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 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.






2. Highly mafic igneous volcanic rock & typically fine-grained and dark in color; rough volcanic equivalent of gabbro. Basalt is the most abundant volcanic rock in the Earth's crust.






3. A lake in an abandoned meander.






4. 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.






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






6. Soil conditions prevailing in area whose mean annual temperature is 0o C.






7. A commonly used scale of earthquake intensity.






8. The initial point within the Earth that ruptures in an earthquake & directly below the epicenter. The point within the Earth which is the center of an earthquake & at which strain energy is first released and converted to elastic wave energy.






9. An informal term to include all geologic time from the beginning of the Earth to the beginning of the Cambrian period 570 million years ago.






10. A measure of acidity.






11. The persistence of wind-formed waves after wind ceases.






12. 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.






13. Sediment formed by chemical precipitation from water. Example: halite precipitated as the result of the evaporation of sea water.






14. Fossils formed when water containing minerals leaks into a mold. The minerals harden to form a copy of the original structure or organism.






15. 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.






16. A zone in the Earth between 400 and 670 km below the surface separating the upper mantle from the lower mantle.






17. Where two plates collide to form mountains.






18. That portion of the Earth below the crust and reaching to about 2 &780 km & where a transition zone of about 100 km thickness separates it from the core.






19. 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






20. Imaginary lines on a map or globe that measure distance in degrees east or west of the prime meridian. Longitude lines extend vertically & from pole to pole on a globe.






21. Elongated rises on the ocean floor where basalt periodically erupts & forming new oceanic crust.






22. A large area of flat or nearly flat land.






23. A comet that passed Earth in 1997 and won't return to the inner solar system until the year 4377.






24. A portable time keeper with a mechanism for ensuring accuracy and adjusting itself & used for determining longitude at sea.






25. Any form of water & such as rain & sleet & or snow & that falls to Earth's surface.






26. Any object that revolves around another object in space.






27. Lacking in rainfall & very dry.






28. The distance light travels through a vacuum in one year.






29. Iron & aluminum & magnesium & manganese & and titanium. Ores of the abundant metals only need to be 3 - 5 times as metal-rich as average rock.






30. 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.






31. The naturally occurring material from which a mineral or minerals of economic value can be extracted at a profit.






32. 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.






33. A system that uses a constellation of 24 satellites & their ground stations & and individual GPS receivers to accurately locate points on Earth.






34. Flat land covered with tall grass and wildflowers.






35. A region of high heat flow on the Earth's surface & thought to lie above a mantle plume .






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






37. A natural depression in the surface of the land caused by the collapse of the roof of a cavern or subterranean passage & generally occurring in limestone regions.






38. Deserts formed by blocking moisture-bearing winds with mountain barriers.






39. The line formed by the intersection of the axial plane of a fold with a bedding plane & marking where the bed shows its maximum curvature.






40. A narrow & steep-walled depression in the ocean floor & much deeper than the adjacent ocean and associated with a subduction zone.






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






42. The line that separates one drainage basin from another.






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






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






45. An accumulation of wind driven sand into a distinctive shape.






46. A substance that produces positively charged hydrogen ions (H+) when dissolved in water.






47. The part of the crust that directly underlies the continents and continental shelves. Averages about 35 km in thickness & but may be over 70 km thick under largest mountain ranges.






48. A thickened elevated region of Earth's crust that is mainly (but not entirely) above sea level.






49. A flat & dry plain covered with short grass.






50. Formed when an organism is flattened (compressed) and a thin film of organic material from its body is left in the rock.