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 region of a shore that is covered at high tide and exposed at low tide.






2. 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.






3. To change back and forth uncertainly.






4. Shapes & like mountains or hills that make up the Earth's surface.






5. No identifiable layers of minerals in a rock sample






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






7. A thick layer of soil.






8. 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.






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






10. Plutonic. Antonym of extrusive. Pertaining to igneous rocks or features formed by the emplacement of magma in pre-existing rocks.






11. A measure of acidity.






12. Any accumulation of material & by settling from water or air & chemical precipitation & evaporation from solution & etc.






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






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






15. 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.






16. The remains of an extremely massive star pulled into a small volume by the force of gravity.






17. An earthquake that follows and has its epicenter near a larger earthquake.






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






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






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






21. A sedimentary rock composed of combustible matter derived from the partial decomposition of plant material.






22. 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 .






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






24. The prediction that climate will warm as a result of the addition to the atmosphere of humanly produced greenhouse gases.






25. Glacial drift composed of rock fragments that range from clay to boulder size and randomly arranged without bedding.






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






27. In the geologic time scale a unit of time less than an era and greater than an epoch. Example: The Tertiary period was the earliest period in the Cenozoic era and included & among others & the Eocene epoch.






28. 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.






29. The symbol used on a map to indicate directions & both cardinal and ordinal.






30. That part of the continental margin that lies between the continental shelf and the continental rise. Slope relatively steep & 3o - 6o. The continental slope is underlain by crustal rocks of the continent.






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






32. The top of a wave.






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






34. The portion of the continental margin that extends as a gently sloping surface from the shoreline seaward to a marked change in slope at the top of the continental slope . Seaward depth averages about 130 m.






35. A cavity in a lava & formed by the entrapment of a gas bubble during solidification of the lava.






36. A large area with common features that set it apart from other areas.






37. Deep steep-sided depression in the ocean floor caused by the subduction of oceanic crust beneath either other oceanic crust or continental crust.






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






39. To change back and forth uncertainly.






40. Rock formed from the accumulation of sediment & Which may consist of fragments and mineral grains of varying sizes from pre-existing rocks & remains or products of animals and plants & the products of chemical action & or mixtures of these.






41. A sedimentary rock made up of chemical sediments. Example: rock salt.






42. A rigid segment of the Earth's lithosphere that moves horizontally and adjoins other plates along zones of seismic activity. Plates may include portions of both continents and ocean basins.






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






44. The weak or 'soft' zone in the upper mantle just below the lithosphere & involved in plate movement and isostatic adjustments. It lies 70 to 100 km below the surface and may extend to a depth of 400 km.






45. Heat transport by moving particles & and the thermal energy that they carry & to a new location.






46. A small ice sheet.






47. Imaginary lines on a map or globe that measure distance in degrees north or south of the equator. Latitude lines extend horizontally & from east to west on a globe.






48. A sea wave produced by any large-scale & short duration disturbance on the seafloor & commonly a shallow submarine earthquake but possibly also a submarine slide or volcanic eruption.






49. The tectonic region in which two plates meet.






50. A building that contains one or more telescopes.