a change of state. Latent refers to the fact that this
heat may be thought of as being stored, to be given up again when water vapor cools to rain or snow.
The latent heat of water is high (80 cal/g, which is higher than any substance except ammonia), because
enough hydrogen bonds (and Van der Waals bonds) must be broken to allow small clumps of water
molecules to move freely.

The latent heat of vaporization of water is even higher (540 cal/g), because all hydrogen bonds must be
broken to make every molecule independent. This is the highest of any substance.
Evaporation
Water temperatures in nature range only to about 30oC, so the boiling point of water is never reached in
surface environments. At surface temperatures, the transition from liquid to gas is accomplished by
evaporation.
At temperatures below the boiling point of water, an occasional molecule at random may momentarily
achieve enough energy to break free of its neighbors and achieve the gaseous or water vapor state. This
conversion of liquid to gas at a temperature below the boiling point is called evaporation.
To gain the additional energy necessary to escape from the surrounding water molecules, an individual
molecule must capture energy from its neighbors. This is easier at higher temperatures. The molecules
left behind have lost energy to those that escape, which explains the cooling effect of evaporation on the
remaining liquid.
The latent heat of evaporation is higher than the 540 cal/g heat of vaporization at the boiling point,
because more hydrogen bonds must be broken. It changes with temperature, being higher at lower
temperatures:
595 cal/g at 0oC
585 cal/g at 20oC
540 cal/g at 100oC
The latent heat of evaporation increases with increasing salinity. This is because of the extra energy
needed to overcome the hydration sheaths around the dissolved ions.
Every fugitive molecule of water vapor is carrying this latent heat into the atmosphere. Heat captured by
the surface waters of the ocean is transferred to the atmosphere by this process. This is the source of
water vapor and of heat in the atmosphere. When water vapor condenses and falls as rain, this heat is
released.
Water vapor is less dense than the gas mixture of the atmosphere at the same temperature and pressure.
Thus, a mixture of water vapor and air is less dense than dry air. Therefore, this humid air rises. As it
rises, it expands and cools, and the water vapor condenses and falls as rain. The latent heat (stored in the
water vapor at the time of evaporation) is now left behind in the atmosphere.
Evaporation at low latitudes, where surface water temperatures range from 18o to more than 22oC,
transfers large quantities of heat to the atmosphere. By atmospheric circulation this heat is transported to
higher latitudes, to be released there when the water vapor condenses and falls as rain or snow.
The ocean regulates the surface temperatures of the planet. Without the oceans, atmospheric
temperatures would be cold, and the latitudinal temperature gradient would be much more severe.
Coastal areas with abundant rainfall gain additional heat to the atmosphere, experiencing milder winter
temperatures than those of the continental interior.

This latent heat of evaporation fuels tropical storms, hurricanes and typhoons. These low-pressure cells
pick up heat energy from the ocean and transport it into higher latitudes.
Sublimation
Under some conditions it is possible for water molecules to go directly from ice to water vapor, a process
called sublimation. Ice and snow fields in cold dry climates may show this. At high altitudes water boils
at temperatures below 100oC.
Adding salt to water changes its thermal properties. For salt water the heat capacity is slightly lower
than that of fresh water, but the boiling point rises and the freezing point falls.
Because of the hydration sheaths of water molecules around ions, extra energy is needed to overcome
these hydrogen bonds. When sea water boils or freezes, most of the dissolved ions stay behind,
increasing the salinity of the remaining water and making it more difficult to complete the change of
state. These properties depend only on the amount of material in solution and not on the kind of material
dissolved.
The heat capacity of salt water decreases with increasing salinity. However, it also increases with
temperature, because it is harder to remove the last few water molecules from a hydrated ion. This is why
the boiling point rises.
The freezing point falls with increasing salinity, to about -2oC at 35o/oo. The theoretical temperature of
oC is never reached, because freezing occurs. The densest water in the ocean is
maximum density at -3.5
the coldest, most saline water.
The latent heat of vaporization of salt water is higher than for fresh water. The vapor pressure (rate of
evaporation) falls with increasing salinity. Sea water does not evaporate as easily as fresh.


GEOL 3377 Lecture 6b Properties of Water
LECTURE 6:
PROPERTIES OF WATER
PART B: PHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION

Heat Capacity
Latent Heat
Evaporation
Sublimation
Surface Tension
Viscosity

Wettability
Compressibility
Density
Salinity
Residence Time
Hydrologic Cycle

Light in the Ocean
About Waves
Solar Radiation
Color of Sea Water
About Sound
Velocity of Sound
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF WATER

Surface Tension
Because of the hydrogen bonds holding molecules together, water has more structure than other liquids.

This property is called cohesion.

Surface tension measures the tendency of water molecules to adhere to one another at the surface and
the force needed to break this surface.
Water has high surface tension. The water-air surface is a weak elastic membrane formed by lateral
hydrogen bonding of the molecules.
Adding salt increases surface tension.
Decreasing temperature increases surface tension.
This cohesive tendency is expressed in the tendency of water to make drops, rather than a smooth film
and to form a slightly convex surface above a full glass.
Small insects (water striders) and crustaceans can walk on or underneath the surface of
water.
Wind stretches the water surface as it blows across it, initiating the formation of waves (by
transfer of energy).
Viscosity
Liquid water has low viscosity, meaning that it is easily set in motion.
Viscosity decreases with increasing temperature, for water as for molasses. Tropical waters are less
viscous than polar waters, and plankton must develop spines and flotation structures to remain buoyant.
Adding salt increases viscosity.
Wettability
Water tends to adhere to other substances, wetting them. Water tends to wet glass, most naturally
occurring minerals and rocks, and many organic materials. Water has, we say, a high wetting coefficient
or adhesive force.
Water in a glass container establishes hydrogen bonds with SiO2 glass, the positively charged end of the
water molecule being attracted to the oxygen side of silica. That is why a half-full glass of water has a
concave meniscus.
In a narrow glass cylinder, this combination of cohesion and adhesive force can draw a column of water
to great heights. We call this capillarity. That's why soil is damp well above the water table. That's how
trees pull moisture out of the soil and transport it up to their leaves.
Compressibility
Water is nearly incompressible, whether fresh or salt.
Pressure in the ocean increases by about 1 atm for every 10 m. A cubic cm of sea water lowered to 4000
m with 400 atm would lose only 1.7% of its volume.
If sea water were perfectly incompressible, sea level would stand only 37 m higher.

Density
Density is mass per unit volume. It is a measure of how much matter is packed into a unit volume. Dense
substances are made of heavy elements or have the atoms packed close together. Density is measured as
3.
g/cm
Water density is a function of (determined by) salinity (very important), temperature (somewhat
important), and pressure (negligible).
Increasing salinity (adding salt) increases the density dramatically. See Fig. 6-12.
Thermal contraction or expansion of a substance is normal. When a substance is heated, the molecules
gain kinetic energy, move more and migrate farther apart. The substance expands and becomes less
dense. When heat is lost, the substance contracts.
Fresh water is an unusual material. Its density increases with cooling from 0.9982g/cm3 at 20oC down to
1.000g/cm3 at 4oC, which is the temperature of maximum density.
Below this point further cooling produces expansion and decreased density. The reason is
that between 4o and 0oC minute ice crystals are starting to form. Cluster formation forces
the lattice apart.
At 0oC all atoms are arranged in this crystal lattice. At 0o a block of ice has expanded its
volume by almost 10% compared to water at 4o. The density of ice is only 0.917g/cm3, so
ice floats on water.
This phenomenon is the freshwater density anomaly.
In freshwater lakes and ponds, this phenomenon (density reversal) causes density-driven overturn
(thermal convection) in the spring and fall. Because of this overturn, the entire water column of the lake
must be cooled to below 4oC, before further cooling of surface waters can take place.
This seasonal overturn allows oxygenation of deeper waters and restores nutrients to
surface waters. This is why lakes in temperate climates are more productive than those in
the tropics.
As a result, most bodies of fresh water do not freeze solid. Beneath an insulating blanket of
surface ice, the deeper waters remain slightly above 0o. Many freshwater plants and animals
can overwinter in this deeper layer.
At higher pressures or if salt is added, the temperature of maximum density is lowered, because both
conditions inhibit the formation of ice crystals. For the same reason, the freezing temperature drops, too,
though not as fast.
The temperature of maximum density falls as salt is added.
By 20o/oo the temperature of maximum density has fallen to below 0oC.
By 24.7o/oo the temperature of maximum density is below the freezing point, so that above

24.7o/oo salt water behaves as a normal liquid.
At a salinity of 24.7o/oo the freezing temperature and the temperature of maximum density
oC.
coincide at -1.33
At still higher salinities, above 24.7o/oo, water behaves like a normal substance, with the
density continuing to increase as temperature decreases. Therefore, sea water does not show
the density anomaly of fresh water.
The freezing point for 35o/oo is -2o. The theoretical temperature of maximum density at
-3.5oC is not reached, because salt water freezes first.
Therefore, sea water continues to grow denser and to sink as it cools. Freezing cannot occur until the
entire body of water has been cooled. Thus, the ocean does not freeze over. Salt water rarely freezes,
except in polar latitudes and in shallow quiet bays.
Sea ice is relatively fresh, because salt is eliminated as it freezes. Sea ice may contain as little as 2o/oo
salt, on average 6 to 8o/oo, and less as it ages.
Because water is nearly incompressible, the pressure effect on density is very slight and ordinarily
negligible.
The relative magnitudes of the effects of salinity (very important), temperature (somewhat important)
and pressure (negligible) may be seen in the following examples:
Temperature and salinity Density g/cm3

Pure water at 20oC 0.99823
Pure water at 3.98oC 1.00000
Pure water at 0o 0.99987
Ice (pure) 0oC 0.917
Sea water at 35o/oo and 20oC 1.025
Sea water at 35o/oo and 2o C 1.028
Sea water at 35 o/oo and 2oC and 5000 m depth 1.050
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF SEA WATER

Sea water is about 96.5% by weight pure water and 3.5% dissolved solids, or 96.5 g pure water plus 3.5 g

dissolved solids per kg sea water.

Normal marine salinity is about 35 g/kg (actually 34.7 g/kg)
per cent = percent = % = parts per hundred
ppt = parts per thousand = o/oo = g/kg

ppm = parts per million = mg/kg = milligrams per kilogram
ppb = parts per billion = µg/kg = micrograms per kilogram
Nearly every element on earth is found dissolved in sea water. See Table 6-1 and Fig. 6.9. The following
table of composition is from Pipkin et al. Table 9-1 p. 83.
g/kg sea percent of

Major constituents:
water salt
Cl- 18.980 55.04
Na+ 10.556 30.61
SO42- 2.649 7.68
Mg2+ 1.272 3.69
Ca2+ 0.400 1.16
K+ 0.380 1.10
Total 34.237 99.28
Minor constituents:
HCO3- 0.140 0.41
Br- 0.065 0.19
Sr2+ 0.026 0.07
B- 0.013 0.04
F- 0.001 0.001
Total 34.482 99.99
Trace elements:
everything else
<0.001 g/kg <0.001
individually
Only six so-called major elements account for more than 99% of sea salt: Cl, Na, S (in the form of
sulfate ion), Mg, Ca and K. Notice that Na and Cl alone make up 86% of sea salt.
Minor elements (more than 1 ppm but less than 100 ppm) include bromine, carbon, strontium, boron,
silicon, fluorine.
Common trace elements include nitrogen, lithium, rubidium, phosphorus, iodine, ion, zinc,

molybdenum.
At least 50 other elements occur in quantities of less than 10 ppb: copper, arsenic, lead, uranium, nickel,
gold, vanadium, manganese, mercury, titanium, cobalt, radium, silver, cadmium, bismuth, tungsten,
chromium, thorium, and the rare earths.
The nutrient elements N, P and Si exist in sea water as the dissolved nutrients: nitrate NO3-, PO43-, and
silica SiO32-.
These are essential nutrients for organisms and limiting nutrients for marine
phytoplankton.
Their abundance in sea water is controlled by primary production and varies with time and
place. Therefore they are not included in the standard tables of the composition of sea water.
The common dissolved gases in sea water are O2, N2, and CO2.
The abundance of dissolved N2 is largely invariant.
The concentrations of O2 and CO2 are controlled by consumption or production by
organisms.
Many elements occur as hydrated free ions. Examples: Na+, Cl-.

Other dissolved materials occur as ion pairs, because the water dipoles do not fully overcome the
electrostatic attraction between the ions. Example: CO32-.
Still other dissolved materials form complex ions, totally enveloped by a single hydration sheath.
2-
Example: HCO3 .
Many compounds exist in more than one form in sea water, partly as free ions and partly as ion pairs.
Free ions are strong electrolytes (make completely ionized solutions that are good conductors of
electricity). Ion pairs and complex ions are weak electrolytes, because of unsatisfied electrostatic
charges. (Incomplete ionic dissociation produces weakly ionized solutions, which are weaker conductors
of current.)
Salinity
Salinity is a measure of the concentration of mineral salts dissolved in sea water. It is formally defined
as the total amount of solid material dissolved in a kilogram of sea water (when all the carbonate has
been converted to oxide, all bromine and iodine replaced by chlorine, and all organic matter completely
oxidized).
Median salinity of the world ocean is 34.7 g/kg or o/oo or ppt. The spread from 33 to 37 o/oo is
considered to be normal marine salinity.
Normal marine salinity is very widespread. More than 75% of ocean water is between 34.5 and 35 o/oo.

The oceans are well mixed, and the relative abundances of individual constituents do not vary from place
to place. The same major ions in nearly the same relative proportions are found everywhere. This is
Forchammer's Law, also known as the Rule of Constant Proportions.
Forchammer's Law assumes that salinity in the open ocean changes by addition or subtraction of pure
water, that is, by dilution or concentration, not by adding or removing individual constituents. This
Principle of Constancy of Composition makes it possible to treat salinity as a single property, assuming
that salinity varies by dilution by fresh water or concentration by evaporation.
In spite of the enormous number of different dissolved constituents, and in spite of the variation of
salinity from place to place, the ratios of dissolved major ions in sea water remain constant.
The robustness of this relationship demonstrates the complete interconnection of the basins of the world
ocean and the effectiveness of mixing.
This rule was suggested by early chemists. It was validated by William Dittmar on the Challenger
Expedition, who did complete (laborious) chemical analyses on 77 samples from surface waters
worldwide.
Because of Forchammer's Law, measuring the concentration of one dissolved constituent will tell us the
concentrations of all the other constituents. The most abundant one (55%) and the easiest to measure is
-
chloride ion, Cl .
Chlorinity is 55.04% of total salinity.
chlorinity = 0.5504 X salinity , so
salinity = chlorinity / 0.5504 , or
salinity = chlorinity X (1 / 0.5504), or
salinity = chlorinity X 1.80655
(Well, actually, 1/0.5504 = 1.81686. 1.80655 is an arbitrary estimate of the average
relationship that has been adopted by international agreement.)
(Chlorinity also includes bromide and other halogen ions.)
Cl 19.10
Br 0.067
F 0.001
total chlorinity 19.168
Salinity = 1.8065 X Chlorinity

Determining the chloride content of sea water is done chemically by titration with silver nitrate, which

is very accurate but time-consuming. Add silver nitrate to sea water, which reacts with Cl:
AgNO3 + Cl- --> AgCl + NO3-

Therefore, for most purposes salinity is calculated by measuring another dependent property, the
o
electrical conductivity (at 15 C) of sea water with a salinometer.
The more ions, the greater the conductance. Conductivity is also affected by temperature. The
salinometer must be calibrated. Chemists can buy ampoules of Standard Seawater to calibrate their
equipment.
Residence Time
The ocean is part of a great global chemical system, with materials being added and removed. Residence
time measures the average length of time an average atom remains in the ocean:
Residence time = Amount of element in the ocean / Rate at which it is added or removed.
The oceans are well mixed, and for most materials ocean salinity appears to be a steady-state dynamic
equilibrium. Therefore, either the rate of addition or the rate of removal may be used.
The residence time of a substance is closely related to the chemical behavior.
Elements like sodium, which are little affected by sedimentary and biological processes, have long
residence times. Elements used by organisms, or which are readily incorporated into sediments, have
much shorter residence times.
Sodium has one of the longest times, 260 million years. Other elements, such as aluminum, have
residence times as short as 100 years. See Table 6-3.
The residence time of water itself is approximately 4,000 years.
Hydrologic Cycle
The ocean is part of the global circulation system of water, which we call the hydrologic cycle. Fig. 6-11
shows the hydrologic cycle.
More than 97% of surface water is in the oceans. Only about 0.001% is in the atmosphere. About 2% is
ice, 0.6% is terrestrial ground water, and 0.02% is in lakes and streams.
Evaporation from the ocean surface (434 m3) = precipitation (398 m3) + runoff (36 m3)
Over the ocean, evaporation exceeds precipitation. The excess water vapor is carried over
the land.
Over the land, precipitation exceeds evaporation. The excess runs off into the sea.
Atmospheric circulation is rapid, and the average residence time for water vapor in the atmosphere is
about 10 days. While it is there, water vapor is an important greenhouse gas, more important than all the
other greenhouse gases put together.

Any analysis of climatic change, such as global warming, must consider likely effect on evaporation
rates for the surface ocean and resulting changes in cloud cover.
Ions are added to the ocean by:
Continental runoff (products of chemical weathering are carried in solution in streams)
Marine volcanism. Volcanic ash is a frozen (metastable) liquid (glass), which is quickly
taken back into solution in sea water.
Solution of materials in sediments on the sea floor.
Cation exchange with clay minerals already on the sea floor.
Dissolved materials (especially metals) are removed from sea water and concentrated in sediments:
By salt spray, which is blown over the land and returns to the sea in runoff.
By organisms to make skeletons, bodies, feces. For example, many organisms make
skeletons out of calcite or aragonite, which then accumulate as limey constitents of
sediments. This is a net removal of calcium and carbonate ions from sea water.
Ca++ + CO32- --> CaCO3

By adsorption on surfaces. Adsorption is caused by weak unsatisfied electrostatic charges
that attract ions or polar molecules to the surface of the crystal. Adsorption is particularly
effective for small ions with high valence.
By adsorption on skeletons, especially siliceous skeletons, falling through the
water column to the sea floor.
Complex hydrocarbons (carcasses, fecal pellets, organic detritus) adsorb many
metals, including titanium, copper, silver magnesium, aluminum, chromium,
and nickel. Some living organisms have the ability to exploit this phenomenon,
greatly concentrating these rare metals.
Clay minerals brought to the sea by rivers (chiefly kaolinite) adsorb
magnesium, potassium and sodium (in that order). To a lesser extent they also
adsorb rubidium, cesium and calcium.
Manganese nodules, which are very abundant in certain regions of the sea floor,
adsorb manganese, nickel, cobalt, zinc and copper.
Apatite (Ca5(F,Cl,OH)(PO4)3), which is the mineral in fish teeth and bones,

adsorbs thorium, barium, strontium, and the rare earths.
By ion exchange with particulate material in water and on the sea floor. Strongly adsorbable
ions can displace less adsorbable ones from the surface of a crystal. Clay minerals,

especially, exchange cations with sea water to add more cations directly into their crystal
structure (for example, potassium into illite).
By chemical reactions with sediments on the sea floor. For example, potassium is taken up
by kaolinite to make the marine clay illite:
3Al2Si2O(OH)4 + 2K+ + 2HCO3- --> 2K(AlSiO4)Al2(OH)2O2(Si2O4) + 5

H2O + 2CO2
By growth of authigenic minerals such as clays in sea-floor sediments.
By chemical reactions between hydrothermal waters and ocean bottom waters, within
hydrothermal vent systems where sulfide and sulfate minerals are precipitating.
By precipitation of evaporite minerals (chlorides, sulfates) from hypersaline waters in
restricted evaporite basins and on sabkahs (supratidal salt flats). Examples would be NaCl
.
(halite) and CaSO4 nH2O (gypsum).
2H2O + Ca++ + SO42- --> CaSO4 . 2H2O

GEOL 3377 Lecture 6c Properties of Water
LECTURE 6:
PROPERTIES OF WATER
PART C: LIGHT AND SOUND

Heat Capacity
Latent Heat
Evaporation
Sublimation
Surface Tension
Viscosity
Wettability
Compressibility

Density
Salinity
Residence Time
Hydrologic Cycle
Light in the Ocean
About Waves
Solar Radiation
Color of Sea Water
About Sound
Velocity of Sound
LIGHT IN THE OCEAN

About Waves
Wave length (Λ)= linear distance between successive crests. The symbol is Λ or λ = Greek letter
lambda.
Wave amplitude = maximum displacement of particles. It is the distance from trough to crest of the
passing wave. D = 2R, where R is the radius of the circle described by the particles.

Frequency = cycles/sec = Hz (pronounced "Hertz"). It is the number of wave crests passing in a unit of
time.
Period = 1/frequency = T (for time). It is the period of time required for one wave length to pass a
specified point.
Velocity = n X λ / T = the number of wavelengths passing per second.
1 km (kilometer) = 1000 m (meters).
1 m = 100 cm (centimeters) = 1000 mm (millimeters)
1mm = 1000 µm (micrometers)
1 µm = 10-3 mm = 10-4 cm = 10-6 m (µ is the Greek letter mu)
Solar Radiation
The sun emits radiant energy across a broad spectrum of wavelengths from 10-11 µm to 101 µm. See Fig.
6-13.
Wavelength µm Wavelength cm Name

cosmic rays
10 -7 10 -11
gamma rays
10-4 10-8
x-rays
10-2 10-6
ultraviolet
0.38 3.8 X 10-5
visible light
0.76 7.6 X 10-5
infrared
102 0.1
microwaves, radar
104 10
TV UHF channels
14-83
10 6 1000
TV VHF channels
2-13
107 10,000
unnamed
1.88 X 108 188,000

AM radio
5.45 X 108 545,000
very long
1011 m 100,000,000
Within the visible part of the spectrum, we perceive different wavelengths as colors. The total of visible
light appears white.
Wavelength µm Color
0.40
violet
0.45
blue
0.50
green
0.55
yellow
0.60
orange
0.65
red
0.70

By far the greatest part of the solar energy received at the surface of the earth falls into a relatively
narrow zone in the center of this range from ultraviolet to infrared. The frequency distribution curve of
solar energy is asymmetrically bell-shaped with a peak at 0.5 µm at blue-green in the visible range: 51%
infrared, 41% visible, and 9% ultraviolet and higher.
Energy in the ultraviolet to infrared bands is absorbed or reflected by the molecules of matter.
Absorption may be selective for certain wavelengths, which are then missing from the reflected light.
This is why objects have color.
Shorter wavelengths (ultraviolet) are mostly absorbed by the atmosphere, but the atmosphere is largely
transparent to (transmits) visible and infrared radiation.
Both infrared and visible light are absorbed by water. The added energy excites the water molecules, and

this kinetic energy is felt as heat. Thus, the main source of heat at the surface of the planet is the
absorption of infrared and visible energy from the sun by the surface of the ocean.
It happens that sea water is most transparent to (best transmits, least absorbs) solar energy in the band
from 0.38 µm to 0.76 µm. Shorter and longer wavelengths are more rapidly absorbed. Therefore,
organisms have evolved light receptors (eyes) that are most sensitive to this band of the spectrum, which
we call visible light.
Organisms tend to be particularly sensitive to particular bands within visible light. For humans the
greatest sensitivity is yellow. Many small mammals are most sensitive to red. Insect vision extends into
ultraviolet, and insect-pollinated flowers have "color" patterns in UV as well as visible light. Marine
organisms are most sensitive to blue, especially those living at depth.
High-energy cosmic rays, gamma rays and X-rays pass through matter without absorption or reflection,
though they may do damage to the bonds of biological molecules such as DNA.
Infrared we perceive as heat. The microwaves and longer wave lengths are mostly not perceived by
organisms. Their biological effects are subtle and poorly known.
Color of Sea Water
The blue color of open ocean water results from the preferential scattering of short wavelengths of solar
radiation by water molecules. (Scattered wavelengths are not absorbed.) The same process makes the sky
blue.
Coastal waters are greenish because of the microscopic plankton (biological productivity) and suspended
sediment particle load (turbidity), which cause more scattering of the intermediate to long wave lengths.
Suspended sediment load (turbidity) will give a muddy brown color. Suspensions of very fine or
colloidal particles may form a milky nepheloid layer near the sea floor.
Blooms of microscopic phytoplankton may give coastal waters a red, brown, yellow or milky tint. The
so-called "red tide" is caused by a bloom of dinoflagellates. A similar bloom of coccolithophores may
give a milky color. Chlorophyll, which selectively absorbs longer and shorter wavelengths, appears
green. Sea water with high biological productivity has a greenish tint. Dissolved organic compounds in
coastal water selectively absorb the shorter wave lengths and shift the wavelength of maximum
transmittance toward longer wavelengths. The result is a greenish-brown or brown color.
Sea water absorbs visible light, especially the longer wavelengths. Therefore, at greater depths, less total
energy remains, and only the shorter wave lengths are represented. At depth, the wavelength
distribution of remaining light shifts toward the shorter wave lengths.
Perceived colors shift with depth to blue-green and then to blue, because only those wave-lengths
remain, yellow-orange-red and violet having been selectively removed. That is why the ocean is blue.
Reds cannot be seen below 20 m.
Yellow disappears before 100 m.
Green may persist to 250 m.
Only blue persists below 250 m, in vanishingly low quantities.

Some species have eyes that are finely tuned to be maximally sensitive to the exact wavelength of
maximum transmittance. For example, Euphausia pacifica (a shrimp-like crustacean) in the open Pacific
Ocean has maximum light sensitivity to 0.465 µm, whereas a variety living in Puget Sound has eyes most
sensitive to 0.495 µm, close to the maximum transmittance for coastal water.
The total light transmission of sea water is a property called transmittance. It is measured as a
percentage of the light available at the surface. Transmittance refers to the transmission of light through
water, which is the inverse of absorption. Sea water and fresh water have nearly the same transmittance.
Transmittance = percent energy transmitted per meter of depth. High transmittance is transparency,
low transmittance is opacity. The inverse of transmittance is the attenuation coefficient or extinction.
Any fluid, including sea water, absorbs the sun's radiation in a manner such that the amount absorbed in a
given distance is proportional to the amount present. Thus, we may speak of percent absorbed or
transmitted per unit distance. For example, if transmittance is 90% per m, then 90% of surface light
reaches to a depth of 1 m, 81% reaches to 2 m, 72.9% to 3 m, etc.
The amount of light at depth is measured with a photometer or a Secchi Disk.
Average transmittance of clear blue ocean water:
Percent surface light

Depth
remaining
1m 45%
10 m 16%
100 m 1%
250 m negligible
Waters of high turbidity have low transmittance. The rate of absorption with depth is higher, and light
does not penetrate as deep in as great amount. In turbid coastal waters with high productivity the 1%
limit may be as shallow as 10 m. On average on the continental shelves, the 1% limit is at around 30 m.
Some light may be measured by sensitive instruments even below 250 m, but there is not enough for
photosynthesis.
Transmittance varies with wavelength. The ocean is most transparent for that part of the spectrum we call
visible light (0.38 to 0.76 µm). This is no accident -- it is not surprising that organisms have evolved
light-sensitive organs that are most sensitive to that part of the spectrum that penetrates deepest and in
greatest quantity.
Within the visible spectrum, transmittance varies with wavelength. For pure water or clear sea water,
transmittance is greatest for blue-green light. This band penetrates deepest and is used for green-plant
photosynthesis. It penetrates to a maximum depth of up to 100 m in the open ocean but to only about 10

m in coastal waters.
Below a maximum of 100 m, even in the clearest water, absorption of radiant energy is nearly total. The
remaining light is not sufficient for photosynthesis. This depth marks the base of the photic zone.
The ocean is relatively opaque to all frequencies but particularly so to infrared, because of the tendency
for water molecules to absorb this energy. Thus, the incident solar infrared radiation does not penetrate
the surface of the ocean below a few tens of centimeters. Only the top meter or less is directly warmed by
the sun's heat. Heating of the rest of the surface layer is carried out by mixing by waves and currents, as
well as by conduction.
Likewise, any UV radiation that reaches the earth's surface is absorbed by the first meter or so of ocean
water.
SOUND TRANSMISSION
About Sound
Sound is a compressional disturbance propagated through a deformable medium. Sound is a pressure
wave (longitudinal wave, compressional wave) resulting from deformation by tension or compression,
such that the vibrations of the medium are in the same or opposite direction to the propagation. The
energy of this disturbance is propagated as the molecules at successively farther distances are displaced,
but the molecules themselves return to their place and are not propagated.
All matter has a tendency to adjust to distortion by deformation. This deformation sets up internal
forces, called stresses, that tend to restore the substance to its original equilibrium condition. This ability
to restore the original condition is called elasticity.
The measure of elasticity of a substance is the degree to which it returns to its former dimensions after
deformation. The elasticity of a liquid is measured by a property called the bulk modulus. The bulk
modulus measures the change in compressional stress resulting from a fractional change in volume.
Water, like most liquids, is nearly incompressible and highly elastic. Sea water is 150,000 times more
elastic (less compressible) than air.
The frequency of a sound wave is a measure of the number of vibrations per second (Hz, cycles).
Between the range of 16 to 20,000 Hz (cycles, vibrations per second) it is perceived as audible sound.
Changes in frequency are perceived as pitch.
Velocity of Sound
The velocity of a sound wave is controlled by the elasticity and the density of the medium:
Velocity = square root of (elasticity over density),
V = (elasticity / density)1/2
where elasticity = the bulk modulus for a fluid, Young's modulus for a solid.
The velocity of sound is much higher in water than in air. Although sea water is about 1,000 times
denser than air, it is 150,000 times more elastic. Thus, the speed of sound in water is almost five times

faster (about 1,450 m/sec) than in air (350 m/sec).

The average velocity of sound in the ocean is 1450 m/sec.
The velocity of sound in dry atmosphere at 20oC is 334 m/sec.
The velocity of sound is independent of its pitch or frequency. Because the density and elasticity of sea
water are controlled by temperature, salinity and pressure, in that order, the velocity of sound is
determined by these same factors.
The velocity of sound in sea water increases with increasing temperature, salinity and pressure. It
increases about:
4.5 m/sec for each 1oC increase in temperature (most important)
1.7 m/sec for each 100 m increase in water depth (pressure)
1.3 m/sec for each 0.001 o/oo increase in salinity (least important)
Because of the temperature structure of the ocean, near the surface temperature is the most important
variable controlling sound velocity, while at depth pressure is more important.
The velocity of sound can be measured directly with a velocimeter. It can also be computed if the
temperature, salinity and pressure are known. In general, temperature and pressure are more important
than salinity.
Pressure increases steadily with depth, acting to increase the velocity of sound. However, where a
thermocline is developed, temperature decreases with depth, retarding the velocity of sound. Therefore,
except in nearly isothermal waters near the poles, sound velocity decreases with depth through the
thermocline and then increases below.
The interaction of temperature and pressure with depth produces a profile of sound velocity with depth
that has a minimal value at about 1000 m. This zone of retarded velocity is called the low-velocity sound
channel or deep sound channel or sofar channel (sound fixing and ranging channel). This is a
world-wide feature at depths of about 1000 m in midlatitudes, varying from a depth of 2,000 m at low
latitudes to the surface in polar regions. See Fig. 6-14.
There are three general zones of the ocean with respect to sound transmission:
The surface zone, 100 to 150 m thick, where the waters are well mixed, and sound velocity
increases with depth due to the effect of pressure.
The minimum velocity zone caused by rapid temperature decrease in the thermocline. The
midpoint of this zone is at around 600 m in the Pacific to 1,200 in the Atlantic.
The deeper zone, where sound velocity increases with increasing pressure, and temperature
is relatively constant.
Like any other waves, sound waves are refracted (bent) as they pass from one medium into another of
different density (velocity).

Where waves encounter a boundary (a surface between two layers), for all ray paths except those striking
the boundary at right angles, there is a change in direction (bending) of the ray path as well as a change
in velocity. This refraction (bending) is always in the direction of lower velocity.
Ray paths of sound waves bend (refract) into (converge into) the low-velocity (layer) and bend outward
from (diverge from) the high-velocity medium. Thus, a zone of low velocity sandwiched between
higher and lower zones of higher velocity acts to focus and trap sound waves, so that they can be
transmitted for greater distances.
Sounds originating in the surface waters of the ocean tend to be refracted downward into the depth zone
of lower velocity. Sound waves originating below the low velocity zone tend to be refracted upward into
the low velocity zone. Thus this "sound channel" (low velocity zone) acts like a lens to focus the sound
waves.
The sound channel (sofar) is located at about 1000 m at midlatitudes. It is largely produced by the
thermocline, and therefore it is shallower and weaker at high latitudes. It is used for long-distance
communication. One application is locating ships or downed aircraft in distress. An explosive charge
detonated in this channel will be detected by several stations, and the distance to the ship can be
calculated from the arrival times of the sound at the different stations.
Above the low-velocity sound channel is an upper zone of enhanced velocity, called the sound shadow.
This shadow zone is created in the upper parts of the ocean where a positive velocity gradient overlies a
negative velocity gradient. The shadow zone is a region that relatively little sound will penetrate. The
sound waves originating there are refracted upward and downward, in both cases toward areas of lower
velocity, weakening the signal. A submarine would be more difficult to detect in the shadow zone, and
this principle was used in WWII.
As sound waves are transmitted, some part of their energy is lost by spreading, scattering or
absorption.
Absorption is proportional to the square of the sound frequency. Therefore, the higher the frequency, the
greater the absorption.
Sea water absorbs sound energy much better than fresh water. This is due to the presence of MgSO4,
which forms large, bulky, hydrated ion complexes that absorb acoustical energy easily.
Sound may be scattered by particles in suspension, by gas bubbles, by marine organisms, and by the
ocean bottom.
Like other waves, when sound waves pass from a medium of a certain velocity into another, a certain
amount of the wave is reflected from the boundary (interface, discontinuity), while the rest is
transmitted and propagates at the new velocity. Sound waves are reflected off discontinuities in the
ocean, such as the sea floor, boundaries of sediment layers, or boundaries between water masses with
different velocities.

