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. No identifiable layers of minerals in a rock sample






2. 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.






3. Of or relating to or containing basalt & a dark & dense & extrusive rock that has a silica content of 40% to 50% and makes up most of the ocean floor.






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






5. Glacial drift composed of rock fragments that range from clay to boulder size and randomly arranged without bedding.






6. An abandoned meander .






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






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






9. 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.






10. A large ridge or mound-like structure within a body of water that is built by calcareous organisms such as corals & red algae & and bivalves.






11. 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.






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






13. Lacking in rainfall & very dry.






14. An icicle-shaped accumulation of dripstone hanging from cave roof.






15. 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.






16. 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.






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






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






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






20. The theory of Plate Tectonics states that the Earth's crust is fragmented into a dozen or more large and small pieces floating on a semi-molten mantle.






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






22. The speed at which water flows.






23. The pattern of water circulation from the ocean to the atmosphere to the land and back to the ocean.






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






25. An instrument that merely indicates the occurrence of an earthquake.






26. Living on land.






27. Reduction of pore space between individual particles as the result of overlying sediments or of tectonic movements.






28. The science that deals with the study of the planet Earth--the materials of which it is made & the processes that act to change these materials from one form to another & and the history recorded by these materials; the forces acting to deform the ou






29. A period of dryness & that when prolonged & causes damage to crops; a shortage of water.






30. The chronological sequence of units of Earth time.






31. All of space and everything in it.






32. Where two plates collide to form mountains.






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






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






35. Any accumulation of material & by settling from water or air & chemical precipitation & evaporation from solution & etc.






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






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






38. To change back and forth uncertainly.






39. The average weather conditions of an area over many years & as measured by temperature & wind speed & and precipitation.






40. Refers to rock or sediments made up primarily of broken fragments of pre-existing rocks or minerals.






41. Sediment formed by chemical precipitation from water. Example: halite precipitated as the result of the evaporation of sea water.






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






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






44. 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.






45. Synonym of intrusive. Antonym of volcanic. Applies to igneous rocks formed beneath the surface of the Earth; typically with large crystals due to the slowness of cooling.






46. 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.






47. Named after the Roman god of the sea. It is the eighth planet from the Sun.






48. The elevation at which snow persists throughout the year.






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






50. A sedimentary rock made up of chemical sediments. Example: rock salt.