| hotspot | a stationary area of volcanic activity |
| mid-ocean ridge | an undersea mountain range, thousands of miles long |
| abyssal plain | begins at base of the continental slope, ocean floor |
| Continental Shelf | gradually slopping shelf that extends from the shore |
| Continental Slope | area where the ocean floor plunges from the Continental shelf to the abbysal plain |
| Estuary | A saltwater bay that has a river emptying into it |
| Guyot | flat-topped seamount, also called a tablemount |
| Island | the top of an ocean mountain above the surface |
| Ocean Trench | the deepest part of the ocean (drops several hundred miles from abyssal plain) |
| Seamount | undersea volcanic peak, not part of a mountain range (forms a cone) |
| Coriolis Effect | a force caused by the rotation of the earth |
| Prevailing Winds | consistently blow in one direction (westerly and trade) |
| Migration | the movement of animals from one area to another |
| Pelagic | open ocean or waters beyond the continental shelf |
| decomposer | organisms that eat decayed animals or plants and break them down into new substance |
| baleen | plates that hang from the upperlip of whale mouths and strain water |
| bloom | a sudden increase in population of plankton or animals |
| phytoplankton | plant plankton-microscopic |
| zooplankton | animal plankton-bigger |