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 collection of maps.






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






3. A lake in an abandoned meander.






4. He area from which a stream and its tributaries receives its water.






5. Jupiter is named after the Roman king of the gods. It is the fifth planet from the Sun.






6. The concept of a sequence of events involving the formation & alteration & destruction and reformation of rocks as a result of geologic processes.






7. The galaxy where Earth is located.






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






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






10. 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.






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






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






13. 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.






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






15. 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.






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






17. A glaciated valley now flooded by the sea.






18. 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.






19. The pattern of water circulation from the ocean to the atmosphere to the land and back to the ocean.






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






21. A commonly used measure of earthquake magnitude & based on a logarithmic scale. Each integral step on the scale represents a tenfold increase in the extent of ground shaking & as recorded on a seismograph.






22. One of several rock-forming minerals that contain at least 95% silica (quartz). and usually one or more other common elements.






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






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






25. 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






26. Mountains & characterized by extensive folding and thrust faulting & that form at convergent plate boundaries on continents.






27. A thick layer of soil.






28. The method of locating an epicenter by determining how far it lies from three widely separated seismographs.






29. The two days of the year on which neither hemisphere is tilted toward or away from the sun.






30. A supercontinent that existed from the Jurassic to Early Tertiary after splitting from Pangea; composed of Laurentia & Baltica & Avalonia & (modern North America & Scandinavia & Greenland & Western and Central Europe); eventually fragmented into Eur






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






32. 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






33. Water beneath the Earth's surface.






34. To wash or scrub away.






35. The vertical distance between the crest and adjacent trough of a wave.






36. Containing moisture.






37. A minor tremor that precedes an earthquake. An increase in seismicity may signal that a major release of strain energy is about to occur.






38. 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.






39. The study of earthquakes & and of the structure of the Earth by both natural and artificially generated seismic waves.






40. 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.






41. The great circle on the Earth's surface passing through The North and South Poles & which is considered 0 degrees longitude. The prime meridian passes through Greenwich & England & and is used as a reference point for measuring longitude east and w






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






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






44. A group of islands; an expanse of water with scattered islands.






45. Banks of sand and silt along stream bank built by deposition in small increments during successive floods.






46. The perpendicular or very steep descent of a stream.






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






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






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






50. 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.