Salinity; a measure of the amount of dissolved salts & other solids in a given amount of liquid.Thermocline; a layer of the ocean water extending from 300m below sea level to about 700m below sea level in which water temperature drops with increased depth faster than it does in other zones of the oceanWater Cycle; the continuous movement of water from water sources into the air, onto land, into & over the ground, & back to the water sources; a cycle the links all of the earth’s solid, liquid, &gaseous water together

Shelf; the flattest part of the continental marginSlope; the steepest part of the continental marginRise; the base of the continental slope

Abyssal Plain; the broad, flat portion of the deep-ocean basin

Mid-Ocean Ridge; a long mountain chain that forms on the ocean floor where tectonic plates pull apart; usually extends along the center of ocean basins

Rift Valley; a valley that forms in a rift zone between diverging tectonic plates

Plankton; microscopic organisms that float at or near the ocean’s surfaceNekton; free swimming organisms of the oceanBenthos; organisms that live on or in the ocean floor

Seamount; an individual mountain of volcanic material on the abyssal plain

Ocean Trench; a seemingly bottomless crack in the deep-ocean basin that forms where one oceanic plate is forced underneath a continental plate or another oceanic plate

http://gln.dcccd.edu/Geology_Demo/content/Lesson1/GEO01-21.swf

Benthic; the ocean floor & all the organisms that live on or in it; also known as the bottom environment

Pelagic; the entire volume of water in the ocean & the marine organisms that live above the ocean floor; also known as the water environment

the process of evaporating sea water so that the water & the salt separate

pollution that comes from many sources & that cannot be traced to specific sites