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 seismic body wave that involves particle motion from side to side & perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation. S-waves are slower than P-waves and cannot travel through a liquid.






2. A layer of sedimentary rock; plural is strata.






3. Containing moisture.






4. A large ridge or mound-like structure within a body of water that is built by calcareous organisms such as corals & red algae & and bivalves.






5. An instrument that detects & magnifies & and records vibrations of the Earth & especially earthquakes.






6. The height of a place above sea level.






7. The sum of the processes that result in the wearing away or the progressive lowering of the Earth's surface by weathering & erosion & mass wasting & and transportation.






8. A river that is able to maintain its flow through a desert because of water received from outside the desert.






9. A vent on the seafloor from which hydrothermal fluids are emitted. Upon mixing with seawater and cooling & the fluids precipitate a cloud of fine-grained sulfide minerals that resembles a cloud of black smoke.






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






11. The dust-sized & sharp-edged & glassy particles resulting from an explosive volcanic eruption.






12. A large amount of gas and dust in space & spread out in an immense volume.






13. Where two plates collide to form mountains.






14. Gases (primarily water and carbon dioxide & but also a variety of sulfur and nitrogen compounds and gaseous hydrocarbons) that trap the Sun's heat in the atmosphere.






15. To wash or scrub away.






16. A large ridge or mound-like structure within a body of water that is built by calcareous organisms such as corals & red algae & and bivalves.






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






18. Igneous. Antonym of intrusive. Synonym of volcanic. Pertaining to igneous rocks or features formed from lava released on the Earth's surface.






19. A famous scientist who proposed that the Sun was the center of the solar system not the Earth. (Heliocentrism)






20. A plate boundary in which plates on opposite sides of the boundary move past each other in opposite directions. The San Andreas fault of California is a good example.






21. The zones of seismic activity long which plates are in contact.






22. The southern portion of the late Paleozoic supercontinent known as Pangea. It means & literally 'Land of the Gonds' (a people of the Indian subcontinent).The supercontinent existed from Cambrian to Jurassic time & mainly composed of South America &






23. Pertaining to or composed of granite & a coarse-grained igneous rock dominated by light-colored minerals & consisting of about 50 percent orthoclase & 25 percent quartz & and balance of feldspars and ferromagnesian silicates. Granite is commonly foun






24. Objects revolving around the sun that are too small and too numerous to be considered planets.






25. Deserts in zones of descending air between 25 degrees and 30 degrees north and south latitude.






26. A large area with common features that set it apart from other areas.






27. The area bordering a stream over which water spreads when the stream tops its channel banks.






28. 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.






29. Distance over which wave-forming winds blow.






30. An instrument used to measure the speed of wind.






31. A measure of the size of an earthquake in terms of the damage it causes.






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






33. Living on land.






34. An instrument that detects & magnifies & and records vibrations of the Earth & especially earthquakes.






35. A small & dust-bearing whirlwind.






36. A conical volcano formed by the accumulation of pyroclastic debris around a vent.






37. A volcano that is composed of alternating layers of lava and pyroclastic material & along with abundant dikes and sills. Viscous & intermediate lava may flow from a central vent. Example: Mt. Fuji in Japan.






38. A natural open space underground & large enough for a person to enter. Most commonly occur by the dissolution of soluble rocks & generally limestone.






39. 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.






40. The current geologic era & which began 66.4 million years ago and continues to the present.






41. A sharp bend & loop or turn in a stream's course. When abandoned & it is called a meander scar or an oxbow.






42. The process of mountain building.






43. The rise and fall of sea level caused by the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon on the Earth.






44. A general term for a relatively hard layer of soil at or just below the ground surface & cemented by silica & iron oxide & calcium carbonate & or organic matter.






45. A volcano in the shape of a flattened cone & broad and low & built by very fluid flows of basaltic lava.






46. 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.






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






48. A type of thermal spring which ejects water intermittently with considerable force.






49. The area immediately below the ground surface within which pore spaces are partially filled with water and partially filled with air.






50. The process by which an unconsolidated deposit of sediments is converted in to solid rock.