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 layer of gases (air) & that surrounds a planet or moon.






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






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






4. (Latin- Terra & Greek- Gaia) Earth is named after the ancient Germanic Goddess of the soil. It is the third planet from the Sun.






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






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






7. 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.






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






9. The formation & advance and retreat of glaciers and the results of these activities.






10. 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.






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






12. A permeable region of rock or soil through which ground water can move.






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






14. No identifiable layers of minerals in a rock sample






15. Where one plate slides beneath another plate as the two are pushed together & a subduction zone.






16. To preserve & or to avoid wasteful use.






17. A unit of length used in sea navigation based on the length of 1 minute of arc on a great circle. On Earth & 1 minute of latitude.






18. An artificial hill formed by the debris of successive human settlements.






19. A volcanic mountain on the seafloor. If flat-topped & it is a guyot.






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






21. A Hawaiian term for a basaltic lava flow with a smooth & or ropy surface.






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






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






24. The low spot between two successive waves.






25. Property possessed by certain rocks of breaking with relative ease along parallel planes or nearly parallel surfaces in their crystal structures where the bonds are weakest.






26. To wash or scrub away.






27. A major drainage divide separating the drainage to one ocean from another.






28. The process by which a binding & or cementing & agent is precipitated in spaces among individual particles of a deposit. Common cementing agents are calcite & quartz & and dolomite.






29. A vent in the surface of the Earth & from which lava & ash & and gases erupt.






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






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






32. The production of living matter by organisms that make food using sunlight or chemicals. Usually expressed as grams of carbon per square meter per year.






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






34. The presence of layers in some rocks caused by parallel alignment of minerals.






35. The transformation of a soil from a solid to a liquid state as the result of increased pore pressure.






36. Mercury is named after the Roman messenger of the gods. It is the closest to the Sun.






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






38. A detailed mathematical description of the cause-and-effect relationships between events that can be used to predict or explain other such events.






39. A delta formed at both sides of a tidal inlet.






40. A lake in an abandoned meander.






41. A group of stars that appear to make a pattern in the sky. The Big Dipper is a constellation.






42. 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.






43. The study of earthquakes & and of the structure of the Earth by both natural and artificially generated seismic waves.






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






45. A conical volcano formed by the accumulation of pyroclastic debris around a vent.






46. A broad & deep & generally straight furrow carved in bed rock by the abrasive action of debris embedded in a moving glacier. Larger and deeper than a glacial striation.






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






48. The attractive force between two objects; its magnitude depends on their masses and the distance between them.






49. The sudden fall of one or more large pieces of a rock from a cliff.






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