Thus, sonar may be used to locate and map these discontinuities. Sonar is our chief way of seeing and
mapping features in the ocean and on the ocean floor, because ocean water is opaque to electromagnetic
radiation such as light, radio and radar (except very low frequency radio). (This is why missiles on
nuclear submarines are harder to detect and destroy than land-based missiles.)
This property has made it possible to develop sonar systems (sound navigation and ranging) for
purposes of bathymetry (measuring depths of the ocean) as well as for locating and measuring distances
to subsurface objects.
A sonar device emits a sound signal, which travels through the water, reflects off an object, and returns
to be picked up by a receiver. If the velocity is known, the distance is calculated as velocity times half the
travel time.
Distance = velocity X travel time X 1/2

GEOL 3377 Lecture 7a Air-Sea Interaction
LECTURE 7:
AIR-SEA INTERACTION
PART A: DENSITY
Density of Sea Water
About Density
Adiabatic Effect
Measuring Density
Density, Salinity and Temperature
Surface Distribution of Densities
Density Stratification
Vertical Density Profiles

Importance of the Pycnocline
Conservative Properties of Water Masses

Global Solar Heat Budget
Inputs and Outputs
Greenhouse Effect
Local Heat Balance

Local Oceanic Heat Budget
Latitudinal Effect
Atmospheric Circulation

Atmospheric Convection Cells

Idealized Atmospheric Circulation Pattern
Coriolis Effect
Weather Systems
Climate Patterns of the Oceans
Fog
Sea Ice
The physical behavior of the ocean is controlled by the physical properties of sea water. Before
considering waves, currents, tides, oceanic circulation patterns, and ocean-atmosphere interaction, we
must continue the discussion of physical propeties of sea water begun in Lecture 6.
DENSITY OF SEA WATER
About Density
Density is mass per unit volume. The general symbol for density is ρ (Greek letter rho), and the units are
g/cm3. The density of pure water is set at 1.00000 g/cm3.
The density of sea water ranges from 1.02200 to 1.03000 g/cm3, only 2 to 3% greater than that of fresh
water. This difference may seem small, but it is very important. If fresh water is added to sea water
without mixing, or vice versa, the fresh water will float as a separate layer above the salt water. Water
masses in the ocean are organized into stratified layers, whose vertical position and movements are
controlled by density differences.
In the previous chapter we saw that the density of water is controlled by salinity (very important), by
temperature (less important, and by pressure (least important). Many combinations of temperature and
salinity can produce the same density.
Because water is nearly incompressible, pressure has the least effect. From the ocean surface to the
depths of the deepest trench, the increase in density due to pressure is only about 5%.
Adiabatic Effect
However, pressure has two effects: at depth increased pressure increases density (slightly), and increased
pressure also increases the in situ temperature, which further increases the density. This latter is the
adiabatic effect of pressure. For many purposes, we wish to allow for this adiabatic effect of pressure.
Adiabatic refers to an energy-transfer process, such as compressing water, in which there is no transfer
of heat energy into or out of the system. An adiabatic process is one in which there is no exchange of
heat with the surroundings.
The First Law of Thermodynamics (energy cannot be created or destroyed) dictates that the change in
energy distribution of a mass equals the heat added or subtracted plus the work done. The change in

energy distribution of a mass = heat added or subtracted + work done.

As sea water sinks to greater depths, it is compressed. Work is done, and the pressure increases.
Accordingly, the internal energy of the water increases, and the temperature rises.
As sea water rises to shallower depths, the pressure decreases, and water expands. Work is done by the
water particles, internal energy decreases, and temperature decreases. A water particle at 0.57oC at the
surface would have a temperature of 1.00oC if lowered to 5000 m.
This necessitates a distinction between in situ temperature (the actual temperature measured in place,
represented by T) and potential temperature (the calculated temperature if brought to the surface,
Potential temperature has the adiabatic effect of pressure subtracted. The symbol for potential
temperature is Θ (Greek letter theta). Potential temperature is generally slightly lower than in situ
temperature. In this example:
In situ temperature = T = 1.00oC
Potential temperature = Θ (Greek letter theta) = 0.57oC
Θ<T
Because deep water originates at the surface and acquires its temperature characteristics there, we may
like to know its potential (surface) temperature as well as its observed (in situ) temperature.
Below about 3500 to 4000 m (in trenches, isolated basins, parts of the North Pacific), the water
temperature is isothermal with regard to potential temperatures, so that the in situ temperature increases
with depth. Under these conditions the water is neutrally stable, which means that it is easy to move up
or down.
Adiabatic heating has more pronounced effects in the atmosphere, because air is much more
compressible than water. Air moving to lower levels increases in temperature because of the increased
pressure. So-called "Foehn" winds, "Santa Ana's," and "Chinooks" (warm winds that sweep down out of
mountains) get their temperature increase by adiabatic heating. The in situ temperature of a particle of air
that is being raised or lowered adiabatically changess between 0.5 and 1.0oC per 100 m, depending on
the relative humidity.
Measuring Density
Oceanographers rarely measure density directly. Instead, they calculate it from temperature, salinity and
pressure.
Density may be calculated as in situ density (σ = Greek letter sigma) using in situ temperature (T). In
situ density measures the density in place, using in situ temperature at whatever depth this water
occupies.
Sigma-tau (στ) calculates the density that a particle of water would have if it were at atmospheric
pressure having the in situ temperature. It includes the effect of salinity and in situ temperature but
subtracts the small pressure effect. For many purposes this is sufficient. The unqualified sigma of
Thurman and other textbooks is sigma-tau.

Potential density (σθ = sigma sub theta, known as sigma theta) is calculated using potential temperature
(Θ). Potential density measures density with both the simple effect and the adiabatic effect of pressure
removed. Potential density is the density that a particle of water would have if raised to atmospheric
pressure adiabatically. Potential density is slightly larger than sigma-tau. Except at the surface, potential
density is always less than in situ density.
Potential density is useful for understanding the density-driven movements of water masses. Subsurface
water masses (currents) flow along (parallel to) lines of equal potential density.
In situ density is rarely used in physical oceanography. The adiabatic correction for sigma theta is
negligible except in very deep water. Thus,Thurman and other elementary textbooks generally report
densities as sigma-tau.
Sigma-tau < sigma-theta < sigma
Very small changes in density can produce relatively large changes in vertical circulation. Thus,
oceanographers calculate density to five decimal places.
Because all the variation takes place in the last four decimal places, it is useful to simplify
this expression, eliminating the units g/cm3.
This is done by comparing the density of sea water to that of pure water at 4oC (1.00000),
producing a unitless value known as specific gravity. (Specific gravity = density of ocean
water / density of pure water.)
Then, subtract 1 and multiply times 1000 to convert to a simple four-digit form.
For example, a water sample has ρ = 1.02567 g/cm3.
Specific gravity = 1.02567 g/cm3 / 1.00000 g/cm3 = 1.02567
(Specific gravity - 1) X 1000 = 25.67
The following selections from a hydrographic station illustrate the tendencies of these values:
Salinity ToC In situ Θ Potential

Depth m o/ σ Sigma στ Sigma-tau σθ Sigma-theta
oo temperature Temperature
0 35.003 27.20 27.20 22.68 22.68 22.68
100 35.079 23.83 23.81 24.21 23.77 23.78
1000 34.524 4.14 4.06 32.04 27.42 27.42
5500 34.700 1.48 0.97 52.31 27.79 27.83

Density values can be compiled on maps or vertical profiles and contoured. Contour lines of constant
density are isopleths or isopycnals.
Fig. 7-1 plots isopleths for in situ density in surface waters as a function of temperature and

salinity.
Because there is a greater range of temperature in low latitudes than in high latitudes, the effect of
temperature on density is greatest in low latitudes (about three times as much). In surface waters, density
is controlled primarily by temperature, except at very high latitudes, where surface temperatures are
nearly constant, but salinity effects may be significant.
Notice that the σ isopleths (lines of constant density) are more nearly parallel to the temperature axis
(horizontal contours) at low temperatures than at high temperatures. This means that one degree of
temperature change will cause a lot of change in density at high temperatures, but much less change in
density at low temperatures.
For example, at normal marine salinity, a 5oC drop from 25o to 20oC causes in situ density
to increase from 23.5 to 24.7, a difference of 1.2. Therefore, at low latitudes temperature
changes produce important changes in density, while salinity is less important.
On the other hand, a drop in temperature from 5o to 0oC causes density to rise only from
27.7 to 28.1, an increase of only 0.4. Therefore, at high latitudes the effect of temperature on
density is much less, and salinity may exert a correspondingly greater effect.
The actual range of density in the open ocean is slight, from 22.0 to 30.0. However, these slight
differences are extremely important in determining the location, organization and movements of water
masses in the ocean.
The density of surface waters increases from about σ = 22.0 near the equator to maxima of σ = 26.0 to
27.0 near 50o to 60o latitude, then decreases slightly poleward.
At low latitudes, temperature is very important in controlling density, and the salinity
maxima have little effect.
At subtropical latitudes, surface-water salinity rises, because of the excess evaporation
over runoff in these zones of high atmospheric pressure. Although the salinity may decrease
with depth, the temperature gradient more than compensates for this. In subtropical latitudes
temperature is more important than salinity in regulating density.
At high latitudes, waters are cold everywhere. Density is largely regulated by salinity, and
temperature has little effect.
Fig. 7-3 shows temperature, salinity and density for surface waters plotted against latitude. Note the
asymmetry, reflecting slightly warmer climates in the northern hemisphere.
Temperature is low at high latitudes and peaks at the equator.
Salinity is low at high latitudes and somewhat low at the equator, peaking near the Tropic of Capricorn
and Tropic of Cancer at about 23.5o N and S.
Density is more influenced by temperature than by salinity, lowest near the equator and peaking in high
latitudes.

We see that the oceans exhibit stable density stratification. Water of low density rests on top of water
of greater density. In the water column, density increases with depth. The buoyancy and stability of water
masses are related to density distribution.
In general, water masses in the ocean form thin horizontal layers arranged according to increasing water
density with increasing depth. This arrangement is called vertical stratification. It is a stable
relationship, requiring much energy to overturn.
If dense water is overlying less dense water, this would be an unstable relationship. There would be a
strong tendency for the surface water to sink spontaneously through the low-density water to restore
stability.
In a water column with the same density throughout, the situation is one of indifferent stability or
neutral stability. There will be no strong tendency for a disturbed water mass either to return to its
original position or to seek a new position.
The vertical distribution of density in the ocean is a function of temperature and salinity. See profiles in
Fig. 7-3.
Normally, density increases with depth, a condition called stable stratification. In a stratified ocean it is
difficult (takes energy) to mix water across lines of constant density. It takes work to move material
across lines of constant density. The only work necessary to move material along lines of constant
density is the energy needed to overcome friction, which is very low in sea water.
In low latitudes, surface waters are warmed by the sun, but because of the high heat capacity of water
and the insulating effect of density stratification, this effect is shallow. Wind blowing across the water
surface transmits some of its kinetic energy to the water, generating waves. These waves cause mixing in
a shallow surface zone called the mixed layer or mixed zone. Through the mixed layer, temperature and
density are uniform and do not increase with depth. This mixed layer of warm, low-density water extends
to a maximum depth of 100 m.
Below the mixed layer, temperatures decline with depth, and the part of the water column corresponding
to this temperature gradient is the thermocline.
Decreasing temperature causes increasing density. The thermocline corresponds to a gradient in density
called the pycnocline, reaching generally from about 100 m to 700 m.
The pycnocline is gravitationally stable, with density increasing downward. These water masses are not
easily mixed or overturned. To move denser water up from below, or less dense water downward,
requires large amounts of energy to overturn this stable stratification. Thus, it is very difficult to mix
across these layers.
The thermocline and pycnocline are especially marked in the open ocean, where the surface waters are
strongly heated most of the year. The thermocline is strong and permanent in tropical regions, and the
resulting pycnocline is a major barrier to mixing with deeper waters. It is very difficult to replenish
nutrients across this zone. In high latitudes, the absence of a strong, stable pycnocline makes vertical

mixing easier.
Beneath the mixed layer, co-existing with the thermocline and pycnocline, there may be a salinity
gradient called a halocline. Lower surface salinities (due to excess rainfall and runoff over evaporation)
with increasing salinity at depth may produce a halocline. A halocline is especially conspicuous in
coastal waters.
At high latitudes the halocline may cause a corresponding pycnocline, but it will be weaker than the
temperature-induced pycnocline of low latitudes. In tropical waters there is actually an inverted
halocline, with high surface salinities because of excess evaporation at high temperatures.
Because salinity contributes less to density than does temperature, the pycnocline largely follows the
thermocline rather than the halocline.
At mid-latitudes, the thermocline may be seasonal, weakening or disappearing in the winter when
surface waters are colder, and when storms mix the surface waters more vigorously. A diurnal
thermocline can be measured, forming as the sun heats the surface waters during the day, and
disappearing at night as they cool off.
At high latitudes, surface waters are cold, and the thermocline is weak. There is no pycnocline,
because the density of surface waters is only slightly lower than that of deeper waters. The water column
is stratified, but less stably so. This is why mixing waters vertically is easier in high latitudes.
Overturn may occur in polar waters where ice freezes at the surface, leaving behind a more saline brine,
as ions are thrust out of the growing crystals. This cold, saline brine is denser and sinks, to restore
stability. Less dense water wells up from below to replace the sinking water. This vertical overturn is
facilitated by the isothermal depth profile at high latitudes (weak or no thermocline).
Temperatures continue to decline with depth below the thermocline, but more slowly. There is little or no
temperature change with seasons below the thermocline. This denser, colder deep-water mass extends to
the sea floor with little change in these properties. This deep zone contains 80% of the ocean's waters.
The deep zone may reach to the surface in polar regions, allowing recharge of deep water with
atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide.
In the absence of barriers, a water mass tends to sink and find its own level in the density stratification.
Once there, it is much easier for it to spread horizontally than to mix vertically. Water has low viscosity,
which means little resistance to horizontal spreading.
Example 1: In the early 1950's the U. S. exploded a nuclear device underwater in the eastern Pacific. The
radioactive water resulting from the explosion was tracked as a very thin lens-shaped layer. After 40
days, it covered an area of 40,000 square kilometers but was only 60 meters thick.
Example 2: A tongue of very saline water flows out over the threshold of the Strait of Gibraltar, sinks to
a depth of 1000 meters, and flows out horizontally across the Atlantic Ocean, forming a layer only a few
hundred meters thick but 2000 kilometers long by 1000 kilometers broad.
Example 3: In low latitudes where there is a strong permanent pycnocline, shallow waters become
depleted in nutrients, and productivity is low. In middle latitudes where the thermocline builds up

seasonally but then collapses in the winter, seasonal overturn replenishes nutrients in surface waters.
CONSERVATIVE PROPERTIES OF WATER MASSES
A water mass is a package of water that can be identified and traced by certain conservative properties.
Conservative properties are those that are not subject to change, except by mixing and diffusion
between adjacent water masses. Density, temperature and salinity are important conservative
properties of water masses.
Nonconservative properties of a water mass are those that are subject to change by some process other
than mixing and diffusion. For example, dissolved oxygen is high in surface waters because of
photosynthesis, but after the water mass sinks it declines because of consumption by animals and decay
microbes.
GLOBAL SOLAR HEAT BUDGET
Inputs and Outputs
Nearly all of the energy running surface processes in the atmosphere and ocean is received from the sun.
(Less than 1% of the heat at the surface of the earth is derived from the interior.) The sun emits energy
across a broad spectrum, but it peaks at 48 µm within visible light. See Fig. 7-4.
The earth's atmosphere is largely transparent to long-wavelength (infrared) and visible light. Much of the
sun's radiation in these bands reaches the surface and is absorbed by the ocean. Shorter and longer wave
lengths tend to be screened out by the atmosphere.
In the upper atmosphere, short wave-length radiation (less than 0.29 µm) breaks O2 into
individual atoms of O that recombine as O3. This is the process that generates the ozone
layer and keeps much ultraviolet radiation from reaching the surface of the earth.
Water vapor in the atmosphere is a powerful absorber of infrared (greater than 0.8 µm),
because water has high heat capacity.
Thus, most of the radiation reaching the earth's surface is between 0.38 and 0.76 µm, in the
visible band.
Fig. 7.5 shows how this energy is distributed after it reaches the earth. Recall that at any boundary or
discontinuity between different substances, all or part of the energy may be reflected, absorbed and
re-radiated, or transmitted
About 23% of incoming solar radiation is absorbed by atmospheric molecules (water vapor,
other gases, dust).
Another 30% is reflected back into space by atmospheric backscattering, clouds and land
surface. Clouds of water vapor reflect and scatter large amounts of energy back into space.
Lesser amounts of energy are reflected by dust, aerosols and the surface of the land and
ocean.
Albedo is a measure of reflectance. Clouds, ice and bare ground have high albedo. Forest

and ocean have low albedo.

This leaves 47% of incoming solar radiation to be absorbed by land and ocean, mostly by
the ocean.
This heat absorbed by the ocean (47%) is returned to the atmosphere in part:
by evaporation (24%) and
by conduction (7%).
The rest is radiated as infrared radiation (16%), of which 10% escapes to space, and 6% is
absorbed by water vapor, carbon dioxide and ozone in the atmosphere.
These numbers in Fig. 7.5 are rough estimates for a "typical" point on the planet. The actual transfer
paths are more complex, and calculation of exact values is difficult. Of course, different points on the
planet have different values.
As an approximate global average, of the radiation energy reaching the ocean surface (100%),
41% is returned to the atmosphere by re-radiation,
53% by evaporation
and 6% by conduction.
Because the solid earth is relatively cool, most of this re-radiated energy is within the infrared band,
peaking at a wavelength of 10 mm. Water vapor, carbon dioxide and other atmospheric gases absorb
infrared, trapping the heat instead of releasing it into space.
Thus, the surface of the earth is warmer than it otherwise would be. This is the greenhouse effect. This
retained heat serves to minimize diurnal and seasonal temperature fluctuations.
Greenhouse Effect
The earth must re-radiate as much energy into space as it receives from the sun to maintain a zero-sum
heat budget.
Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and others. If none of these were
present in the atmosphere, the surface temperature would be about -18oC instead of the average 15oC.
Some greenhouse gases are increasing in concentration in the atmosphere because of human activity. See
Table 7-1 and Fig. 7-6.
Of these, carbon dioxide is being added in the greatest quantity and is making the largest relative
contribution to the greenhouse effect (60%).
Others include methane, nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone, and CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons). Although the rate
of addition of these molecules is not very high, they have much greater power to absorb infrared, and so
they contribute disproportionately to greenhouse warming. See Table 7-1.
Average global temperature has risen by about 0.5oC in the last century. Atmospheric carbon dioxide has
risen by more than 25%. Both trends are clearly demonstrated and important. However, it is less clear

whether the latter is the sole cause for the former. (As statisticians emphasize, correlation is not the
same as causation.)
Important feed-back mechanisms apply, and there are uncertainties concerning the relative rates of the
component processes and the point at which a new equilibrium might be established.
For example, increased temperature means increased rates of evaporation, which means
increased cloud cover, which should produce a decrease in solar illumination reaching the
surface.
Increased CO2 means increased solution of carbon dioxide gas in sea water, which means
the carbonate equilibrium will be driven to the right, producing more precipitation of
calcium carbonate and restoring equilibrium. How much lag time is involved and how
robust this buffer may be are unknown.
Discussions of Global Warming assume constant solar radiation, but this may not be correct. It is known
that the sunspot cycle (average = 11 years) of solar activity is accompanied by fluctuations in solar
output. The existence of longer-term cycles in solar radiation cannot be ruled out but as yet has not been
demonstrated.
Global Warming is real, and it is a matter for concern. At least in the short term, it is likely that some part
of the effect is man-made. Ordinary caution suggests that until this complex system is better understood,
we should take all possible steps to minimize our disturbance of the global heat budget.

GEOL 3377 Lecture 7b Air-Sea Interaction
LECTURE 7:
AIR-SEA INTERACTION
PART B: HEAT BUDGET
Density of Sea Water

About Density
Adiabatic Effect
Measuring Density
Conservative Properties of Water Masses
Global Solar Heat Budget
Inputs and Outputs
Greenhouse Effect
Local Heat Balance
Latitudinal Effect
Atmospheric Circulation

Atmospheric Convection Cells
Coriolis Effect
Weather Systems
Climate Patterns of the Oceans
Fog
Sea Ice
Local Heat Balance

The ocean is comparatively opaque to radiation at all wavelengths, though least so to visible light.
All but 1% of surface radiation is absorbed in the first 10 m (coastal waters) to 100 m
(clearest tropical waters).
More than 50% of that absorption takes place in the first 1 m, where all of the infrared and
ultraviolet are absorbed. Only visible light penetrates below 1 m.
Turbulent mixing in this surface zone by winds, waves, eddies, currents and conduction transports this
heat to deeper regions of the ocean.
Like the atmosphere, the temperature of the surface waters of the ocean varies with the seasons, as the
amount of energy received by the earth from the sun changes. The rate of incoming solar energy varies
strongly with the season, but the rate of re-radiation to space does not vary as much.
During the summer, when incoming heat exceeds outgoing heat, the shallow waters of the
ocean heat up.
During the winter, when outgoing heat exceeds incoming heat, the waters cool off.
A similar effect can be seen diurnally.
Fig. 7-8 shows ocean-atmosphere heat flow as a function of latitude.
Fig. 7-11 shows that the heat budget for a given locality may be expressed by the following equations:
Rate of heat gain - Rate of heat loss = Net rate of heat loss or gain
(Qsolar + Qcurrents) - (Qradiation + Qevaporation + Qconduction) = Qtotal
in which:
Qsolar = rate of heat gain from solar radiation

Qcurrent = rate of heat gain or loss through ocean current
Qradiation = rate of heat loss through re-radiation
Qevaporation = rate of heat loss through evaporation
Qconduction = rate of heat loss through conduction into the atmosphere
Qtotal = net rate of heat loss or gain for that locality
For the whole world ocean over a long time, Qcurrent and Qtotal should be zero. Losses and gains of heat
should average out. Therefore, the rate at which heat is gained from solar radiation should equal the rate
of heat loss due to radiation, evaporation and conduction. These figures (Thurman p. 181) are average
values for the entire world ocean:
Qsolar = Qradiation + Qevaporation + Qconduction
100% = 41% + 53% + 6%

The location of greatest heat loss by radiation (infrared) is near the equator, where most solar energy is
received.
The location of greatest heat loss by evaporation is in the dry subtropical belts at 30o N and S.
The location of greatest heat loss by conduction is along the western margin of ocean basins, where
warm-water currents (like the Gulf Stream) carry warm water into regions where the atmosphere is much
colder than the water.
Latitudinal Effect
Because of the angle at which the sun's rays strike different latitudes, more energy is received per unit
area at the equator than at higher latitudes. See Fig. 7-7. Between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn,
much more heat is received than at higher latitudes.
Below the latitudes of 35oN and 40oS, more energy is absorbed than is radiated into space, while at
higher latitudes less energy is received than is radiated.
This effect is increased by the increased reflectivity when the sun's rays strike at a high angle, and by the
greater reflectivity of polar ice. Table 7-3 shows the percent of radiation reflected at different sun angles,
from 2% at 90o to 40% at 5o.
At high latitudes, a ray of light:
is spread over a greater area.
has passed through a greater thickness of atmosphere.
strikes at a low angle, and more of its energy is reflected.
Thus, low latitudes have a net energy surplus, while high latitudes have a net energy deficit.

ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION
Atmospheric Convection Cell
Although there is a net heat surplus at the equator and a deficit at the poles, this inequity is not
increasing. The Latitudinal Temperature Gradient appears to be stable. The equatorial zone is not
continuing to grow warmer, nor the poles colder.
This suggests that there must be a mechanism for transport of heat from low to high latitudes. This is
accomplished by atmospheric and oceanic currents. Ocean currents will be discussed in Chapter 8.
At the equator, air is heated, becomes less dense, and rises. When it reaches its own level in the
atmospheric density stratification, it spreads laterally in both directions toward the poles. As this warm
air rises into altitudes of lower pressure, it expands, and this expansion causes cooling. As it cools, it
becomes more nearly saturated with water vapor. Eventually, condensation occurs. Rain falls, but latent
heat has been left behind.
At about 30o latitude, as the high-altitude air moves away from the equator, it sinks. As it sinks, it warms
adiabatically and becomes less saturated in water vapor. This sinking, dry air forms a consistent
high-pressure zone in the 30o latitude region.
At the surface, air flows from this high-pressure zone toward the low-pressure zone at the equator to
replace the rising air. Thus, a convection cell is generated.
In equatorial regions we have a permanent low-pressure zone with high precipitation,
reflected in slightly lower ocean surface salinities.
At subtropical latitudes, precipitation is low, and sea-surface salinity is correspondingly
higher because of high evaporation.
At the poles, cold air sinks and flows toward lower latitudes, until at about 60o it is sufficiently warmed
to rise. Some of the descending air at subtropical latitudes flows poleward, picking up heat from the land,
until it rises again at 60o. In this way two more convection cells are formed.
At 60o latitude precipitation is high as a result of condensation in the rising air.
The high precipitation and low evaporation rates cause relatively low surface salinities at
this latitude.
In this way a set of atmospheric convection cells is established, with regions of high and low
atmospheric pressure, and cell boundaries that are fronts or zones of convergence and divergence. See
Fig. 7-9
See Fig. 7-9 for vertical and horizontal patterns of global atmospheric circulation, as summarized below.
Convergence Prevailing Wind
Latitude Pressure Front
or Divergence Wind Belt Direction
90oN high
Polar easterlies <==

Polar
60oN low Convergence
Front
Westerlies ==>
Horse
30oN high Divergence
Latitudes
NE Trade
<==
Winds
Equatorial
0o low Doldrums
Convergence
SE Trade
<==
Winds
Horse
30oS high Divergence
Latitudes
Westerlies ==>
Polar
60oS low Convergence
Front
Polar
<==
Easterlies
90oS high
Low pressure zones have weak, shifting winds and high precipitation. High pressure zones have weak,
shifting winds and low precipitation. Other areas have consistent strong winds.
Ocean salinities reach a maximum at about 30oN and S, where evaporation is high and precipitation is
low. Salinity is low at the equatorial and polar convergences, where precipitation is high.
Coriolis Effect
On a rotating earth, the ideal atmospheric circulation pattern is modified by the effects of planetary
rotation. The Coriolis deflection is named for Gaspard Gustave de Coriolis, a French engineer and
mathematician (1792-1843), who first described it.
Any object above the earth's surface moving horizontally with a N-S component through a long distance
for a relatively long period of time will be observed (by a stationary observer at the surface) to veer to the
right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.
The magnitude of this effect will increase with the velocity and the latitude of the object. It
is zero at the equator and maximum at the poles.
This effect is called the Coriolis "Force," but it is not a true force acting separately on the
object.
As the earth (including the atmosphere) rotates, points at different latitudes rotate at different velocities.
The rotational velocity is more than 1600 km/hr at the equator, 1400 km/hr at 30o latitude, 800 km/hr at
60o latitude, and zero at the poles.

For example: An airplane in Stockholm (60oN, 18oE) is preparing to fly to Lagos (almost due south
nearly on the equator). The airplane is moving to the east with the planet at 800 km/hr. Its destination,
Lagos, is rotating east at 1600 km/hr.
If the flight lasts six hours and the pilots do not alter course, the jet will miss Lagos airport
by 4800 km, landing in South America instead of Africa!
6 hrs X (1600 km/hr - 800 km/hr) = 4800 km
Consider an air mass moving from the subtropical region at 30oN south toward the equator, rotating with
the earth at a velocity of about 1400 km/hr toward the east.
This air mass is moving toward the south at about 32 km/hr and must cover a distance of
3200 km. At that rate, it will take 100 hours to reach the equator.
But, the point on the equator at the same meridian of longitude as the point from which it
started is rotating toward the east at 1600 km/h, which is 200 km/hr faster than the air mass.
In the period of 100 hours needed to reach the equator, the point on the equator toward
which it was heading will be 20,000 km east of the air mass, when the latter reaches the
equator.
While the air mass was always moving due south, its track on the earth (because of the
earth's rotation) was curved to the west. While it covered 30o of latitude, it also covered
180o of longitude.
To an observer on a boat, this wind would appear to come out of the east-northeast rather
than the north. Hence, we call these the northeast and southeast trade winds.
An air mass moving due north in the zone of westerlies from 30o to 60o latitude will be deflected even
more, because there is more change in rotational velocity of the earth. The wind would appear to come
out of the west-southwest.
The magnitude of the effect increases with latitude, because the rate of change of rotational
velocity per degree of latitude change increases.
However, the major factor controlling the amount of apparent deflection is the length of
time the mass is in motion.
Objects moving east or west along lines of latitude also experience Coriolis deflection.
The earth is flattened at the poles into an oblate spheroid, because of rotational motion. This adds a
horizontal component, Hg, to the gravitational force, Fg.
For objects at rest, Hg is balanced by Hc, the horizontal component of the centrifugal force,
just as Fg (gravitational force) is balanced by Fc (centrifugal force).
However, for objects in relative motion, Hc, the horizontal component of centrifugal force,
increases for objects moving east (in the direction of planetary spin) but decreases for
objects moving west (opposite to planetary spin). Hg remains unaffected.

Thus, objects moving east are deflected toward the equator by the increase in Hc. Objects moving west
are deflected toward the poles by the decrease in Hc.
As we see, objects are deflected to the right of their intended paths everywhere in the Northern
Hemisphere (left in Southern Hemisphere).
From the point of view of an observer on the earth's surface, all calculations of direction require a
correction for the Coriolis effect. The deflection is always clockwise (to the right) in the Northern
Hemisphere and counterclockwise (to the left) in the Southern Hemisphere.
Weather Systems
At midlatitudes, the idealized atmospheric circulation system discussed above must be modified further
to allow for seasons and continents.
Over continents, the air becomes warmer in the summer and colder in the winter,
developing corresponding low-pressure cells in the summer and high-pressure cells in the
winter.
Fig. 7-12 shows atmospheric pressure and winds for January, with standing highs over
northern continents and lows over southern continents.
Adjacent air masses tend to flow into areas of low pressure and away from areas of high pressure.
These moving air masses are deflected (apparently) by the Coriolis effect, producing a cyclonic flow of
air around low-pressure cells and an anticyclonic circulation around high-pressure cells in the Northern
Hemisphere.
Polar air masses moving south are deflected to the southeast.
Tropical air masses moving north are deflected to the northeast.
This is why wind patterns of continents reverse themselves seasonally, as winter high-pressure cells are
replaced by summer low-pressure cells.
Polar weather is cold and dry with little seasonal change.
Equatorial weather is warm and damp, with still air and mid-day rains.
Air masses from equatorial and polar latitudes move into midlatitudes, drawn by the changing highs and
lows, meet and produce severe storms. See Fig. 7-16.
Fronts are boundaries where one air mass meets another. A warm air mass moves into a region of colder
air along a warm front. A moving mass of colder air encounters warmer air along a cold front. Warm air
overrides colder air, rises, cools, and water vapor condenses as rain.
Monsoon climates have seasonal alternation of wind directions and rainfall.
Rock has a much lower heat capacity than water, and so the land heats up much faster than
the sea. During the summer, continental areas become much warmer than the sea. The
overlying air is heated and rises.

Moist air from the nearby ocean moves in to take its place, is heated, and rises, with
accompanying condensation and precipitation.
Summer monsoons are especially conspicuous on the west coast of India, accompanied by
southwest winds and great rainfall.
During the winter, air over the continent is cooled and sinks, spreading offshore. As this sinking air
warms, it becomes undersaturated in water vapor.
Winter brings dry weather and winds from the northeast in India.
This alternation of northeast (offshore) and southwest monsoonal (onshore) winds, winter
and summer, in the northwest Indian Ocean drives surface currents that alternate with the
seasons. These predictable wind and current patterns have long been used by Arab traders in
fixed-sail vessels.
Local coastal areas have diurnal wind changes.
During the day the land heats up, creating a low-pressure zone of rising air and generating
onshore winds, which bring moist air from the ocean nearby.
At night the land cools off, and the sinking, cold, dense air flows offshore as offshore winds.
This diurnal onshore (day) and offshore (night) alternation is a predictable feature in coastal
regions.
Tropical storms originate in the tropical region and are driven by the thermal energy generated there by
evaporation.
The boundary between the northeast trade winds and the southeast trades shifts back and
forth across the equator with the seasons. Locally it may also be shifted by local landmasses
or monsoonal effects.
As the boundary shifts across the equator, the Coriolis effect reverses, and this reversal may
bring the two sets of trade winds into complete opposition.
A local shear disturbance or a perturbation in the upper atmosphere may generate a local
low pressure area, which generates a self-sustaining rising spiral of low-pressure, warm,
moist air.
Tropical storms (cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes) then drift westward with the trade winds,
continuing to draw energy from the warm sea.
Extratropical storms are generated at the polar front at 60oN. Here, cold, dense polar air moving south
meets warm, moist air moving north.
A local perturbation caused by topography or by local variations in winds may cause the
development of a local low-pressure cell and the beginning of cyclonic circulation around
this low pressure cell. Cyclonic circulation is counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere
and clockwise in the southern hemisphere.

A cold front separates the invading polar air mass from the warmer temperate mass. A warm
front develops where temperate, moist air overrides an intruding mass of dense, cold polar
air.
The rotating, moving front system lasts as long as there is a contrast between the two air
masses, that is, until the low pressure center is entirely surrounded by cold air, when the low
density air in the center rises, mixes and is dissipated. The energy of the storm depends on
the contrast between the two air masses.
Storms are important marine agents.
Waves generated by storm winds mix underlying waters and restore nutrients, especially at
high latitudes where the thermocline is absent.
Storms at sea generate wave systems that travel for thousands of kilometers, finally
releasing their energy at the coastline.
Storms near shore generate large waves that erode coastlines, scour sediment, and transport
large quantities of sediment. Storm waves and currents are probably more important agents
of erosion and sedimentation in the long term than are the everyday processes of the
shoreline.
CLIMATE PATTERNS OF THE OCEANS
Climatic patterns of the oceans are determined by these atmospheric circulation patterns.
Equatorial regions have low pressure, rising air, weak winds, high humidity, and high rainfall, which
tends to dilute surface salinities. Meteorologists call this region the Intertropical Convergence, and
mariners called it the Doldrums.
Tropical regions have northeasterly trade winds, equatorial currents, rough seas, and declining
precipitation. Tropical storm systems are born here.
Subtropical regions have weak winds and currents, little precipitation, high rates of evaporation, and high
surface salinities. Warm western boundary currents hug the western sides of ocean basins.
Temperate regions have seasonal temperature changes, strong southwesterly winds, invading polar and
tropical air masses, severe winter storms, and heavy precipitation.
Subpolar regions have sea ice cover in winter. Icebergs, which break away from land-based glaciers, are
common.
Polar regions are ice-covered.
Fog
Fog forms on land in marshy regions where daytime air has high relative humidity, when nights are clear
and allow rapid heat escape by radiation. It may be blown over the nearby sea by winds.
Fog forms at sea where warm, moist air moves into a region with cooler surface-water temperatures. This
happens more frequently in spring and summer, when air tempertures are higher. The proximity of the

Gulf Stream just to the south of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland generates legendary fogs.
Sea smoke or steam fog forms where cold air moves over warmer ocean water. Water evaporates from
the water and rises into the lower zone of this air, cools and condenses
Sea Ice
Sea water at 35o/oo freezes at -1.91o C. Dissolved ions are thrust out of the forming crystals, so that sea
ice is much lower in salinity, averaging 6-8o/oo, or even less for old ice. The excluded salt makes the rest
of the water more saline, lowering its freezing point. However, this brine tends to sink and be replaced by
warmer, less saline water.
Formation of sea ice is aided by low salinity and quiet water. Sea ice is confined to the Arctic Ocean, the
fringe of the high North Atlantic, and the margin of Antarctica.
Sea ice crystallizes as tiny needles forming a slush, which consolidates into a thin sheet. Wind breaks up
the sheet into pancakes, which coalesce into floes. These floes expand and override each other to cover
the sea surface, forming pack ice. Brine pockets and air pockets are common in new ice.
Pack ice forms along the margin of the Arctic Ocean to a maximum depth of 2 m in the winter. It is a
shifting mass, moved by winds and currents and navigable by icebreaker.
Polar ice is much thicker, up to 50 m in winter, as little as 2 m in summer, and it never totally melts in
summer. It covers the central Arctic Ocean.
Fast ice is attached to the shoreline and grows out from the shore each season to a depth of more than 2
m.
The Antarctic ice shelf is chiefly pack ice and fast ice, which grows out each season as far as 55oS and
melts back each summer, except in bays.
The shelf is augmented by glacial ice from the mainland ice sheet. Icebergs formed by the calving of
glaciers may reach as far as 40o S.

