Author Question: The field of marine science involves ____. A) the building of oil platforms, ships, harbors, and ... (Read 39 times)

swpotter12 · **on:** Aug 22, 2018

The field of marine science involves ____.
A) the building of oil platforms, ships, harbors, and other structures that enable us to use the ocean wisely
B) the process of making observations, asking questions, and forming hypotheses
C) the scientific study of the ocean, its associated life-forms, and its bordering lands
D) testing hypotheses by controlled experiments

Question 2

Why is the study of sediments so important? What kind of information can be discovered by studying sediments? How have tools and equipment evolved to expand the study of sediments?

xiaomengxian · **Reply #1 on:** Aug 22, 2018

Answer to Question 1

C

Answer to Question 2

Sediments are able to provide a history of the world to some extents. They can provide information on past ocean and atmospheric conditions. They can be dated to age different layers. Sediments can be analyzed to determine the composition of the seafloor and plate tectonic activities. The fossils inside sediments can even show the evolution of life-forms in the ocean.
The sampling of sediments began as a rudimentary operation. The HMS Challenger expedition used weighted, wax-tipped poles to collect sediment samples. When these poles hit the ocean floor, the sediment would stick to the wax.
Sampling methods progressed from using wax-tipped poles. Clamshell samplers are able to collect sediments from shallow water. This piece of equipment is an open claw that has a mechanism that snaps the claw shut once it hits the bottom. The sediment is then trapped inside and hoisted back up onto a ship for analysis. Due to the nature of this device, only the surface layer of sediment is collected.
The piston corer is the machinery that revolutionized sediment sampling. This machine is able to take deep samples of sediments from the ocean floor. In some cases, 25 meter deep samples have been acquired. The results from these core samples facilitated two new forms of science: stratigraphy and paleoceanography. Currently, there are even libraries where these cores are stored so scientists can analyze them.
The use of cameras was important to studying sediments before some of the sampling techniques were perfected. Early cameras were lowered on a cable and then trip wired to turn on once they reached the bottom. This allowed scientists to see the sediment, even if they could not collect it. Cameras eventually were towed behind ships and attached to deep submersibles to generate views of even deeper depths.
Seismic profiling is being used to show thickness and layers of sediment. In some cases, underwater mount ranges can be seen beneath a thick layer of sediment.