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






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






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






4. 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.






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






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






7. 1. Breach in a natural levee . 2. Deep crevice or open fracture in glacier ice.






8. An aggregate of one or more minerals in varying proportions.






9. Pluto is named after the Roman god of the Underworld. No longer considered a planet.






10. Verifying assessments made from satellite data by doing direct & 'on-the ground' measurements.






11. A mass of ice & formed by the recrystallization of snow & that flows forward & or has flowed at some time in the past.






12. The two days of the year on which the noon sun is directly overhead at either 23.5






13. A hole or basin cut into bedrock of a stream by the abrasive action of pebbles and sand swirled by turbulent stream flow.






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






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






16. 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.






17. The low spot between two successive waves.






18. To preserve & or to avoid wasteful use.






19. A division of geologic time next smaller than the eon and larger than a period. Example: The Paleozoic era is in the Phanerozoic eon and includes & among others & the Devonian period.






20. The surface between the zone of saturation and the zone of aeration.






21. Reduction of pore space between individual particles as the result of overlying sediments or of tectonic movements.






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






23. The point on the Earth's surface where a magnetic needle points vertically downward (north magnetic pole) or vertically upward (south magnetic pole).






24. 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






25. A collection of maps.






26. An imaginary circle around the earth that represents the halfway mark between the North and South Poles and establishes the boundary between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.






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






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






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






30. The arrangement of rock units in the proper chronological order from youngest to oldest.






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






32. A glaciated valley now flooded by the sea.






33. An icicle-shaped accumulation of dripstone hanging from cave roof.






34. Open pit mining & typically for coal.






35. Water beneath the Earth's surface.






36. 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.






37. No identifiable layers of minerals in a rock sample






38. A cyclical pattern of movement in a fluid body such as the ocean & the atmosphere & or the Earth's mantle & driven by density variations which in turn are the result of differences in temperature from one part of the fluid to another.






39. The primary division of geologic time which are & from oldest to youngest & the Hadean & Archean & Proterozoic & and Phanerozoic eons.






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






41. A supercontinent that existed from the the end of the Permian to the Jurassic & 300 to 200 million years ago & assembled from large continents like Euramerica & Gondwana & and Siberia & as well as smaller landmasses like the Cathaysian and Cimmerian






42. The most recent eon of geologic time beginning 570 million years ago and continuing to the present.






43. A seismic body wave that involves particle motion & alternating compression and expansion & in the direction of wave propagation. It is the fastest seismic wave. compare S-wave .






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






45. The precipitation that runs directly off the surface to stream or body of standing water.






46. The direction & north (normal) or south (reversed) & that a magnetic compass needle points.






47. 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.






48. A building that contains one or more telescopes.






49. 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.






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