GEOL 3377 Lecture 8 Ocean Circulation
LECTURE 8:
OCEAN CIRCULATION
Components of Ocean Circulation
Wind-Driven Circulation
Ekman Spiral
Geostrophic Currents
Dynamic Topography
Major Surface Currents
Equatorial Currents
Western Boundary Currents
West Wind Currents
Eastern Boundary Currents
Subpolar Gyres
Thermohaline Circulation
Antarctic Circulation
Convergences and Divergences
Upwelling and Downwelling
Langmuir Circulation
Turbulence and Eddies
COMPONENTS OF OCEAN CIRCULATION

Ocean circulation refers to the global current systems. A current is a water mass in motion. Ocean
currents are driven by thermal energy from the sun.
The oceanic circulation can be divided into two components, horizontal and vertical.
http://www.uh.edu/~rmaddock/3377/3377lecture8.html (1 di 11) [28/04/2000 10.56.18]

The horizontal surface currents are wind-driven. They affect primarily the surface layer
and are relatively rapid.
The vertical thermohaline circulation is driven by density differences, and thus
ultimately by differences in temperature and salinity. It affects primarily the deeper zones
and is relatively sluggish.
Both the vertical and the horizontal components of transport are necessary for complete circulation of
ocean water. In today's ocean the horizontal circulation is mainly east-west, while the deeper circulation
is chiefly north-south. Together these two components form an efficient engine for thorough mixing of
surface and deep water.
WIND-DRIVEN CIRCULATION
In Chapter 7 we saw that the prevailing winds of the planet are driven by the global heat budget plus the
effect of the earth's rotation (Coriolis effect). In turn, these winds generate the surface currents of the
world ocean. See Fig. 8-1.
These air masses moving across the ocean set up frictional stress at the water surface. Wind blowing
across the water surface actually stretches this elastic membrane, transferring kinetic energy to the water.
In regions where winds blow consistently from the same direction, a directional force is transferred to
surface waters, initiating currents.
In the tropics, the Trade Winds (blowing out of the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and out of the
southeast in the Southern Hemisphere) set water in east-to-west motion. The North and South
Equatorial Currents are found in all three oceans, flowing parallel to and just above and below the
equator.
These warm, west-flowing equatorial currents are further deflected by the Coriolis effect and by the
continents, so that they turn away from the equator. The Western Boundary Currents, such as the Gulf
Stream, the Kuroshio Current and the Brazil Current, carry immense quantities of heat into higher
latitudes.
At higher latitudes, 30o to 60o, the Prevailing Westerlies (out of the northwest in the Northern
Hemisphere, out of the southwest in the Southern Hemisphere) impart an easterly direction and add
additional energy to the circulating water mass. An example is the West Wind Drift (Circum-Antarctic
Current).
Deflection by the Coriolis effect and by continents induces a return flow of cold water along the eastern
sides of oceans. Thus, the Eastern Boundary Currents, such as the California Current, the Canaries
Current and the Benguela Current, complete the gyres.
In this manner, a rotary or gyral torque (clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, counterclockwise in the
Southern Hemisphere) is imparted to the water masses occupying the largest part of each ocean. The
center of each gyre is located in the subtropical regions of high atmospheric pressure. These Subtropical
Gyres form the main components of the horizontal circulation pattern.
Above 60o North and South latitude, the Polar Easterlies drive west-flowing surface currents, such as
the East Wind Drift. Where large expanses of ocean permit, such as in the Weddell Sea and the

Norwegian Sea, small Subpolar Gyres are generated. These rotate in directions opposite to the
subtropical gyres.
On a world map of surface temperatures, deflections in isotherms indicate the effect of this gyral
circulation.
Locally, there is not a one-to-one correlation between the wind and the current. Rather, there is an
ocean-wide balance between the mean wind torque (velocity and direction) and the resulting ocean
currents.
An immense amount of kinetic energy is stored in these gyres, so that local and temporary changes in
wind direction do not necessarily alter the strength or direction of the ocean currents. This gyral system
has considerable inertia, like an enormous flywheel. If all the winds were to stop blowing, this current
flow (gyral circulation) would continue at least six months and maybe as long as two years.
EKMAN SPIRAL
To understand how winds blowing out of the northeast can drive a westerly current, it is necessary to
understand the Ekman Spiral. Fridtjof Nansen, during the voyage of the Fram, 1893-1896, noticed that
ice floes do not move in the direction of the wind but at an angle of 20o to 40o to the right of the wind.
He described his observations to a physicist, V. Walfrid Ekman, who developed a mathematical model in
1902 to explain this effect.
The Ekman Spiral Model assumes that a homogeneous water column is being set in motion by wind
blowing across the surface. See Fig. 8-2. Wind stress initiates water movement at the very top of the
water column. Theoretical calculations of the Coriolis effect predict that the surface water should move
at an angle of 45o to the wind.
(Why 45o? This is a theoretical prediction -- a given. It comes out of the mathematical
description of the stresses generated by wind on the water surface, and how they are
transmitted downward. The mathematical solution is a spiral, in which the surface water
moves at 45o to the wind.)
This surface layer, in turn, exerts frictional drag and sets up stresses against the underlying layer, putting
it in motion. Because of the Coriolis Effect, the direction of movement of the underlying layer is a little
to the right of that of the top layer. Because of frictional loss, its velocity is a little less. In turn, this
second layer drives third layer beneath it, and so on down. In this way, wind energy is transferred down
through the water column.
Thus we may visualize the Ekman Spiral as a series of laminar water layers, each set in motion by
stresses generated by the layer above, and each moving in a direction slightly to the right of the one
above and at a lower velocity.
The velocity of a surface current is about 3% of the average velocity of the wind that produces it. Thus, a
10-knot wind will produce a 0.3-knot surface current. (This is a semi-empirical relationship. The true
relationship of current velocity to wind velocity depends on the roughness of the ocean surface, how high
above the surface the wind speed is measured, and the wind speed itself.)
The velocity of layers below the surface decreases with depth. The depth to which a wind-driven current

may extend depends on the homogeneity of the water column, as well as the wind velocity and
consistency. The maximum is 100 m.
The depth of the Ekman layer is usually taken as the distance from the surface to the point at which the
current direction has rotated around to 180o from its starting direction. At that depth, the velocity is only
about 4% of the surface velocity.
Summing the directions and velocities for each lamina through all of the laminae of the Ekman layer
gives the net Ekman Transport. Because velocity declines rapidly with depth, it can be shown that the
net transport direction for the whole column should be (the bulk of the water moves at) 90o to the wind.
In real life, however, the surface transport direction is generally somewhat less than the 45o predicted by
the model, usually between 20o and 40o and sometimes as little as 10o to 15o.
A full Ekman spiral is not always developed, because the surface layer may not be homogeneous. A
pycnocline will inhibit the downward transfer of energy. Also, winds do not always blow from the same
direction. In some localities, winds may shift frequently enough that the full Ekman Spiral is rarely
developed.
GEOSTROPHIC CURRENTS
The clockwise gyral circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean caused by the Coriolis Effect, combined
with Ekman Transport (90o to the right of the wind), will tend to pile up particles of water in the center of
each gyre. See Fig. 8-3.
In fact, inside each gyre is a "hill" of water, whose surface rises as much as 2 meters above
the water level at the margins. Sea level in Bermuda is about 1 m higher than on the East
Coast of the United States.
The water will pile up on these hills until the down-slope component of gravity balances the
upslope force of the Coriolis Effect (Ekman Transport). As gravity (the pressure gradient)
pulls water particles down the slope, the Coriolis Effect deflects them to the right (in the
Northern Hemisphere) in a curved path.
Where these two forces balance, there is no net downslope movement, and the current flows
laterally around the hill. It moves parallel to the slope contours rather than downhill,
because the Coriolis deflection acts at right angles to the pressure gradient.
This lateral, rotary current is called the Geostrophic Current. It reinforces the gyral pattern. All the
surface currents (Gulf Stream, West Wind Drift, etc.) are (approximate) geostrophic currents.
We find these hills of water within the center of each gyre. Around each hill flows the gyral
geostrophic current. The geostrophic currents do not flow from high pressure to low
pressure (downhill) but flow parallel to the isobars (lines of constant pressure) around the
slope.
The apex of each hill is not at the center but is shifted to the west, because of the changing
magnitude of the Coriolis Effect with latitude, and because of the changing balance of the
wind stresses that provide energy to the circulation system. This phenomenon is called
westward intensification.

The result is that the current flow on the western margin is much faster than that on the east and is more
narrowly confined.
For this reason, the Western Boundary Currents, such as the Gulf Stream, flow at rather high
velocity (more than 5 km per hour) and are quite narrow, while the eastern return flow is
sluggish (less than 0.9 km per hour) and more diffuse.
Velocities decrease toward the center of the gyre, and in the center circulation is sluggish or
nonexistent. There is a tendency for warm, low-density water and floating materials to pile
up in the center of the gyre, as Sargassum (a floating brown seaweed) does in the Sargasso
Sea.
This convergence of surface water in the centers of the oceanic gyres does something more. It
encourages downwelling (sinking) of warm, nutrient-depleted water, which thickens the warm surface
layer and depresses the isotherms. In the Sargasso Sea a lens of warm water is separated from colder
deep water by a sharp thermocline, above which it floats isostatically.
Isostatic balance means that, although this thicker column of low-density Sargasso Sea water stands at a
higher elevation, its mass is equal to (in gravitational equilibrium with) the shorter, colder, denser water
column to the west of the Gulf Stream. It is maintained at this higher elevation by the convergence of
surface drift induced by Ekman transport.
Winds in the atmosphere also obey the geostrophic relationship, or nearly so. Air does not flow from
high pressure cells to low pressure cells, as might be expected. Rather, the winds flow parallel to the
isobars, flowing clockwise around high-pressure cells and counterclockwise around low-pressure cells in
the Northern Hemisphere. This is what meteorologists call anticyclonic circulation (clockwise in the
Northern Hemisphere, anticlockwise in the Southern Hemisphere). Flow in the opposite direction around
low-pressure cells is cyclonic.
DYNAMIC TOPOGRAPHY
By analogy with the atmosphere, the centers of the ocean gyres must be high-pressure cells, and the
geostrophic currents flow around these high-pressure cells. By analogy with crustal isostatic behavior,
density differences in surface waters should produce elevations, thicknesses and current velocities that
are governed by isostasy.
We may hypothesize that at some level beneath the surface of the ocean (perhaps 100 m), velocities of
wind-driven currents should be zero (the horizontal pressure gradient is zero), and pressures due to the
weight of the overlying columns of water should be equal everywhere. This would be an isobaric
surface, exactly analogous to the isostatic compensation level discussed in Chapter 4.
The elevation of the ocean surface above this isobaric surface should be determined by density. By
measuring temperature and salinity through the water column at many stations, we may calculate
densities. Then we can compute the elevations that should result according to this model and produce a
topographic map of the ocean surface.
Because geostrophic currents flow generally parallel to the topographic contours, and their velocities
increase with the slope of the hill, this is a map of dynamic topography, from which the directions and
velocities of surface currents may be predicted. See Fig. 8-4.

Satellite radar altimetry offers a more direct method of mapping topography, and so does acoustic
tomography (because changes in temperature will change the velocity of the low-frequency sound
signal).
MAJOR SURFACE CURRENTS
Equatorial Currents
See Fig. 8-1. The North Equatorial Current and South Equatorial Current are driven by the Trade
Winds. They are separate currents, separated by a narrow Equatorial Countercurrent, located in the
region of light and shifting winds knwn as the Doldrums. These currents are permanent features in the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
The boundary actually lies north of the Equator in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, because the
meteorological equator is displaced relative to the real equator (because of the imbalance of the
distribution of land and sea in the Northern and Southern hemispheres). In the Indian Ocean, which
extends only to about 20o N., the meteorological equator is shifted 2o to 8o south of the equator.
In the Indian Ocean the North Equatorial Current flows only from November to March, during the
northeast monsoon. In the summer it disappears, as the high-pressure cell builds up over Asia. In its
place, the Southwest Monsoon Current flows from west to east, driven by the southwest monsoon
winds.
The North and South Equatorial Currents transport large volumes of warm water westward, which piles
up in a "hill" at the western end of the ocean. From this domal accumulation the excess water sloshes
back along the equator as the low-velocity Equatorial Counter-Current.
Western Boundary Currents
The Western Boundary Currents carry warm water along the western margins of oceans: Gulf Stream
(including the Caribbean Current and Florida Current), Brazil Current, East Australian Current,
Kuroshio Current, and Agulhas Current.
In the northern Indian Ocean, the Somali Current flows in the summer only, May-September, during the
northwest monsoon. In the southeastern Indian Ocean, warm water from the East Indies moves south
along the west coast of Australia as the Leeuwin Current.
The Western Boundary Currents are stronger and more distinct in the Northern Hemisphere than in the
Southern Hemisphere. They are narrow, less than 100 km wide, but deep, with substantial transport as
deep as 2 km. They are swift, moving as much as 200 km per day. Thus, they transport huge volumes of
water. The Gulf Stream has the highest velocity of any ocean current (up to 9 km/hour).
Because this water comes from the tropics, these are warm currents, and there is a deep, well-developed
pycnocline. The surface waters tend to be depleted in nutrients. The boundary with coastal waters is
sharp, topographically as well as in temperature and color, and there is little or no coastal upwelling. At
depth at this boundary, the isotherms form a sharp wall (slope) all the way to the sea floor.
West Wind Currents
Major east-flowing currents are driven by the Westerly Winds. In the Northern Hemisphere, the North

Atlantic Current continues driving the water delivered by the Gulf Stream, and the North Pacific
Current represents a continuation of the Kuroshio Current. In the Indian Ocean, the Southwest
Monsoon Current flows only in the summer.
In the Southern Hemisphere, this return flow sweeps uninterrupted around Antarctica as the West Wind
Drift, also called the Circum-Antarctic Current or Antarctic Circumpolar Current. This reaches north as
far as 40o. Although its velocity is not high, it transports more water than any other current. It meets
constriction only at the Drake Passage between South America and the Palmer Peninsula of Antarctica,
which is 780 km (300 miles wide) and 3000 m deep.
Eastern Boundary Currents
Eastern Boundary Currents are much less spectacular. These currents are broad (about 1000 km) and
diffuse, with velocities of only tens of kilometers per day. Their boundaries with coastal waters are not
sharp, and coastal upwelling is common. Because the water comes from midlatitudes, these are relatively
cold currents.
Examples include the Canary Current in the North Atlantic, the Benguela Current in the South
Atlantic, the Peru Current in the South Pacific, the California Current in the North Pacific, and the
West Australian Current in the Indian Ocean.
Subpolar Gyres
Continent positions have more effect on current movements in the Northern Hemisphere. The Arctic
Ocean is somewhat isolated from the Pacific Ocean, but it is well connected to the Atlantic.
Cold water from the Arctic Ocean comes down into the North Atlantic as the Labrador Current
(between Greenland and North America) and the East Greenland Current (on the east side of
Greenland and the west side of the Norwegian Sea). Return countercurrents of warmer water are the
West Greenland Current (on the west side of Greenland) and the Norwegian Current.
In the North Pacific, the Aleutian Current, Oyashio Current and Alaskan Current are components of
a similar subpolar gyral system.
Around Antarctica, the East Wind Drift is driven by the Polar Easterlies. It is relatively weak, because it
is located mostly on the continental shelf, beneath the shelf and pack ice. The Falkland Current brings
cold water north from the Drake Passage along the coast of Argentina
THERMOHALINE CIRCULATION
Thermohaline circulation is driven by density differences that are controlled by temperature and
salinity. Although the actual range of density in the open ocean is slight, these slight differences are
extremely important in determining the locations and movements of water masses.
Thermohaline circulation is the chief component of the vertical circulation of the ocean. This is a
density-driven, convection flow. Cold, dense surface waters in polar regions sink and flow laterally
through the ocean basins and eventually return to the surface in low latitudes.
When cooling of the surface water ocurs, or where excessive evaporation or freezing of sea
ice occur, the density stratification may be upset. This instability results in sinking.

The denser water mass sinks, displacing the water underneath until it reaches its appropriate
density level. At that level it will spread laterally, perhaps over very great distances but as a
very thin layer.
Where two water masses meet at convergences, the denser water will submerge beneath the
less dense mass.
The return of deeper water to the surface occurs in part at divergences, where surface
currents separate, effectively pumping cold water back to the surface to complete the cycle.
Although equatorial upwelling is from relatively shallow levels, it is likely that there is a
general upward movement of deeper water everywhere at lower latitudes.
We have already seen in Chapter 7 that at high latitudes, where surface waters are cold, density is largely
regulated by salinity, and temperature has less effect.
At low latitudes, temperature is very important in controlling density, and salinity has less
effect.
At subtropical latitudes, where salinity rises because evaporation exceeds precipitation,
surface waters are still relatively warm, and temperature remains more important than
salinity in regulating density.
The driving force of thermohaline circulation is polar refrigeration. As shelf ice freezes, the cold, more
saline water below becomes denser and sinks. At depth, this water has no more motive power, but it
continues its forward momentum as more and more dense water is generated behind it.
In the Weddell Sea in Antarctica, surface waters are chilled to -1.9oC beneath the ice sheet. The cold,
saline brine sinks and flows down the continental slope and continental rise of Antarctica to the adjacent
abyssal plains, generating the water mass called Antarctic Bottom Water.
In the process of sinking, there is some mixing with other waters, and this mass is warmed
to -0.9oC. It has a characteristic salinity of 34.62.
Cold, dense Antarctic Bottom Water circulates around Antarctica and moves northward into
the deeper parts of all three major ocean basins. It may be detected as a distinguishable
water mass as far north as 20oN in the Atlantic and up to 50oN in the Pacific.
The course of Antarctic Bottom Water is controlled by the Coriolis Effect, being shifted to
the western edges of ocean basins, as well as by submarine topography. For example, in the
Atlantic Ocean, the Walvis Ridge between Tristan da Cunha and South Africa blocks
Antarctic Bottom Water from entering the eastern part of the South Atlantic, but the
Romanche Fracture Zone provides an avenue into the equatorial South Atlantic.
Arctic Bottom Waters are prevented from flowing into the North Atlantic by a submarine ridge between
Greenland and Scotland, and from flowing into the Pacific Ocean by the Bering Sill. The only bottom
water in the Pacific comes from the Antarctic.
Arctic Intermediate Water originates at the Arctic Convergence.
The North Atlantic has the highest surface salinities of any ocean. This salty surface water is

carried into high latitudes by the Gulf Stream and related currents. Near Greenland, this
surface water is cooled to about 0oC.
Becoming denser, it sinks abruptly at the Arctic Convergence and flows south along the
bottom of the North Atlantic, especially along the western boundary.
At lower latitudes, this water mass encounters Antarctic Bottom Water and overrides it,
becoming Arctic Intermediate Water.
Bottom-water currents move at low velocities, ordinarily 1 to 2 cm/sec (0.8 to 1.8 km/day), except along
the western boundaries of oceans, where velocities of up to 5 to 10 km/day have been recorded.
Bottom waters are generated in huge quantities. Thus, there must be a tendency for gradual movement of
waters toward the surface at lower latitudes in all ocean basins, to replace this lost volume. This upward
movement of deeper waters to the surface acts in opposition to the downward movement of heat and
dissolved atmospheric gases, which are replenished at the surface.
Each water mass has its own "fingerprint" of temperature, salinity and oxygen values, according to its
origin and history.
Today, thermohaline circulation is relatively vigorous. Carbon-14 dates of organic detritus in abyssal
waters shows that deep waters of the entire world ocean are replaced on average every 500 years (510
years for Pacific Ocean, 150 for Indian Ocean, 275 for Atlantic Ocean). This is why sea water at all
depths is well oxygenated, and benthic animals live at all depths. It is thermohaline circulation that is
largely responsible for the well-mixed character of the world ocean.
ANTARCTIC CIRCULATION
Around the Antarctic continent, beneath the pack ice at the surface, is the East Wind Drift, driven by the
Polar Easterlies, flowing from east to west between the continent and the Antarctic Divergence. Here,
beneath the freezing ice, cold, saline, well-oxygenated water sinks to generate Antarctic Bottom Water.
See Figs. 8-13, 18-14.
In the Antarctic Zone (from the Antarctic continent to the Antarctic Convergence, especially that part
between the Antarctic Divergence and the Antarctic Convergence), North Atlantic Deep Water water
wells up. It is rich in nutrients and supports high productivity. Strong Prevailing Westerlies drive the
West Wind Drift, which is rapid at all depths.
The Coriolis Effect causes deflection to the left of both the East Wind Drift and the West Wind Drift,
producing the Antarctic Divergence.
Coriolis deflection to the left produces a convergence of the colder Antarctic waters with warmer
Sub-Antarctic water at the Antarctic Convergence, between 50o and 60oS. Here, cold Antarctic water
sinks to form Antarctic Intermediate Water, which flows north at 800 to 1200 m depth. Because most
plankton are very sensitive to temperature changes, the Antarctic Convergence is a sharp boundary
between ocean biogeographic provinces.
At the Subtropical Convergence, the West Wind Drift meets the return flow of the subtropical gyre at a
much weaker convergence.

CONVERGENCES AND DIVERGENCES

A convergence occurs where prevailing winds tend to pile up water. The midlatitude regions are zones
of convergence, where water is piled up, and the pycnocline is depressed. General downwelling or
sinking of the denser mass results.
A divergence occurs where prevailing winds tend to blow water away. The equatorial zone is a zone of
divergence from which water moves away on either side. As a result, the surface of the water is
depressed, but the surface layer is thinner and the pycnocline elevated. General upwelling results.
UPWELLING AND DOWNWELLING
In shallow coastal waters, Ekman Transport of surface waters can produce upwelling or sinking. Where
the wind blows more or less parallel to the shore, net Ekman transport will move water toward or away
from the shore.
In the case of an eastern boundary current, such as the California Current, Coriolis
deflection is offshore. Winds along the coast of southern California come out of the
northeast for part of the year, and therefore net Ekman Transport of surface water is west or
offshore. Deeper water wells up to replace this surface water. As this water typically comes
from a depth of about 200 m, it is colder and richer in nutrients than the water it replaces.
In the Southern Hemisphere, Ekman Transport is to the left (because of the Coriolis Effect).
Here the Peru Current (Eastern Boundary Current) has net Ekman Transport offshore.
Upwelling is facilitated by the relatively steep bathymetric slope of the coastal region of
Peru and Chile. Nutrients are continually replenished by this upwelling, and this produces
the best fishing in the world.
In the Arabian Sea, the seasonal wind pattern shifts with the monsoon. Marked upwelling
occurs in January in the northeastern Arabian Sea off Pakistan, and in July in the western
Arabian Sea souh of the Gulf of Aden.
Where prevailing winds tend to pile water against the coast, sinking (downwelling) occurs. Surface
waters are depleted in nutrients, and regions of sinking have low biological productivity.
Current convergences are marked by downwelling (sinking), and divergences are marked by upwelling.
Along the equator the Trade Winds produce Ekman transport to the north in the Northern
Hemisphere and to the south in the Southern Hemisphere. Between them is a zone of
divergence characterized by Equatorial Upwelling. The surface temperature may be 2oC
cooler.
Local changes in horizontal wind speed (wind shear) can cause divergence or convergence
of surface waters, with consequent upwelling or downwelling. Extreme examples are
hurricanes and typhoons, which accomplish considerable mixing.
LANGMUIR CIRCULATION
Langmuir circulation is a wind-driven pattern named for its discoverer, Irving Langmuir. Steady winds of
moderate velocity blowing across the ocean surface create helical convection cells in the uppermost 6 m

of the water column.

Individual cells are 10-50 meters broad, 5-6 meters deep, and hundreds of meters to several
kilometers long. These cells alternate right- and left-hand circulation. The long axes of these
cells run parallel to wind direction.
Between neighboring cells are zones of divergence and convergence. Downwelling occurs
in the relatively narrow, high-velocity zones of convergence. Upwelling occurs in broader,
low-velocity zones of upwelling.
Organic debris (flotsam), bubbles, soil-surface films and seaweed accumulate in
downwelling zones of convergence. This produces streaks or windrows that run parallel to
the wind direction for great distances.
Langmuir cells are a short-term response, forming after the wind has been blowing for a few minutes to a
few hours, whereas Ekman Transport is a long-term response to a wind blowing for hours to days.
TURBULENCE AND EDDIES
Turbulence is extremely important in oceanic circulation, because this is what mixes gases, nutrients,
heat and particulate debris. Plankton are kept suspended and kept bathed by gases and nutrients by
turbulence.
Turbulence is chaotic motion in a fluid, where many opposing masses collide without pattern, seen as
the generation of random, disorderly eddies.
Eddies occur in all sizes, from large surface-current eddies several hundred kilometers across (such as
the rings of the Gulf Stream) to small inertial eddies that eventually stop under the frictional resistance
(viscosity) of water and so lose their kinetic energy (by conversion into heat). These inertial eddies
represent a major method of transport of heat.
The rings of Western Boundary Currents are such a phenomenon. Western Boundary currents are
channelized and may meander. If a meander gets too large, it may break off the main stream and form a
little gyre called a ring. These rings may be up to several hundred kilometers in diameter, extend several
thousand meters deep, and rotate at speeds from 24 to 96 kilometers per day.
The rings migrate several kilometers per day and may persist for two or three years before dissipating (by
loss of energy due to viscous friction). They accomplish dispersion of plankton and contribute to the
well-mixed character of the ocean. They are particularly well known in association with the Kuroshio
Current and the Loop Current (where a branch of the Gulf Stream detours into the Gulf of Mexico).

GEOL 3377 LECTURE 9A Waves
GEOL 3377: INTRODUCTORY OCEANOGRAPHY

LECTURE 9: WAVES
PART A: WAVE PARAMETERS
About Waves in General
Types of Waves
Parameters of Waves
Wave Shapes
Orbital Vibration
Wave Speed
Deep-Water Waves
Shallow-Water Waves
Transitional Waves
Wave Dispersion
Forces Causing Waves

Energy of a Wave
Shapes of Wind-Generated Waves
Swell
Wave Trains
Wave Energy Spectrum
Wave Interference
Wave Refraction, Diffraction, Reflection
Tsunamis
Internal Waves

Standing Waves
Storm Surge
ABOUT WAVES IN GENERAL

Waves are the most conspicuous feature of the ocean to an observer standing on the beach. Waves are
also very important to sailors, fishermen and coastal dwellers. Waves make and erode beaches, entertain
children and surfers. Storm waves flood and damage low-lying coastal areas, docks, breakwaters and
jetties, ships and offshore platforms.
The ancients knew that waves are somehow caused by wind, but it was not until the 19th century that a
mathematical explanation of waves was developed.
Ocean waves come in many sizes, from the tiny capillary waves to enormous storm waves. The ocean
surface usually is a complex of many different kinds of waves, all interacting. The mathematics of such a
surface can become very complex. Commonly, we work with simplified explanations of ideal waves.
Our understanding of ideal wave phenomena is then applied to more complex applications.
TYPES OF WAVES
Waves represent the transmission of energy through a medium (a state of matter) by vibration. Particles
in the medium vibrate (oscillate) back and forth or in orbits, transmitting the energy from one particle to
another along the path of propagation, without themselves being permanently displaced. See Fig. 9-1.
We can define several types of waves:
In standing waves the waveform appears to be stationary.
In simple progressive waves the waveform is observed to move as the energy is transmitted
laterally. We can recognize two kinds:
In longitudinal progressive waves the particles move back and forth in a
direction parallel to the direction of propagation. An example is sound.
Longitudinal waves are transmitted by all three states of matter: solid, liquid
and gas.
In transverse progressive waves the particles vibrate back and forth in a
direction perpendicular to the direction of propagation. This type of wave can
only be transmitted in solids.
Both longitudinal and transverse waves are called body waves, because they transfer energy
through a body of matter.
Water waves are neither longitudinal nor transverse but have characteristics of both. They
are orbital waves or interface waves, meaning that energy is transmitted at the interface
between two fluids. The particles move in circular orbits at the interface.

PARAMETERS OF WAVES:
Simple progressive waves have several parameters:
L = wavelength = horizontal distance between successive troughs or crests (m).
H = wave height = vertical distance from trough to crest (m). It is the diameter of the orbital
movement of water particles (= 2 X radius).
T = wave period = time for successive crests to pass a fixed point, which can be measured
with a stopwatch (sec). The wave period is determined by the generating force.
f = wave frequency = the number of wavelengths that pass a fixed point in a unit of time
(beats per minute).
f = 1/T
T = 1/f
DEFINITIONS AND DERIVATION OF COMPUTATIONAL EQUATIONS:
For deep-water waves, the wavelength is a function of (determined by) the wave period, and the wave
speed is also a function of the wave period. See Fig. 9-2.
L = (g/2Π)T2 (definition)
where Π = Greek letter pi = 3.14
and g = the gravitational acceleration constant = 9.81 m/sec/sec
so L = (9.81m/sec2) X T2 sec2 / 2 X 3.14
and L = 1.56 m/sec2 X T2(sec)
and therefore: L = 1.56 T2 (computational equation)

or if we know L, we can solve for T:
T = square root of (L/1.56)
or T = (L/1.56)1/2
or T = L/1.56 (computational equation)
Once a wave has been formed, its speed and its wavelength may be altered, but its period remains
constant.
S = speed = the speed of movement of the crest of a wave (m/sec). It is a function of the wave period.
S is the phase velocity, the speed of a single waveform. In some books, the phase velocity is
represented by C for celerity. (V is reserved for group velocity, the speed of a group or train
of waves.)

S = L/T (definition, not computational equation)

and S = L f (definition, not computational equation)
where L = wavelength in meters (meters, not feet or any other unit)
and T = wave period in seconds (seconds, not minutes)
and f = number of wavelengths per minute (minutes, not seconds)
The speed of a wave may be calculated from its period, frequency or wavelength, whichever is known.
Because most ocean waves have a frequency <1sec (less than one wave crest per second), it is generally
more convenient to compute wave speed (S) using period (T) rather than frequency (f).
These expressions define wave parameters. They are not the computational equations. The actual
computational equations for wave speed are given below.
Once a wave has been formed, the wavelength and the speed at which the wave moves may change, but
the wave period remains the same. The wave period is determined by the generating force.
WAVE SHAPES
Wave shapes change with size:
Relatively small waves can be described as simple sine waves. A sine wave is an unrolled
circle.
Larger waves tend to have sharp crests and rounded troughs, a type of curve known as a
trochoid.
Wave steepness = H/L. It is the ratio of wave height to wavelength. Wave steepness governs the
stability of the wave.
There are limits on the size to which a wave can grow. When the ratio of wave height to wave length
(H/L) exceeds 1/7, or when the angle at the crest is less than 120o, then waves become unstable and start
to break. The over-steepened crests ravel and start to spill. This condition produces whitecaps.
ORBITAL VIBRATION
When waves move through deep water, the water molecules move in circular orbits in a vertical plane,
returning nearly to the starting position after the wave passes.
There is a very slight net transport forward in the direction of propagation, caused by the fact that the
water moves forward with the crest slightly faster than it moves backward with the trough (because of
declining orbital diameter with depth). However, almost none of the energy is used in permanent
movement of water. This is why a boat or swimmer can easily move through such waves.
The diameter of the orbit (Do) and, hence, the particle speed decrease with increasing depth below the
surface.
Do = diameter of the orbit = wave height at the surface.

Do = H/2 at L/9
Do = nearly 0 at L/2. Particle motion ceases at a depth of half the wave length, which is the
effective depth limit of wave motion. This is wave base.
In shallow water (water depths less than one twentieth of the wavelength, d<L/20), orbits are flattened
by interference from the sea floor.
As the wave feels bottom, the orbits become elliptical, progressively more flattened (vertical
component decreasing) near bottom. As vertical movement is hindered, the water particles
move mainly back and forth.
The speed (S) decreases, but the period (T) remains constant.
S = L/T. Therefore, the wave length (L) decreases, and steepness (H/L) increases.
The bottom of the wave is retarded by the bottom and by the backrush of water draining off
the beach from the previous wave. This tends to shorten the wavelength. The period (T) is
constant. Therefore, the wave speed is slowed.
Particles at the sea surface continue their orbital movement with less interference, gaining
velocity as the wave steepness increases. The top of the waveform leans toward the shore.
Eventually the crest spills forward along an orbital path and breaks on the shoaling coast
under the pull of gravity, forming breakers.
In the surf zone the energy from that distant sea is released. Because the orbital movement is interrupted,
there is forward transport of water in the surf zone.
The crest of a breaker breaks at a water depth of about 1.3 times the breaker height, when
the wave has reached a steepness of H/L = 1/7 = 0.14.
Plunging breakers form on steep coasts and still retain considerable orbital motion.
Spilling breakers form on gently sloping coasts and release their energy more gently.
Because in shallow water the particle motion continues to the ocean bottom, shallow-water waves can
erode sediment. The maximum depth at which this motion can be felt on a particular coast is called wave
base. It is deeper for storms than for everyday swell.
WAVE SPEED
Deep-Water Waves
We will assume that wavelength is much greater than wave height. Certainly, this is true in the ocean.
See Fig. 9-3. Deep-water waves are in water depths that are at least half of the wavelength (d>L/2). For
deep-water waves, wave speed in m/sec may be calculated by two equations, from either L or T:
S = gT/2Π
So S = [9.8 m/sec2 X T sec] / [2 X 3.14]

Sdeep = 1.56T (computational equation)
S = square root of (gL/2Π)

S = (g L/2Π)1/2
S = 1.25 L1/2
Sdeep = 1.25 L (computational equation)
where:
d = water depth (d>L/2)
L = wavelength in meters
g = acceleration of gravity = 9.8 m/sec/sec
T = wave period in seconds
Π = pi = 3.14
The first equation (using T) is more generally useful, because wave period (T) is easier to measure than
wave length (L).
Derivation of the second equation:
S = L/T, so L = ST and T = L/S
S = L/T = (gL/S)/2Π = gL/S2Π
S2 = gL/2Π
S = square root of (gL/2Π)
Shallow-Water Waves
Deep-water waves generated at sea maintain their period (T) but slow down as they encounter shallower
depths in the coastal zone. Because S=L/T, the wave length also decreases.
At a water depth of L/2, waves start to touch bottom. Wavelength and wave speed decrease. Wave
steepness increases, because wave height does not change and wavelength decreases.
Shallow-water waves are in water depths less than one-twentieth the wavelength (d<L/20). For
shallow-water waves (d<L/20), speed (m/sec) may be computed as:
S = square root of (g d)
S = 3.1 X square root of (d)
S = 3.1(d)1/2
Sshallow = 3.1 d (computational equation)

where d = water depth in meters

Whereas the speed of a deep-water wave (d >L/2) is controlled by the period or the wavelength, the
speed of a shallow-water wave (d < L/20) is entirely determined by the water depth.
Transitional Waves
In the zone between deep-water and shallow-water waves are the transitional waves (L/20<d<L/2). They
have wavelengths greater than 2X but less than 20X the water depth. At these intermediate depths, a
more complex, more general equation must be applied (but not in this course).
That equation has two terms, reflecting the dual influence of wavelength and depth. (If L <
4d, or if L > 20d, then some simplifying assumptions may be made, and a simpler formula
may be used to calculate the speed of a transitional wave. If not, then the full equation must
be used.)
For transitional waves, the wave speed is determined both by wavelength and by water depth.
However, for any particular wavelength, the wave speed of a transitional wave is lower than
for a deep-water wave of the same wavelength, reflecting the retarding influence of depth.
For any particular depth, the wave speed of a transitional wave is greater than for a
shallow-water wave in the same depth.
Fig. 9.4 graphs these relationships. In this course, we will estimate (rather than calculate) transitional
wave speeds using Fig. 9.4.
Fortunately, most waves of interest are either deep-water or shallow-water waves.
Only wind waves can be deep-water waves. Seiches and tides must always be shallow-water waves.
WAVE DISPERSION
For deep-water waves, velocity is a function of wavelength. Therefore, in deep water, if both long and
short waves are being generated by a storm at sea, the long wavelengths move faster and overtake the
short wavelengths. The longer waves will reach a distant shore first. This phenomenon is called
dispersion.
In shallow water there is no dispersion, because the only parameter controlling wave speed is depth.
FORCES CAUSING WAVES
Two kinds of forces control the behavior of waves: those that initially disturb the water, and those that
act to restore the still-water equilibrium.
Free waves move independently of the causal force. The cause may be a sudden impulse,
such as a pebble, an explosion or an earthquake. This impulse generates free waves that
move independently of the disturbance that caused them.
Forced waves are not free to move independently, because the disturbing force is constantly
applied. An example is tides caused by the attractive forces of sun and moon.

