Test your basic knowledge |

Earth Science

Subject : science
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. A broad & deep & generally straight furrow carved in bed rock by the abrasive action of debris embedded in a moving glacier. Larger and deeper than a glacial striation.






2. Deposition of fine mineral particles (silt) on the beds of streams or lakes.






3. An isolated & steep-sided & rocky mass or island just offshore from a rocky headland & usually on a shore platform.






4. (Latin- Terra & Greek- Gaia) Earth is named after the ancient Germanic Goddess of the soil. It is the third planet from the Sun.






5. A community of plants and/or animals and its physical environment & regarded as a unit.






6. That part of the continental margin that lies between the continental shelf and the continental rise. Slope relatively steep & 3o - 6o. The continental slope is underlain by crustal rocks of the continent.






7. Scratches & or small channels & gouged by glacier action. Occur on boulders & pebbles & and bedrock. Striations along bedrock indicate direction of ice movement.






8. A ball of ice and dust & whose orbit is a long & narrow ellipse.






9. A person who makes maps.






10. An area in which a large number of windmills have been erected to generate electrical power.






11. A spring whose temperature is 6.5o C or more above mean annual air temperature.






12. A reverse fault on which the dip angle of the fault plane is 15 degrees or less.






13. A roughly circular reef with an occasional small & low & coral sand island surrounding a shallow lagoon.






14. A curved belt of volcanic islands lying above a subduction zone.






15. An area subject to dust storms & especially south central United States .






16. Living on land.






17. The first scientist to make systematic use of the telescope in looking at the heavens.






18. An ingredient in a food or other substance that nourishes or promotes growth.






19. Living in water.






20. A unit of length used in sea navigation based on the length of 1 minute of arc on a great circle. On Earth & 1 minute of latitude.






21. Enormous & thick sheets of rock that are part of the Earth's upper mantle that move and adjoin each other along zones of seismic activity. Many tectonic plates extend underneath both continents and sea floor.






22. The straightening and/or deepening of a river channel.






23. A stone or boulder & glacially transported from place of origin and left in an area of different bedrock composition.






24. An earthquake that follows and has its epicenter near a larger earthquake.






25. The innermost zone of Earth. It consists of two parts & an outer liquid section and an inner solid section & both chiefly of iron and nickel with about 10 percent lighter elements. It is surrounded by the mantle.






26. The upper horizons in a soil & through which gravitational moisture travels & removing soluble decomposition products.






27. The peak flow of water that tops the banks of a stream channel.






28. The point on the Earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake.






29. A soft compact calcite & CaCO3 & with varying amounts of silica & quartz & feldspar & or other mineral impurities & generally gray-white or yellow-white and derived chiefly from fossil seashells.






30. Any solid material that has settled out of a state of suspension in liquid.






31. Temporary accumulations of sediments that collect between low and high water marks.






32. A method of sediment transport in which the turbulence of a fluid is able to keep particles supported in the fluid.






33. Distance over which wave-forming winds blow.






34. A delta formed at both sides of a tidal inlet.






35. The outermost layer of the Earth & varying in thickness from about 10 kilometers (6 miles) below the oceans & to 65 kilometers (about 40 miles) below the continents; represents less than 1 percent of the Earth's volume.






36. The effect of water and carbon dioxide absorbing outgoing infrared radiation & raising a system's temperature. The term is generally used with reference to the Earth's temperature & although it can also be applied to other systems & such as greenhous






37. A low & nearly flat accumulation of sediment deposited at the mouth of a river or stream & commonly triangular or fan-shaped.






38. A hot & gaseous & self-luminous celestial body & as the Sun.






39. Mercury is named after the Roman messenger of the gods. It is the closest to the Sun.






40. A lake in an abandoned meander.






41. A process of erosion in which wind carries off particles of dust and sand.






42. As applied to glacier ice & the process by which ice below the snow line is wasted by evaporation and melting.






43. A pillar formed as a stalactite and stalagmite meet.






44. The elevation at which snow persists throughout the year.






45. The way in which a rock or mineral breaks in random patterns rather than cleaving






46. A vent in the surface of the Earth & from which lava & ash & and gases erupt.






47. The remains of an extremely massive star pulled into a small volume by the force of gravity.






48. A detailed mathematical description of the cause-and-effect relationships between events that can be used to predict or explain other such events.






49. The mass of an object divided by its volume.






50. The theory of Plate Tectonics states that the Earth's crust is fragmented into a dozen or more large and small pieces floating on a semi-molten mantle.