Ocean Zones

1. Ocean Zones

2. Ocean Zones • Include Intertidal zone, neritic zone, and the open ocean zone.

3. Intertidal Zone • Highest tide on land is where it begins. • From there the zone stretches out to the point on the continental shelf exposed by the lowest tide.

4. Neritic Zone • Extents from the low tide line out to the edge of the continental shelf

5. Open Ocean Zone • Beyond the continental shelf lies open ocean zone • Zone is the deepest, darkest part of the ocean

6. Organisms • Most live near the surface • Scientists classify marine organisms according to where they live and how they move

7. Plankton • Are tiny algae and animals that float in the water and are carried by waves and currents. • Include geometrically shaped diatoms

8. Nekton • Free swimming animals that can move throughout the water column • Squid, most fishes, and marine mammals such as whales and seals.

9. Benthos • Are organisms that inhabit the ocean floor. • Crab, sea stars, octopus and lobsters are examples.

10. Intertidal zone • Organisms that live in the rocky intertidal zone must be able to tolerate the pounding of waves, salinity, and temp • Must also withstand periods of being underwater and exposed to air.

11. Estuary • An environment along the oceans edge • Is a coastal inlet or bay where fresh water from a river mixes with salty ocean water. • Water is known as brackish.

12. Coastal Wetlands • Are habitats found in and around estuaries • Along the US coasts, most wetlands are either mangrove forests or salt marshes.

13. Salt Marshes • Have muddy soil that is rich in nutrients and dominant plant is cordgrass • Tide channels running through the grass break up waves, thus protecting organism from the ocean surf

14. Mangroves • Have arching prop roots that anchor the trees to the land • Roots break up wind and waves protecting organism that live there • Roots also trap sediment so water is rich in nutrients

15. Neritic Zone • Extends from low tide out to the edge of the continental shelf • Hallow water over the continental shelf receives sunlight and a steady supply of nutrients washed from the land into the ocean

16. Habitats in Neritic Zone • Are coral reefs and kelp forests

17. Coral Reefs • Can from only in shallow tropical ocean waters • Produce a hard material around their soft bodies • When they die hard materials is left behind

18. Kelp Forests • Grow in cold neritic waters where the ocean has a rocky floor

19. Open Ocean • Begins where the nertic zone ends, at the end of the continental shelf • Only a small part of the open ocean receives sunlight • Has fewer nutrients.

20. Surface Zone • Surface zone is the only part of the open ocean that receives enough sunlight to support algae • Microscopic organisms are the base of food webs in the open ocean

21. Deep Ocean • Dark and cold • Many deep sea fishes produce their own light called bioluminescence.

22. Hydrothermal Vent • Located in the deep zone • Is an area in which heated ocean water rises through the cracks of ocean floor • Chemical nutrients in the heated water support unique organisms.