Wind waves have characteristics of both free and forced waves.

Restoring forces may be:
surface tension (for capillary waves, with L<1.7 cm, T<0.1 sec)
or gravity (for most common kinds of waves, with T = 1 sec to 5 min).
The Coriolis effect is important for waves with T>5 minutes.
ENERGY OF A WAVE
Waves transmit energy from the disturbing force that formed them. Water particles have potential
energy (due to position of water above or below the still-water level) and kinetic energy (orbital
movement).
The total energy of a wave is proportional to the square of the wave height. Doubling H increases the
wave energy by a factor of 4.
E is proportional to H2
where E = total energy of a wave, and H = wave height
Waves are manifestations of energy moving through water. A great deal of energy is contained in each
wave. This energy is dissipated in part as heat when waves strike a coastline, and part of it is used to do
work. The pounding of surf on a beach may be detected far away on a seismograph as faint earth tremors.

GEOL 3377 Lecture 9b Waves

LECTURE 9: WAVES
PART B: WAVE PHENOMENA
About Waves in General

Types of Waves
Parameters of Waves
Wave Shapes
Orbital Vibration
Wave Speed
Deep-Water Waves
Shallow-Water Waves
Transitional Waves
Wave Dispersion
Forces Causing Waves
Energy of a Wave
Shapes of Wind-Generated Waves
Swell
Wave Trains
Wave Energy Spectrum
Wave Interference
Wave Refraction, Diffraction, Reflection
Tsunamis

Internal Waves
Standing Waves
Storm Surge
SHAPES OF WIND-GENERATED WAVES

A gentle breeze blowing across the surface causes stresses that are expressed in capillary waves. These
are tiny ripples with rounded crests, V-shaped troughs, and wavelengths less than 1.74 cm. They die
down immediately if the wind stops blowing, by the restoring force of capillarity (surface tension). See
Fig. 9-6.
These ripples roughen the surface, providing more vertical surface for the wind to push. As the wind
continues to blow, the ripples grow larger and are tranformed into gravity waves. These have
wavelengths greater than 1.74 cm and a shape more like that of a sine curve. The wavelength is generally
15 to 35 times the height (H/L = l/15-l/35). If the wind stops blowing, these waves die down by the
restoring force of gravity.
The area in which these waves are forming is called the sea, generally corresponding to a storm at sea. At
this point there is a great variety of wave heights, wavelengths and directions, caused by frequent shifts
in wind intensity and direction.
As winds continue to blow, these gravity waves grow in size. Wave height increases more rapidly than
wavelength. The shape changes, with crests becoming angulate and troughs rounded.
Eventually the waves reach a maximum size for that particular wind velocity, defined as the point at
which the energy supplied by the wind is equaled by the energy lost by breaking waves (white-caps).
This is called a fully developed sea.
The size of the waves depends on the amount of energy supplied by the wind, which is controlled by
wind speed, the wind duration (length of time that the wind blows in a constant direction), and the
fetch (maximum direction across which the wind blows in a constant direction).
For any wind speed, there is a a maximum fetch and duration, after which no further growth in wave size
occurs. The size of waves can be predicted from this information, though computation is complicated by
the changeability of winds.
The waves in a fully developed sea are steep, chaotic and sharp-crested. H/L frequently exceeds 1/7, so
that waves break in whitecaps or have their crests blown off by the wind (spray).
The largest wind-waves at sea are formed by storms or series of storms. Wave heights are mostly less
than 2 m, though some may reach 10 m. The largest wind-generated wave ever measured was a 34 m
wave with a period of 14.8 sec (1935, North Pacific).
SWELL

As the storm continues, the propagating waves move toward the margin of the generating area. Here,
wind velocities are lower, so their speed approaches, then equals, and then exceeds the wind speed.
As energy input from wind declines, wave steepness decreases. The sharp-crested, unpredictable sea is
smoothed out into long, smooth-crested, longer-period waves, called swell.
Waves move in the direction of the wind that initiated them. As wind is rarely constant, waves will fan
out as they move away from a storm area. This is called angular dispersion. Angular dispersion causes
the energy to be spread over a larger area, causing a reduction in wave height.
Because long-wavelength waves travel faster than short ones, they overtake and pass the short ones. This
separation of wavelengths is called dispersion. Thus, on some remote shore the first sign of an
approaching storm may be waves of abnormally long period.
This swell is a free wave. Its movement is the result of momentum, the energy it has already gained.
If additional energy were to be transferred to this swell by wind, with a periodicity corresponding to the
period of the swell, then the swell would take on characteristics of a forced wave, as well. (A forced
wave is maintained by a force with a periodicity that is the same as that of the wave.) This can happen in
some parts of the ocean.
Swell from storms at sea can travel tens of thousands of kilometers, across an entire ocean basin,
eventually to release this energy on some coast.
WAVE TRAINS
A group or series of waves generated by the same event and moving together across the ocean is a wave
train. Recall that each wave moves at a speed corresponding to its own wavelength and period.
Yet, if we watch a single wave in a wave train at sea, we find that it advances through the
group and disappears. This is because individual waves move at a speed twice that of the
group.
As each wave approaches the front, it loses height and disappears, to be followed by another
that has also moved forward from the rear. New waves continually form at the rear of a
wave train, move forward, and disappear at the front.
Why does this happen? Because most waves observed at sea are not individual wave trains with identical
periods. They are envelopes made up by the addition of two or more wave trains of different periods.
When two or more wave trains of slightly different periods are superimposed, the results are
additive. The wave amplitudes add where they are in phase and subtract where they are out
of phase.
Two wave trains of slightly different wave lengths produce "beats." (This is what the piano
tuner listens for.) Maxima and minima are formed where the two wave trains are in phase
and out of phase.
What is seen at sea is the resulting envelope formed by this interaction.
If both wave trains were traveling at the same speed, the resulting envelope of maxima and

minima would travel at this same speed.

But if the two wave trains move at different velocities, then the maxima and minima
(regions where the two wave trains are in and out of phase) will change. These maxima
(regions of maximum wave height in the envelope) will travel at a velocity that is slower
than either of the individual wave trains.
The speed of this envelope of maxima and minima is called the group velocity (V):
V = 1/2 Sdeep
V= gT/4Π
V = 0.78T m/sec
This group velocity is half the average speed of the individual component wave trains. This why the
maxima appear, run forward and disappear. The wave energy is propagated at half the speed (group
velocity) of the phase velocity.
This phenomenon is not seen in shallow-water waves. There, depth is the controlling factor, and the
group velocity equals the individual velocity. In the transitional zone, the individual waves are slowed
down until the individual wave speed equals the group velocity. A surfer who picks a wave to ride need
not worry that it will disappear.
Vshallow = Sshallow
WAVE ENERGY SPECTRUM

The energy of a wave is a function of the square of its amplitude.
Suppose an ocean wave results from the interaction of many wave trains, each with its own wave height,
period and duration of propagation. We may describe the energy of this wave as a wave energy
spectrum. There are mathematical techniques for distinguishing the individual additive components.
The energy of a single wave is represented by:
Energy per unit area of sea surface = (ρ g H2)/8, where:
H = wave height
g = gravitational acceleration = 9.8 m/sec/sec
ρ = density in g/cm3
The energy in a unit area of sea surface formed by waves of several different heights is additive and
proportional to the square of the energy in each wave:
Energy = ρ g (H12 + H22 + H32 + . . . + Hn2) / 8
The resulting wave height is the square root of the sum of the squares of the heights of the several wave
trains:

H = square root of (H12 + H22 + H32 + . . . + Hn2)
H = (H12 + H22 + H32 + . . . + Hn2)1/2
The total energy of waves and the frequency distribution of waves of different intensities are very
important for calculating how ships and other structures should be built to resist the expected waves.
The shape of such energy distributions approximates the Rayleigh Probability Distribution Curve. (If
you don't know what that is, don't worry about it. It is a mathematical function familiar to engineers,
mathematicians and physical oceanographers.) Measurements of the frequency of occurrence of waves
having heights within narrow ranges of values tend to conform to this curve. Thus, we can make just a
few observations and predict the total spectrum.
For example, the "significant height" (Hs) is that typically sensed by an observer at sea. It equals the
average of the highest third of all the waves. From Hs we can predict the height of the highest waves, the
average wave height, and the most common (modal) wave height:
The highest 10% will be 1.29 Hs
The average wave height = 0.61 Hs
The modal wave height = Hs/2
Not all waves are high, even in a storm. Only about 10-15% of waves exceed 6 m, even in stormy areas.
Waves rarely exceed 13-15 m even in stormy belts, because of changing wind directions and limited
fetch. The Pacific has the largest recorded waves (34 m in 1933).
WAVE INTERFERENCE
The ocean surface is the sum of waves of many sizes and sources. It is an envelope of superposed wave
trains. Swells originating from storms in different parts of an ocean meet, run together and pass through
each other. This produces varied interference patterns. The pattern produced by superposing two sets of
swell will be additive, with crests reinforcing if they are in phase and canceling if they are out of phase.
Constructive interference between two wave trains with the same wavelength (if they
come together in phase) would produce a wave with the same wavelength but twice the
wave height.
Destructive interference will reduce wave heights.
A mixed interference pattern is most common.
WAVE REFRACTION, DIFFRACTION, REFLECTION
Coasts are not usually linear, and swell does not usually approach a coastline at right angles. As a wave
approaches the shore some part of it encounters shoaling bottom first and is slowed down, relative to the
rest of the wave.
The result is that wave fronts refract (bend) as they approach the shore, bending to become nearly

parallel with the curving coastline (like a marching band turning a corner). Because waves continue to
move faster along the deeper parts of the shore, this refraction concentrates wave energy on coastal
prominences.
Evenly spaced orthogonal (right-angled) lines of wave paths illustrate how this energy is concentrated
on rocky headlands and dispersed in sheltered bays, where sediment may be deposited. See Fig. 9-13.
Wave fronts diffract (bend) locally around objects, such as headlands or jetties. See Fig. 9-14. In this
way, waves enter sheltered bays, though with their energy much dispersed and the direction shifted.
Waves may be reflected from a barrier such as a jetty or sea wall. Unless the barrier is at exactly 90o,
some of the energy will be absorbed or transmitted rather than reflected. The angle of reflection will
equal the angle of incidence. An interference pattern may be produced.
TSUNAMIS
Tsunamis are long-period waves caused by sudden movements of the sea floor caused by earthquakes or
volcanic eruptions. They behave like shallow-water waves even in the deep ocean. (The vernacular term
"tidal wave" is misleading, as these have nothing to do with tides.)
For example, an earthquake in the Aleutians on April 1, 1946, caused a tsunami with a 15 minute period
and a wavelength of 150 km:
In the Pacific the average water depth is 4300 m (4.3 km).
L/d = 150 km / 4.3 km = 34.9
which means that the wavelength of this tsunami was much more than 20 X depth,
so it behaved like a shallow-water wave. Its speed was about 800 km/hr, and its wave height
was 0.5 m in deep water (undetectable at sea).
When such a wave reaches shore, the results are catastrophic, because of its great speed and height. The
trough approaches first and then the crest. The highest crest is not generally the first but the third or
fourth.
In the Hawaiian Islands, such waves hit as a moving wall of water up to 6 m high, with breakers up to 16
m above sea level funneled into the valleys. Today, an international warning net exists to detect subsea
earthquakes likely to cause tsunamis and to warn of them.
The tsunami in July 1998 on the north shore of Papua New Guinea was caused by an earthquake
(magnitude 7 on Richter scale) associated with movement on a thrust fault about 12 miles offshore. This
is an active margin at the converging boundary between the Australia-New Guinea Plate and the Bismark
Micro-Plate. The steeply sloping bathymetry facilitated concentration of water, and wave height was
estimated at 23 to 30 feet. The close proximity made warning impossible, as the wave arrived only a few
minutes after the generating event and before the seismic signal reached distant stations of the global
warning net. Thousands died in the villages along the beaches. Similar though smaller events have
occurred in the Santa Barbara Channel off southern California.
INTERNAL WAVE

Internal waves occur at any density discontinuity (interface) within the ocean, especially at the
pycnocline. The causes are many: storms, surface waves, ships, tidal action, submarine avalanches and
turbidity flows. See Fig. 9-19.
Internal waves are poorly understood. In many cases it is suspected that they have a large tidal
component.
Because density differences are generally slight compared to those between water and air, the wave
heights can be much higher for the same input of energy. The speed is much slower, and their
characteristics are thought to resemble shallow-water waves
STANDING WAVES
A standing wave or seiche (pronounced saysh) is a surface oscillation that does not appear to move
horizontally. It is the sum of two waves of the same length moving in opposite directions. See Fig. 9-15.
This is caused by the interference of wave trains with the same period moving in opposite directions.
Particle movement is vertical only, rather than circular. There is no net momentum in either direction.
Standing waves are characterized by nodes (lines along which there is no vertical movement) and
antinodes (lines along which crests become troughs).
The water movement is like the sloshing motion of water in a pan or bathtub, where the whole water
mass appears to oscillate about a quiet standing node. This is resonance, as in the vibrating string of a
violin.
If energy in pulses is supplied to a basin, such that the period of the impulses equals the natural period of
the basin, the height of this standing wave will grow with time. The basin will resonate until the energy is
dissipated by friction associated with boundaries and viscosity.
Examples of energy in pulses include storm surge, sudden change in barometric pressure, earthquakes,
tides, landslides. A tidal standing wave is characteristic of some coasts.
In a closed, steep-sided basin where the period of the impulse is about equal to the natural period of
oscillation, there is a crest at one end of the basin when there is a trough at the other end. The natural
period of oscillation depends on the geometry of the basin.
Tclosed = 2LB/square root of (gD)
Tclosed = 2LB / (gD)1/2
Tclosed = 2 LB / (gD)
where:
T = natural period of oscillation in seconds
L = length of basin in meters
g = acceleration of gravity = 9.8 m/sec/sec
D = depth in meters

For an open basin, because the open end must always be a node:
Topen = 4LB/square root of (gD) = 4LB / (gD)1/2
Topen = 4LB / (gD)
STORM SURGE
Cyclonic storms at sea produce a hill of water beneath them, because of the low atmospheric pressure,
and because of Ekman transport related to the gyral pattern of wind directions. This elevated sea-level
surface moves with the storm, as the winds producing it move.
As the storm makes landfall, this wind-driven excess water causes flooding in low-lying coastal areas. If
this occurs at time of high tide the effects are additive and especially devastating.

GEOL 3377 Lecture 10 Tides
LECTURE 10: TIDES

Tide Prediction
Newton's Three Laws of Motion
Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces
Newton's Law of Gravitation
Derivation of the Tide-Generating Force
Equilibrium Theory of Tides
Dynamical Theory of Tides
Types of Tides
Standing Tidal Waves
Kelvin Waves
World Cotidal Map
TIDE PREDICTION
To coastal dwellers, tides are conspicuous and important to everyday life. Tides have been observed and
predicted since antiquity. The relationship to phases of the moon and sun was recognized by Pliny the
Elder (AD 23-49) and by many coastal peoples.
Tides in the Mediterranean are small and easily ignored, but those of the North Atlantic have been
studied and recorded since the early Middle Ages. The Venerable Bede (AD 673-735) described the tidal
observations by British priests. He described the relationship of tidal phenomena to the moon, pointing
out that accurate tidal records must be kept for at least 29 years (one lunar cycle) before accurate tide
tables can be produced. A set of tide tables for London Bridge dating from the late 12th or early 13th
century is still extant.
The first mathematical explanation of the behavior of tides was by Sir Isaac Newton in 1686.
NEWTON'S THREE LAWS OF MOTION:
1. A body at rest or moving with uniform velocity continues so to move unless a force acts upon it.

2. If a force is applied to a body, the body acquires an acceleration in the direction in which the force acts
and proportional in magnitude to it:
F=kma
where F = force
k = a constant (but in many contexts, units will be chosen such that k = 1)
m = mass
a = acceleration = the time-rate of change of velocity, where v = velocity =
time-rate of change of position
3. To every force there is an equal and opposite reaction-force.
CENTRIPETAL AND CENTRIFUGAL FORCES
When a body moves with constant speed in a circle, it is constantly changing direction through time
rather than moving in a straight line. If the body has any mass, a force must be acting upon it. It has an
acceleration (a) directed toward the center of the circle, balancing the acceleration (a) directed outward.
See Fig. 10-3.
F = m a (force = mass X acceleration)
with a = v2/r, where r is the radius of the circle,
so F = mv2/r
This is Centripetal Force (center-seeking). It points toward the center of the circle. It's not really a
separate force, but the inertia (mass times acceleration) keeping the body in this motion. If it were to be
shut off (if the string breaks), the object would fly away in a straight line at a tangent to the circle.
Centrifugal Force (center-fleeing) is the reaction (equal and opposite). The equation is the same. It does
not act upon this body but is a force exerted by this body on some other body (the tug on the string).
NEWTON'S LAW OF GRAVITATION
Newton's Law of Gravitation states than every particle of mass attracts every other particle of mass with
a force that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between the masses.
Fg = (G m1 X m2 )/r2
where G = the universal gravitational constant

m1 and m2 are the masses of the two particles
r = distance between the two particles. For spherical bodies, we may consider
all the mass to be concentrated at the center, so r = distance between the centers
of the two bodies.

The tide-generating force is derived from the force of gravitational attraction, but is not the whole of the
latter and is not linearly proportional to it. Because centripetal force is involved, it can be derived that the
tide-generating force is actually proportional to r3.
F α (m1 X m2) / r3
α means "is proportional to."

In other words, the distance between the objects is weighted more heavily for the tide-generating force
than for the gravitational attraction force.
The sun is 27 million times more massive than the moon but 390 times farther from the earth than the
moon. See Fig. 10-1. Because the tide-generating force varies as the inverse cube of the distance, the
sun's tide-generating force is only about 46% of that of the moon. Therefore, the moon rather than the
sun dominates earth tides.
DERIVATION OF THE TIDE-GENERATING FORCE
See Fig. 10-2. The earth and the moon rotate about their Common Center of Mass, the barycenter,
which is located in the mantle about 4700 km from the center of the earth.
This barycenter orbits the sun in a smooth path. The moon and the earth follow wavy paths
around this barycenter, regularly alternating positions with respect to the sun.
See Fig. 10-4. All particles of the earth and all points on the surface of the earth follow circular paths
about this Common Center. All these circles have the same radius as that followed by the earth's center.
The gravitational attraction between the earth and moon provides the centripetal force
required to keep these bodies in their proper rotational orbits.
The average gravitational attraction per unit of mass must equal the average centripetal
acceleration, in order to keep the earth in its proper path.
However, the actual forces at any particular point are not equal for all points on the earth.
See Fig. 10-5. All points on the surface of the earth follow circular orbits around the barycenter. Pink
arrows (C) drawn from surface points to the centers of the orbits they describe represent the magnitude
and direction of centripetal force (center-seeking force required to hold these particles in their orbital
paths).
All pink arrows (C) have the same length (same amount of force) and the same direction
(parallel to a line connecting the centers of the earth and moon).
Thus, the centripetal acceleration required is the same magnitude for all particles (of unit
mass) and is directed toward the center of each particle's orbit.
However, the gravitational attraction toward the moon that supplies this acceleration is greater for
particles near the moon and smaller for particles farther away. For all particles it is directed toward the
center of the moon.
Black arrows (G) representing this gravitational attraction have the same direction as pink arrows (C)

only along a path connecting the center of the earth with the center of the moon. Elsewhere, the
gravitational force (G) is directed at an angle to the centripetal force (C).
Black arrows (G) are equal in length (magnitude of force) to pink arrows (C) only along an equatorial
plane through the center of the earth. Elsewhere, gravitational force exceeds or is exceeded by centripetal
force.
G > C in the half of the earth closer to the moon.
G < C in the half of the earth away from the moon.
G = C along the "equatorial" plane perpendicular to path connecting centers of earth and
moon.
The resulting net differences in magnitude and direction between these two arrows (vectors) provide
the residual force (resultant vector) that is the tide-generating force. The blue arrows of Fig. 10-5
represent this tide-generating force.
These residual forces are small, about 10-7 of earth's gravity. Where these residual forces are directed
perpendicular to the earth's surface, they have no tidal effect.
These resulting net tidal forces are entirely vertical at the zenith (moon directly overhead),
at the nadir (moon directly beneath), and along an equatorial line representing the
intersection of a plane perpendicular to this line connecting centers of earth and moon.
Elsewhere on the earth's surface there is a horizontal component to this net force, which reaches a
maximum at 45o. Only those residual forces with a horizontal component actually displace water
horizontally to cause tides.
The vertical component remains large, though it is small relative to gravity.
The horizontal component is small relative to the vertical component, but it is of the same
order of magnitude as other forces acting at the earth's surface.
Thus, it is the horizontal component that can push water horizontally and that is responsible
for generating the tidal wave.
So, the magnitude of the tide-generating force varies over the surface of the earth.
Along an "equator" (intersection of surface with a plane through the center and
perpendicular to a line connecting the centers of earth and moon) and at two "poles" (zenith
and nadir), the tide-generating force is zero.
Away from these points the tide-generating force increases in magnitude, reaching a
maximum at two great circles (four quadrants) that intersect the "equator" at 45o.
This tide-generating force pulls particles of water horizontally away from the equatorial plane toward the
nadir and zenith.
EQUILIBRIUM THEORY OF TIDES
We have established that the dominant tide-generating force is the horizontal component of the resulting

net force applied at points over the earth's surface as a result of the earth-moon rotating system and
mutual gravitational attraction.
See Fig. 10-6 for the ideal equilibrium tide. This equilibrium tide is theoretical only and does not exist.
On an earth covered by ocean to a uniform depth (without considering friction), there would
be two tidal bulges, one toward and one away from the moon, as the earth rotates.
If the moon were stationary above the equator, the maximum bulge would occur on the
equator beneath the moon and on the opposite side of the earth. The tidal period would be
12 hours.
At higher latitudes, the tidal period would be the same, but the tidal amplitude would be
less.
However, the earth-moon system rotates about its center of mass, and the moon requires 29.53 days for a
complete circuit. See Fig. 10.7.
During one 24-hour solar day, the moon travels east 12.2o, and earth must rotate another 50
minutes of time to restore yesterday's position.
360o/29.53 days = 12.2o/day
Thus, the tidal day (lunar day) is actually 24 hours 50 minutes, and the moon rises about 50
minutes later each night.
As the earth-moon system moves around the sun, the centers of each follow a wavy path, because the
whole system is also rotating about its center of mass. See Fig. 10.2 again.
The sun-tide is alternately added to and subtracted from the lunar tide, producing a range
of intermediate bulges. See Fig. 10.8.
When the moon is between the earth and the sun (= conjunction or new moon)
or on the other side ( = opposition or full moon), the tidal bulges caused by sun
and moon are aligned and additive. The spring tides (highest highs and lowest
lows) occur at this time.
When the moon is at halfway (1st or 3rd quarter = quadrature), the respective
bulges caused by sun and moon are at right angles and tend to interfere. Neap
tides (less extreme highs and lows) occur at this time.
Fig. 10-9 shows that maximum tidal range occurs at spring tides, minimum at neap tides.
Tidal range refers to tidal amplitude, the wave height of the tidal wave. It is the difference
between high tide and low tide levels.
However, neither the sun nor the moon remain above the equator. See Fig. 10.10.
The earth's rotational axis (and therefore the plane of earth's equator) is tilted at 23.5o to the
plane of the ecliptic.
Therefore, the sun moves up and down in the sky from an apparent declination (angular

distance from the equator) of 23.5oN to 23.5oS and back again on a yearly cycle. So do the
sun tides (the solar constituents of the tides).
The plane of the moon's orbit is inclined at 5o to the plane of the ecliptic. This plane also
rotates (precesses) with a precessional cycle of 18.6 years.
Thus, over an 18.5 year cycle, the maximum declination of the moon (angular distance
north and south of the equator) varies from 18.5o to 28.5o (23.5o plus or minus 5o).
For all these reasons, the tidal bulges are not usually aligned on the equator but move with the moon to a
maximum 28.5o N and S of the equator. See Fig. 10-12.
Because the earth's orbit is an ellipse rather than a circle, the distance between the sun and earth varies
over the year from 148.5 million km at perihelion (near-sun) to 152.2 km at aphelion (away from sun).
Therefore, spring tides have greater ranges in the winter than the summer (Northern
Hemisphere calendar).
The orbital distance between the earth and moon varies over a month (27.5 days) from 375,200 km at
perigee (near-earth) to 405,800 km at apogee (away-from-earth).
Therefore, tidal range is greater at perigee each month.
All of these changing factors must be taken into account in any model to predict tides. We can integrate
them all into the Equilibrium Tide Model. See Fig. 10-14.
The equilibrium tide model predicts, for a water-covered earth, two high tides and two low
tides per day.
For all points not on the equator, this model predicts that successive high or low tides will
be of different magnitude (Diurnal Inequality).
Tidal ranges should vary on monthly and yearly cycles related to changing distances from
sun and moon.
Tidal ranges should vary on fortnightly cycles (spring-neap) related to relative position of
sun and moon.
Maximum possible tidal range is produced when the sun is at perihelion, in conjunction or opposition
with the moon at perigee, and when both moon and sun have zero declination. This happens only once in
every 1600 years, last in 1700 AD, next in 3300 AD.
DYNAMICAL THEORY OF TIDES
The tidal wave consists of water being moved horizontally. The tidal wave behaves as an extreme
example of a shallow-water wave, with velocity controlled by water depth.
The bulges of water under the moon, separated by a distance of about 20,000 km (about half the earth's
circumference), should move at a velocity of more than 1600 km/hr to maintain their position. But, for
this velocity, the depth of the ideal ocean would have to be 22 km.

Wavelength = 20,000 km
40,000 km / 24.83 hours = 1620.7382 km/hr
In fact, the depth of the real ocean is much less, only about 3.9 km. Therefore, the tidal waves move as
shallow-water waves, at velocities determined by water depth.
s = 3.1 X square root of depth
The tidal waves move at less than half the perceived velocity of the sun and moon (apparent
motion). The position and velocity of the tidal wave is controlled locally by friction from the
sea floor.
The maximum velocity of the tidal wave in the open ocean is about 700 km/hour.
The tidal wave moves as a forced wave, because the force that produces it is operating constantly.
Continents interrupt the free movement of the tidal bulge. The quantity of water to be moved is great.
Water in motion is affected by the local depth and shape of a basin. The ocean basins have free
oscillatory waves that further interfere with and modify the tidal waves.
For these reasons, the equilibrium model does not do a good job of predicting local tides. For these
reasons, high tide rarely occurs exactly when the moon is at zenith, and local conditions govern the
periodicity of tides.
Numerous (up to 400) influences, each with its own characteristic magnitude and periodicity, contribute
to the period and magnitude of the tide locally. Each of these is a partial tide. Their effect is additive.
The actual tide at any locality is the combined effect of all of these partial tides, each with its own period
and magnitude.
Because of the large number of tide-generating components (partial tides), harmonic analysis is needed.
This is a mathematical technique for analyzing the individual components.
Predictions are based on long records of local observation, by combining the periods of each of the
partial tides with the amplitudes and phases obtained from observation.
A simplified predictive model can be based on the seven most important of these partial tidal
constituents. See Fig. 10-14 and the following table.
Relative
Period amplitude
Periodicity Symbol Name
(hours)
(M2 set as 100)
Semidiurnal
Main lunar
M2 12.42 100
constituent

Main solar
S2 12.00 46.6
constituent
Lunar distance
N2 12.66 19.1
variation
Changes in
K2 declination of 11.97 12.7
sun and moon
Diurnal
Changes in
K1 declination of 23.93 58.4
sun and moon
Main lunar
O1 25.82 41.5
constituent
Main solar
P1 24.07 19.3
constituent
Long-Period
Moon's
M1 fortnightly 327.86 17.2
constituent
TYPES OF TIDES
Tides may be categorized as diurnal, semidiurnal or mixed. See Fig. 10-18.
Diurnal (daily) tides have one high one low, with period of 24 hours 50 minutes. These are common in
the Gulf of Mexico (on the Mexican coast and along Alabama-Mississippi), on the north-central Atlantic
coast, and in Southeast Asia.
Semidiurnal (twice daily) tides have two highs and two lows, of approximately equal magnitude
(ignoring spring-neap progression). Period = 12 hours 25 minutes. These are common on the Southeast
Atlantic Coast and in New England.
Mixed tide has characteristics of both, with diurnal inequality. The period is 12 hours 25 minutes with a
diurnal period superposed. The diurnal inequality is maximum when the moon is at the maximum
declination (= tropical tides) and minimum when the moon is over the equator (= equatorial tides).
This is the most common type, prevailing in the Pacific, in the Northwest Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean,
Florida, and Canada.
Tide tables show expected highs and lows with respect to Mean Low Water, which is an average of the
lows. Therefore, a tide table shows negative readings during springs, when especially low tides occur.
STANDING TIDAL WAVES
A forced standing wave may be generated in any body of water, such as a lake, with a period of 12
hours 25 minutes, if the period of natural oscillation of the basin is approximately equal to the tidal
period.

The water surface appears to stand still in this waveform with a permanent crest and trough (antinodes).
See Fig. 10-20.
Recall that a free standing wave or seiche may be generated by an atmospheric or seismic disturbance.
Its period (T) is determined by the length and depth (height) of the basin:
T = 2L / square root of g h
where
L = length of basin (m)
g = 9.8 m/sec/sec
h = depth of basin (m)
If the characteristic period for this free wave is very nearly that of the period of the forced tidal wave, the
oscillations may reinforce each other to give a resonance tide, which will have greater displacement at
the antinodes.
In lakes, such tides will be relatively small, but in narrow gulfs and bays connected to the sea, where the
elevation of the tide at the mouth must be that of the open sea, the antinodes will show much more
displacement. See Fig. 10-21.
The nodal line will be closer to the mouth of the bay, and the antinodes will have much more height,
showing resonance between free and forced tides. For example, in the Bay of Fundy the maximum tidal
range is 15.4 m.
KELVIN WAVES
People living along a coast have long realized that the times of high and low tide move systematically
along the coast.
In large, broad, equidimensional basins, as standing waves develop, the effect of the earth's rotation
(Coriolis effect) is to cause a rotary movement of the wave crest along the margins of the embayment.
See Fig. 10-22.
As the standing crest begins to develop at the closed end, the Coriolis deflection diverts the
moving water to the right (in the Northern Hemisphere).
Then, as the crest moves toward the open end, water piles up along the lefthand side of the
embayment. One-half period later, a crest has formed at the open end, now moving toward
the closed end. The Coriolis deflection now causes a pile-up on the other side of the
embayment.
This produces rotation of the tidal crest counterclockwise around a central amphidromic
point (point of no tide), which is analogous to the nodal line of a standing wave.
The standing wave becomes a progressive wave, whose crest rotates counterclockwise
around the bay.

The water surface will be tilted instead of flat at high and low water. This means that one
side of the basin will have greater tidal range than the other.
This phenomenon is called a Kelvin wave.
These cells in which a rotary crest is developed are amphidromic cells.
Cotidal lines are imaginary lines radiating from the amphidromic point and connecting
points at which the high tide will occur simultaneously. They sweep counterclockwise
around the basin, making one complete rotation in one tidal period.
Co-range lines are imaginary concentric lines connecting points of equal tidal amplitude.
See Fig. 10-25 for North Sea tides.
Note that the amphidromic points are offset to the east. The incoming tidal wave is from the
North Sea.
The Kelvin wave is stronger incoming (along the British coast) than outgoing (Denmark and
Norway). Shallow depths in the south end of the North Sea sap much of the incoming wave
energy.
A rotary tidal current accompanies the crest (velocity <1 km/hr).
Nearshore, the rotary current is changed to a reversing tidal current, moving water in and
out. See Fig. 10.23.
In restricted channels these tidal currents may reach velocities of 20 km/hr.
The velocity is zero at high and low slackwater, reaching a maximum a few hours later
midway between tidal extremes.
WORLD COTIDAL MAP
Fig. 10-16 shows cotidal lines and co-range lines for the ocean basins of the world for the M2 (main
lunar) constituent.
This is 56% of the semidiurnal tide amplitude, so it is the single partial tide that is most
readily perceived.
These tidal waves rotate around 15 amphidromic points (7 in the Pacific, 4 in the Atlantic, 4
in the Indian Ocean). Their configuration is determined by geography and bathymetry.
The tidal crest makes one complete rotation during each tidal period (usually 12 lunar
hours). Low tide is 6 hours behind high tide.
Tidal amplitudes increase with distance from the amphidromic point.


GEOL 3377 Lecture 11a Coasts and Shores
LECTURE 11:
COASTS AND SHORES
PART A: LAND MEETS SEA

Importance of the Coastal Zone
Some Major Zones and Definitions
About Waves (Review)
Classification of Coasts
Land Erosion Coasts
Drowned River Coasts
Drowned Glacial Erosion Coasts
Subaerial Deposition Coasts
River Deposition Coasts

Glacial Deposition Coasts
Wind Deposition Coasts
Volcanic Coasts
Tectonic Coasts
Wave Erosion Coasts
Depositional Coasts
Sea Level Change
IMPORTANCE OF THE COASTAL ZONE

The coast is the meeting ground of the land and the sea. Here, terrestrial and marine influences overlap,
and both sets of processes battle for dominance. The shore is the most familiar part of the ocean for most
people, and coastal processes are the only marine processes they can observe directly.
In many parts of the world the coastal zone is densely inhabited. There are important economic reasons
to understand coastal processes and to exploit coastal resources. Sea-going commerce, fisheries, tourism
and many activities take place here, and coastal dwellers long ago learned to adapt themselves to the
special requirements of this zone.
At the same time it is a zone of great change. Here in the coastal zone the processes at work may be
observed directly and their effects measured on a scale of minutes, hours, days, months, years and longer.
For many processes and on many coasts, a small period of observation will reveal that changes are at
work that will have profound consequences after relatively short intervals of time.
On a scale of years and decades, human constructions may be threatened, islands and barriers eroded,
tidal passes opened or closed, and harbors silted in. These changes are more rapid and more noticeable
on coasts with soft, unconsolidated rocks and sediments than on rocky coasts. Often, human efforts to
prevent or manage these processes trigger other, unforeseen agents of change. Although today we try to
conserve and manage the coastal zone, we still have a very incomplete understanding of the dynamic
systems at work.
On a longer, geologic time scale, the coastal zone is a zone of profound importance and equally profound
change. The history of advancing and retreating shorelines with their accompanying sedimentary and
biological environments provides a unifying theme for much of historical geology.
SOME MAJOR ZONES AND DEFINITIONS
Coast = the marine-influenced zone of the land, inland from the shore. This is where the land meets the
sea. The coast is the edge of the land that is influenced by marine processes, including cliffs, dunes,
beaches, bays, coves and river mouths.
Marine influence includes the highest reach of tides, storm waves and salt spray. Locally, it may include
more subtle influences on vegetation, climate, soil and human cultures inland from the fringe zone of
direct contact. The coastal zone may be a few tens ot meters to many kilometers wide.
Coastline = seaward edge of the coast, the boundary between shore and coast. On an erosional or rocky
coast it may be a sea cliff. On a more gentle depositional or biologically controlled coast, the seaward
limit may coincide with the beginning of the shore or a subtle change in vegetation. If there are offshore
islands, the coastal zone and shore zone overlap.
The coastal zone includes the open coast but also the estuaries, bays and other indentations. The coastal
zone includes both land and water and has become the standard legal term in use by state and federal
government. The landward edge of the coastal zone is legally defined as a certain distance (often 200
feet) from some reference mark, such as high tide mark. The seaward edge of the coastal zone is also
legally defined by state or federal government.
Shore = zone between wave base at low tide and the highest reach of storm waves and spray. The shore
is that part of the coast that is directly influenced by waves. It extends from the deepest limit of wave
action on the sea floor (wave base) at some depth below low tide to the highest direct influence of waves,

often a barrier beyond which the waves cannot extend.

