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. Iron & aluminum & magnesium & manganese & and titanium. Ores of the abundant metals only need to be 3 - 5 times as metal-rich as average rock.






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






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






4. The acidity in rain due to gases from internal combustion engines and coal- and oil-burning power plants.






5. 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.






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






7. He area from which a stream and its tributaries receives its water.






8. 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.






9. Deposition of fine mineral particles (silt) on the beds of streams or lakes.






10. A vertical conduit through the Earth's crust below a volcano & through Which magma has passed.






11. An area of land that delivers runoff water & sediment & and dissolved substances to surface water bodies & such as rivers or lakes. All watersheds consist of boundaries & a basin and collection areas.






12. A system involving continuous interaction of the solid Earth & the atmosphere & the oceans and living things.






13. The innermost zone of Earth. It consists of two parts & an outer liquid section and an inner solid section & both chiefly of iron and nickel with about 10 percent lighter elements. It is surrounded by the mantle.






14. A guide to reading a map that typically contains distance scales & arrows indicating direction & and/or explanations of symbols used.






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






16. The tectonic region in which two plates meet.






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






18. A post of dripstone growing up from a cave floor.






19. Geologic time expressed in years before the present.






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






21. An instrument that detects & magnifies & and records vibrations of the Earth & especially earthquakes.






22. A coral reef separated from the mainland by a lagoon.






23. In a stream & the volume of water passing through a channel in a given time.






24. The Sun with all the celestial bodies that revolve around it.






25. Gases (primarily water and carbon dioxide & but also a variety of sulfur and nitrogen compounds and gaseous hydrocarbons) that trap the Sun's heat in the atmosphere.






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






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






28. A building that contains one or more telescopes.






29. A thick layer of soil.






30. The rise and fall of sea level caused by the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon on the Earth.






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






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






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






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






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






36. A steep-sided rounded extrusion of highly viscous lava squeezed out from a volcano and forming a dome-shaped or bulbous mass above and around the volcanic vent. The structure generally develops inside a volcanic crater.






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






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






39. The processes of weathering by which physical actions such as frost wedging break down a rock into fragments & involving no chemical change.






40. Any solid material that has settled out of a state of suspension in liquid.






41. The process by which ocean floors spread laterally from crests of main ocean ridges. As material moves laterally from the ridge & new material replaces it along the ridge crest by welling upward from the mantle.






42. Soil conditions prevailing in area whose mean annual temperature is 0o C.






43. A sedimentary rock composed primarily of biogenic sediments.






44. Mountains & characterized by extensive folding and thrust faulting & that form at convergent plate boundaries on continents.






45. The principle that states the processes operating to change the Earth in the present also operated in the past.






46. A device containing a free-swinging magnetic needle that is attracted to Earth's magnetic North Pole. Used to determine direction of travel.






47. A thick layer of soil.






48. 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.






49. 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






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