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 wall built out from the shore & usually at perpendicular to it to trap sand carried by longshore currents .






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






3. A depression in the ground formed by the melting of a block of glacier ice buried or partially buried by drift.






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






5. A segment of an active fault zone that has not experienced a major earthquake during a time period when most other segments of the zone have. They are generally regarded as having a higher potential for future earthquakes.






6. No identifiable layers of minerals in a rock sample






7. The speed at which water flows.






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






9. The zones of seismic activity long which plates are in contact.






10. A stone or boulder & glacially transported from place of origin and left in an area of different bedrock composition.






11. 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'.






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






13. The distance light travels through a vacuum in one year.






14. Glacial deposits laid down directly by glaciers or laid down in lakes & ocean & or streams as result of glacial activity.






15. The very small particles of dirt & soot & and other pollutants that are present in the air.






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






17. Living in water.






18. A glaciated valley now flooded by the sea.






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






20. The processes (mechanical and chemical) responsible for the wearing away & loosening & and dissolving of materials of the Earth's crust.






21. Any porous and permeable rock that yields oil or natural gas.






22. The outermost part of the core. It is liquid & about 1 &700 km thick & and separated from the inner & solid core by a transition zone about 565 km thick.






23. Living parts of the environment that can renew or replace themselves.






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






25. 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.






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






27. A small & dust-bearing whirlwind.






28. 1. A steep-walled & usually conical depression at the summit or on the flanks of a volcano & resulting from the explosive ejection of material from a vent. 2. A bowl-shaped depression with a raised & overturned rim produced by the impact of a meteori






29. A vent on the seafloor from which hydrothermal fluids are emitted. Upon mixing with seawater and cooling & the fluids precipitate a cloud of fine-grained sulfide minerals that resembles a cloud of black smoke.






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






31. The sum of the processes that result in the wearing away or the progressive lowering of the Earth's surface by weathering & erosion & mass wasting & and transportation.






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






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






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






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






36. 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.






37. A group of islands; an expanse of water with scattered islands.






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






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






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






41. 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.






42. The accumulation of material in layers or beds.






43. All unconsolidated materials above bedrock. Natural earthy materials on the Earth's surface & in places modified or even made by human activity & containing living matter & and supporting or capable of supporting plants out of doors.






44. Extending across a continent.






45. A soft compact calcite & CaCO3 & with varying amounts of silica & quartz & feldspar & or other mineral impurities & generally gray-white or yellow-white and derived chiefly from fossil seashells.






46. 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.






47. The great circle on the Earth's surface passing through The North and South Poles & which is considered 0 degrees longitude. The prime meridian passes through Greenwich & England & and is used as a reference point for measuring longitude east and w






48. The green pigment in the cells of many plants that enables them to use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates in the process called photosynthesis.






49. An isolated & steep-sided & rocky mass or island just offshore from a rocky headland & usually on a shore platform.






50. 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