The shore is arbitrarily divided into three parts:
Backshore = that part of the shore from normal high tide to the coastline. It is the highest,
driest part of the shore, reached only during the highest tides and the most severe storms.
Foreshore = that part of the shore exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide. It
extends from low tide to the usual high tide mark.
Nearshore = the zone from the low-tide shoreline through the breakers.
Offshore = the zone beyond the low-tide breakers. The offshore zone extends from low tide to the lowest
depth on the sea floor affected by storm waves (wave base).
Shoreline = the edge of the water at any moment, rising and falling with the tide.
Beach = sediment carried by waves along the shore, extending from the low-tide breakers to the
coastline. The beach is sediment in motion along the shore. The beach is the sediment, and the sediment
is constantly being moved by waves up, down, or along the shore.
ABOUT WAVES (REVIEW)
As swell approaches the shore, it can be refracted, reflected, or diffracted.
Refraction occurs as waves encounter the sea floor, in depths less than half the wavelength, wherever
the isobaths (depth contours) are not parallel to the advancing wave fronts. The wave is retarded over
shallower regions.
As a result, waves tend to become nearly parallel to the isobaths, though where they arrive
at a high angle, they generally retain some obliquity right up to the shore.
Over an irregular sea floor, wave energy may be concentrated in narrow zones. A submarine
ridge perpendicular to the waves causes wave convergence and focuses their attack on the
rocky headlands, while the bays are much quieter.
A submarine canyon perpedicular to the waves causes waves to diverge and disperse their
energy. Isolated swells in the sea floor cause the waves to converge in their lee.
Reflection is the reversal of direction of propagation of energy by some obstacle, such as a jetty or a
steeply sloping foreshore. The angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection.
If swell is reflected perpendicularly, standing waves are formed from the interference.
If the waves approach obliquely, a grid interference pattern is formed.
A vertical obstacle causes total reflection. The degree of reflection declines with the angle of
the obstacle; on a gentle slope it is negligible.
Diffraction occurs when the wave passes the end of an obstacle.
The waves bend, change direction, and rapidly lose energy by dispersion. Thus, although
there is shelter in the lee of an obstacle, that shelter is not complete.

A wave approaching the shore undergoes a series of changes before it breaks. The period (T) remains
constant. Other characteristics vary with the ratio D/L, where D is water depth at any point and L is wave
length. The following changes occur:
Wavelength decreases.
Speed decreases.
Steepness (H/L) increases, because the wavelength decreases.
The wave system is simplified, as short, irregular wave components die out.
Orbital paths become elliptical, flattened near the sea floor.
The profile of the wave becomes asymmetrical, steepened in front, because the front is
retarded before the back. The back tends to overtake the front, causing overturning.
Breaking results from excessive steepness.
The maximum theoretical steepness is H/L = 1/7 = 0.14.
Breaking usually occus when the wave reaches a water depth of 1.1 to 1.5 times its height.
The wave will break at D/H (water depth/wave height) = 1.1 to 1.5, on average 1.3.
Because swell is an envelope of superposed wave trains, waves in a series are of unequal height.
Therefore, all waves do not break at exactly the same point. Waves do not break along one line, but in a
breaker zone.
The height of the breaker is related to the slope of the beach. A gentle slope provides more frictional
interference to rob energy from the wave before it breaks.
On beaches with concave profile, breakers are smaller at low tide than at high tide.
On rocky coasts, the profile may be irregular, and breakers may be highest at whatever part
of the foreshore has the greatest slope.
On oceanic atolls with steep slopes, breaking waves are high because there is practically no
frictional retardation.
Plunging breakers result from regular, unrefracted swells of minimal steepness breaking on
a smooth bottom.
Spilling breakers result from waves of considerable steepness, especially where strong
winds are blowing onshore.
Surging breakers occur on steep coasts.
After breaking, the wave becomes a wave of translation, the swash, which flows turbulently up the
shore. It is retarded by the backwash of the preceding wave, by gravity, and by infiltration of water into
the sand, especially where the sand is not saturated.
Thus, the swash is divided into an uprush and a backwash. The uprush continues the

direction of the wave, usually obliquely up the beach. The backwash is pulled by gravity
straight down the beach.
The energy of the wave is now being used to do work, to move water. This water in motion
erodes, transports and deposits sand.
The breaking wave erodes in a number of ways: It digs into the beach as it plunges down. It rolls and
sorts material in the swash. It takes material into suspension in breaking and in the uprush. It deposits
material at the end of the uprush, in the swash zone. It causes sheet erosion in the backwash.
There is much more sand in suspension in the breaker zone, by a factor of 5X or 6X, than there is 40 to
50 m out in the offshore zone. However, erosion by waves penetrates no more than 3 to 4 cm on the
beach, except during storms.
Shells are carried more easily than rock and mineral particles, because of their flaky shapes and low
density. Mollusk (brachiopod) shells may be transported by currents only 1/10 the strength of those
needed to transport pebbles the same size. This is why the cuspate swash marks at high tide are often
marked by a concentration of small shells (and perhaps mica, woody particles, and other low-density
materials).
Sand is transported alternately up (by the uprush) and down (by the backwash) the sloping beach. There
is generally a small net component of along-shore transport. This net longshore transport of sediment is
called longshore drift.
CLASSIFICATION OF COASTS
The founder of the discipline of marine geology, Francis P. Shepherd, in 1948 established a classification
of coasts that is still widely used today. This classification distinguishes primary coasts (created by
terrestrial, subaerial processes, largely unaltered by marine influences) from secondary coasts (greatly
modified by marine processes). Under these headings are subsidiary labels for the tectonic, depositional,
erosional, volcanic or biological processes that dominate.
However, it is the interaction of these processes that gives any coast its special character. Understanding
the particular forces at work locally is more important than applying a label. The terms primary and
secondary have little to do with the actual age of a coast. A primary coast may be rapidly altered by
marine and biological processes, or not, depending on the character of its rocks, the climate and latitude,
exposure to storms, etc. The variety of coasts and coastal features is tremendous, and each sector of a
coast has its own special character.
LAND EROSION COASTS
Land erosion coasts are primary coasts carved by running water or glaciers.
Drowned river coasts or ria coasts have drowned river valleys, estuaries, peninsulas and islands. The
coast of Maine is an example of a ria coast. Many estuaries, such as Delaware Bay and Chesapeake Bay,
are drowned river valleys.
During the ice ages sea level fell and rivers flowed across the continental shelf, carving V-shaped valleys

and dendritic tributary systems. Sea level began to rise about 18,000 years ago and rose very rapidly
from about 12,000 to 7,000 years ago. It then slowed to a lesser rate of rise, and since about 3,000 years
ago sea level has been nearly stable.
Drowned glacial erosion coasts are dominated by fjords. These are the drowned channels of former
valley glaciers. Typical fjords are long, deep and narrow, have a U-shaped cross-section, and have an
irregular longitudinal profile rather than a smooth gradient.
It is common that there is a threshold or sill of bedrock or moraine or both at the mouth of a fjord
marking the seaward limit of ice erosion. That sill today may restrict bottom-water circulation, and many
fjords have oxygen-poor, black sediments.
Ice flows under its own weight, slipping along cleavage planes and on a lubricating meltwater zone at the
base. Meltwater penetrates fractures and pore spaces of adjacent bedrock and freezes. The frozen-in
bedrock is ripped out as ice flows past. Frozen rock fragments on the base of a glacier act as sandpaper to
goudge, grind and erode bedrock, deepening the original stream valley.
The erosive power of ice is controlled only by the thickness of ice and the length of time that ice
occupies the valley, not by valley gradient or base level. Ice can even erode a little below sea level, to a
depth controlled by the buoyancy of ice as the end of the glacier is floated by water.
Rising sea level has filled many fjords along the mountainous coasts of Norway, Greenland, New
Zealand, southern Chile and southern Alaska. Soames Sound on Mt. Desert Island, Maine, is the only
fjord on the east coast of the U.S. Puget Sound is a modified fjord.
SUBAERIAL DEPOSITION COAST
Subaerial deposition coasts are primary coasts whose dominant features are constructed by rivers, winds
or glaciers.
River deposition coasts are dominated by fluvial construction features such as deltas. Especially large
deltas are being built at the mouths of the Mississippi, Ganges, Nile and Amazon Rivers.
Rivers deposit their suspended and bed-load sediment at the mouth where the velocity decreases. Tidal
currents move the sediment into the shore zone, where longshore currents redistribute it. If the sediment
load of the river is greater than marine currents can handle, the net accumulation will build forward as a
delta.
If sediment deposition dominates over marine erosion and transport, a stream may have multiple
distributaries, producing a digitate or birds-foot delta. If marine shoreline erosion and transportation are
significant, the shoreline will be smoothed to a gentle convex curve, like that of the Nile Delta or the Rio
Grande Delta.
If numerous small, parallel rivers carrying abundant sediment drain a coast, the accumulation of their
fluvial deposits and deltas builds an alluvial plain or coastal plain. The Atlantic Coastal Plain and the
Gulf Coastal Plain are examples.


Glacial deposition coasts are composed of large quantities of glacial till or moraine. (Strictly speaking,
till is the sediment type; moraine is the landform, the ridge or blanket of till covering the bedrock.) This
is the rock debris carried by glacial ice and accumulated as a ridge at the front of the ice stream, where
melting equals forward motion.
The outermost standstill or terminus of the Pleistocene continental ice sheets was marked by the
accumulation of a peripheral ridge of this rubble, carried forward and accumulated converyor-belt style.
Because sea level fell to the edge of the continental shelf during the Ice Ages, submerged ridges on the
drowned continental shelves today mark the modified remnants of terminal and recessional moraines.
Long Island and Cape Cod are terminal moraines of the Laurentian ice sheet, anchored by buried
bedrock. As the ice melted back, these linear mounds of rubble trapped meltwater between the melting
ice front and the moraine ridge. These periglacial lakes were filled by glacial outwash sediments from
meltwater streams.
Later, rising sea level encroached on these sediments. Wind and longshore currents have sorted and
redistributed the finer sediments, modifying the moraine landform into coastal spits and lagoons.
Wind deposition coasts are choked by wind-blown sand. Eolian dunes may migrate along-shore and
inshore where sand is abundant, prevailing winds are strong and persistent, and vegetation cover is
sparse. Wind-driven currents may drive offshore submarine dunes in the same direction.
Such coasts include northwest Africa, where the Sahara is migrating into the Atlantic, Namibia in
southwest Africa, and coastal Oregon.
VOLCANIC COASTS
Volcanic coasts show active construction by ongoing volcanism, including lava flows, volcanic tephra
deposits, and explosive caldera formation.
Volcanic islands, such as the Hawaiian Islands, have volcanic coasts marked by lava flows that reach the
sea, craters and caldera rims breached by coastal erosion, submarine lava tubes, and an subterranean
hydrologic system of water-filled joints and fissures.
TECTONIC COASTS
Tectonic coasts are delineated by crustal movement, especially uplift, or by deformational structures,
such as faults and folds. Fault coasts are characterized by unusually straight scarplines and sharp contacts
between land and sea. Plunging anticlines and synclines may be reflected in curvilinear estuaries and
peninsulas.
Tomales Bay behind Point Reyes, north of San Francisco, lies on the San Andreas Fault.
The Gulf of California and the Red Sea are young rifts, with steep, linear, fault coasts.
The lochs and firths of Scotland are fault-controlled.

The straight eastern margin of Madagascar is a huge wrench (transcurrent) fault like the San
Andreas, actually a transform fault along which India ripped north.
The Nullarbor coast (Great Australian Bight) is a huge fault scarp where Antarctica
separated from Australia.
Relative changes in local land elevation and sea level produce emergent and submerged coasts. The
local and global causes include tectonic uplift or subsidence, isostatic adjustments, glacioeustatism,
changes in sea-floor spreading rates, and thermally driven changes in the density (hence volume) of sea
water.
Emergent coasts have marine terraces with wave-cut platform and cliff standing high and
dry, on which may be stranded beach deposits. Examples are common along southern
California (San Clemente Island) and formerly glaciated regions.
Drowned coasts have estuaries or fjords, drowned beaches, submerged topography, and
drainage divides standing as peninsulas and islands.

GEOL 3377 Lecture 11b Coasts and Shores
LECTURE 11:
COASTS AND SHORES
PART B: SEA MEETS LAND

Importance of the Coastal Zone
Some Major Zones and Definitions
About Waves (Review)
Classification of Coasts
Land Erosion Coasts
Subaerial Deposition Coasts
Volcanic Coasts
Tectonic Coasts
Wave Erosion Coasts
Depositional Coasts
Sea Level Change
WAVE EROSION COASTS

Wave erosion coasts are secondary coasts that have rocky shores dominated by wave erosion, with

accompanying solution by sea water as well as more subtle modifications by organisms.

Waves breaking against a cliff cause erosion:
By variations in pressure, acting both on the rock itself and on air pressure inside the rock.
Relieve of pressure is followed in alternation by immense suction.
By impact. Blocks of rock or concrete, freed along joints, may be shifted. Coasts with
massive but jointed rocks, with stratified sedimentary rocks of uneven resistance to erosion,
and with poorly consolidated sediments are especially affected.
By bombardment of pebbles carried by waves.
By spurting upward through vertical joints and crevices, thus extending the vertical reach of
wave action and spray. Small pebbles may be flung high. Large blocks may be shifted
upward. On some coasts this action may occur to 50 m or more above the high water mark.
By removing debris delivered by mass-wasting, as the undercut cliff collapses.
The typical profile of a wave-erosion shore has a wave-cut cliff with a wave-cut notch at its base.
A nearly level erosional terrace or wave-cut bench slopes rather evenly through the
foreshore and nearshore.
Selective erosion along joints, faults, and softer strata may produce crevices and sea caves.
Small tide pools in the intertidal zone are broadened and deepened by solution.
Wave refraction focuses wave energy on the headlands, which retreat faster than the rest of
the coast. After some time, a more regular coastline may result.
It is common that a small part of a headland may remain standing after the rest has fallen,
forming an island or a sea stack no longer connected to the mainland. Wave and tidal
erosion may further excavate the base, forming a sea arch, before it crumbles altogether.
The rate of erosion is controlled by:
Degree of exposure of the coast to the open ocean, in a direction from which high-energy
swell comes.
The tidal range. A low tidal range concentrates erosion within a narrow vertical zone,
causing faster landward erosion.
The composition of coastal bedrock. Crystallines are more resistant than sedimentary rocks.
If different kinds of rocks with different resistance to erosion are present along the coast, wave erosion
will cause some parts of the coast to retreat more rapidly than others. The result will be a coast with
headlands of more resistant rocks, while the less resistant rocks form sheltered bays with sandy coves.
From then on, promontories and coves will retreat at uniform rates.
Thus, in time, the geographic configuration (map view) of the rocky shore reaches a
dynamic equilibrium with the forces of wave erosion.

All erosional coasts follow the same developmental path. If there is no change in relative sea level, the
cliffs are eroded back, retreating landward. The wave-cut platform or beach widens, becoming gentler in
slope. This gentler gradient robs more energy from the breaking waves, causing a decrease in the rate of
further erosion and coastline retreat.
Thus, in time, the vertical profile of the shore also reaches a dynamic equilibrium with the
forces of wave erosion.
Chemical and biological weathering contribute to erosion of rocky shores:
Salt spray and subaerial runoff keep coastal rocks damp. The fluctuating salinity and pH
facilitate chemical weathering.
Organisms, especially lichens, grow in the outermost weathered layer of rock, and the
associated organic acids further contribute to penetration and breakdown of the rock.
In high latitudes ice is an important erosive agent.
Diurnal heating and cooling causes freezing and thawing. Meltwater runs into cracks above
high tide level. Ice freezing in fissures expands and exerts pressure, shattering the rock.
Waves have only to remove the debris.
Ice freezing on a small lake expands, rising higher than water level and pushing back a ridge
of sand as a rampart or shore-wall beyond the limit of the waves.
In cold seas (Norway, Greenland, Antarctica), especially in sheltered estuaries and fjords, an
ice-foot forms as a ledge of ice along the cliff about 0.5 m above high tide. It melts only
partially in summer. It has low salinity, being partly composed of snow, fjord water, and
run-off. It deadens the breaking waves.
Along sheltered estuaries and distributaries, freezing ice may incorporate sediment. At high
tide the ice rafts are carried into the coastal marshes, leaving a layer of exotic sediment
when they melt.
Limestone coasts are subject to solution in both the spray zone and intertidal zone. This coastal
corrosion is enhanced by cycles of wetting and drying according to the changing times of high and low
tide.
Because surface water is saturated with respect to calcium carbonate, some have thought that this
solution is accomplished by freshwater runoff, percolating down to the level saturated by sea water.
However, even in wet climates the amount of salt water in the intertidal and spray zone greatly outweighs
fresh water. Coralline islets without appreciable freshwater runoff, such as Palau in the Bismark
Archipelago, display extensive solution. Arid regions, such as the Red Sea, have as much corrosion as
coasts in humid regions.
One explanation lies in diurnal fluctuations in CO2 in coastal waters and tide pools, with resulting
fluctuation in pH.
During the day, algae photosynthesize and remove CO2. The water warms, losing CO2. The
pH rises. Evaporation occurs, salinity rises, water becomes saturated with respect to

carbonate ion, and CaCO3 precipitates.
At night there is nocturnal cooling, there is no photosynthesis, but respiration by algae and
invertebrates continues. The dissolved CO2 content rises and pH falls, etching the limestone
walls of the pool. Undercut ledges surrounding rocky pools are characteristic.
Biological erosion is subtle but ubiquitous.
Rocky coasts are settled by attached animals and algae, which secrete substances that adhere
to, penetrate and dissolve the substrate. Some invertebrates and microalgae physically bore
into the rock.
A carpet of diatoms and bacteria carpets all marine surfaces, and the associated organic
acids chemically attack the rock.
Grazing animals, such as chitons and the periwinkle Littorina, scrape off the carpet of
diatoms and bacteria. They actively remove loosened and crumbling rock and sand. The
sandy detritus ejected or evacuated is then removed by the waves at high tide. On the
California coast periwinkles are a major erosional force.
Chemical and biological cementation of sand may co-exist with corrosion on sandy tropical shores.
Beach-rock, or cemented sand, is common on sandy beaches on coral coasts. This precipitation of
carbonate cement may occur by evaporation of salt water from sand, by fresh water percolating down
through the sandy beach sediment, or by precipitation of aragonite from warm sea water at low tide. It is
also likely to be related to the metabolism of bacteria living in the sand.
DEPOSITIONAL COASTS
Depositional coasts are secondary coasts that are dominated by sandy beaches and accretionary
landforms.
Materials from the erosion of the land, supplied to the coast by slopewash and streams, and debris from
coastal landslips and wave erosion are now carried seaward by waves and currents. Fine sediments (silt,
clay) remain in suspension in moving water, settling only in very still conditions. Sand is carried as
suspended load and gravel as traction load.
Most coastal deposits consist of sand and gravel. Depending on the wave energy, a beach may consist of
fine powderlike sand (Old Orchard Beach) or the rounded, flattened cobbles called shingle (Lyme
Beach).
The beach is the sediment in the shore zone, which is being carried along the shore by waves. Beaches
differ considerably in their profiles (gradients), and not all beaches have the same features. There is a
standard terminology to describe the parts of a beach profile:
The backshore may have flat-topped terraces called berms.
The winter berm is the highest terrace, at the top of the backshore, perhaps just
beneath the cliff of the coastline. It is formed by winter storms, whose waves
extend highest up the beach and carry the largest particle sizes. Typically, the
winter berm has large shingles, driftwood and other massive detritus.

The summer berm is a lower, flat-topped terrace. It is formed by the gentler

waves of spring and summer, which do not reach as far up the beach, and
which cannot carry as much sediment or as large particles as the winter waves.
The summer berm is seasonal. It will be erased by the powerful winter storm
waves that reshape the beach to a steeper profile.
A berm crest is a sharp crest that may be present along the top of a berm at the
seaward edge.
A beach scarp, or steepened slope facing the ocean, may mark the seaward
side of the summer berm, developed by the cutting action of waves at normal
high tide.
The beach face lies seaward of the beach scarp below high tide, as a concave slope which
runs down to the low-water mark.
The inclination of this beach face becomes more gentle, passing into the low tide terrace.
The angle of slope of the low tide terrace is related to the size of particles and the wave
energy at low tide.
Below the low-water mark, in the offshore zone, troughs (swales) and bars may run
parallel to the shoreline. These are constructed during the winter storms, as waves erode
beach sediments and transport this sand offshore. In the summer, they tend to migrate
landward and to grow smaller.
Note that the different parts of the beach, each with its characteristic slope and grain sizes, respond
directly to changing wave energy on a seasonal cycle. They are components of a dynamic equilibrium.
The beach is constantly changing. Its forms and slope are constantly adjusting to wave energy. It is
common that the winter beach is steeper and the sand deposit thinner than in the summer. In the winter
this sand is stored in the offshore bar, to migrate back to the beach in the summer.
Beaches may be composed of sand, shell, coral, cobbles and shingle.
Shingles are flat, circular, smooth stones, eroded from sedimentary strata of the sea cliff and
worn smooth by abrasion of wave motion.
Round and ovoid stones are cobbles. They may form an armored beach or lag deposit
where finer sediments are winnowed away.
A well sorted beach sand of uniform particle size is a depositional accumulation. A poorly
sorted beach deposit of many particle sizes results from erosion of land materials.
Colored sands reflect the source and composition of the material: black sand from volcanic
lava (basalt), white sand from coral and other carbonate skeletons, green sand from green
minerals (olivine, glauconite), pink sand from suitable pink skeletal material (the
foraminifer Homotrema).
Low-density minerals, flaky particle shapes and porous materials (pumice, skeletons) are
transported more easily and may be preferentially segregated on certain parts of the beach.

The shining edge of the swash may be carrying golden flakes of mica or tiny white shells.
Rip currents form at intervals along the beach to return return excess water from breaking waves.
Breaking waves move water as a wave of translation up the shore. This water must return to
the sea. Formerly, it was supposed that it returns along the bottom as an undertow. Indeed,
some of it does return as laminar sheet-flow down the beach and beneath the next breaking
wave.
However, it is now shown that on most beaches most of this return flow is localized at
certain points along the beach as rip currents. The excess water runs laterally along the
beach until it piles up at one point to feed this rip current.
Rip currents are narrow, only 15 to 30 m wide, but they can be rapid, reaching velocities of
more than 2 knots. Rip currents extend from the shoreline out through the breakers, and their
presence may be seen as an interruption in the line of breakers. Beyond the breaker zone,
they dissipate into eddies. Rip currents extend vertically through the entire depth of water,
from surface to bottom.
Rip currents carry a much higher sediment load than the neighboring water, and this
sediment plume outside the breaker zone marks their location in air photos. Their locations
are variable, but on some coasts they tend to be regularly spaced. Although much remains to
be learned about the formation and behavior of rip currents, it does appear that where rip
currents exist, there is no undertow.
Longshore currents build important coastal features. The longshore current is the net longshore drift
(coastal drift) of water and sediment parallel to the shore. It results from the obliquity of breaking waves.
Although refraction causes approaching waves to become more nearly parallel to the shore,
in most cases there remains a small angle. Obliquity of more than 10o is rare. At an
obliquity of 10o with large breakers, this coastal current can reach a velocity of several
knots.
Sand spits and sand hooks are linear ridges of sand that are attached to the shore at the up-current end
and free at the other, ending in deep water.
Swell refracts around the free end of the bar into the quieter water behind. Longshore
transport of sand follows this same curving path. Thus, sand is transported up the beach,
along the bar, and around the end into the quiet water behind, building a curving hook.
Eventually this spit may entirely close off the water behind, forming a lagoon, with perhaps
a narrow tidal pass. If tidal amplitude is small and tidal currents are weak, the pass may
close entirely, to be re-opened by major storms.
Even if the pass is choked off and the lagoon becomes landlocked, the water level in the
lagoon rises and falls with the tides, though with reduced amplitude. This is because water
flows in and out of the lagoon through the permeable gravels and coarse sands.
A bay barrier or bay-mouth bar is a spit that totally closes off the mouth of a bay. This happens if river
runoff is low or tidal currents are too weak to keep the tidal pass open between storms.

A tombolo is a sand ridge connecting an island with another island or the mainland. These are sand
deposits laid down in the lee of an island or sea stack in the quieter water sheltered from the full effect of
waves. The curving perimeter of the ridge is parallel to the front of the approaching (refracted) waves
and usually at a high angle to the neighboring shore.
Barrier islands are long, narrow sand deposits parallel to the shore, up to several kilometers wide and
tens to hundreds of kilometers long. Narrow linear zones, differing slightly vertical elevation, may be
recognized, which have subtle but important differences in sediments and biological inhabitants:
The ocean beach is built by longshore currents transporting sand.
The dunes are windblown sand from the beach, stabilized by dune grasses.
The barrier flat is washover sand driven through the dunes by storms, stabilized by grasses.
If storms do not intervene, the grasses will be succeeded by shrubs and forest.
Tidal inlets or passes are opened during storms, to accommodate the storm surge and high
run-off. They are maintained by tidal currents. On a coast with a low tidal range, they will
tend to silt in between storms.
The salt marsh is sediment carried by overwash into the lagoon behind the island, colonized
by salt grasses. Salt marsh thrives where there is frequent overwash and flooding by storms,
bring fresh sediment from across the dunes.
A depth zonation exists within the marsh. Low marsh extends from mean sea level to high
neap tide. This is the most productive zone. High marsh extends from high neap tide to
highest spring tide.
Barrier islands grow vertically as well as horizontally. That part of the island above sea level is reshaped
by eolian processes. Eolian dunes are stabilized by vegetation, trapping sediment, accumulating
vegetable matter, and raising the surface above sea level. A complex though subtle vertical zonation of
sediment, sedimentary structures, water table, vegetation, and animal inhabitants results.
In a regimen of rising sea level, barrier islands may migrate landward. Salt marsh deposits now exposed
and eroding along the front of Matagorda Island illustrate this subsidence and migration.
There are several hypotheses about the origin of barrier islands, and probably they can originate in
different ways.
An growing offshore bar may breach the water surface. If it is colonized by vegetation, it
may become a barrier island.
Along the southeast coast of the U.S., rising sea level may have flooded low coastal areas,
isolating the coastal dunes from the lower-lying regions behind.
Barrier islands are very important in protecting the land behind from storm waves and erosion, but they
themselves are fully exposed and have high risk of damage. Human settlement and attempts to modify
such islands have compromised their health. Some efforts to protect island property, such as seawalls,
have caused more damage than they have prevented.

Artificial barriers to coastal processes cause as many problems as they solve.

Jetties (long walls parallel to or perpendicular to the margins of harbors) and groins (short
walls perpendicular to beaches) are barriers to longshore transport of sediment. Sediment is
trapped on the upcurrent side, causing erosion on the downcurrent side.
A breakwater to protect a harbor disrupts the equilibrium. The harbor tends to fill in, while
erosion intensities down-current.
A seawall built parallel to the shore to protect the beach causes reflection and increased
turbulence. The slope of the beach increases as sand is removed and the beach disappears.
Turbulence increases, sediment is eroded and the sea wall is undermined.
SEA LEVEL CHANGE
Local sea-level changes result from changes in the balance of crustal uplift or subsidence and erosion or
sediment deposition.
Global sea-level changes require a eustatic mechanism (such as glaciation) to change the total volume of
water, or a global tectonic mechanism (such as sea-floor spreading rates) to change the volume of the
ocean basins available to hold water.
In the Pleistocene glacial stages, sea level fell about 100 to 130 m, roughly to the edge of the present
shelf. In interglacial stages, sea level rose to 50-60 m above present level. This is a total range of
fluctuation of about 180 m.
Sea level change is of great interest today, because global warming may be resulting from CO2 increase.
If all polar ice were to melt, a sea level rise of 60 m would result.
The density of sea water and hence its volume are regulated by temperature. For every 1oC change in
mean temperature of the world ocean, it is estimated that sea level would change 2 m.
During the Pleistocene ice ages the average global surface temperature fell about 5o. If the average
temperature of the whole water column fell by half this amount, then this would accomplish a sea level
fall of about 15 m.
Atmospheric CO2 has risen by 28% since 1958. Global temperatures appear to have warned by 0.5o.
Global mean sea level has risen about 10 cm since 1880, and that's without taking into account the fact
that many recording stations have experienced crustal isostatic recovery (which would make real eustatic
sea level rise up to twice that measured figure).
Global warming is real. The chief remaining uncertainty is whether this warming affects the surface
waters only, or to whether the deeper ocean layers are warming as well. A Scripps program plans to send
low frequency sonar signals long distance, in order to map the thermal structure of the deep ocean. (It
was interrupted because of concerns about the effect on whales, which use these frequencies for
communication.) The objective is to determine whether global warming is affecting the deep ocean,
rather than just the mixed layer and thermocline.
Flooding of coastal cities and island nations is an obvious concern. The possibility of more violent
hurricanes captures popular attention. More significant though more subtle consequences would include

shifting climatic belts, drowning of coral reefs, disappearance of habitats for many species with likely
extinctions, weaker thermohaline circulation, and lower productivity due to declining nutrient levels.

GEOL 3377 Lecture 12A Estuaries
LECTURE 12:
ESTUARIES, COASTAL WATERS AND MARGINAL
SEAS
Part A: Estuaries
Importance of Estuaries
Types of Estuaries by Origin
Water Circulation
Types of Estuaries by Circulation Pattern
Chesapeake Bay
Estuarine Biological Productivity
Coastal Waters
Marginal Seas
IMPORTANCE OF ESTUARIES
For most of the course we have emphasized processes in the open ocean, far from influence of land. In
Chapter 11 we examined the interaction of marine and terrestrial processes on the shore, where land and
sea meet. In Chapter 12 we consider the circumcontinental zone of the ocean, where the proximity of
land induces modifications of these general patterns.
In most textbooks, estuaries are considered in the same chapter with other coastal features, and marginal
seas are given no separate attention. Freshwater lakes are rarely even mentioned. However, the general
principles and processes studied in this course apply to all bodies of water, regardless of size. Thus,
Chapter 12 emphasizes the differences of scale and of detail that arise in a local setting. A few examples
are selected for description.
As the most accessible parts of the ocean, estuaries and marginal seas have special economic and social
importance. Indeed, the exploitable ocean resources are largely concentrated in this marginal fringe. The
circumcontinental zone has very high biological productivity, because this is where nutrients from
chemical weathering of the land are brought to the sea. Estuaries serve as nurseries for the young of
many species of fish and shellfish. On continental shelves in mid-latitudes, wind-waves and seasonal

density-driven overturn cause mixing, which brings nutrients from deeper water and sea-floor sediments
back into surface waters to support biological production.
Biological themes emerge in this chapter, which serves as a transition into the biological oceanography
component of chapters 13-16. Serious issues concerning pollution and exploitation of marine resources
are raised, some of which are discussed further in chapters 17 and 18.
TYPES OF ESTUARIES BY GEOLOGIC ORIGIN

Estuaries are defined as coastal bodies of water, partly enclosed but connected to the ocean, in which
fresh and salt water mingle, and which experience tidal ebb and flow.
Thus, the lowest part of a river, where tidal rise and fall may be measured, and the water is brackish by
mixing of salt water, is an estuary. However, marginal lagoons, bays, inlets, gulfs, and sounds of any
origin are also considered to be estuaries if they meet the above criteria.
Coastal Plain Estuaries
Because of rising Holocene sea level, many estuaries are drowned river valleys. Thurman labels these
coastal plain estuaries. During the last ice age of the Pleistocene, when sea level fell by more than 100
meters, to the edge of the present-day continental shelf, streams carved valleys across the present
continental shelf. Those valleys have been flooded by rising sea level during the last 18,000 years, as the
ice has melted.
Coastal plains today are indented by dendritic embayments such as Chesapeake Bay with its numerous
tributaries. The broad "bays" of the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain, such as Galveston Bay and Corpus Christi
Bay, result from flooding of the floodplains of the streams on this gently sloping alluvial plain.
In formerly glaciated regions, such as New England, the crust subsided isostatically benearth the weight
of the ice cap. The ice vanished from these regions several thousand years ago, but isostatic uplift of the
crust has not been completed, Thus, rising sea level has flooded an inland landscape of considerable
relief, forming a highly dissected ria coastline of peninsulas, islands, and deep embayments and sounds.
Bar-built estuaries
The growth of barrier islands and bay-mouth bars has ponded coastal lagoons between the barrier and the
mainland along coastal plains in many parts of the world. These linear coastal lagoons or "bays" are
bar-built estuaries.
Examples include Laguna Madre in Texas, Mobile Bay in Alabama, and Chinocoteague Bay in
Maryland. (Strictly speaking, these lagoons are estuaries only if they experience input of fresh water and
dilution of salinity for at least part of the time. Thus, coastal lagoons behind a barrier reef are not
estuaries.)
Complex coastal plain estuarine systems have developed on the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains from
the combination of drowned river valleys with coastal lagoons and barrier islands. Examples include the
Pamlico Sound and the Outer Banks system of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and the Galveston Bay
system of Texas.

Fjords
Drowned glacial valleys are fjords, which are sometimes classified as a separate category of estuary.
Fjords are deep with relatively small surface area. River discharge may be high, and tidal mixing is
generally minimal.
Fjords are characterized by steep-walled margins, an uneven longitudinal profile with overdeepened
regions, and a shallow sill at the mouth. This sill may be bedrock marking the seaward limit of ice
erosion, or it may be a ridge of moraine accumulated at the front of the ice, or both.
The sill serves as a threshold restricting vertical circulation in the fjord, so that exchange of water is
possible only at the surface. Therefore, deeper waters ponded behind this sill are likely to be stagnant,
and bottom sediments may be anoxic.
Fresh river water entering the fjord forms a thin, low-salinity surface layer flowing outward over the sill.
The density of sea water outside the fjord at the level of the sill determines whether sea water may be
able to flow over the sill into the fjord. If the sill is quite shallow, there may be turbulent mixing between
the two layers, causing the surface layer in the fjord to be brackish.
Tectonic estuaries
Tectonic estuaries are structurally-controlled embayments, usually bounded by faults.
A well-studied example is San Francisco Bay, which occupies a down-dropped block along the San
Andreas Fault system. See Fig. 11-1E.
Puget Sound is a structural depression further modified by glacial action, though it is not a true fjord.
Many of the lochs and firths of Scotland are fault-bounded depressions, modified by glacial erosion.
WATER CIRCULATION IN ESTUARIES

Fresh water and salt water meet in the estuary. Fresh water is less dense than salt water, so there will be a
tendency for the fresh water to form a surface layer above denser salt water below. Thus, there will
generally be a net seaward flow of freshwater at the surface, while the tidal current brings in salt water at
depth. This is the most common pattern of water circulation in estuaries, but local circumstances induce
exceptions and modifications.
Mixing versus stratification
The degree of mixing between fresh and salt water in the estuary depends on the river discharge (volume
of flow), depth of the estuary, roughness of topography, and the periodicity, amplitude, velocity and
volume of the tidal current.
Where mixing is ineffective, stratification will result. If stratification is strong, bottom waters may
become low in oxygen (hypoxia) or entirely depleted of oxygen (anoxia), killing fish, oysters, crabs and
other shellfish. Increased nutrient dumping into Chesapeake Bay and declining water quality have
produced more frequent algal blooms, and the decay of the resulting organic detritus at a time of
stratification induces these anoxia events.

