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 naturally occurring inorganic solid that has a well-defined chemical composition and in which atoms are arranged in an ordered fashion.






2. Similar to a groin but built to keep sand out of a harbor entrance.






3. Evidence in rock of the presence of past life & such as a dinosaur bone & an ancient clam shell & or the footprint of a long-extinct animal as well as life history artifacts.






4. An atmospheric shield providing the Earth with protection from ultra-violet rays which can cause sun burn & skin cancer and the destruction of the delicate plant life which supports the planet's food chain.






5. Destruction of the ozone layer caused by the release of CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons) into the atmosphere which react chemically with ozone and break it down into different gases.






6. Of or relating to or containing basalt & a dark & dense & extrusive rock that has a silica content of 40% to 50% and makes up most of the ocean floor.






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






8. Ratio between weight of given volume of material and weight of equal volume of pure water.






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






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






11. A group of stars that appear to make a pattern in the sky. The Big Dipper is a constellation.






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






13. The principle that states the processes operating to change the Earth in the present also operated in the past.






14. A process by which salts accumulate in soil.






15. A valley caused by extension of the Earth's crust. Its floor forms as a portion of the crust moves downward along normal faults.






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






17. Produced as a wave steepens and falls forward as the wave nears the shore.






18. A measure of the strength of an earthquake based on the amount of movement recorded by a seismograph . compare Richter scale.






19. A small ice sheet.






20. The production of living matter by organisms that make food using sunlight or chemicals. Usually expressed as grams of carbon per square meter per year.






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






22. 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.






23. Forms along a coast as wave erosion cuts through a headland.






24. The areas of & in & or constituting a city.






25. A general term including both oil and natural gas.






26. A waste material that contaminates air & water & or soil.






27. 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.






28. A period of dryness & that when prolonged & causes damage to crops; a shortage of water.






29. The closest star to Earth besides the sun. It is approximately 4 light years away.






30. A mudflow composed chiefly of pyroclastic material on the flanks of a volcano.






31. 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.






32. A disease-causing organism or entity & such as a bacterium or virus.






33. A landscape that develops from the action of ground water in areas of easily soluble rocks. It is usually characterized by caves & underground drainage and sinkholes.






34. 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.






35. The chronological sequence of units of Earth time.






36. The outermost part of the core. It is liquid & about 1 &700 km thick & and separated from the inner & solid core by a transition zone about 565 km thick.






37. Where one plate slides beneath another plate as the two are pushed together & a subduction zone.






38. An instrument that merely indicates the occurrence of an earthquake.






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






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






41. An eon of geologic time extending from about 3.9 billion years to 2.5 billion years ago.






42. The attractive force between two objects; its magnitude depends on their masses and the distance between them.






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






44. Where two plates are moving in opposite directions as in a mid-ocean ridge.






45. Of or relating to or containing basalt & a dark & dense & extrusive rock that has a silica content of 40% to 50% and makes up most of the ocean floor.






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






47. 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.






48. The explosion of a dying giant or supergiant star.






49. The production of living matter by organisms that make food using sunlight or chemicals. Usually expressed as grams of carbon per square meter per year.






50. Any seismic wave that travels through the body of Earth & rather than along its surface.