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 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.






2. Geologic time expressed in years before the present.






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






4. Living on land.






5. The Earth's crust underlying the ocean basins which is formed at mid-oceanic ridges. It is typically 5 to 10 kilometers thick composed of basalt.






6. The process of mountain building.






7. 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






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






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






10. Materials that are found in nature that are useful or necessary for people to live.






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






12. Mercury is named after the Roman messenger of the gods. It is the closest to the Sun.






13. Applies to igneous rocks that cool on the surface of the Earth & including beneath water; typically with small crystals due to the rapidity of cooling. Synonym of extrusive. Antonym of plutonic.






14. A giant structure that contains hundreds of billions of stars.






15. The closest galaxy to the Milky way. It is approximately 2 million light-years away.






16. The condition of equilibrium & comparable to floating & of units of the lithosphere above the asthenosphere.






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






18. A low & nearly flat accumulation of sediment deposited at the mouth of a river or stream & commonly triangular or fan-shaped.






19. The theory that states that the present-day continents are the fragmented pieces of preexisting larger landmasses called supercontinents.






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






21. 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.






22. Containing moisture.






23. The theory that states that the present-day continents are the fragmented pieces of preexisting larger landmasses called supercontinents.






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






25. A rock that has crystallized from a molten state.






26. The process by which a binding & or cementing & agent is precipitated in spaces among individual particles of a deposit. Common cementing agents are calcite & quartz & and dolomite.






27. The zone below the zone of aeration in which all pore spaces are filled with water.






28. A narrow strip of land along the margin of the ocean extending inland for a variable distance from low water mark.






29. Materials that are found in nature that are useful or necessary for people to live.






30. A process of land degradation initiated by human activity & particularly in the zones along the margins of deserts.






31. 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.






32. Containing moisture.






33. Sediments produced directly by the life processes of plants or animals.






34. An abandoned meander .






35. A wall built out from the shore & usually at perpendicular to it to trap sand carried by longshore currents .






36. A mound or ridge of sediment deposited by a glacier.






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






40. An eruption of lava that takes place from a fracture & usually without producing a cone.






41. 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






42. Scratches & or small channels & gouged by glacier action. Occur on boulders & pebbles & and bedrock. Striations along bedrock indicate direction of ice movement.






43. An astronomical instrument for measuring angles & primarily altitude of celestial bodies to determine latitude.






44. 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.






45. 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






46. The resistance of a mineral to scratching & as measured by the Mohs scale.






47. The rigid outer shell of the Earth. It includes the crust and uppermost mantle and is on the order of 100 km in thickness.






48. A large volume of dust-sized particles lifted high into the atmosphere.






49. An artificial hill formed by the debris of successive human settlements.






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