The energy for mixing is provided by the kinetic energy of river and oscillatory tidal currents. At the
boundary between currents moving in opposite directions, shearing produces friction, and friction
generates internal waves (just as wind shear generates waves at the ocean-atmosphere surface).
Once formed, the internal waves grow larger, can become oversteepened, and eventually break. This
results in the transfer of a small amount of salt water upward to the surface layer. The more turbulence at
this boundary, the more mixing. Very little river water is mixed downward. This process is called
entrainment.
Net flow circulation
River discharge in higher latitudes is likely to be seasonal, highest in the spring and early summer when
snows melt. During dry seasons, when river flow diminishes, salt water will penetrate the estuary in
greater quantities.
Water particles in the estuary move back and forth with the tidal cycle, as the water level in the estuary
rises and falls. Typically, surface water moves farther seaward on the falling tide than it moves landward
on the rising tide. Over many tidal cycles, this produces a net seaward flow.
At all seasons, as both fresh water and salt water enter and leave the estuary in changing volumes, the net
flow direction is usually outward. Oscillatory tidal currents provide energy for mixing but do not usually
change the net flow direction.
The total outflow equals the tidal influx plus river discharge. Only if evaporation exceeds freshwater
input will the net flow be inward.
Evaporation and inverse estuarine circulation
In arid arid settings (30oN, 30oS), coastal lagoons and bays may have insufficient freshwater influx to
make up for evaporative losses. The difference will be made up by salt water entering from the ocean,
and salinities in the lagoon will be elevated or even hypersaline. If the lagoon is shallow, the waters are
nearly isothermal, and the halocline governs the pycnocline.
As salinity increases by evaporation, the more saline, denser surface water will sink, accumulate at depth
and flow seaward. Ocean water will enter at the surface, because it is less dense than the high-salinity
outflow of lagoon water below.
Bays with this reversal of normal estuarine circulation pattern are sometimes called inverse estuaries.
Well-known, large-scale examples are the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf. Smaller lagoons with
this inverse circulation are common on the Baja California peninsula and the Mexican Gulf Coast.
High evaporation rates may cause an incursion of sea water and rising salinities in a very shallow, barred
lagoon such as Laguna Madre. At another time, an unusually wet season may see salinities drop to nearly
fresh in the upper reaches of the lagoon.
Shallow restricted lagoons may alternate between saline or even hypersaline in some years and brackish
to nearly fresh in others. Baffin Bay, an arm of Laguna Madre in Texas, shows this behavior.
Coriolis deflection
In large estuaries, these patterns of circulation are further modified by the Coriolis effect. The freshwater

current running from head to mouth will tend to be displaced to the right (its own right, in the Northern
Hemisphere), while the incoming, opposing salt wedge will tend to be shifted in the opposite direction
(its own right, in the Northern Hemisphere).
Thus, for an estuary oriented north-south, the bulk of the seaward freshwater flow will be shifted to the
west, while the landward salt-water flow will be offset toward the eastern edge of the basin. The location
and slope of each isohal (salinity contour) will differ on the two sides of the estuary, accordingly.
Coastal upwelling and downwelling
Rarely, events in the marine realm outside may affect estuarine circulation. For example, if coastal
upwelling occurs, this denser water will penetrate the estuary in greater volume. Because outflow must
equal inflow plus runoff, this increased inflow will generate increased outflow and more vigorous
estuarine circulation.
When upwelling ceases, or if downwelling occurs, less dense coastal water will be present at the mouth
of the estuary, and inflow will be reduced. Estuarine circulation may become more sluggish. Estuarine
circulation may even be reversed under these conditions, if more saline, denser, deeper water flows from
the estuary out to sea, and less dense coastal water enters the estuary at the surface.
Sediment transport
Rivers bring sediment from the land down to the estuary. Tidal currents carry detrital sediment from the
longshore current system into the estuary. A partially mixed estuary having strong freshwater inflow as
well as strong tidal currents is likely to accumulate sediments from both the land and from the sea.
Sediment supplied by the river dominates at the upper end of the estuary, but the lower part of the estuary
is floored by sand and mud derived from the inner continental shelf. The stronger the tidal current, the
larger the particle size.
Suspended sediment is concentrated near the halocline, where currents are weakest. Suspension-feeding
animals (such as oysters) ingest this mud and excrete it as fecal pellets. These soft, organic- and clay-rich
fecal pellets form a soupy, near-liquid slurry on the bottom of quiet areas of the estuary, or they may be
piled up by currents to form mud shoals.
Clay minerals carried by rivers into the estuary flocculate and settle. Clay minerals have flaky particle
shapes with many unsatisfied electrostatic charges. When these particles reach salt water they adsorb
ions and also stick together to form larger aggregate (flocculant particles), which settle out of suspension.
The resulting mud is shaped into mud shoals that may migrate up and down the estuary according to
seasonal and tidal fluctuations in currents.
Flushing time
The residence times of water and other materials in the estuary and the flushing time (time needed to
complete an exchange of all the water in the estuary) are critical parameters for analyzing the health of an
estuary.
Water particles in an estuary move seaward and landward, back and forth, according to their vertical
position, the balance between opposing currents, and the time of the tidal cycle. The net water circulation
of an estuary (inward or outward) is of great importance, for this will provide the net transport for

suspended sediments, wastes, organic materials, and juvenile organisms.

Vigorous circulation in a small estuary will produce rapid flushing times. An estuary of larger volume
and slower net circulation will have much longer flushing time. Topography is also important, because
nearshore currents may be less vigorous than those in the center of the estuary, so that with each tidal
cycle materials are diluted but not efficiently removed, resulting in much longer flushing times.
The continued fertility of estuaries and their marginal marshlands as nurseries for marine life depends on
replenishment of dissolved nutrients and salt from sea water as well as on flushing of organic detritus,
sediment, toxic materials from land runoff, and juveniles seaward.
Understanding these circulation patterns for individual estuaries is essential, as increased population,
industrial and urban pollution, environmental modification, and resource exploitation place stress on the
natural estuarine systems.
Each estuary is different. It is important to analyze these processes locally to make intelligent use of the
estuaries. Estuaries are valuable resources, and they are self-renewing within the limits of these
processes.
TYPES OF ESTUARIES BY CIRCULATION PATTERN

Four categories of estuaries can be recognized according to the pattern of mixing:
Vertically mixed estuaries
Vertically mixed estuaries have good mixing of fresh and salt water at all depths, so that there is a
smooth halocline from the head of the river to the mouth both at the surface and at all depths. Net flow is
seaward and slow at all depths.
Well-mixed estuaries are tide-dominated. Thorough mixing is favored by low river discharge, high tidal
amplitude and strong tidal currents. This generates turbulence that favors complete mixing. Salt is
transferred inward by diffusion rather than in a distinct water mass.
Vertically mixed estuaries tend to be shallow, with low-volume but continuous flow toward the ocean at
all depths, so that river water mixes evenly with salt water throughout. Each volume of fresh water (<3
o/ ) mixes with 10 or more times its volume of salt water (>30 o/ ). The salinity of outgoing water is
oo oo
near normal as it enters the ocean.
The isohals (salinity contours) are vertical throughout the estuary. The isohals migrate seaward on the
ebb tide or when river discharge increases and landward on the flood tide or when river flow decreases.
Examples include Delaware Bay and the mouth of the Columbia River. At times, Chesapeake Bay may
also be classified as a well mixed estuary.
Slightly stratified estuaries
A slightly stratified estuary is likely to be somewhat deeper. Salinity increases from the head of the
estuary to the mouth by continuous mixing of river and salt water. Salt is diffused through the estuary by
turbulence and replaced by continuous inflow of salt water at depth.

However, there is a tendency to develop two distinct layers, with a less dense, less saline surface layer of
river water overlying a deeper, denser, more saline layer of sea water. Net flow at the surface is seaward,
while net flow direction at depth is landward.
The isohals are nearly vertical with a little horizontal displacement at the boundary zone between the two
layers. This is the typical pattern of estuarine circulation.
Highly stratified estuaries
A highly stratified estuary is a deeper estuary with more distinct upper and lower water masses. Net flow
in the surface layer is seaward and strong, and net flow in the lower layer is landward and strong, as in
the slightly stratified estuary but with more vigorous flow.
In the upper layer, salinity increases continuously from the head to the mouth by continuous introduction
of salt water from the underlying layer. This one-way introduction of salt water from below into the
lower-salinity layer above is called entrainment, and it is facilitated by the erosive power of the
fast-moving surface freshwater layer as it climbs over the intruding salt wedge.
However, the deep-water layer has nearly open-marine salinity throughout the length of the estuary, and
there is little or no mixing of fresh water into this deeper layer.
Therefore, the isohals are approximately vertical in the upper layer, but they are nearly horizontal and
very closely spaced at the boundary between the two layers. This produces a strong halocline in the
boundary zone between the layers, which may reach as much as 20 o/oo.
Examples include Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay, and the Thames River
Partially mixed estuaries (= slightly stratified + highly stratified)
The difference between the slightly stratified estuary and the highly stratified estuary is one of degree
rather than kind, and most classifications combine them into one category, labelled partially mixed
estuary.
Some estuaries, such as Chesapeake Bay, change from one type to another seasonally with changes in
river flow or weekly as the tides change.
Salt wedge estuaries
A salt wedge estuary occupies the lower valley of a deep, narrow, high-volume river, which empties
directly into the ocean. At the surface fresh water flows continuously in large volumes to the mouth of
the estuary and for some distance out to sea. This river water floats as a distinct layer above the denser,
more saline sea water attempting to penetrate the estuary below.
A salt wedge estuary is always very strongly stratified. The net seaward flow is almost entirely river
water and moves at high velocity.
Beneath the surface layer, a wedge of salt water penetrates into the estuary at depth with its thin edge
pointed upstream. In this lower salt wedge, mixing between fresh and salt water may develop a
continuous horizontal salinity gradient from the head to the mouth of the estuary, as Thurman describes.

The isohals are inclined (dip upstream) within the lower layer, becoming nearly horizontal at the
boundary between the two layers. There is a strong vertical gradient in salinity at any station within the
estuary, and this halocline becomes thinner and more intense near the mouth.
In other cases the boundary may be sharp, and very little downward mixing occurs. River water flowing
over the salt wedge erodes salt water off it by entrainment. Thus, salt water mixes upward into the
turbulent river water to increase its salinity. This erosion keeps the boundary between the salt wedge and
the overlying river water sharp.
Salt wedge estuaries are river-dominated, as the strong outward flow of fresh water holds back the
penetration of the tidal current. The influence of tidal currents is small by comparison. The location of
the salt wedge moves upstream on the rising tide and during times of lower river discharge; it moves
downstream on the ebb tidal current and during times of flood.
The Columbia River is an example of a salt wedge estuary. High volume flow (28,000 m3/sec) combines
with mixed tides of only moderate amplitude (to 3.5 m), so the freshwater flow dominates. The salt
wedge at depth reaches as far as 42 km upstream at times of high tide and low river flow, while the
plume of fresh water extends out to sea. Hundreds of kilometers from the river mouth, salmon can detect
minute traces of chemicals in the surface sea water and by following this chemical plume find their way
back to their spawning grounds in the headwaters of the Columbia River.
Other examples of salt wedge estuaries are the Hudson and Mississippi rivers. The Amazon River is an
even more striking example of a strongly stratified, salt wedge estuary, as the freshwater plume extends
tens of kilometers out to sea and can be traced for hundreds of kilometers before it is thoroughly mixed.
The Amazon is the world's longest estuary, as tidal fluctuation can be measured some 800 km upstream
from the mouth!
A salt wedge may also be present at the mouth of a river where it enters a different type of estuary. An
example is the Sacramento River where it enters San Francisco Bay.
These four categories of estuaries are somewhat over-simplified end-members of a continuous gradation,
and numerous intermediate examples exist. It is common to find that the pattern of water circulation
changes from place to place along a long estuary in response to local conditions, or that it changes
seasonally in response to changing river discharge or tidal current. Estuaries are dynamic systems.
CHESAPEAKE BAY
Chesapeake Bay (Fig. 12-7) is the typical example of an estuary selected for discussion by most
textbooks. It is a shallow drowned river valley (Susquehanna River) with a surface area of 11,500 km2
including the many tributaries. The breadth of Chesapeake Bay increases from about 20 kilometers in its
upper reaches to 50 to 70 kilometers in the middle and lower part. Water depths over much of the bay
average about 6.5 meters, increasing locally to as much as 40 meters. Surface salinities increase steadily
from north to south.
The shores of Chesapeake Bay have been heavily settled since colonial times, and numerous urban
centers (Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Norfolk), factories and military bases contribute sewage,
industrial and agricultural wastes to the bay. Management is complex because six states, the District of

Columbia and numerous municipalities must be involved.

It was once a famous resource for oysters, blue crab, wild fowl, and many species of commercial fish.
Since heavy harvesting in the 1950's and 1960's, the oyster population, the commercial fisheries, and the
waterfowl populations have collapsed to small fractions of their previous totals.
Because most of the tributary streams enter from the west (of which the largest are the Potomac,
Rappahannock, and James Rivers), salinities on the west side of Chesapeake Bay are much lower than
those on the east. Surface isohals are oriented nearly north-south.
In the central and lower part of the bay, where it becomes wider, Coriolis deflection further emphasizes
this asymmetry. Fresh water flowing south is deflected to the west, while incoming salt water from the
south is deflected to the east.
Although most textbooks treat Chesapeake Bay as an example of a coastal plain estuary or stratified
estuary, in fact its circulation changes seasonally and episodically, for reasons that are not fully
understood. At least four deviant circulation patterns have been recorded:
At times, the upstream flow is located at the surface, and the downstream flow takes place at
depth (= reversed estuarine circulation, backward to the expected pattern).
At times, the net flow is downstream at all depths (as in a vertically mixed estuary).
Sometimes, surface water and bottom water flow in the same direction (ex., seaward), while
at intermediate depths the net flow direction is opposite (ex. landward).
Sometimes, estuarine waters at all depths along the east coast and west coast of the bay
show net upstream movement, while in the center of the estuary the net flow direction is
seaward.
River discharge is maximum in the spring, when snow melts in the Appalachian Mountains. At the same
time, warming generates a strong pycnocline in Chesapeake Bay. Through the late spring and summer, a
lens of fresh water rests above more saline deeper water. As Chesapeake Bay becomes mildly stratified
and then strongly stratified, the pycnocline prevents vertical mixing, and oxygen is no longer replenished
to deeper waters.
The nutrient-rich (land-derived) surface water supports a rich bloom of phytoplankton, not all of which
can be consumed quickly by zooplankton and larger animals. The excess biological detritus (dead cells,
fecal pellets, carcases) falls to the sediment below, where biological decay exhausts the remaining
oxygen. Increased plant growth decreases the clarity of the water, shading the bottom. From May through
August, the deeper waters of the middle part of Chesapeake Bay may be anoxic, resulting in kills of
commercially important benthic fish and shellfish (blue crabs, oysters
Opinions differ about whether the increased frequency and intensity of these anoxic events observed over
the last 40 years is the result of human activity. Intensive farming in this watershed has brought more use
of fertilizers (nutrients for phytoplankton) as well as pesticides. As the nitrogen to phosphorus ratio in
bay waters has increased, so has the incidence of blooms of a toxic dinoflagellate. Urbanization
contributes sewage (organic wastes) and industrial pollutants, which are trapped in bay sediments.
Natural changes in rainfall and temperature also have catastrophic effects on water quality. Hurricanes

and tropical storms bring heavy rainfall. The input of freshwater drastically lowers salinities, washes in
large amounts of sediment and wastes, increases turbidity (cutting light for photosynthesis by
phytoplankton), and flushes the plankton (food for fish and shellfish) out to sea. Unusually cold winters
bring thick ice cover, which results in lower oxygen levels in the waters below. The fluctuations due to
natural causes make it difficult to assess the human influences accurately.
ESTUARINE BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTIVITY

Estuarine waters are rich in dissolved nutrients, which support high stands of phytoplankton
(photosynthetic protists). These provide the base of a food chain that supports suspension feeders
(oysters, clams, bryozoans), detritus feeders (gastropods, crustaceans), predators (fish) and scavengers
(crabs).
Seasonal fluctuations in estuarine phytoplankton are related to runoff (nutrient supply) water
clarity/turbidity (sediment supply) and generally peak in the summer. Zooplankton and larger animals
adjust their breeding cycles to take advantage of this production peak.
Some animals living in nearshore coastal waters enter the estuary to breed. The larvae hatch within the
estuary and exploit this abundant food resource for a time. Later in the season, older juveniles may be
swept out of the estuary to live as adults in the ocean. For many coastal marine communities, both the
food chain and reproductive timing are closely tied to those of adjacent estuaries.

By Rosalie F. Maddocks
November 8, 1999

GEOL 3377: Lecture 12B: Coastal Waters and Marginal Seas
LECTURE 12:
ESTUARIES, COASTAL WATERS AND MARGINAL
SEAS
Part B: Coastal Waters and Marginal Seas
Importance of Estuaries
Types of Estuaries by Origin
Water Circulation
Types of Estuaries by Circulation Pattern
Chesapeake Bay
Estuarine Biological Productivity
Coastal Wetlands
Coastal Lagoons
Coastal Waters
Marginal Seas
Mediterranean Sea
Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico
COASTAL WETLANDS
Throughout the coastal zone are extensive strips of land that are protected from the full force of the open
ocean but intermittently covered by salt or brackish water. These water-logged fringe zones have been
colonized by specialized land plants (salt grasses and mangroves) that are able to tolerate both standing
water and elevated salt content. They give their names to the two kinds of wetlands: salt marshes and
mangrove swamps.
Mangrove trees are able to colonize soft muds at the edge of the land near the mouths of streams and
along quiet bays. Their roots branch prolifically above water level to provide solid anchorage in soft
muds. Special respiratory structures (pneumatophores) rise above water level from the submerged roots.
The fruits are buoyant and impervious to salt water to facilitate dispersion by currents along the shore.

Mangroves dominate wetlands at low latitudes to about 30o. The mangrove jungle baffles currents and
encourages accumulation of fine muds in the intertidal zone and on the intertidal and supratidal surfaces
of stream deltas. Species of mangroves have different tolerances for exposure to salt and emersion, so a
complex zonation of mangroves and associated animals characterizes these intertidal habitats.
Salt-tolerant grasses colonize the waterlogged fringe of the land at all latitudes and are the dominant
wetlands vegetation above 30o latitude. Dense stands of grass baffle currents and encourage
accumulation of fine sediments. A subtle but important intertidal zonation results from the various
tolerances of different species of grasses and associated animals to salt, emersion and energy.
The marsh provides shelter (protection against wave energy and predation) and nourishment for juveniles
of many marine animals, which will spend their adult lives in the open water of estuaries or the coastal
ocean. Coastal wetlands are the major nurseries for many commercial species of fish and shellfish.
Adults of some species migrate into the wetlands seasonally to breed or to overwinter. This food-rich
environment is exploited by some terrestrial animals, such as waterfowl.
High biological productivity in the mangrove swamp and salt marsh contributes abundant biological
detritus to the fine, waterlogged sediments. Oxygen levels become depleted below the surface, the mud
changes color from brown to black, and anaerobic bacterial communities dominate. The black, peaty
muck is a potential future coal or source rock for hydrocarbons (petroleum, natural gas).
Coastal wetlands serve also as a buffer zone between terrestrial and marine environments. They have an
amazing capacity to capture and store freshwater runoff with sediment, nitrogen (sewage and fertilizers)
and pollutants. The clay sediments of the wetlands adsorb and remove cations of many metals
(pollutants). Protection of coastal wetlands is essential for the long-term health of the coastal ocean and
its fisheries.
COASTAL LAGOONS
Coastal lagoons are elongate, shallow bodies of water that lie between barrier islands and the mainland
on depositional coasts. They share many features in common with estuaries and are commonly classified
as a type of bar-built estuary.
Salinity within the coastal lagoon varies from nearly fresh near the mouths of streams that empty into the
lagoon through an intermediate brackish zone to saline near the tidal pass connecting the lagoon with the
coastal ocean. The exact disposition of the isohals depends on the depth of the lagoon (usually quite
shallow) and the vigor of tidal mixing (varies with tidal amplitude, and most important near the tidal
pass).
If rainfall varies seasonally, surface isohals may migrate up and down the lagoon. During a rainy season
the lagoon may become nearly fresh. During a dry season, especially in tropical latitudes with high
evaporation rate, evaporation may exceed precipitation, salt water will invade the lagoon, and the upper
part of the lagoon may become more saline or even hypersaline.
An example of a hypersaline lagoon is Laguna Madre, which runs for more than 150 kilometers behind
Padre Island. Except immediately after a hurricane, it is connected to the Gulf of Mexico only through a
pass at Point Isabel, near Brownsville, and at Port Aransas, near Corpus Christi. The depth over much of

Laguna Madre is less than 1 meter, and tidal amplitude is only about 0.5 meter. The South Texas climate
is semiarid, and the streams entering the lagoon are small and intermittent.
Except during very wet years, evaporation exceeds runoff, and sea water comes into Laguna Madre to
replace the loss to evaporation. Salinities in the upper part of the lagoon may become hypersaline,
averaging more than 50o/oo. Dense saline brines sink to the bottom of the lagoon and flow outward
beneath the inward flow of normal marine sea water (reversed estuarine circulation). Baffin Bay, the
shallow flooded valley of several tributary streams, oscillates between nearly fresh in wet years to
hypersaline in dry years.
COASTAL WATERS
Coastal waters are shallow. Because of their shallow depths, changes in salinity, temperature and tides
will have more profound influence than in the open ocean.
Salinity
Rivers bring freshwater runoff to the sea. In lower latitudes, where precipitation falls over the land as
rain, the season of maximum river discharge will correspond to the season of maximum rainfall. In
higher latitudes, where snow accumulates over the winter, rivers will experience their maximum
discharge in the spring and early summer, when snow melts and the ice cover of lakes and streams breaks
up.
This freshwater runoff dilutes the salinity of the surface layer of the coastal ocean. Where tides are weak,
this dilute layer may form a surface lens far out to sea, and there may be a strong halocline. Where tidal
currents are strong and wind-mixing is effective, this runoff may be mixed throughout the water column
to form a nearshore zone of lowered salinity that reaches to the sea floor in inshore waters.
In some localities, dry offshore winds blowing over the nearby coastal ocean cause high evaporation
rates, and there may be a reversed halocline. Because temperature has a greater effect on density than
salinity, stable stratification may persist in spite of the high salinities of surface waters.
Temperature
In coastal seas where depths are shallow and mixing by wind waves and tidal currents is effective, the
inshore waters may show broad seasonal fluctuations in temperature, warming in spring and summer and
cooling in autumn and winter.
Winds blowing off the land over the neighboring ocean in the summer are dry and warmer than the sea
surface; they tend to warm the surface water and cause evaporation. In the winter, winds blowing off the
land are colder than the sea surface and absorb heat from the surface water, chilling it below the
temperature of the open ocean.
In high latitudes, sea ice may form along the margins of quiet coastal seas if temperature drops below the
freezing point for that salinity.
Coastal Geostrophic Currents

In Chapter 8, we discovered that the major gyral current systems of the world ocean are geostrophic
currents driven by the prevailing winds of the planet. Because of Ekman transport, net water movement
is to the right (in the Northern Hemisphere) of the wind direction. Each geostrophic current is a rotating
lens of warm, low-density water. The velocity of the current is directly related to the slope and the
thickness of this "hill of water" at every point.
In coastal waters, if low-density water tends to accumulate along the coast, a coastal geostrophic current
may form. There are two possible settings:
Winds blowing parallel to the coast may tend (by Ekman transport) to pile up low-density
surface water along the coast to cause sinking. The sinking water mass will flow downslope
(offshore), deflected to its own right (in the Northern Hemisphere) by the Coriolis effect.
Along the Pacific Coast of North America, a wind out of the south causes
Ekman transport toward the coast, sinking of surface water, and a return
geostrophic current at depth that is deflected northward.
On a coast where a stream delivers high volumes of freshwater runoff, but mixing by wind
and tides is ineffective, a low-salinity surface-water mass may accumulate nearshore.
If water temperatures are relatively cool, the halocline controls the pycnocline.
This low-salinity, low-density, surface-water mass will form a thick nearshore
wedge, whose surface slopes offshore. The slope of this surface is proportional
to the spacing of the isohals and isopleths (halocline and pycnocline).
As the lens of low-density water becomes thicker, sinking occurs. It flows
downslope and offshore, deflected by the Coriolis effect (to its own right in the
Northern Hemisphere). In many localities, this coastal current flows in the
opposite direction to the boundary current offshore.
For example, along the coast of Oregon and Washington, the low-salinity
coastal Davidson Current flows from south to north, especially during the
winter when high rainfall produces high runoff through the Columbia River.
The north-south California Current, which is the eastern boundary current of
the North Pacific Ocean, is held several kilometers offshore.
MARGINAL SEAS
The discussion of marginal seas is a unique feature of Thurman's text. It illustrates the application of
principles already covered, with modifications resulting from local influence and differences of scale.
This material is inherently descriptive and will not be systematically reviewed in lecture. You should
read these passages carefully and study the accompanying illustrations for each of the examples selected.
Mediterranean Sea
Tectonically, the Mediterranean Sea consists of a number of more or less isolated ocean basins (with

oceanic crust) separated by higher structural blocks. Contrary to what Thurman says, it is not the remains
of the vanished Tethys Ocean. Relicts of the Tethys lie to the north and include the Aral Sea, Caspian
Sea and Black Sea.
In the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, northern Gondwana (Africa) separated from Europe. The process was
messy and produced swarms of rifts, transform faults and microplates carrying microcontinents.
Spreading generated oceanic crust, while blocks of Africa were carried north to collide with the southern
margin of Europe. The largest of these blocks were Italy and Spain, whose collision produced the Alps
and Pyrenees. As Spain jostled against North Africa, about six million years ago the Gibraltar Strait
closed briefly, probably intermittently, and the Mediterranean Sea became a chain of saline lakes with
evaporite mineral deposits and then dried up altogether. A million years or so later, the Strait reopened,
and North Atlantic water poured in to refill the basins.
The coastline of the Mediterranean is irregular, and the bathymetry is equally irregular. The
Mediterranean consists of a western basin (including the Tyrrhenian and Balearic Seas), a central basin
(including the Adriatic and Ionian Seas), and an eastern basin (Levantine basin), separated by the Sicilian
Sill (between Sicily and Tunisia) and the Crete Sill (which runs from the relatively shallow Ionian Sea to
the Libyan peninsula). The Mediterranean Ridge runs east-west through the central and eastern basins.
The greatest depth (in the central basin) is only a little over 4,000 m.
Significant freshwater input comes only from the Nile River (now much decreased since the building of
the Aswan Dam) and the Po River in northern Italy (which empties into the northern Adriatic. The
Bosphorus Strait connecting with the Black Sea (which is brackish) is narrow (about a mile). The
man-made Suez Canal does not allow substantial interchange of water with the Indian Ocean. The only
connection to the Atlantic Ocean is the Gibraltar Strait, which is narrow (about 14 km) and shallow (600
m).
The Mediterranean is located at about 30oN latitude in a semiarid climate and experiences a high
evaporation rate. North Atlantic water enters the Mediterranean Sea over the Gibraltar Sill with a salinity
of about 36o/oo. As it flows east, its salinity rises as a result of evaporation, so that in the eastern basin
the surface salinity is as high as 39o/oo, and water level has dropped 15 cm.
Near Cyprus this saline surface water sinks (in the winter, when the seasonal thermocline breaks down)
and returns westward as a subsurface flow at a depth of about 200-600 m. As it spills outward over the
Gibraltar Sill, it sinks and flows down the continental slope, finding its proper place in the density
stratification of the North Atlantic at a depth of about 1000 m. There it spreads laterally to form a thin
but distinctive water mass labeled Mediterranean Intermediate Water.
This pattern, which is the opposite of estuarine circulation, is called Mediterranean circulation.
Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico

This region is called the "American Mediterranean," because there are many important similarities of
tectonic history, bathymetry and water circulation.
It is separated from the western Atlantic Ocean by a chain of islands. The Greater Antilles are large,
tectonicly complex landmasses and microcontinents, while the Lesser Antilles are a volcanic island arc

associated with the Puerto Rico Trench.

Rifting and transform faulting in the early Mesozoic separated Gondwana from North America.
Spreading generated ocean crust, while microcontinental blocks ripped off both North America and
Gondwana were rotated and transported long distances to form parts of southern Mexico, Central
America, and the larger islands of the Greater Antilles. Until about five million years ago, the North
Atlantic Ocean was connected through the Caribbean region to the Eastern Pacific, and the Equatorial
Currents flowed through the Panama Strait without hindrance. Then volcanism associated with the
Mid-Americas Trench built a continuous volcanic arc, the Isthmus of Panama, which connects North and
South America by a land bridge.
The Panamanian land bridge has facilitated interchange of terrestrial animals. It also obstructed the North
Equatorial Current, which now bends north to feed the Antilles Current and Gulf Stream, and it has
isolated Tropical Atlantic organisms from those living in the East Pacific.
The Caribbean Sea consists of four basins (Venezuela, Columbia, Cayman, Yucatan), with maximum
depths of more than 4,000 meters, separated by shallow ridges. The Mexico Basin (Gulf of Mexico) is a
shallow equidimensional basin, just over 3,500 m deep. It connects to the Yucatan Basin by the Yucatan
Strait and to the North Atlantic through the Florida Strait.
The South Equatorial Current is bisected and deflected north by the coast of South America, and part of
it splits to flow north along the coast of Brazil and Guinea, together with the North Equatorial Current, as
the Guinea Current. Part of this warm western boundary current continues north outside the Antilles as
the Antilles Current and Florida Current, becoming the Gulf Stream. Part enters the Venezuela Basin
through the channels between the Lesser Antilles Islands to become the Caribbean Current.
Trade winds blowing along the east-west coast of Venezuela and Columbia cause Ekman Transport
offshore and coastal upwelling (from 250 m). This upwelling feeds relatively productive fisheries for this
latitude.
The Caribbean Current flows north through the Venezuela Basin, Columbia Basin and Cayman Basin,
turning north in the Yucatan Basin to enter the Gulf of Mexico through the Yucatan Strait. There it
becomes the Loop Current, a geostrophic current rotating clockwise. A "dome" of rotating warm water
(10 cm high, up to 300 m thick to the base of the 20oC isotherm) occupies the east- central Gulf of
Mexico. It exits through the Florida Strait as the high-velocity Florida Current to join the Gulf Stream.
Four water masses make up the Caribbean Sea, two of which are shallow and warm, and two of which
are deeper and colder. Because of the warm temperatures, these saline surface waters do not sink.
0 to 50-200 m: Caribbean Surface Water has elevated salinity (over 36o/oo).
50-200 m to 500 m: Subtropical Underwater with slightly higher salinity (37o/oo).
500 to 1500 m: Subtropical Intermediate Water has lower salinity (<35o/oo).
1500 to 4000 m: Caribbean Bottom Water originates as North Atlantic Deep Water
(temperature 2oC, salinity about 35o/oo), entering the Caribbean Sea through the Anegada
Passage (between the Virgin Islands and the Leeward Islands) through the Windward

Passage (between Cuba and Hispaniola).

In the Gulf of Mexico:
0 to 90-125 m: Surface Water, T. 24o-27oC off Yucatan Coast to 18o-21oC along the
northern Gulf Coast. Salinity about 36o/oo, decreasing toward the Mississippi River to as
little as 25o/oo.
90-125 m to 100-200 m.: Tropical Underwater. The 16oC isotherm forms the base of this
layer.
Below 200 m: Intermediate Water
Below 1500 m: Bottom Water
Clastic and Carbonate Shelves of the Gulf of Mexico

A lithofacies map for the Gulf of Mexico can be found as Fig. 10.23 of Dott & Prothero, Evolution of the
Earth, Fifth Edition (the textbook we use for Historical Geology).
The northwest Gulf of Mexico, from northern Mexico to western Florida, is a clastic shelf province.
Sediments are sands and muds derived chiefly from the Mississippi River and transported east and west
along the shelf by coastal currents, including longshore drift.
The Florida, Bahamas and Yucatan-Belize Platforms are carbonate platforms, rimmed with coral reefs.
They are located far from major rivers, and therefore waters are clear (no clastic sediment load) and
salinities are high (no dilution by fresh water). The coralline limestone has been accumulating (on a
foundation of basalt) since the late Mesozoic.
Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone

Near the mouth of the Mississippi River on the Louisiana Continental Shelf, a low-oxygen area appears
annually in February, peaking in August, and dissipating in the fall, when storms stir up the Gulf waters.
The center of this zone is generally at a depth of about 60 m, and it may extend up to within a few meters
of the surface. Mobile animals (fish, shrimp) avoid the zone, and benthic animals are torpid or die.
This dead zone is thought to be the result of freshwater flooding out into the Gulf, causing stratification
and eutrophication. The Mississippi River drains 75% of the North American continent, including much
of the agricultural lands of the United States. The nutrients delivered by the Mississippi in times of flood
support rapid phytoplankton blooms that cannot be fully utilized before they decay.
This is not unique, but it is the largest feature of its kind in the western hemisphere. Opinions differ as to
its impact on fisheries and the relative contributions of natural and man-made causes.

Gulf of California
Bering Sea
Red Sea
Arabian Sea
Bay of Bengal
There will not be time in class to review the special features of each of these regions. Be sure to read
these passages of Thurman and study the accompanying maps carefully.

