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






2. 1. Breach in a natural levee . 2. Deep crevice or open fracture in glacier ice.






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






4. All of space and everything in it.






5. No identifiable layers of minerals in a rock sample






6. To preserve & or to avoid wasteful use.






7. Any place where bedrock is visible on the surface of the Earth.






8. Geologic time expressed in years before the present.






9. 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.






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






11. The relationship between distances in the area being mapped and distances in the map itself.






12. 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






13. The internal resistance to flow in a liquid.






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






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






16. Open pit mining & typically for coal.






17. A type of volcanic eruption characterized by nuees ardentes and the development of lava domes.






18. 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.






19. 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.






20. To change back and forth uncertainly.






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






22. The color of a mineral in its powdered form obtained from scraping a sample on a ceramic plate






23. A natural open space underground & large enough for a person to enter. Most commonly occur by the dissolution of soluble rocks & generally limestone.






24. A general term including both oil and natural gas.






25. 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.






26. A layer of sedimentary rock; plural is strata.






27. 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.






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






29. The relationship between distances in the area being mapped and distances in the map itself.






30. The top of a wave.






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






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






33. A continuous well-defined mass of material of sufficient ore content to make extraction economically feasible. compare mineral deposit.






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






35. A roughly circular reef with an occasional small & low & coral sand island surrounding a shallow lagoon.






36. The explosion of a dying giant or supergiant star.






37. A floating ice sheet extending across water from a land-based glacier.






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






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






40. 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.






41. A statement of relative age in layered rocks: In a series of sedimentary rocks that has not been overturned & the topmost layer is always the youngest and the bottommost layer is always the oldest.






42. The way in which a rock or mineral breaks in random patterns rather than cleaving






43. The outermost layer of the Earth & varying in thickness from about 10 kilometers (6 miles) below the oceans & to 65 kilometers (about 40 miles) below the continents; represents less than 1 percent of the Earth's volume.






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






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






46. An area where fresh water comes into contact with seawater & usually in a partly enclosed coastal body of water; a mix of fresh and salt water where the current of a stream meets the tides.






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






48. A narrow strip of land that has water on either side and connects two larger bodies of water.






49. The environment where a particular plant or animal is normally found.






50. 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.