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 rock changed from its original form and/or composition by heat & pressure &shearing stress & or chemically active fluids & or some combination of them.






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






3. The area bordering a stream over which water spreads when the stream tops its channel banks.






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






5. Shapes & like mountains or hills that make up the Earth's surface.






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






7. 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.






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






9. In the geologic time scale a unit of time less than an era and greater than an epoch. Example: The Tertiary period was the earliest period in the Cenozoic era and included & among others & the Eocene epoch.






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






11. 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.






12. Deposits of wind-borne dust.






13. 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.






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






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






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






17. The closest star to Earth besides the sun. It is approximately 4 light years away.






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






19. The portion of the continental margin that lies between the abyssal plain and the continental slope. The continental rise is underlain by crustal rocks of the ocean basin.






20. A seismic body wave that involves particle motion from side to side & perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation. S-waves are slower than P-waves and cannot travel through a liquid.






21. Heat transport by direct transfer of energy from one particle to another & without moving the particle to a new location.






22. 1. A low & bowl-shaped area of land surrounded by higher lands. 2. any large depression in which sediments are deposited.






23. A device built to study distant objects by making them appear closer.






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






25. A lake of lava & usually basaltic & in a volcanic caldera.






26. A general term for a relatively hard layer of soil at or just below the ground surface & cemented by silica & iron oxide & calcium carbonate & or organic matter.






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






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






29. Water that flows across watersheds during and immediately after severe rainstorms. In populated areas & stormwater runoff is often water that cannot be handled by existing sewer systems. Stormwater runoff is the leading source of water pollution in t






30. Either the northern or southern half of the Earth as divided by the equator & or the eastern or western half as divided by a meridian.






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






32. 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.






33. A mudflow composed chiefly of pyroclastic material on the flanks of a volcano.






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






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






36. 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.






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






38. A small ice sheet.






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






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






41. A rock that has crystallized from a molten state.






42. A geometrical form taken by a mineral & giving external expression to orderly internal atomic arrangement.






43. An era of time during the Phanerozoic eon lasting from 245 million years ago to 66.4 million ago.






44. A disease-causing organism or entity & such as a bacterium or virus.






45. A valley carved by glacier erosion and whose cross-valley profile has steep sides and a nearly flat floor & suggestive of a large letter 'you'.






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






47. The internal resistance to flow in a liquid.






48. An area subject to dust storms & especially south central United States .






49. A person who makes maps.






50. Molten rock & containing dissolved gases and suspended solid particles. At the Earth's surface & magma is known as lava.