By Rosalie F. Maddocks
November 8, 1999

GEOL 3377 Lecture 13a The Marine Environment
LECTURE 13:
THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT
PART A: LIMITING PARAMETERS
Conditions For Life in the Oceans
Diversity
Basic Needs
Limiting Factors
Temperature
Temperature in the Ocean
Importance of Temperature
Biotic Responses to Temperature
Salinity
Osmosis
Osmoregulation
Salinity Gradient and Species Minimum

Classification of Marine Environments
Depth
Oceanic Province
Benthic Province

Biotic Depth Zonation

Light
Substrate
Size and Viscosity
Modes of Life
Plankton
Nekton
Benthos
Other Categories
Availability of Nutrients
Stability and Diversity
CONDITIONS FOR LIFE IN THE OCEANS

Life originated in the oceans, and even today several phyla are restricted to marine environments or are
most diverse there. Oddly enough, it is the smaller, more primitive organisms that tend to be
characteristic of marine environments. Many advanced groups are underrepresented in the marine realm.
(This makes sense, if you consider that the conquest of terrestrial environments required the invention of
complex, sophisticated structures.)
The dominant terrestrial organisms (vascular plants, tetrapods, insects) are absent from most marine
communities. Angiosperms, for example, have colonized only the littoral fringe of the sea (marsh
grasses, mangroves). Bony fish, well represented in both terrestrial and marine habitats, may have
evolved initially in deltaic or estuarine settings, and the lobe-finned lineage leading to amphibians and
other tetrapods probably lived in fresh water.
Life in the ocean is much more three-dimensional and more dispersed than life in subaerial
environments. While many marine organisms are associated with surfaces, many others live suspended in
the open ocean at all depths.
Marine environments are more stable than terrestrial environments. They show less fluctuation of
temperature and other parameters. There is no danger of drying out and losing body fluids. The density
of water helps to buoy organisms against the pull of gravity. Thus, many of the special adaptations found
in land organisms are not needed in the sea. Accordingly, most marine organisms lack fine-tuned
regulatory systems and are more vulnerable to small changes in environmental parameters, such as
temperature and salinity, than their terrestrial relatives would be.
DIVERSITY
Surprisingly, marine organisms are much less diverse than terrestrial organisms. Of the 2 to 10 million

species thought to inhabit the planet (1.4 million known), only about 17% live in the ocean. (Of the 1.2
million terrestrial organisms, at least 75% are insects, and most are narrowly specialized.)
In some ways, marine habitats are less varied and more predictable than those of the land. Many marine
habitats occupy enormous areas. The territory inhabited by a typical marine species is likely to be
broader, more geographically extensive, than that of a typical terrestrial organism. Boundaries between
habitats are likely to be transitional rather than sharply demarcated. The barriers isolating related species
are likely to be subtle changes of physiochemical parameters rather than geographic barriers. This
absence of barriers encourages gene flow between adjacent populations and discourages speciation.
Of the 200,000 marine species, only about 4,000 (2%) live in the open-ocean (pelagic and planktonic)
environment. The rest are benthic. Plankton are relatively well known today, but many new benthic
species are still being discovered, especially in poorly known deep-sea habitats.
Diversity (number of species) is directly proportional to the likelihood of barriers between neighboring
populations and inversely proportional to the degree of mixing. Thus, the most extensive habitats (of
global scale) account for the fewest species (in the global tally).
BASIC NEEDS
The basic needs of marine organisms are fundamentally similar to those of terrestrial organisms:
Water composes 80% of organisms on average, and biochemical processes are conducted in aqueous
solutions. Terrestrial organisms need mechanisms for collecting and conserving water and for
distributing it to all tissues. Marine organisms are bathed in water and need no such structures.
Energy may be harvested by photosynthesis, chemosynthesis, or by respiration.
Materials needed include CO2, O2, nutrients, trace metals, and vitamins. Many of these are needed in
aqueous solution. Marine organisms are surrounded with this solution and need less in the way of special
intake apparatus. Organisms secreting calcareous and siliceous skeletons must respond to the local
availability of these materials in sea water.
Support refers to the need for a stable body form in spite of the pull of gravity. It is much less of a
problem in the aquatic realm. Water surrounds and supports marine organisms. Most use buoyancy and
frictional resistance to sinking to maintain position rather than fixed supports. Skeletons may assist in
this function in more advanced organisms.
Protection and shelter may be sought from enemies, especially for eggs and young. Many organisms are
attracted to surfaces (reefs, sea floor, floating seaweed) for such reasons.
Appropriate physical and chemical conditions (temperature, salinity, dissolved gases, pH) are needed.
By natural selection, organisms have evolved to "need" as "appropriate" those conditions that are
available where and how they live.
LIMITING FACTORS
No two species have identical needs, because no two species have identical ecologic niches, though
many organisms share certain general requirements. Yet, all marine environments are inhabited, although
environments are more favorable than others.

The Law of the Minimum states that organisms need essential materials for existence in a given
situation. The list of materials needed is long, some are needed in greater amount than others, and some
are in greater supply in the environment than others. That material which happens to be available in
amounts most closely approaching the critical minimum needed will tend to be the limiting material.
When this material is exhausted, the species cannot live there any more. Thus, this is the material setting
a limit to population growth.
The Law of Tolerance states that the successful survival of an organism depends on a variety of
environmental factors or parameters, for each of which there is a minimum-to-maximum range within
which the species can survive. Examples of readily quantifiable factors include temperature, salinity and
water depth. All factors must be within the tolerated ranges for the species to survive. If all factors except
one are satisfied, but one factor is outside the tolerance range, the species is unable to live there. Thus,
that factor is setting a limit on where or when the species population can live.
These two laws can be combined and generalized as a general Law of Limiting Factors. The presence
and success of an organism or a population of organisms depends on a complex of conditions. Any
condition which approaches or exceeds the limits of tolerance is said to be a limiting condition or a
limiting factor. That condition or material that is exceeded or exhausted first will set the limit, beyond
which the species cannot continue, even though all the other conditions and materials may be satisfied.
A limiting factor is one which limits the geographic occurrence of a species and which limits the
reproductive increase of the species population. Limiting factors may affect survival of the individual or
reproductive success. The latter is more important for the persistance of the species.
The biological discipline of ecology has searched for limiting factors in order to understand why
organisms live where they do. Some are obvious, but many are not. The real limiting factors for many
species are inconspicuous and poorly understood. For example, most predator control of game species is
ill-advised, because predators are not usually the actual limiting factors for these species.
Next, we will consider a number of physical environmental factors that are likely to be limiting factors
for many marine organisms. These include temperature, salinity, water depth, light, and substrate. We
have already looked at these ocean properties in considerable detail in their own right. Now we revisit
them to appreciate how they shape environments for life.
TEMPERATURE
The oceans are thermally stratified, because density is controlled largely by temperature.
Mixed layer: A warm surface layer mixed by waves and currents, with uniform temperature. It reaches
from 0 to 20, 50, 100 or at most 200 m.
Thermocline: The interval with a steep gradient in temperature, and the interval in which the
temperatures and the steepness of this gradient show seasonal variation. The thickness and steepness of
the thermocline vary with latitude and season. It is permanent, thicker and steeper at low latitudes, exists
only seasonally and is thinner at high latitudes. It varies from 100 to 700 m thick. This interval may be
called the seasonal thermocline, to distinguish it from the continuing but more gentle temperature decline
in deeper water.

Thermosphere: This is a gentler gradient in temperature, corresponding to the permanent thermocline. It

extends from the base of the seasonal thermocline to the depth corresponding to the 10oC. This term is
not as widely used.
Psychrosphere: This is the body of permanently cold water, always below 10oC and mostly below 4oC.
The term is useful but not widely used.
The oceans are cold! The warm surface layer is very thin. By volume:
50% < 2.3oC
25% = 2.3-4oC
17% = 4-10oC
8% > 10oC
The range of temperature fluctuation is much less in the ocean than on land. Ocean temperature is never
much less than -2oC and rarely above 32oC., by contrast with an extreme continental range from minus
88oC measured in Antarctica to 58oC in the Sahara.
Temperature fluctuates in surface waters on diurnal and seasonal cycles. Daily variations in temperature
in surface water average 0.2 to 0.3oC, though they may be as great as 2oC or 3oC in coastal waters.
Annual temperature variations are greatest in mid-latitude waters and smallest at high latitudes. Annual
temperature variations may range from 2oC at the equator to 8oC at 35o to 45o latitude, decreasing again
at high latitudes. In shallow coastal waters in mid-latitudes the annual temperature range may be as high
as 15oC.
These temperature ranges decrease from surface into deeper waters. Below the seasonal thermocline,
these daily and seasonal temperature variations are absent. Bottom water masses average 3oC at all
latitudes.
Formerly, we thought deep-sea temperatures were invariant. Now we suspect that there may be
long-period (measured in years or tens of years) trends of warming or cooling. It appears that deep-sea
temperatures may have warmed on average by 0.2 to 0.5oC in the last 50 years, which is an unexpected
result of global warming. The consequences of continued warming may be grave, not only for
stenothermal deep-sea organisms, but for sea-level rise (warming decreases density) and for less vigorous
thermohaline circulation.
Temperature controls the density and viscosity of sea water. Temperature affects the solubility of
dissolved gases. At higher temperature, there is less oxygen and carbon dioxide in solution. Much
so-called "heat death" actually results from oxygen deprivation.
At higher temperatures, it is easier to manufacture calcareous skeletons, because CO2 is less soluble. For
this reason there is a general tendency for greater production of CaCO3 in warmer waters. Globally,
warm water corresponds to shallow water depths and low latitudes.

Tropical representatives of a calcareous invertebrate taxon generally have thicker shells, faster growth
rates, higher turn-over rates, and thus greater annual productivity. Taxa requiring a great deal of CaCO3
for skeletons are likely to be more common in warm waters. For example, coccolithophores, calcareous
sponges, larger foraminifera, soft corals and hard corals are all more abundant and diverse in warm
water.
Mineralogy of calcareous skeletons varies with temperature. Aragonite and high-Mg calcite are favored
in warmer waters, while low-Mg calcite will be characteristic in colder water.
By default, siliceous and other kinds of skeletons become more common in cold waters. (Silica is
available in in sea water everywhere, and there is no analogue of the carbonate equilibrium system for
silica. In principle, siliceous-shelled organisms can live anywhere.) Polar biotas are dominated by
diatoms, siliceous sponges, agglutinate foraminifera, anemones, etc. In part this abundance reflects the
great primary productivity (mostly diatoms) of high-latitude waters, while in part it results from the
diminished competition from calcareous species.
Most ocean creatures are "cold-blooded," unable to regulate their internal temperatures independently of
that of the surrounding water. Many physiochemical processes operate at a rate that is dependent on
temperature. Rates of growth, photosynthesis, oxygen consumption, and other activities increase with
increasing temperature. A 10o rise in temperature causes a doubling of metabolic rate for some
invertebrates.
Every organism is adapted for a particular temperature optimum and a temperature range. The
magnitude of temperature fluctuation is as important as the mean. The temperature optimum is usually
located near the upper end of the temperature range, so that heat death is more likely than death from
cold. In other words, many organisms are living near the upper end of their tolerance range, probably to
maximize physiochemical efficiency. Many organisms can survive temporary cold quite well with
lowered metabolism, when they need less food and oxygen. High temperatures may be much more
stressful.
The tolerance of an organism to temperature fluctuation is described as stenothermal (narrow) or
eurythermal (broad). Eurythermal organisms are found chiefly in shallow coastal waters, where the
largest temperature ranges are found. Most marine organisms are stenothermal.
Individual species have different temperature preferences, and species with similar preferences live in the
same places. The result is that there are distinctive biotas that are temperature-controlled. Because the
ocean is thermally stratified and latitudinally zoned with respect to temperature, these biotas occupy
latitudinal bands and depth zones. On a planetary scale, a good part of the latitudinal and vertical
zonation of biotas may be explained by temperature.
Species diversity is greatest in warm, low-latitude waters. This is the latitudinal diversity gradient.
However, biomass (total mass of living organisms) is many times greater in cooler, high-latitude waters,
because individuals are larger and populations are much larger.
Warm-water organisms tend to be smaller, to grow faster, to have a shorter life expectancy, to
reproduce earlier, and to reproduce more frequently or continuously than organisms in cold waters.

Cold-water organisms are likely to be larger, to grow slowly, to live longer, to reproduce seasonally or
only once, to have seasonal life cycles, and to be members of large populations. The exact causes
(probably multiple) of these tendencies are uncertain, but they probably include the effect of temperature
on metabolism.
Temperature-controlled latitudinal zonation is especially conspicuous in planktonic organisms, which
must maintain neutral buoyancy. Warmer waters are less dense and less viscous. Planktonic organisms
must lighten their bodies or develop greater surface area-to-volume ratios to generate frictional resistance
to sinking. We find that warm-water plankters tend to be smaller overall and to have lighter, more
delicate skeletons. They often have spines, keels or other devices to increase surface area and retard
sinking. Many have gas or oil inclusions to lower the cell density.
SALINITY
Osmosis
Sea water is a complex solution of salts. As salinity increases, the vapor pressure of the solution
decreases.
The relative proportions of major dissolved ions in the body fluids of organisms are nearly the same as
those in sea water. However, if an organism is immersed in water of different total salinity than his
internal fluids, it is necessary to regulate osmotic pressure.
Osmosis is a diffusion process. If two solutions of unequal salinity are in contact through permeable
membrane, molecules of water and dissolved ions will migrate in both directions across this membrane.
However, the net result of this migration will be to redistribute these ions more evenly. The net migration
of molecules will be in the direction of the less concentrated solution. When we say that molecules will
migrate (diffuse) from the less concentrated to the more concentrated solution, we mean that this is the
net result.
The diffusion gradient is the difference in concentration of the two solutions. It is measured as the
osmotic pressure, which may be thought of as the pressure that would have to be applied to prevent
osmosis (migration of molecules from the more concentrated to the less concentrated solution). Osmotic
pressure is defined as that pressure which must be applied to keep pure water separate from a saline
solution, when they are separated only by a semipermeable membrane. Both water and dissolved ions
migrate in both directions; it is the net difference in this two-way traffic that is significant.
The higher the salinity, the higher the osmotic pressure. A convenient measure of the osmotic pressure is
the freezing point of the fluid, because the higher the salinity, the lower the freezing point, and therefore
the higher the osmotic pressure.
Osmoregulation
Biological membranes must be selectively permeable, allowing water and nutrients to enter the cell and
waste particles to leave. This selective diffusion allows the cell to obtain the nutrients it needs and to get
rid of waste material. Materials migrate from high to low concentrations, so concentrations inside the cell
must be managed in order to regulate the rate of diffusion across the membrane.
Most marine invertebrates are isotonic or nearly so, having body fluids of the same salinity as sea water.

There will be no net transfer of water through the membrane. (Iso- means equal; tonic refers to tension or
tone.)
But if such an animal moves into brackish water, there will be a tendency for the cells to take in large
volumes of water and eventually to rupture. That is why relatively few invertebrate groups have
successfully colonized fresh waters, and why species diversity is lower near the shore. Only those
animals that are able to osmoregulate (to regulate osmosis) will be able to survive there.
Osmoregulation involves a variety of processes to regulate internal salinity, whether intracellular or
tissue-level, by active transport of water and ions across the skin or cell membrane. Oysters and other
estuarine mollusks are especially adept at osmoregulation. Daily or semidaily tides bring salt water into
the estuary and flush it out again together with freshwater runoff. Organisms living in the estuary have
access to abundant nutrients but must adapt to fluctuating salinity.
Osmoregulation confers an advantage but exacts a metabolic cost. With few exceptions, animals living in
lower salinity are smaller than their closest marine relatives, because osmoregulation is metabolically
expensive and is carried out at the expense of growth.
Additional mechanisms for coping with fluctuating salinity include an impervious body covering or
skeleton and behavior traits, such as opening up to feed only at certain times of the tide. These traits are
especially common in coastal waters. Many estuarine and littoral animals burrow or are inactive at
certain times of the tidal cycle. Many have impermeable coverings, such as the chitinous exoskeleton of
arthropods and the scales of fish.
Tolerance for salinity fluctuation is described as stenohaline or euryhaline. Most marine invertebrates
and sharks are stenohaline. Virtually all freshwater invertebrates are highly stenohaline. In estuaries,
where salinities fluctuate, only a few invertebrates with osmoregulation and other coping strategies are
able to survive.
Freshwater fish are hypertonic (have body fluids that are more saline than the surrounding medium). In
fact, they have body fluids with osmotic pressure 20 to 30 times greater than that of the surrounding fresh
water. Their cells tend to absorb water and would eventually rupture. This is avoided by not drinking
water and by producing large volumes of very dilute urine. Special cells selectively absorb and store salt.
Likewise, a hypotonic animal, whose body fluids are less saline than sea water, must osmoregulate to
avoid dehydration. Virtually all terrestrial organisms are hypotonic. Marine fish, which are hypotonic,
have body fluids that are only slightly more than one-third as saline as sea water. This is why we think
that fish first evolved in estuarine or coastal waters. Salt-water fish drink large quantities of sea water.
Special chloride cells in the gills extract and excrete the excess salt. They produce small volumes of
concentrated urine.
The Salinity Gradient and the Species Minimum
Open-ocean salinity shows only minor changes over great distances and depths. The strongest salinity
gradient is seen in estuaries connecting fresh waters with the open sea. In such estuaries the distributions
of marine and freshwater plants and animals provide a great deal of information about the effect of the
salinity gradient. The most important effect is a strong drop in species diversity, called the species
minimum.

Marine species enter the estuary with the tidal current and penetrate up it until their individual salinity
tolerances are exceeded. Freshwater species are carried into the estuary with the river discharge and
continue living until their individual salinity tolerances are exceeded. Within the estuary, species of both
marine and freshwater derivation mingle. A few animals that can osmoregulate well have become
brackish-water specialists, such as oysters.
There are more marine species than freshwater species, and more marine invaders of the estuary than
freshwater. Many coastal marine species are moderately euryhaline with some tolerance for brackish
water, whereas freshwater species are nearly all highly stenohaline. Most inshore marine species feel
little effect of reduced salinity until 30o/oo. At the 18o/oo isohaline, about half the invading marine
species are still left, but most have disappeared by 10o/oo.
Thus the resulting pattern of overlap is asymmetrical. Total diversity declines through the middle reaches
of the estuary, as marine species drop out, and the numbers of freshwater immigrants and brackish-water
specialists are insufficient to replace them. The species minimum lies at 5 to 7o/oo, and diversity
increases both toward the head and the mouth of the estuary from there.
The exact shape of the diversity-versus-salinity curve is different for different taxa. Macrofauna
disappear more rapidly than microfauna, because the salinity of bottom water and interstitial sediment
water varies less than the open water of the estuary. Organisms with calcareous skeletons are not able to
penetrate as easily into low salinities, because of the declining abundance of carbonate ion. There is a
succession up the estuary from calcareous to chitinous and agglutinate skeletons in Polychaetes, Bryozoa
and Foraminifera.
Overall, the decline in species diversity up the estuary mirrors the declining salinity. This is illustrated in
the following data from Elofson (1941). The data show the drop-out rate for species of marine-derived
Ostracoda in the Skaggerak channel leading from the North Sea (normal marine salinity) into the Baltic
Sea (nearly fresh at its upper end).
Salinity o/oo 33 31 30 17 10 2
Number of North Sea
78 68 61 52 18 -
species remaining


GEOL 3377 LECTURE 13b The Marine Environment
LECTURE 13:
THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT
PART B: LIFE IN THE SEA
Conditions For Life in the Oceans

Diversity
Basic Needs
Limiting Factors
Temperature
Salinity
Osmosis
Osmoregulation
Salinity Gradient and Species Minimum
Classification of Marine Environments
Depth
Oceanic Province
Benthic Province

Light
Substrate
Size and Viscosity
Modes of Life
Plankton
Nekton
Benthos
Other Categories
Availability of Nutrients
Stability and Diversity
CLASSIFICATION OF MARINE ENVIRONMENTS

Depth
The classification of marine environments is summarized in the Hedgpeth (1947) depth classification.
Depth is a complex variable, including the effects of:
Hydrostatic pressure (important in physiological processes for which a gas phase is
involved).
Temperature, which decreases with depth.
Light, which decreases with depth.
Distance from shore (proximity to land), which is correlated with fluctuation in salinity,
lowered salinity due to run-off, fluctuation in temperature, turbidity, nutrient levels, and
sediment type).
Wave energy
Sediment type
Stability of ecologic parameters.
Standing crop (number of living individuals) and biomass (total weight of living
organisms) decrease with depth, because of the lower food supply.
Species diversity (number of species) increases with depth, because of greater stability and
predictability of environment. There is more biotic interaction, and ecologic niches are
narrower in deep water.

Trophic (food-related) structure of marine communities changes with depth. For example,
deep-sea communities have no photosynthetic primary producers, but they have abundant
detritus-feeders and carnivores.
The marine environment can be divided into pelagic and benthic environments. The pelagic (open
ocean) environment is the environment within the water. The benthic environment is the ocean floor.
The pelagic environment is divided by proximity to land. The neritic (shallow) province extends from
the shore to just below the edge of the continental shelf at 200 m depth. The oceanic province extends
beyond this limit.
Oceanic Province
The oceanic province is divided vertically by water depth, because of systematic changes in light and
other parameters.
Epipelagic zone = 0 to 200 m or the shelf break, average 150 m. This corresponds to the euphotic zone,
and the boundary placed at the lowest level of photosynthesis. The lower limit depends on latitude and
season. Here, nutrients are low, productivity is high, and oxygen is high. The base of the epipelagic layer
generally corresponds roughly to the base of the mixed layer, the top of the seasonal thermocline, and the
base of the surface-water mass.
Mesopelagic zone = 200-1000 m with temperatures not above 10oC. The base of the seasonal
thermocline is generally somewhere near the base of this zone.
Oxygen levels drop rapidly below the euphotic zone, because there are no photosynthetic
cells, and because oxygen is being consumed by aerobic decay bacteria in decomposing
organic detribus.
Nutrient content increases as organic detritus is decomposed.
A dissolved-oxygen minimum zone occurs at a depth of about 700 to 1000 m, where
dissolved nutrients reach a maximum.
Some plankton migrate within the mesopelagic zone, showing that they are able to detect
light. The Deep Scattering Layer is a sonar echo-reflection from zooplankton and
carnivores that migrate to the surface at night to feed, returning to deeper water in the day to
avoid predation. On average, they migrate from 900 m to 100-200 m. These organisms
include siphonophores, copepods, euphausiids, cephalopods, and small fish.
Although there is not enough light for photosynthesis, organisms here can perceive and use
light. Mesopelagic fish have large, sensitive eyes. Many animals here are bioluminescent,
producing flashes of light to lure prey, escape predators or attract mates. They do this with
photophores, special cells in which symbiotic bioluminescent bacteria live.
Bathypelagic zone 1000 - 4000 m with temperatures 4oC to 10oC.
Oxygen content increases with depth, becauses the deep and bottom water masses originated
at the surface in high latitudes.
Here there is no light. Many animals here are blind; some are bioluminescent. They are

skilled predators and detritus-feeders. Food is scarce, and many detritus-feeders become
predators. Fish have small bodies with large voracious mouths.
Abyssopelagic zone = 4000 - 6000 m with temperatures never above 4oC. These are the oxygen-rich,
bottom-water masses.
Hadopelagic zone = below 6000 m to base of trench.
Benthic Province
The benthic environment is divided by depth. Thurman divides the benthic realm into two provinces, the
subneritic province extending from high tide to the shelf edge, and the suboceanic realm beyond the
shelf edge.
The Supralittoral zone reaches above high tide, the ocean-influenced zone of the land.
The Littoral zone extends between high and low tides, the intertidal zone.
The Sublittoral extends from low tide to edge of continental shelf, 0 - 200 m.
It may be divided into the Inner Sublittoral (= Infralittoral) zone, 0-50 m (zone that is
influenced by proximity of land), and Outer Sublittoral (Circalittoral) zone, 50-200 m.
The line between the inner and outer sublittoral zones is placed at the limit of attached
benthic seaweeds. It also corresponds approximately to wave base for storms and to a
resulting change in substrate, turbidity, and benthic fauna. In the outer sublittoral zone there
is much less influence on salinity and temperature from the proximity of land.
The Bathyal zone begins at the continental shelf edge and extends down the continental slope and rise to
about 4000 m. Locally, temperature is more important than actual depth in defining this boundary. Here
there is no benthic photosynthesis. The sediment is abyssal clay or ooze.
The Abyssal zone extends from 4000 to 6000 m. The lower limit is arbitrary. This is the largest benthic
environment of the planet, about 60% of ocean area.
The Hadal zone extends below 6000 m to the deepest part of a trench.
We will discover that each of these depth zones is characterized by distinct biotic communities, and this
is not accidental. The boundaries of these depth divisions are placed at more or less abrupt faunal breaks,
or changes in the kinds of organisms living there. There may also be subtle changes in the sediment.
The controlling parameter for distribution of organisms is more likely to be temperature than depth as
such. The boundaries between these zones may change from one place to another according to the water
mass present and the actual fauna present.
Depth zonation of marine communities was first studied on the continent edge, where it is hard to
distinguish the direct effects of depth, such as water pressure, from the various effects of proximity to
land. The Jasper Seamount study mentioned in Thurman discovered that distinct depth zonation exists on
the slope of this seamount, from less than 600 m to more than 4000 m, and that the differences are related

to such parameters as currents, oxygen, and the abundance of organic detritus.

LIGHT
The photic zone is the upper layer of the ocean in which light penetrates and may be measured. It
includes the euphotic and dysphotic zones. Below this zone is the aphotic zone with no measurable
light.
The euphotic zone is the zone in which there is sufficient light for photosynthesis. It is never more than
200 m deep in the clearest, bluest water. In coastal waters with high turbidity and phytoplankton standing
crop it may be as shallow as 10 m. It averages 30 m in thickness and is rarely more than 100 m thick.
Below, in the dysphotic zone, light is measurable but does not support photosynthesis.
Many organisms, especially phytoplankton, prefer certain optimum levels of illumination. Many species
migrate actively up and down to keep themselves within this zone, avoiding too much light as well as too
little. The photic zone is vertically zoned, with greater diversity lower in the zone. Photoperiodicity
governs many biological clocks.
The transmittance spectrum changes with water depth. Phytoplankton and photosynthetic bacteria have
chlorophylls that are fine-tuned to be sensitive to the wavelengths that penetrate to a particular depth. In
general, photosynthetic bacteria live at greater depths in sediment and in the water column than
cyanobacteria and green algae.
SUBSTRATE
The substrate is especially important for benthic organisms. Most organisms are more concerned with its
consistency and texture than its composition. "Sand" and "mud" are biologically more meaningful
descriptions than elaborate particle-size distributions.
Substrate is closely allied with many other environmental parameters, including sedimentation rate,
turbidity, depth, oxygen and associated organisms. For animals, substrate provides an attachment surface,
a cohesive supportive medium for crawling or burrowing, or a source of food.
Poorly sorted muds contain more organic matter and are inhabited by more detritus feeders than are clean
sands. Clean shifting sands are unstable and contain little food. Soft, liquid sediments are unfavorable for
most epifaunal and infaunal organisms.
Turbid water and unstable sediments are not tolerated well by sessile suspension feeders. A rapid
sedimentation rate causes frequent threat of burial to sessile animals, and unstable substrates make
crawling and burrowing difficult. A hard substrate invites attached, suspension-feeding organisms but
generally has high wave energy.
The sediment column is zoned vertically by oxygen. Aerobic organisms live near the surface, facultative
anaerobes and aerobes with tolerance for high sulfide levels live at lower depths, and finally the
anaerobic bacteria take over.
SIZE AND VISCOSITY
Marine phytoplankton must maintain themselves neutrally buoyant within the photic zone. They must
take in nutrients and dissolved gases from sea water and expel waste products. Both tasks are most

readily achieved with a high surface-area to mass (volume) ratio. Greater surface area gives greater
frictional resistance to sinking and also greater area of cell membrane for absorption of nutrients and
waste disposal. Increased size must be accompanied by change of shape (flattening, elongation, addition
of appendages) to ensure that no part of the cell is too far from the nutrients diffusing through the
membrane.
This is why most marine plants have remained unicellular and microscopic. Diatoms are typical in this
respect. Some cells have spiny processes or feathery appendages. Some have internal vesicles of oil or
gas to improve buoyancy. In cold water, the mixing by wind waves provides sufficient turbulence to keep
them suspended in the photic zone. In warmer water, special adaptations are needed. Probably this is why
warm-water plankters tend to be small.
Viscosity is internal resistance to flow. The viscosity of water increases with increased salinity and
decreased temperature. Large, mobile animals seek streamlining to overcome the viscosity of water and
minimize turbulence. That is why most free-swimming fish and mammals have a teardrop (fusiform)
shape, which produces less resistance in front and a small, less turbulent wake.
MODES OF LIFE
Plankton
Plankton are organisms that drift with the currents, passively suspended in the water. Some have some
swimming ability, but chiefly up and down rather than horizontally and not enough to overcome currents.
Photosynthetic plankters are phytoplankton; animals are zooplankton. There are also huge quantities of
bacterioplankton, only recently discovered, because most are too small to be retained by standard nets
(average diameter 0.5 µm). In fact, plankton constitute the largest biomass on the planet!
By size, they can be classified as macroplanton (2 to 20 cm) such as jellyfish and salps, microplankton
(50µm to 2 cm) such as diatoms and radiolarians, nannoplankton (2-50 µm) such as coccolithophores
and silicoflagellates, and picoplankton or ultraplankton (0.2-2 µm), which include heterotrophic
bacteria, cyanobacteria, ciliates and dinoflagellates. Many ultraplankters can live as either autotrophs or
heterotrophs; surviving in dark, deeper water masses, they are the first to bloom in upwelling, newly
lighted waters.
By life history, plankters can be classified as holoplankton (spending entire life as plankton) or
meroplankton (which spend the larval stage in the plankton and settle to the bottom as adults). About
80% of benthic marine invertebrates have larvae that spend a few hours, days or weeks of their lives as
meroplankton. Meroplankton dominate most plankton samples in coastal waters, while holoplankton
dominate in oceanic waters.
Nekton
Animals that are rapid swimmers comprise the nekton. Many undertake long migrations horizontally.
Vertically their movements are restricted by sensitivity to temperature, salinity, oxygen, etc. Included are
adult fish, squid, marine mammals, and marine reptiles. Mammals and reptiles must remain near the
surface, as must fish with air bladders.
Benthos

Benthic or benthonic animals live on or in the sea floor. Infauna live within the sea-floor sediments or
rock. Epifauna live exposed on the sea-floor surface. Nektobenthos can swim but are associated with
the bottom. Many demersal fish spend most of their time on the bottom.
Seaweeds (macro-algae)are present on the sea floor in the littoral and inner sublittoral zone. Below the
euphotic zone benthic animals must be sediment-ingesters, detritus-feeders, or carnivores.
Sessile animals are attached or sit for long periods in one place, while vagile animals swim, walk or
burrow. Epibiotic organisms live on other organisms, while endobionts live within.
Other Categories
Fecal-sestonic organisms live on particulate organic detritus. This is the decomposer community of
heterotrophic bacteria and fungi.
The neustonic community lives at the sea-air interface, in the surface film no more than 0.1 m or 10 cm
thick. These are especially bacteria, flagellates, and ciliates.
A surface film or slick develops at the air-sea interface, which is especially conspicuous
during Langmuir circulation. These films arise from concentrations of surfactants (fatty
acids and polysaccharide-protein complexes). They are rich in dissolved organic nitrogen
and phosphorus compounds.
These films, about 10 cm thick, support a rich bacterial population, which in turn supports
tintinnids, choanoflagellates, amoebae, and other flagellates and ciliates. Phytoplankton are
rare except for a few light-resistant pennate diatoms. Special collecting techniques are
ncessary to study the neuston, and these substantial populations are often overlooked.
Endobionts include bacteria, fungi, parasitic animals, and commensal protists (zooxanthellae, green
algae). Symbiotic chemosynthetic bacteria support the locally restricted but dense communities at
hydrothermal vents.
Free-living chemosynthetic bacteria may be active in the formation of manganese-nickel nodules as well
as postdepositional sediment changes.
AVAILABILITY OF NUTRIENTS
Nutrients are dissolved inorganic compounds, especially nitrate ion NO3-3and phosphate ion PO4-4. All
plants need these materials.
The abundance of phytoplankton in the ocean largely mirrors the availability of these nutrients. The
source is runoff from land. Thus, abundance of nutrients is highest in coastal waters, and this is where we
find the highest biological productivity. Marine biomass is concentrated at the edge of the ocean, though
diversity is low there. The color of the ocean, green near land and blue at a greater distance, directly
reflects biological productivity and nutrient levels.
Offshore, nutrient concentrations decline, and biomass decreases. Oddly enough, diversity increases as
nutrients decline. Coral reefs, which have the highest diversity of any marine ecosystem, live in low
nutrient waters.

Nutrient levels increase in deeper water, where the absence of light prevents their uptake by
phytoplankton, and where organic detritus is decomposed.
STABILITY AND DIVERSITY
The open ocean offers stability of many parameters, but the richest concentration of organisms is found
near land in the coastal zone. Here conditions are unstable and stressful, and only a few taxa have
evolved coping mechanisms, but those few thrive, and total biomass and standing crop are high. Marine
biomass is highest at the fringe of the sea!
Productivity is especially high in regions of coastal upwelling, where prevailing winds blow along-shore
and transport nutrient-depleted waters offshore. Cold, nutrient-rich, CO2-rich waters rise from below
(200-1000 m) into the photic zone, replenishing nutrients and feeding a continuous phytoplankton bloom.
Diversity increases with environmental stability (predictability of environmental conditions and
resources). Species diversity increases with distance from land and with depth. As nutrient levels and
productivity drop, diversity increases.
On a planetary scale, in any environment or depth zone, diversity is highest at low latitudes. Although the
Latitudinal Diversity Gradient mirrors the latitudinal temperature gradient, diversity is also very high
in the cold deep sea, which suggests that the ultimate control of diversity is environmental stability.


GEOL 3377 Lecture 14a Biological Productivity
LECTURE 14:
BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTIVITY AND
PLANKTON ECOSYSTEMS
PART A: PRIMARY PRODUCTION
Biological Productivity
Measurement of Primary Production
Limiting Factors
Light
Limiting Nutrients
Nitrogen
Phosphorus
Vitamins and Other Micronutrients
Grazing by Zooplankton
Seasonality of Plankton Dynamics
Patterns of Biological Production
Polar Regions
Tropical Regions
Temperate Regions

Coastal Regions
Global Production
Succession in Phytoplankton
Succession in Zooplankton
Patchiness of Plankton
Vertical Migration of Zooplankton
Chemosynthesis
Biogeochemical Cycling
Nitrogen Cycle
Phosphorus Cycle
Silica Cycle
Carbon
Energy Cycling and Community Structure
About Energy
About Communities
Pyramid of Numbers
Symbiosis and Parasitism
BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTIVITY
Biological productivity is the amount of living tissue produced per unit time. It is usually measured in
terms of carbon as grams of carbon per square meter of area or per cubic meter of ocean.
Primary production is that part of the productivity accounted for by photosynthetic and chemosynthetic
organisms. It is defined as the amount of carbon fixed by autotrophic organisms from inorganic
compounds, such as CO2 and H2O, using energy from sunlight or chemical reactions.
Secondary production represents consumers of the primary producers.

Tertiary production represents consumers of the secondary producers.
Gross primary production is the total amount of organic matter produced per unit time.
Net primary production is what is left after that needed for maintenance/respiration has
been removed.
New production is that supported by nutrients imported from outside the local ecosystem,

for example, by upwelling.

