1. Who’s Who in Ocean 101?
Majority of your classmates grew up in western WA, but….
Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois,
Maryland, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Wisconsin,
Tennessee, Texas, Utah
Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, New Zealand,
Philippines, Viet Nam
Just as many seniors & juniors as freshman
The most popular reason for taking the course was to fill NW
requirement (and it was one of the only classes open)
…most of you wrote that you like to play in the water and
are intrigued by the ocean
3. The importance of oceanography to
the people and economy of the
Pacific Northwest
Water, water everywhere: identifying the waters that
surround WA state
What and where is the Puget Sound (PS)?
How do we use WA waters, especially Puget Sound?
How is the Puget Sound important to the economy of our
region?
Why am I seeing all those advertisements about the
health of Puget Sound on TV?
www.pugetsoundstartshere.org
5. Where is the Puget Sound (PS)?
What is the approximate
latitude of Seattle?
Longitude?
N
W
6. Strait of Juan
de Fuca
Seattle
Puget
Pacific Sound
Ocean
Olympia
Western Washington from space
Focus on Washington Waters
Image: http://www.worldmapsonline.com/SatPosters/
WashingtonSpace.jpg
8. What is the Puget Sound?
Sound? Fjord? Estuary?
Sound: complex of inland waterways
Fjord: system of flooded glacial
valleys
Estuary: semi-enclosed coastal (salty
water) body of water with one or
more rivers or streams flowing into it
9. What is the Puget Sound?
How was it formed?
What time scale?
Millions of years ago (MYA)
Mountains forms
Tens of thousands of years
ago
Glacier advance and
retreat
Five thousand years ago
beaches formed
Weather, waves, gravity &
humans continue to shape
beaches
10. How was the Puget Sound formed
Many millions of years ago (MYA) – topic revisited week 9
Earth’s surface divided
into shifting slabs or
plates
Plates move relative to
one another
What causes plate
motion?
What happens at plate
boundaries?
11. How was the Puget Sound formed?
MYA (2.4) to tens of thousands of years ago
20,000 years ago PS was under a mile of
ice
Covered everything between Cascades
& Olympic mountains
Glaciers advance from Canada and
retreat
http://exhibits.pacsci.org/puget_sound/
graphics/ps_glaciationsm.mov
Heavy pressure
Meltwater creates streams and lakes
Ice dam breaks creates PS
12. What did the glaciers leave behind?
Bulldozed & scattered
material Weather, waves, gravity & humans
continue to shape Puget Sound
Pressure etched on beaches
bedrock
Layers of soils and rocks
Glacial rocks Glacial scrapes Glacial layers
13. How do people use Puget Sound?
Home to 4 million people (2/3 state population)
Recreation
Boating: yachts, sailing, kayaking
Fishing: over 211 fish species found
Tide pooling and beach combing
Commercial industries and shipping
Sewage
14. How is the Puget Sound important to
our economy?
Puget Sound economic activities generate $20
billion annually
Tourism
Commercial Fishing
Shipping
Ship Building and Industry
15. Why am seeing all those
advertisements about the state of
Puget Sound on TV?
www.pugetsoundstartshere.org
Frontline “Poisoned Waters” clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm1lbwz3Dz8
16. Problem below the surface
Each day 140,000 lbs of toxic chemicals enter the Sound
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), lead, zinc, copper, petroleum
75% of those chemicals enter by stormwater runoff
549 streams, rivers and lakes with poor water quality
ratings
Mammals and fish have “among the most PCB-
contaminated on the planet”
Source: pugetsoundstartshere.org
17. Puget Sound is in trouble.
You can help.
A few simple changes make a big difference
In your yard: use fertilizers and pesticides sparingly,
or just use compost
With your car: take your car to a commercial car
wash and have oil leaks fixed
Around your dog: pick up poop and bag it
At home: use natural cleaning products, turn off
the lights, turn down the heat, take shorter showers
