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. As applied to glacier ice & the process by which ice below the snow line is wasted by evaporation and melting.






2. A large & basin-shaped volcanic depression & more or less circular in form. Typically steep-sided & found at the summit of a shield volcano.






3. The tectonic region in which two plates meet.






4. The geologic eon lying between the Archean and Phanerozoic eons & beginning about 2.5 billion years ago and ending about 0.57 billion years ago.






5. A downward distortion or dimple in the water table that forms as a well pumps water faster than it can flow through the aquifer.






6. A division of geologic time next shorter than a period. Example: the Pleistocene epoch is in the Quaternary period.






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






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






9. Elongated rises on the ocean floor where basalt periodically erupts & forming new oceanic crust.






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






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






12. The seaward edge of coast between low tide and effective wave action.






13. Living in water.






14. A process of erosion in which wind carries off particles of dust and sand.






15. Surficial mining & in which the valuable rock is exposed by removal of overlying rock or soil.






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






17. A zone in the Earth between 400 and 670 km below the surface separating the upper mantle from the lower mantle.






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






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






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






21. Any seismic wave that travels through the body of Earth & rather than along its surface.






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






23. An informal term to include all geologic time from the beginning of the Earth to the beginning of the Cambrian period 570 million years ago.






24. A molecule composed of three atoms of oxygen and mostly found in the stratosphere. Though beneficial in the upper atmosphere & at ground level & ozone is called photochemical smog & and is a respiratory irritant and considered a pollutant.






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






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






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






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






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






30. An atmospheric shield providing the Earth with protection from ultra-violet rays which can cause sun burn & skin cancer and the destruction of the delicate plant life which supports the planet's food chain.






31. A fracture or zone of fractures along the boundaries of tectonic plates where movement has taken place.






32. Objects revolving around the sun that are too small and too numerous to be considered planets.






33. A tool for measuring the relative clarity of water.






34. The part of the crust that directly underlies the continents and continental shelves. Averages about 35 km in thickness & but may be over 70 km thick under largest mountain ranges.






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






36. The amount of material a stream carries in suspension.






37. To preserve & or to avoid wasteful use.






38. Highly mafic igneous volcanic rock & typically fine-grained and dark in color; rough volcanic equivalent of gabbro. Basalt is the most abundant volcanic rock in the Earth's crust.






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






40. A method of sediment transport in which the turbulence of a fluid is able to keep particles supported in the fluid.






41. A type of disintegration in which jointed rock is forced apart by the expansion of water as it freezes in fractures.






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






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






44. 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.






45. A sedimentary rock composed primarily of biogenic sediments.






46. The sum of the processes that result in the wearing away or the progressive lowering of the Earth's surface by weathering & erosion & mass wasting & and transportation.






47. 1. A mass of sand & gravel & or alluvium deposited on the bed of a stream & sea & or lake & or at the mouth of a stream 2. A unit of pressure & approximately equal to atmospheric pressure at sea level.






48. 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.






49. The uprush of a wave onto the beach followed by the return flow of the water down the beach slope in the intervals between waves.






50. Surficial mining & in which the valuable rock is exposed by removal of overlying rock or soil.