Regenerated production is that resulting from nutrients being recycled within the
ecosystem.
Standing Crop is a measure of the living organisms at a given time. It is measured as number of
organisms per square meter of area or per cubic meter of ocean.
Biomass is a quantitative measure by weight of the standing crop. It is measured as g/m2 or g/m3 (dry
weight).
MEASUREMENT OF PRIMARY PRODUCTION
Most discussions and measurements of primary production consider only green-plant photosynthesis,
ignoring bacterial photosynthesis and chemosynthesis. Except in hydrothermal vent communities and
perhaps in subsurface sediments, chemosynthesis is quantitatively insignificant in overall marine
production. Bacterial photosynthesis is largely restricted to the anaerobic zone of marine sediments.
Primary production is usually measured by estimating the amount of photothesis from the oxygen
produced, rather than by concentrating and weighing the biomass. This is the Gran Method. See Fig.
14.4.
Water samples containing the same amounts of phytoplankton and the same known oxygen level are put
into transparent and opaque bottles, incubated (suspended in the ocean) at specified temperature, pressure
and light conditions for a specified period of time, then measured for oxygen levels.
The oxygen loss in the black bottle is the amount consumed by respiration.
The oxygen gain in the clear bottle is net photosynthetic production.
The sum of oxygen gain in the clear bottle and oxygen loss in the black bottle estimates
gross primary production.
The depth at which net oxygen production equals consumption by respiration is the oxygen
compensation depth. Below this depth, the light intensity is too low for photosynthetic plants to survive.
Respiration goes on around the clock, but photosynthesis is restricted to daylight hours. Therefore, plants
must produce biomass and oxygen during the day in excess of what will be consumed at night.
The carbon-14 method uses the same pairs of bottles, but C14 is added to both, and the incubation
period is shorter. Then the phytoplankton are filtered out, and a radiation-counting device measures the
emission of beta radiation to measure uptake by plankton. The emission rate is calibrated to productivity.
A third method of estimating primary productivity measures the amount of chlorophyll a in the
phytoplankton sample, as collected in a given volume ocean water. The amount of chlorophyll a can be
calibrated with productivity as measured by other techniques.
There are discrepancies between these methods, especially those that filter the phytoplankton. Minute
picoplankton (0.2-2.0µm), mostly bacteria, including free-living nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, are
now thought to provide a greater part of total primary production in open ocean waters than was formerly
thought to be the case.

Photosynthetic bacteria (green and purple bacteria) live chiefly in reducing environments beneath the
sediment surface and at water depths below 30 m. The spectral sensitivity of their bacteriochlorophylls is
shifted toward longer wavelengths than that of green plants. By this strategy they avoid competition with
the green plants, which are largely shaded out at such depths. Because they need H2S as the hydrogen
donor, they must live in association with other bacteria producing H2S in anoxic microhabitats where
organic detritus is being anaerobically degraded.
LIMITING FACTORS
The population size of a species is controlled by limiting factors that check population growth, such as
shortage of food or living space or some other resource.
In marine ecosystems, the most important limiting factors are those regulating the phytoplankton,
because most other members of the community are food-limited and dependent directly or indirectly on
phytoplankton.
Phytoplankton populations are limited by light, by nutrients, by "vitamins" (trace quantities of essential
dissolved nutrients), and by grazing by zooplankton.
Light
Light is rapidly absorbed in the water column, and only a thin surface layer is sufficiently illuminated for
photosynthesis. The 1% transmittance level is usually taken as the base of the euphotic zone. It
corresponds to the oxygen compensation depth, the depth at which just enough oxygen is produced by
photosynthesis to balance the oxygen used in respiration. Below this level, there is a net deficit, and more
oxygen is used than produced.
In very clear, open, blue, tropical water, where sun angle is high year-round, the base of the euphotic
zone is approximately 100 m. Nearshore, where nutrient levels are higher, phytoplankton are more
abundant. Scattering by phytoplankton and suspended sediment causes the euphotic zone to thin to 10 to
30 m nearshore. In high latitudes, low sun angle also causes a thinner euphotic zone.
Light is a limiting factor in middle and high latitudes, where light varies seasonally. When sunlight
becomes stronger (higher angle, longer hours) in early spring (February-March), there is a local bloom of
phytoplankton, as they reproduce rapidly. This growth may be largely confined to surface waters,
because proliferating cells at the surface cut off the light and shade lower layers. The bloom may
continue until nutrients are exhausted or grazing balances production.
In the winter when sun angle is low there may not be sufficient growth to use up the available nutrients,
and nutrient levels in the water will rise. Winter storms mix the surface waters with deeper layers,
restoring nutrients depleted earlier.
Limiting Nutrients
Phytoplankton need H2O, CO2, O2, N2, Si, P, Mg, Ca, K, and many other materials. Most of these are in
plentiful supply relative to the quantities needed, with the exception of N, P and sometimes Si (for
diatoms). Thus, these two are called the limiting nutrients.
N and P must be supplied to most organisms in soluble compounds. Usually, their abundances vary

together, so they can be discussed together as "nutrients."

Nitrogen
Some euglenids, cryptomonads, and green algae require N in the reduced form as ammonia (NH3).
Other phytoplankton use nitrite ion (NO2-) or nitrate ion (NO3-3).
Microbial decomposition of organic detritus restores ammonia to the water, as well as such soluble
organic compounds as urea, uric acid, and amino acids. Some phytoplankton can utilize these organic
compounds directly.
In upwelling areas, over half of the phytoplankton uptake of N is in the form of nitrate ion (NO3-3). The
rest is ammonia (NH3) and urea (produced by the zooplankton and recycled directly back through
phytoplankton).
In the subtropical gyres, less than 10% of the uptake is in the form of nitrate. Most uptake is ammonia
and organic compounds produced by the zooplankton. The productivity here is dependent on this
efficient direct recycling between zooplankton and phytoplankton. Many diatoms have symbiotic
nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria (Oscillatoria).
Free-living heterotrophic and chemautotrophic bacteria play an important role in the nitrogen cycle. They
decompose organic matter and break down nitrogen compounds, restoring materials to soluble forms that
can be used by phytoplankton. Bacteria are more important in plankton communities than formerly
recognized, and up to 50% of phytoplankton may be directly consumed by bacteria rather than
zooplankton.
Most of this bacterial decomposition occurs near the surface in the euphotic zone, and these nitrogen
compounds are rapidly recycled within the same water mass. This decomposition can take up to three
months, and because of this time lag nitrogen becomes a limiting factor in many places.
Diffusion and convective stirring mix nutrients between adjacent water masses. A small part of the total
organic matter produced at the surface does not decompose in the euphotic zone but reaches greater
depths before decomposition, thus transporting nutrients from the surface to deeper water masses. The
rate at which this enriched water returns to the surface for re-utilization is very slow.
A small amount of this organic matter (perhaps 1% on average) and the nonbiodegradable skeletons
reach the sea floor, to be eaten by benthic animals or buried in sediments.
Nutrient levels are highest from just below the euphotic zone to a depth of 1000 meters, enriched by
detritus falling from the surface. Here, decomposers restore nutrients by degrading particulate organic
detritus, while standing crops are low.
Deeper water masses vary in their nutrient content according to their origin. North Atlantic Deep Water
is relatively poor near its origin, because it originates by sinking of depleted surface waters. With time,
the contained organic detritus decays and restores nutrients to solution. Oxygen is consumed in this
process.
Phosphorus

Phosphorus occurs in the ocean in the form of dissolved inorganic compounds, mostly orthophosphate
ion (PO4-3), dissolved organic compounds, and particulate compounds. Orthophosphate ion is the
preferred form for most phytoplankton.
Some zooplankton excrete large quantities of soluble phosphorus compounds, which can be used by
bacteria and heterotrophic protists, which are then eaten by larger protists. Thus, soluble phosphorus
compounds are recycled directly within the community without an intervening inorganic phase.
Phosphorus is used mostly for energy-transfer processes within the cell, rather than for building
hydrocarbons. Thus, smaller quantities are needed. Cells tend to stockpile large quantities, and a shortage
of P must be drastic before death results.
It is thought that P is not usually a limiting nutrient, because N is more likely to be depleted first.
The P in organic compounds is rapidly liberated by bacterial decay within the euphotic zone, so that P is
more rapidly recycled than N.
Many phytoplankton require certain dissolved organic compounds, which they cannot manufacture but
must absorb from the surrounding water. Organisms that excrete these substances precondition the water
for other organisms that will use the substances. The production of these organic growth factors
determines a succession of species.
Many phytoplankton need vitamins, especially vitamin B1 (thiamine), B12 and biotin. These chemicals
are produced by various bacteria, cyanobacteria and diatoms.
Many diatoms can synthesize some but not all of these compounds, so there is a complex relationship
among producers and consumers of vitamins. A heavy diatom bloom may deplete waters sufficiently to
limit growth, especially in open ocean waters.
Certain organic compounds (so-called chelating agents) containing trace metals (iron, manganese) are
necessary to phytoplankton, because at the normal pH of sea water these metals do not form soluble
inorganic compounds. Without chelating agents, these metals would be unavailable. Locally (North
Pacific, Antarctic) the addition of iron to sea water is known to enhance productivity, which suggests that
iron may be a limiting nutrient. (Similarly, Houston lawns benefit from the addition of fertilizers
containing chelated iron.)
Grazing by zooplankton inhibits primary production, because each cell eaten no longer photosynthesizes,
grows or reproduces. In an equilibrium state, the number of grazers would be just enough (limited by
food) to maintain the phytoplankton at constant level.
However, because of the time lag for zooplankton reproduction, a steady state is never achieved. The
numbers of phytoplankton and of grazers both fluctuate, more or less, about an equilibrium value.
Recovery of phytoplankton is faster than for zooplankton, because of the shorter generation times.
SEASONALITY OF PLANKTON DYNAMICS


Because nutrients are unevenly distributed, and because of seasonality in insolation, primary production
is unevenly distributed in the world ocean. It varies from about 0.1 gC/m2/day in the open ocean to >10
gC/m2/d in coastal areas.
In the vertical column, about 90% of the biomass produced in the euphotic zone is decomposed and
recycled in this same zone. About 10% falls into deeper water, where most is decomposed. Only about
1% reaches the sea floor in the deep sea.
Note that this is a net transfer of CO2 and of nutrients from surface waters into deep waters and deep-sea
sediments. Thurman calls this the "biological pump."
Where a permanent thermocline (pycnocline) exists, in low latitudes, these nutrients cannot be restored to
surface waters. In temperate latitudes, where the thermocline is seasonal, nutrients are restored to the
surface by mixing by storm waves in the winter. In high latitudes, where the thermocline is weak or
nonexistent, the pycnocline is weak and controlled by salinity. Summer melting of ice produces a thin,
low-salinity layer which rests on more saline water at the surface, inhibiting upward transfer of nutrients.
Seasonal changes in insolation are also important. Insolation refers to the total amount of solar energy
received per square meter of ocean surface, which is a function of sun angle and length of the day. When
the sun angle is high, most of the light penetrates. When the sun angle is low, more is reflected, less
penetrates, and less is transmitted to depth.
A good deal of the differences in local productivity can be explained by these considerations.
Polar Regions
In the Arctic, a single summer peak of phytoplankton (May-July) is followed by a peak of zooplankton
abundance (June-October). See Thurman Fig. 14-5A. Within the Arctic and Antarctic circle, three
months of continuous daylight and three months of dark accentuate this annual pattern.
Summer melting of ice produces a thin, low-salinity surface layer and a weak, salinity-controlled
pycnocline. In this well-lighted surface layer the summer diatom bloom occurs, prevented from falling
into the dark waters below. As ice freezes in the autumn, the pycnocline disappears, mixing is easy, and
nutrients are restored to surface waters. This alternation of conditions is essential to the productivity of
polar waters.
Polar waters have extremely high productivity for the short growing season, but this season may be too
brief to exhaust nutrients. Polar plankton communities appear to be limited by light rather than by
nutrients.
Antarctic waters have slightly higher productivity than Arctic waters, especially in the Weddell Sea,
probably because there is continuous upwelling of nutrient-rich North Atlantic Deep Water to replace the
contiuously sinking Antarctic Bottom Water.
Tropical Regions
In tropical waters light penetrates much deeper, and the oxygen compensation depth is much lower.
However, the permanent thermocline prevents return of nutrients to surface waters. Surface waters are

permanently impoverished in nutrients. At 20o latitude, concentrations of nitrate and phosphate may be
less than 1/100 of those in temperate waters.
The oxygen compensation depth is depressed, 150 m or deeper, because of the clarity of the water.
Below the oxygen compensation depth nutrient levels rise, and the highest levels are found in waters
from 500 to 1000 m deep.
In the tropics there is no obvious pattern of phytoplankton and zooplankton peaks. Grazing by
zooplankton probably controls phytoplankton abundances year-round.
Despite the prevalence of symbioses with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and other biotic interactions that act to
maximize recycling, standing crops in the tropics are low year-round. However, because production is
year-round and because of efficient recycling, total annual productivity of tropical waters may reach as
much as half that of temperate waters.
An exception to this pattern is at the Equatorial Divergence, where the Trade Winds drive the North and
South Equatorial Currents and produce divergent Ekman Transport. Nutrient-rich water wells up from
100 m or more and supports a moderate increase in productivity. This is most conspicuous in the eastern
Pacific.
Coastal upwelling occurs where Trade Winds blow parallel to the western coast of a continent toward the
equator, causing Ekman Transport of water away from the shore and allowing nutrient-rich water to well
up from as much as 200 to 900 m below. This is seen most conspicuously in the eastern Pacific off the
coast of Peru. On a lesser scale, upwelling also occurs off southern California, off Morocco, and off
Namibia in the eastern Atlantic Ocean.
A third tropical setting with unusually high productivity occurs at coral reefs. The steep slope of the reef
obstructs the current and deflects it physical to produce mild upwelling.
Reef communities are also characterized by the prevalence of symbioses and other biotic interactions that
maximize recycling of the limited resources. In fact, eutrophication (oversupply of nutrients) may be
fatal to a reef.
Temperate Regions
Charts integrating temperature, nutrients, phytoplankton and zooplankton show a strong seasonal pattern
for productivity in temperate latitudes, caused by seasonal changes in light, wind intensity, water
temperatures and nutrients.
In spring, as waters warm and the sun returns, sunlight penetrates deeper and for longer periods, nutrient
levels are high, and a diatom bloom results.
In neritic and boreal localities, the spring phytoplankton increase is followed by a decrease
in phytoplankton, contemporary with an increase in zooplankton.
By early summer, grazing by zooplankton combines with lower nutrient levels to diminish stocks of
diatoms. This spring bloom is limited by nutrients and by zooplankton grazing.
Naked dinoflagellates and other phytoplankton that do not need silica may peak later,
having their population optimum at a later time than that of diatoms.

A seasonal thermocline develops, as shallow as 15 m, which prevents replenishment of

nutrients from deeper waters. Thus, the plankton standing crop becomes nutrient-limited,
and diatoms are fewer in the summer.
Maximum surface-water temperature is reached in August (Northern Hemisphere),
following the June peak in insolation (because of the heat capacity of water). In late summer
and fall the zooplankton decline.
In autumn, cooling surface waters cause convective overturn and collapse of the thermocline, and storm
waves cause mixing and restoration of nutrients from deeper water.
With increased nutrients, declining grazing by zooplankton, and still-sufficient light, a
second phytoplankton (diatom) bloom may result.
The bloom is brief, because sun angle is decreasing and the days are getting shorter. This
second bloom is light-limited. Often it is too brief to allow zooplankton an opportunity to
exploit it (by reproduction to increase their populations). Some phytoplankton may produce
a resting phase at this time.
As light and temperature decline, all phytoplankton stocks decline in winter. Although nutrient levels are
high, the sun angle is low, and less solar energy is received. The oxygen compensation depth is very
shallow.
The minimum surface water temperature is reached in February. By the end of winter, low
temperatures and low light levels result in low stocks of phytoplankton. Cool temperatures
and winter storms facilitate convective mixing, restoring nutrients to surface waters.
COASTAL REGIONS
Coastal waters have high nutrient levels, provided by continental runoff, and are considered to be
eutrophic. They support very high levels of biological production compared to those in the open ocean,
which are termed oligotrophic.


GEOL 3377 Lecture 14b Biological Productivity
LECTURE 14:
BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTIVITY AND
PLANKTON ECOSYSTEMS
PART B: SUCCESSION, CYCLING AND

COMMUNITY STRUCTURE
Biological Productivity
Measurement of Primary Production
Limiting Factors
Light
Limiting Nutrients
Nitrogen
Phosphorus
Seasonality of Plankton Dynamics
Polar Regions
Tropical Regions
Temperate Regions

Coastal Regions
Global Production
Succession in Phytoplankton
Succession in Zooplankton
Patchiness of Plankton
Vertical Migration of Zooplankton
Chemosynthesis
Biogeochemical Cycling
Nitrogen Cycle
Phosphorus Cycle
Silica Cycle
Carbon
Energy Cycling and Community Structure
About Energy
About Communities
Pyramid of Numbers
GLOBAL PRODUCTION
Fig. 14-8 shows global primary productivity. The highest productivity (dark red) is found in the Arctic
and Antarctic, in high-latitude coastal seas (Hudson's Bay, the North Sea, South China Sea, Yellow Sea,
Bering Sea), off the mouths of major rivers (Amazon, Niger, Mississippi, Indus, Ganges, Yang-tze), and
along temperate coasts with coastal upwelling (Peru, Morocco, western North America).
Fig. 14-8 shows that a very large proportion of total global productivity is in polar regions. (That's why
some whales migrate biannually between the poles.)
The growing ozone hole over the Antarctic, and to a lesser extent the Arctic, during each polar spring is
cause for concern for marine life, as well as terrestrial, because all eucaryotes (which is most
phytoplankton) are vulnerable to UV radiation. Although water provides some protection, some UVB
can be detected as deep as 70 m.
SUCCESSION IN PHYTOPLANKTON

It is common to find that the taxonomic composition of phytoplankton shifts systematically through the
production season. It follows the pattern called ecological succession, in which each species conditions
or prepares the habitat for the next. Generally, phytoplankton succession follows three stages:
Stage I: Sudden nutrient availability and favorable conditions for phytoplankton growth.
Diatoms increase, dominated by those with small cell size, high surface-to-volume ratios,
high division (reproduction) rates (>1 doubling per day), and high standing crop. Small cells
with high surface areas can absorb nutrients faster and thus bloom faster. They are mostly
autotrophs, not needing external vitamins.
Stage II is characterized by larger cells with reduced surface-area-to-volume ratio, greater
species diversity, and reduced standing crop. Nutrient concentrations are declining. These
later species may need vitamins produced by others.
Stage III is populated by selected surviving species from stage II, as nutrients continue to
decline. Many species produce resting stages and start to settle, dropping out of the euphotic
zone.
As diatoms decline, a dinoflagellate or coccolithophore bloom may follow. Dinoflagellates typically need
vitamins synthesized by diatoms.
It is important to remember that all species are present in low numbers at all times of the year, providing
the "seed" population from which blooms develop. Some species have resting stages, and some simply
persist in very low numbers.
Some organisms secrete toxins or growth-inhibitors to inhibit growth of their competitors. It is these
toxins that can poison fish and other organisms in coastal waters during a dinoflagellate bloom.
Cyanobacteria in lakes can secrete a toxin that inhibits the development of diatom populations. In such
lakes successive cyanobacterial blooms may alternate with diatom peaks, without overlap.
Some phytoplankton have defenses against predation. Spines, toxins and luminescence may be defensive
strategies.
SUCCESSION IN ZOOPLANKTON
Copepods, the chief predators on diatoms, start to bloom as diatoms start to wane. The time lag is caused
by the time needed for reproduction. For example, at low latitudes Calanus females reproduce in
sequential clutches every 10 to 14 days, with 30 to 50 eggs per clutch, depending on food availability. At
high latitudes where the diatom bloom is brief, copepods may reproduce only once a year.
Many invertebrates time their breeding period so that the larvae can take advantage of the phytoplankton
blooms. The great majority of benthic invertebrates have planktonic larvae. Such animals have a
meroplanktonic stage in the life cycle, which may last for hours, days or weeks. Larvae of benthic
invertebrates become enormously abundant in late spring and early summer.
Ctenophores, arrowworms, and tunicates, all of which are holoplankton, become abundant in
midsummer.
PATCHINESS OF PLANKTON

Plankton are rarely homogeneously distributed, especially nearshore. The causes may include spatial
variation in chemical and physical conditions or in grazing. Reproduction rates may also be implicated.
Langmuir circulation causes small cells and inhomogeneities, so that plankton tows along transects
parallel to the wind may be very different from those perpendicular to the wind at the same place.
Phytoplankton vary enormously in size, and the different sizes evade certain sampling windows. In the
subtropical gyres, many of the diatoms tend to be quite large and therefore more sparsely distributed or
clumped.
The large tropical diatom Rhizosolenia clumps into large (up to 7 cm) floating mats, which would evade
the sampling bottle and some plankton tows. Rhizosolenia has symbiotic nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria.
The cyanobacterium Oscillatoria also aggregates into floating mats. This patchiness makes estimates of
productivity based on small water samples somewhat inaccurate.
Up to 60% of the production in the oligotrophic subtropical gyres may be nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria,
or picoplankton (0.2-2.0µm), or both. Neglect of picoplankton and cyanobacteria may have caused us to
drastically underestimate the productivity of the subtropical gyres.
VERTICAL MIGRATION OF ZOOPLANKTON
Zooplankton descend to depths of 75 m to 1000 m during the day and rise to the surface at night to feed.
They do this by swimming energetically at rates of 15 to 200 m/hr. This diurnal periodicity is probably
controlled by a biological clock regulated by light periodicity.
The evolutionary cause of this behavior is uncertain:
To avoid light?
To avoid predation by fish and birds?
To save energy by spending time in colder water?
To exploit differences in flow rates of currents between those at the surface and in deeper
layers, for geographic dispersal?
To allow phytoplankton time to recover from grazing and reproduce?
The "deep scattering layer" detected by sonar may consist of copepods, chaetognaths, and other
zooplankton, as well as schools of fish. Locally it may also be a physical boundary, such as temperature
discontinuities or the base of the thermocline.
CHEMOSYNTHESIS
Formerly, it was supposed that all deep-sea communities depend on import of organic detritus
produced in the photic zone, and that there is no primary production in the deep sea.
We now know that sulfide bacteria are the primary producers for deep-sea hydrothermal vent
communities. Similar communities are found at local brine seeps, where saline brines leak out from the
base of a carbonate platform (West Florida) or near shallow salt domes (Texas-Louisiana shelf).
Hydrocarbon seeps and hydrothermal seeps associated with trenches also feed chemosynthetic
bacterial communities.

Chemosynthetic bacteria related to iron bacteria are probably responsible for precipitation of manganese
nodules on the deep ocean floor, with complex oxides of Mn, Fe, Cu, Ni and Co.
Such bacteria may penetrate much deeper into aquifers and crustal rocks than we hitherto supposed.
BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLING
Biogeochemical cycling refers to the global transactions of a particular element, by which that element is
transferred from one form or one place to another through the hydrosphere, biosphere, lithosphere and
atmosphere.
The Principle of Conservation of Matter says that matter can neither be created nor destroyed. Organisms
need essential materials, which they obtain from either the animate or the inanimate environment around
them. They excrete used or unwanted materials back into the environment.
Because the composition of organisms is almost as complex as the composition of sea water, including a
long list of elements though mostly in small quantities, the vast majority of global cycles pass through
the biosphere. Thus, the biosphere interacts with the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.
Nearly all chemical elements cycle through the biosphere.
Nitrogen Cycle
The nitrogen cycle is extremely important, because N is needed for amino acids, the building blocks of
proteins. These proteins are synthesized by plants, eaten by animals, decomposed by decay bacteria,
liberating inorganic compounds (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) into the ocean or soil.
Most nitrogen occurs in the atmosphere and in solution in the ocean as molecular N2. Some occurs as
nitrite (NO2-), nitrate (NO3-3) and ammonia (NH3). Some bacteria can utilize nitrite and ammonia, but
most plants require nitrate.
Certain nitrogen-fixing bacteria can utilize N2, introducing it into this cycle. Denitrifying bacteria
break down nitrates, liberating molecular oxygen and restoring N2. In between these end points are
multiple intermediate steps, each mediated by special chemosynthetic bacteria.
For example, nitrifying bacteria oxidize ammonia to nitrite:
2 NH3 + 3O2 --> 2H2O + 2HNO2 + energy.
and ammonium ion to nitrite:

NH4- + 2O2 ---> 2H2O + NO2- + energy
and nitrite to nitrate:

2NO2- + O2 --> 2NO3-3 + energy
Meanwhile, in anaerobic environments, nitrate-reducing bacteria reduce nitrate to nitrite, and so on

backwards through this sequence.
Virtually all of the steps in the very complex nitrogen cycle (and equally complex sulfur cycle) are

mediated by bacteria. These bacteria are important in terrestrial waters and soils as well as in marine
waters and sediments.
Phosphorus Cycle
Phosphorus is liberated from rocks by chemical weathering and contributed to the ocean. Marine
phytoplankton take up phosphorus in the form of dissolved ions, chiefly orthophosphate ion (PO4-3).
In areas of persistent upwelling and high productivity, some of the phytoplankton bloom may go
uncropped by zooplankton. Decaying protoplasm liberates phosphorus compounds into the sea-floor
sediment, producing a sediment and sedimentary rock rich in such minerals as phosphorite. Fish and
other vertebrate bones contain phosphorus compounds and contribute to a phosphate-rich sedimentary
rock.
In areas of high phytoplankton productivity, sea birds feed on fish, which feed on zooplankton, which
feed on phytoplankton. In the rookeries of nearby islands and coasts the phosphorus-rich bird droppings
accumulate as guano.
Silica Cycle
Dissolved silica (H4SiO4) is contributed by rivers to the sea from terrestrial weathering of silicate
minerals. Some also is contributed by submarine volcanism (volcanic ash).
Diatoms and silicoflagellates secrete skeletons of opaline silica (SiO2.nH2O), but most other
phytoplankton do not. Thus, for some diatoms, Si may be a limiting factor, but it is not limiting for total
productivity.
The silica in solution in sea water outweighs particulate silica in suspension by 4X to 50X, and it is never
totally depleted.
The vertical profile of Si follows that of other nutrients (N and P) but fluctuates more, reflecting local
production of diatoms. Radiolaria (siliceous zooplankton) mirror this vertical distribution.
Carbon
The proportions of carbon to nitrogen to phosphorus (41:7:1) are about the same in sea water, in diatoms,
and in zooplankton. Thus, phytoplankton are taking up these nutrients and passing them on in about the
same proportions in which they are available. Decomposers restore them to sea water in the same
proportions.
Carbon is never a limiting nutrient, and only about 1% of the total oceanic carbon is tied up in plant
production.
CO2 enters the ocean from the atmosphere, especially at high latitudes. Photosynthetic organisms
remove dissolved CO2 from sea water. CO2 is returned to sea water by the respiration of all organisms,
by the breakdown of hydrocarbons by anaerobic fermentive bacteria, and by the autolytic
decomposition of organic materials (by enzymes released when cells die).
Some part of this biological carbon is transferred to deeper water masses and to deep-sea sediments as
organic detritus. This "biological pump" removes CO2 from the cycle for hundreds to millions of years.

Presumably, this deficit is made up by the chemical weathering of limestones exposed on land.
Increasing CO2 levels may increase primary production, but only if other limiting nutrients and factors
permit. This increase has been demonstrated in terrestrial forests but is less likely to be operative in
marine ecosystems. This is an important consideration in the greenhouse warming scenario.
ENERGY CYCLING AND COMMUNITY STRUCTURE
About Energy
The First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that when energy is transferred from one place to another,
or transformed from one kind to another, a part of it becomes unusable for further work and is lost to
entropy.
In every dynamic system, energy has to be put in constantly to keep the system working.
The energy in biological ecosystems comes from the sun (photosynthesis) or from chemical systems
(chemosynthesis) (negligible). This energy is transferred as food to animals through the trophic
structure of the community. The energy model of a community treats the food interactions as modes of
energy transfer.
In this continuous energy flow, some part of this energy cycles from one form of energy to another: from
potential (chemical) energy to kinetic energy to heat, but despite recycling all is eventually lost to
entropy.
About Communities
A biotic community is a collection of interacting species populations that live in a place with energy
flow among them. A community is a set of trophically interacting populations that are connected by a
food chain or web.
Trophic structure is the diagram of that food web. In the trophic structure of a community, each trophic
level is a feeding level.
An ecosystem is the community plus the physical, chemical, and geological environment with which it
interacts.
Any community will have three kinds of members: producers, consumers and decomposers. These
labels are only approximate and there is much overlap.
The producers are photosynthetic plants, protists and cyanobacteria, the photosynthetic bacteria, and the
chemosynthetic bacteria.
The conspicuous consumers are herbivores and carnivores (predators and scavengers, mostly protists
and animals).
Less conspicuous but perhaps equally important consumers are the free-living heterotrophic absorptive
bacteria. These bacteria may consume up to half of the total production in this somewhat leaky plankton
system, including cytoplasmal exudates of phytoplankton and the liquid excretions of zooplankton.

Bacteria are eaten by flagellates and ciliates, which may then be eaten by zooplankton. However, these
bacteria and the tiniest protists may well escape the filtration nets of most grazers, so that much of this
bacterial production is lost from the larger cycle and remains trapped in a microbial loop. This research
is new and the findings uncertain.
Omnivores eat anything, bacteriovores eat bacteria, and detritivores eat organic detritus. The
decomposers are heterotrophic decay bacteria (saprobic or saprophytic bacteria), fungi and fermentive
bacteria.
In general, the members of any level will be larger, but not a great deal larger,than the organisms on
which they feed. There are many exceptions: The blue whale, which is the largest animal that has ever
existed, feeds exclusively on krill (a crustacean max. 6 cm). Indeed, very large animals tend to feed low
in the trophic levels.
Pyramid of Numbers
On the average, about 2% of incident light energy is absorbed by plants and used in synthesis of organic
materials.
Transfer of energy from one level to another in a community is inefficient, because most of the energy at
any level goes into maintenance (respiration, growth, reproduction) of that level. The efficiency at any
trophic level = energy passed on to next higher level)/(energy received from lower level)
For example, of the food eaten by herbivores, part is not utilized (unassimilated) and passes out in feces.
Part is used in respiration. Part is used in growth and reproduction. Only the remainder in excess of these
maintenance uses is available for cropping by predators.
On the average, only about 10% (6% to 15% in ecosystems studied) of the energy at any level is
available for transfer to next level. This means that, in practice, communities of more than four or five
levels are unworkable. In a few commercial fisheries the populations utilized may approach 20%
efficiency.
This is the Pyramid of Numbers, which is expressed especially in biomass. Predators should be less
numerous than their prey, especially if they are also larger. Standing crop may not show such drastic
ratios, because most predators live longer and reproduce more slowly (less turn-over, less annual
production) than their prey.
Example: A very simple food chain on some rocky shores:
Diatoms --> barnacles
Example: A simple food chain:
Diatoms --> Calanus (copepod) --> Newfoundland herring
Example: A five-level food chain:
Phytoplankton --> zooplankton --> anchovy --> tuna --> killer whale
Producer --> herbivore --> primary carnivore --> secondary carnivore -- >
tertiary carnivore

Longer chains have been observed, with 7 to 10 levels. On average, pelagic food chains have slightly
more levels (5.6 levels) than benthic food chains (3.5 levels).
Most diagrams of feeding relationships of real communities do not show distinct levels and are better
described as food webs.
A complex trophic structure provides safety for animals. With alternate food sources, the likelihood of
extinction is less if one source disappears
There are other kinds of biotic interactions. Some organisms cooperate in a way that benefits at least one
participant, which is called symbiosis. In commensalism only one benefits, the other is unharmed. In
mutualism both partners benefit. In parasitism one profits at the expense of the other.
Many of the examples commonly given for these biotic interactions are animals. However, the most
important symbioses are those formed between bacteria and other organisms, including protists, plants,
animals and fungi.
For example, the black crusty growth or stain on the rocks of the high intertidal zone and
supratidal zone on a rocky coast is a lichen, an intergrowth of a photosynthetic
cyanobacterium and a fungus. Lichens are common on weathered surfaces of rocks in
terrestrial environments.
For example, hermatypic corals and many other tropical invertebrates have symbiotic
zooxanthellae (algal endobionts thought to be be related to dinoflagellates).
We have already cited the example of nitrogen-fixing bacteria as endobionts of diatoms in
oligotrophic waters.
Nearly all marine invertebrates are infested by parasites, especially parasitic ciliates and copepods.


GEOL 3377 Introductory Oceanography Home Page

GEOL 3377 HOME PAGE

INTRODUCTORY OCEANOGRAPHY
Welcome to the home page for the Introductory Oceanography course.
Oceanography is the scientific study of the ocean. Oceanography applies the basic
natural sciences (geology, chemistry, physics, biology) to the materials, processes,
phenomena and inhabitants of the marine realm.
GEOL 3377 is a junior-level, introductory survey of scientific oceanography,
including geological, chemical, physical and biological oceanography. It is suitable for juniors and
seniors who are science majors and science education majors, as well as for non-science majors with a
serious interest in the subject.
GEOL 3377 satisfies 3 hours of the Natural Science Requirement in the Undergraduate Core Curriculum
(Old Core and New Core). Non-science majors who are juniors or seniors and who have satisfactorily
completed a prerequisite Core natural science may enroll in this course.
Please visit the links below for additional information.
● Fall Semester 2000
● Online Section
● How To Complete Enrollment in Online Section
● Student Information Questionnaire
● E-Mail Instructions and Conventions
● GEOL3377 Listserv Discussion List
● Orientation Sessions for Online Students
● Homework Help Sessions for Online Students
● Course Schedule Spring 2000
● Textbooks
● Course Policies and Information
● Course grade and drop policies
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GEOL 3377 Introductory Oceanography Home Page
● Exam schedule
● Instructions for Exams
● GEOL 3177 The accompanying laboratory course
● Procedures for Submitting Laboratory Exercises
● Is this course hard?
● Studying: Advice and Resources
● Personal Study Schedule
● Electronic quizzes
● You Be The Professor! quizzes
● Supplemental Exercises
● Answers to the Supplemental Exercises
● Geography Exercises
● Links to Maps and diagrams
● Lectures
● Links to Related Sites
● Announcements
Important contact information for Dr. Maddocks:

E-mail: Rmaddocks@uh.edu (E-mail is the preferred mode of communication for this
course.)
Postal address: Dr. Rosalie F. Maddocks, Department of Geosciences, University of
Houston, Houston, TX 77204-5503
Telephone: 723-743-3429
Fax: 713-748-7906
Go to the Department of Geosciences home page.
Go to Dr. Maddocks' home page.
Ask the Instructor Dr. Maddocks a question.
By Rosalie F. Maddocks,
December 10, 1999
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GEOL 3377 Lectures

GEOL 3377: INTRODUCTORY OCEANOGRAPHY (Maddocks)

ADVICE TO STUDENTS ENROLLED IN GEOL 3377

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Return to home page for GEOL 3377.

By Rosalie F. Maddocks, July 30, 1998

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GEOL 3377: INTRODUCTORY OCEANOGRAPHY (Maddocks)

PART 1A: INTRODUCTION TO OCEANOGRAPHY

Early Marine Exploration

History of Scientific Oceanography

Great Oceanographic Expeditions

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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts; Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory in

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Return to the list of lectures.

Return to the Oceanography home page.

By Rosalie F. Maddocks, July 23, 1998

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GEOL 3377: INTRODUCTORY OCEANOGRAPHY (Maddocks)

LECTURE 1: INTRODUCTION, HISTORY,

PART 1B: ELEMENTARY GEOGRAPHY AND NAVIGATION

Earth's Orbit and Seasons

Latitude and Longitude

Distance, Speed and Course

Measuring Time and Longitude

Maps, Charts and Scales

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North to East East to South South to West West to North

COMPASS DIRECTIONS ON A MAP OR CHART

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Return to the list of lectures.

Return to the Oceanography home page.

By Rosalie F. Maddocks, December 16, 1999

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GEOL 3377: INTRODUCTORY OCEANOGRAPHY (Maddocks)

GEOL 3377: LECTURE 2:

PART 2A: ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY

Differentiation of the Interior

Evidence for Density Stratification

Cometary Ice Hypothesis

History of Ocean Basins

Early Life Forms

Oceanic Composition and Salinity

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ORIGIN OF THE EARTH

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EVIDENCE FOR DENSITY STRATIFICATION:

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