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 area immediately below the ground surface within which pore spaces are partially filled with water and partially filled with air.






2. 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.






3. The process of mountain building.






4. 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.






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






6. The point on the Earth's surface that is directly above the focus of an earthquake.






7. 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.






8. A substance that produces negatively charged hydroxide ions ( OH- ) in water and reacts with acids to form salts.






9. A pillar formed as a stalactite and stalagmite meet.






10. An abandoned meander .






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






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






13. 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.






14. That portion of the resources for a valuable mineral commodity that can be extracted from the Earth at a profit today.






15. Deserts in zones of descending air between 25 degrees and 30 degrees north and south latitude.






16. 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.






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






18. A planetary satellite.






19. 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.






20. 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.






21. The solid innermost part of the core with a diameter of a little over 1 &200 km.






22. The current geologic era & which began 66.4 million years ago and continues to the present.






23. A narrow & elongate region in which one lithospheric plate descends relative to another.






24. Large area of extremely flat ocean floor lying near a continent and generally over 4 km in depth.






25. Bent rock strata.






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






27. A spring whose temperature is 6.5o C or more above mean annual air temperature.






28. A Hawaiian term for a lava flow that has a rough & jagged surface.






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






30. A dense & hot (sometimes incandescent) cloud of volcanic ash and gas produced in a Pelean eruption.






31. A hydrocarbon (coal or petroleum) that can be extracted from the Earth for use as a fuel. Fossil fuels are non-renewable energy sources.






32. A sea level change due to change in load on Earth's crust.






33. The zones of seismic activity long which plates are in contact.






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






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






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






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






38. A sedimentary rock composed primarily of biogenic sediments.






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






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






41. Any porous and permeable rock that yields oil or natural gas.






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






43. A flood that rises and falls very rapidly.






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






45. A narrow & elongate region in which one lithospheric plate descends relative to another.






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






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






48. Mars is named after the Roman god of war. It is the fourth planet from the Sun.






49. 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.






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